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Rasman
2009-11-16, 12:36 AM
A buddy of mine has been trying to talk me into looking at Prestige Classes for our current session. We aren't limited by book, so it can be anything from any Wizards of the Coast book there is, just so long as we meet the requirements, stat wise.

One of the classes he's pushing me to look at is Initiate of Draconic Mysteries from the Dragonamicon, mostly because of the 10th level ability, Dragon Shape.

For a monk, who is already level 5, is this a worthwhile prestige class to go for or are there others that simply "outclass" it?

Temet Nosce
2009-11-16, 01:05 AM
A buddy of mine has been trying to talk me into looking at Prestige Classes for our current session. We aren't limited by book, so it can be anything from any Wizards of the Coast book there is, just so long as we meet the requirements, stat wise.

One of the classes he's pushing me to look at is Initiate of Draconic Mysteries from the Dragonamicon, mostly because of the 10th level ability, Dragon Shape.

For a monk, who is already level 5, is this a worthwhile prestige class to go for or are there others that simply "outclass" it?

Really, Initiate has one ability I absolutely love. Increased Unarmed Damage. This actually avoids the normal advancement in favor of straight up moving to a higher die size, which can get... pretty insane. Particularly if you combine it with a class from Dragon Magazine I forget the name of which does the same and the other more typical methods of increase. I think there was a thread on the WotC boards a while back which got it up to something like 68d100 damage.

The Glyphstone
2009-11-16, 01:06 AM
What's your group like for characters, and what is their playstyle? The general consensus here is that monks are an incredibly underpowered class, but if you've reached level 5 and are still having fun, then your group isn't optimizing and you have a wide range of choices beyond what's the most powerful.

For that specific question though, i wouldn't judge a class on its capstone. Consider all of its abilities such as the one that ^ quoted, which sounds excellently delicious.

Pharaoh's Fist
2009-11-16, 01:09 AM
One hour per day Shapechange as a capstone leaves a bit to be desired for the other 23 hours of the day.

You might want to look into the Sacreligious Fist build (Monk/Ur Priest/Sacred Fist) or a build that uses the Psionic Fist and Warmind prestige classes.

I'd recommend you go for 6 levels of Monk for Improved Trip, then take two levels in Psionic Fist, which enables you to get 8 ranks in Knowledge: Psionics, the pre-requisite for Warmind. It also lets you have two Psychic Warrior powers, such as Expansion and Inertial Armor. Once you are in Warmind, make sure to use Sweeping Strike to the fullest of its potential and get a ton of attacks and trip attempts.

Rasman
2009-11-16, 01:45 AM
What's your group like for characters, and what is their playstyle? The general consensus here is that monks are an incredibly underpowered class, but if you've reached level 5 and are still having fun, then your group isn't optimizing and you have a wide range of choices beyond what's the most powerful.

For that specific question though, i wouldn't judge a class on its capstone. Consider all of its abilities such as the one that ^ quoted, which sounds excellently delicious.

this very much so isn't an "optimized" group, we have 3 rogues, a ranger, a wizard and a monk (me) with an on again, off again, fighter. Rogues and Ranger aren't very "in your face" per say, I'm really the only person that wants to frontline fight besides the "Hulk Smash" fighter, the Wizard is into the whole 7 Veils magic and loves the use of Fog and Mist's


Really, Initiate has one ability I absolutely love. Increased Unarmed Damage. This actually avoids the normal advancement in favor of straight up moving to a higher die size, which can get... pretty insane. Particularly if you combine it with a class from Dragon Magazine I forget the name of which does the same and the other more typical methods of increase. I think there was a thread on the WotC boards a while back which got it up to something like 68d100 damage.

me and my buddy were actually talking about that, adding in stuff like Enlarge Person and such to increase the die size...AC optimization would be nice as well, considering when the fighter isn't there, i'm the only real melee and I'm a squishy

Pharaoh's Fist
2009-11-16, 01:53 AM
Again, levels in Psionic Fist and Warmind get you a lot of useful AC boosting psionic powers...

Leon
2009-11-16, 02:47 AM
A buddy of mine has been trying to talk me into looking at Prestige Classes for our current session. We aren't limited by book, so it can be anything from any Wizards of the Coast book there is, just so long as we meet the requirements, stat wise.

One of the classes he's pushing me to look at is Initiate of Draconic Mysteries from the Dragonamicon, mostly because of the 10th level ability, Dragon Shape.

For a monk, who is already level 5, is this a worthwhile prestige class to go for or are there others that simply "outclass" it?

It more sounds like your buddy wants you to play it so he cab see what its like - don't play it just for his wants, chose it if its what you think would be good.

The PrC is quite nice but its like many of the choices out there - some will have better mechanical power than others which have better flavor, the general result on here will typically be for the more power

My 2cp - pick up a lvl of Druid (Try the Avenger variant) then jump into Scared Fist with maybe a stop over in Fist of the Forest

dsmiles
2009-11-16, 05:19 AM
So many prestige classes, so little time...
@OP:
Are you restricted to WotC books, or can you use any open source documents?

Sinfire Titan
2009-11-16, 12:25 PM
Dman's monk handbook suggests 4 to 8 levels, 9 tops. The capstone is only good if Action Points are in effect (as per the ECS, not UA's version).

Rasman
2009-11-16, 04:31 PM
So many prestige classes, so little time...
@OP:
Are you restricted to WotC books, or can you use any open source documents?

I'm pretty sure it's any open source, just not Homebrew, because he was going to let me pick from things in the Quientessencial Monk (or however you spell it...not awake enough to spell yet) which is why I'm so overwhelmed by all the options. I've been looking at Shadow Sun Ninja, which looks interesting, but I don't really understand the Soul Blade yet...still reading about it and trying to absorb all that info...the whole Stance and Manuver thing kind of confuses me and I'm not totally sure how you initiate them.

Master_Rahl22
2009-11-16, 05:56 PM
Think of maneuvers like magic done with your weapon/fists. You learn new "spells" as you level up, and you ready a subset of the "spells" you know for use every day. You have to read each maneuver's description to see how they're initiated. Most of them are standard actions, just like spells, but sometimes the Initiation Action is what makes the maneuver cool. Sudden Leap says roll a Jump check and move that distance, which anybody can do as a Move action. The cool part is Sudden Leap lets you do it as a Swift action, so you could Sudden Leap and then full attack, or charge, or whatever.

Rasman
2009-11-16, 06:49 PM
Think of maneuvers like magic done with your weapon/fists. You learn new "spells" as you level up, and you ready a subset of the "spells" you know for use every day. You have to read each maneuver's description to see how they're initiated. Most of them are standard actions, just like spells, but sometimes the Initiation Action is what makes the maneuver cool. Sudden Leap says roll a Jump check and move that distance, which anybody can do as a Move action. The cool part is Sudden Leap lets you do it as a Swift action, so you could Sudden Leap and then full attack, or charge, or whatever.

ah...that makes sense, sort of...I understand it better anyway, thnx