Prestige Class for Monk

[MoonBeam]

Could someone recommend me a prestige class for monk, which will turn this underpowered class into something more balanced?
(please include mentioning source; no homebrews)

[PhoenixRivers]

Fist of the Forest is good, if I remember correctly. Fist of Zuoken also adds a lot to the class.

Fist of Zuoken is in Expanded Psionics Handbook (and the SRD).
Fist of the Forest, I can't remember offhand.

[Totally Guy]

I'm playing an Enlightened Fist from the Complete Arcane.

But that class is only suitable for a Monk with a multiclass to Wizard or Sorcerer.

[riddles]

sacred fist in complete divine advances monk abilities and cleric casting. it's very good.

[Mongoose87]

The Complete Psionic's Zerth Cenobite gives you a bunch of abilities, some Psionics and advances your unarmed damage, speed and AC bonus.

[Cyclocone]

Though not a PrC per se, the tashalatoran monk/psychic warrior deserves mention.
Tashalatora is a feat from Secrets of Sarlona (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20070212a&page=5), which lets you advance everything remotely worthwile that Monk offers through a psionic class.

[Killer Angel]

I remember the "Tattoed monk" (certainly in complete warrior and maybe also in oriental adventures).
Every level you gain a tatto, that you can activate to gain certain magical / supernatural abilities.
Not so strong, but nice and with some flavour.
If I remember correctly, you can have this PRC starting with only monk levels.

EDIT:
I've found this list. But I will not put my sig under it... :smallwink:

These are the back bones of monk builds. Without them, you won’t be as effective. Except maybe a psychic warrior build.

Fist of the Forest-CC: This is hands down the best monk PrC out there. Adds con to AC and increases your unarmed damage by a dice size with only one level. And there are three levels. Take all three. I use this in almost all of my monk builds. The only three types I don’t: near full psychic warrior, enlightened fist, and sacred fist. Fluff can be changed remember.

Initiate of Draconic Mysteries-Drac: This is another great PrC for monks. The unarmed damage boosts are spread out more, but at level 9 this class gains a x3 crit on unarmed strikes. The entry requirements are a pain though, just because of the skills. And the PrC doesn’t lend much besides these things, spell resistance that’s negligible, evasion (which you already have), and darkvision. You can scare really low level things!

Enlightened Fist-CArc: For gishes, there are many worse PrCs than this one. The ability to channel touch spells, and eventually rays, is amazing. Combine with Abjurant Champion for fun. Enter with wizard or sorcerer, wizard is obviously more powerful, but either one works fine.

Sacred Fist-CD: Full casting means there’s little reason to not take it as a cleric/monk. I say take SUS and forget monk levels entirely, but some say otherwise. You could definitely do worse.

Shou Disciple-UE: I don’t find this class to be all that good. I feel it’s worth mentioning because some people seem to love it. I honestly don’t know why. The ability to flurry with any melee weapon, a couple bonus feats from a very limited list, full BAB, and unarmed strike progression. That’s about all worth mentioning. The ability to flurry with any melee weapon (at the cost of 5 levels, mind you) isn’t so hot if you’re only using unarmed strikes anyway. And if you aren’t using unarmed strikes, why are you a monk? Go find flurry somewhere else, like Exotic Weapon Master.

Bear Warrior-CW: A barbarian PrC, but so fun. Who doesn’t want to be a crazy kung-fu bear? Note: I do not use alignment restrictions on most base classes, but even if you do, this is still easy to enter: start monk, after 2 to 6 levels start barbarian and don’t look back. You lose nothing. Anyways, the extra size makes tripping/grappling easier, and increases damage. Not as good as Expansion.

Shiba Protector-OA: One level is how long this class is. Okay, it’s 10, but you only care about that first level: +wis to attack and damage. Yeah, you read that right, it’s just +wis. So that’s in addition to any other stat, like str, dex, or, oh yeah, wis. Take this and Intuitive Attack and that’s wisx2 to attack.

Shadow Sun Ninja-ToB: This allows you to heal at will, and thus lets you heal better even in combat than the Healer. With unarmed damage average of 162+wis, that’s better than a heal cast by a healer with Augment Healing and the same-1 in cha as you have wis. Oh, it also has some other great abilities, this just lets you do one more thing. It advances initiator level and grants maneuvers and stances, so that’s nice, but it uses most likely the swordsage mechanic, which sucks. It does advance monk abilities and it has all good saves though. I can see up to level 8 being useful, and maybe level 10.

Drunken Master-CW: People love this PrC. Why? I don’t know. Its main class feature makes you worse. Improvised Weapons aren’t as damaging as unarmed strikes can get without these levels (and +1d12 is nothing compared to +16d8) and aren’t as easy to get enchanted (you have to have VoPov).

Kensai-CW: Get a Necklace of Natural Attacks. But the move action to gain +8 strength is nice. This can be a good PrC to take, probably for Enlightened Fists who take VoPov and don’t care about caster levels after they get level 9 spells. Not entirely a bad decision, but it’s epic. If the NoNA isn’t allowed, this can be a substitute, but it’s a very poor substitute.

Reaping Mauler-CW: In order to take this PrC focused on grappling, you first need to make yourself worse at grappling. Do not take this PrC under any circumstances. But what if…NO!.

Tattooed Monk-CW: It’s a monk but better! If only other PrCs weren’t as good, then this prC might get some screen time. But when it comes down to it, this PrC is only good for making pun-Pun have infinite stats. I’ve tried forever to make this PrC viable, but to no avail. There are some nice tattoos, but when it all comes down to it, items and or spells do it better, and getting other PrCs are worth more.

Warshaper-CW: You must be able to shapeshift, but the benefits are well worth it. Extra reach, more damage, more str/con, immune to crits, and fast healing.

Monk of the Enabled Hand-drg 299: A 3.0 class that is worth 3 levels: make an AoO against someone who hits you in combat. Also stacks for just about everything important with monk levels.

Psionic Fist-SRD (Fist of Zuoken-XPH): Go psychic warrior/tashalatora instead. If that feat’s not open, this is an adequate substitute.

[Kaiyanwang]

I remember the "Tattoed monk" (certainly in complete warrior and maybe also in oriental adventures).


Yes TM appeared first in OAdv. Nice even if not so powerful. Same book, Shintao Monk. Monk with paladinesque abilities, and a gaze attack.

Anyway, I prefer for monks classes that join a monk/psywarrior, as cited. Should be there 2 of them good. [citation needed]

[MoonBeam]

Thank you all for your advices.

Zerth Cenobite looks quite powerful and fun to play. I will definitely give this PrC a try.


EDIT: One more thing. Githzerai. Is it a good idea to pick this race for a monk? It seems quite overpowered, but has +2 lvl adjustment.

[Blackfang108]

Thank you all for your advices.

Zerth Cenobite looks quite powerful and fun to play. I will definitely give this PrC a try.


EDIT: One more thing. Githzerai. Is it a good idea to pick this race for a monk? It seems quite overpowered, but has +2 lvl adjustment.

If your DM allows Buyoff, I can't see why not.

Even if he doesn't, being a Githzerai is FUN. The bonus to DEX really comes in handy, especially if you take Weapon Finesse.:smallbiggrin:

[Pharaoh's Fist]

Could someone recommend me a prestige class for monk, which will turn this underpowered class into something more balanced?
(please include mentioning source; no homebrews)

If you'd just check my signature...

[Cyclocone]

Zerth Cenobite looks quite powerful and fun to play. I will definitely give this PrC a try.

To be honest, it really isn't.
Don't get me wrong, it's better than straight Monk; but all the abilites are 1/day, which makes it weaksauce compared to Fist of Zuoken or Tashalatora.

But, y'know, don't let that stop you. Githzerai+Zerth(imon) Cenobite is certainly flavorfull.

But only if buy-off is allowed. Remember: I must not have LA. LA is the build-killer. LA is the little-nerf that brings total power-loss. I will face my LA. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the LA has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.

[Person_Man]

What are your build goals, level, and books allowed?

[PinkysBrain]

Fist of Zuoken is also in the SRD as the psionic fist BTW.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/prestigeClasses/psionicFist.htm

[MoonBeam]

What are your build goals, level, and books allowed?

I have no specific build goals, I just want a PrC which compensates for weaknesses of Monk class, so it wouldn't be that hard to play.

The game haven't started yet (but is about to), but I want to plan ahead.

My DM does allow any official WotC source.

[PinkysBrain]

Well there are generally two ways to bring martial character up to snuff, give him real utility (which comes down to using some kind of magic system) or doing LOL damage. It's really hard to do LOL damage with a monk, at high level you can simply stack size increases with the high damage dice of your fists ... but that doesn't fly for lower levels.

You could cheat and do something like monk 2/barbarian 2/fighter 2/Frenzied Berserker ... but that's not really a monk. Psionic/Englightened/Sacred Fist are more like monks than that.

[Steward]

I didn't even know that they made prestige classes for the Monk. I just thought that it was the accidentally-published rough draft of a class that was supposed to have been originally released as part of CW or Oriental Adventures. These classes all look really cool, and a lot of them seem playable even if your character only has levels in Monk.

[ex cathedra]

Shou Disciple (Unapproachable East) is quite good for martial-minded monks.

Sacred fist is okay. It's much better when combined with Ur-Priest (commonly referred to as the Sacrilegious Fist).

Fist of the Forest is popular, but not quite my cup of tea.

Psionic Fist is... overshadowed by PsyWar, honestly.

[T.G. Oskar]

I wouldn't deny the Psionic Fist as a bad PrC, even if it gets a bit (if not entirely) overshadowed by Tashalatora. It gives a lower, yet swifter, progression of psionic powers and at least two feats, one which can be invested on Expanded Knowledge (right when you reach level PF 10, where you can get such stuff as Psionic Fly or Metamorphosis, specifically the last one). Since it's a Wis-intensive class, any increase in Wis increases your Stunning Fist ability (which can be improved, mind you) and your AC, which is an added bonus; adding stuff such as Shiba Protector only makes it better.

Zerth Cenobite, as mentioned earlier, isn't that awesome. You don't get 5th level powers, the amount of PP is lower, and you learn half of the Psionic Fist's powers, which limits your build severely. The time-based abilities are very flavorful, but the 1/day isn't so hot; in either case, some of the abilities end up being very good. I'd say Cenobites are situational in their powers. If they had use of the abilities as if ki or based on uses of Stunning Fist, they would make the class a bit more powerful than it should. At best, they are very situational; surviving one crucial strike and buying your pals one extra turn can be the choice between life and death. Keeping the abilities for the BBEG, or the toughest battle of the day makes it all the more worthwhile.

If I were to use Tashalatora, I'd use Ardent instead. Why have up to 6th level powers when I can have up to 9th level powers, and with a choice of the right mantles which can grant nice abilities to boot? Also, they are a better choice for Expanded Knowledge (you can get up to 8th level spells, and get the truly awesome ones like Schism and whatnot)

I find War Mind (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/prestigeClasses/warMind.htm) to be a nice choice for a Monk. Granted, it doesn't allow for increase in Monk-based abilities, but it offers both a full BAB progression, some insight bonuses to AC or to Str and Con for 1 minute (three times per day, which makes it a decent move), and Sweeping Strike which makes standing to get hits from more people almost worthwhile. The amount of PP and powers gained takes a solid hit, but it's much better than the Cenobite's hit.

Although, if you can add the Monastic Training/Tashalatora option to that, it becomes a very solid choice.

I support the idea of playing as a Githzerai (specifically a psionic Githzerai, although you can go for the normal one in a pinch) if LA buy-off is allowed (and even if it doesn't, I find it a very balanced choice for a LA +2 race given the racial bonuses to Dex and Wis). If going Tashalatora, then Kalashtar may be a bit more on your path given their nifty 1 PP/level racial ability. A Warforged with a Battlefist can be also allowed, although they lose a bit on Wisdom (but balance with a better Con, plus all the awesome immunities)

Just remember (even after you've made your choice) to buff the usual troubles of the Monk: choice between mobility or full-round flurries, MAD, low damage output, high reliance on magic items. Some can be fixed pretty easily (Weapon Finesse or Intuitive Attack, Ancestral Relic), some can be fixed with powers (Hustle, Psionic Lion's Charge, Celerity, Belt of Battle), and some can't be fixed at all (magic items still make a better Monk, and Monk's Belt usually falls on the list).

[MoonBeam]

My thanks to everyone. Especially to T.G. Oskar.

[Jergmo]

I can't believe nobody has said it yet!

DRUNKEN MASTER! (Complete Warrior)

[Pharaoh's Fist]

It's not very good is the problem...

[MoonBeam]

:smallconfused:

Is Tashalatora a prestige class or is it a specific build? Where can I find something about it?

[Pharaoh's Fist]

Though not a PrC per se, the tashalatoran monk/psychic warrior deserves mention.
Tashalatora is a feat from Secrets of Sarlona (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20070212a&page=5), which lets you advance everything remotely worthwile that Monk offers through a psionic class.
Does that answer your question?

[Mongoose87]

It's not very good is the problem...

I mean, a Monk PrC that uses a primary class feature in which his Wis is reduced? Bleh.

[deuxhero]

A feat that makes psionic classes progrss monk abilitys, was in a preview (table only) linked to above.

[MoonBeam]

Does that answer your question?

Must have overlooked that one. Thanks!

[Jalor]

What kind of Monk do you want? Monk/Ur-Priest/Sacred Fist is a fun evil monk, Fist of Zuoken and Tashalatora make good psionic monks...

Just make sure your character can do something an ordinary Monk can't.