Fighter/Monk Combination Feat

[Ravens_Wing]

I was looking at the cross classing feats and had an idea that i wanted the playgrounds oppinion on.

I took insperation from two existing feats to create a third and want to know if its balanced.

Feats that i looked at:

1: Ascetic Knight (C.Adv pg 105) -
Prerequisite:
Improved Unarmed Strike
Smite Evil class ability
Benefit:
Your paladin and monk levels stack for the
purpose of determining your unarmed strike damage. For
example, a human 3rd-level paladin/1st-level monk would
deal 1d8 points of damage with her unarmed strike.
Your paladin and monk levels also stack when
determining the extra damage dealt by your smite evil
ability.
In addition, you can multiclass freely between the
paladin and monk classes. You must still remain lawful
good in order to retain your paladin abilities and take
paladin levels, and you must remain lawful in order to
continue advancing as a monk. You still face the normal
XP penalties for having multiple classes more than one
level apart.

2. Martial Stalker (C.Sco pg 79) -
Prerequisite:
Proficiency with all martial weapons,
ki power
Benefit:
Your fighter and ninja levels stack for the
purpose of determining the size of your ki pool, as well as
your AC bonus. For example, a 5th-level fighter/1st-level
ninja with this feat could use his ki powers a number of
times equal to 3 (one-half his ninja and fighter levels) + his
Wisdom bonus (if any), and would have a +1 bonus to AC
(as if he were a 6th-level ninja).
Your fighter and ninja levels also stack for the purpose of
qualifying for feats that require a minimum fighter level,
such as Greater Weapon Focus.
Special: A fighter can select Martial Stalker as one of
his fighter bonus feats (PH 38).

Okay Now Here is what i want to create:
( I dont have a name for it yet... possible names would be welcome.)
Prerequisite:
Proficiency with all martial weapons,
Unarmed Strike class ability
Benefit:
Your fighter and monk levels stack for the
purpose of determining your unarmed strike damage, as well as
your AC bonus. For example, a 5th-level fighter/1st-level
monk with this feat would deal 1d8 points of damage with her unarmed strike,
and would have a +1 bonus to AC (as if she were a 6th-level monk).
Your fighter and monk levels also stack for the purpose of
qualifying for feats that require a minimum fighter level,
such as Greater Weapon Focus.
In addition, if you are Lawful you can multiclass freely
between the fighter and monk classes.
You still face the normal XP penalties for having multiple
classes more than one level apart.
Special: A fighter can select Martial Stalker as one of
his fighter bonus feats (PH 38).

So. Any and all thoughts and concerns would be a big help. Let me know what you think.

[bartman]

I would recommend a minimum monk level, otherwise you will get a lot of 1 level monk dips then taking the rest fighter, this basically makes monks almost obsolete (or more, as some people would argue)

[Ravens_Wing]

Okay, so what if you made the prerequisit on the monk side Ki strike (Magic)
that would mean that they need 5 levels in monk. I was also thinking of allowing monk to freely cross class with fighter as long as the fighter was lawful.

[DaTedinator]

I would recommend a minimum monk level, otherwise you will get a lot of 1 level monk dips then taking the rest fighter, this basically makes monks almost obsolete (or more, as some people would argue)

I don't think that'll be a problem. Fighter is already obsolete by level 3 (*maybe* 5), adding two abilities that he'll never use doesn't change that.

As for the feat, yes, you should allow free multiclassing between fighter and monk, all the other monk ones do. Another thing you could consider is letting a monk take it as one of his bonus feats, and after he has it, letting him choose fighter feats with his remaining bonus feats.

[ErrantX]

I would recommend a minimum monk level, otherwise you will get a lot of 1 level monk dips then taking the rest fighter, this basically makes monks almost obsolete (or more, as some people would argue)

Personally, I'm not against this.

The feat is fine, not over powering. I'd call it Ascetic Warrior, or Martial Ascetic.

-X

[Ossian]

Yeah, I would add at least Kii Strike (Magic) as a prereq. It seems ok. One can dip in Monk and stay fighter, but the class is geared towards heavy armor, which is a shame when you lose wisdom bonus to AC, evasion, fast movement and the flurry.

Monk 6/ Fighter 4 with "belt of monk abilities" seems good to me, esp in not too high-magic settings.

O.

[Godskook]

The new feat needs some sort of drawback or restriction, cause right now, every sane Lawful fighter would 2-level dip monk for it. Compare the benefits to the costs:

Benefits:
- +3 to all saves over 2 levels instead of +1 to fort, +2/3 to the others
- 3 feats an unarmed fighter would be using anyway(Power Attack, IUS and Improved Bullrush for a shock trooper build come to mind)
- Monk unarmed damage progression
- Monk AC progression
- Evasion
- More skill points
- Better skill list

Costs:
- 1 feat slot
- Two fighter levels(so another feat slot)
- 1 BAB

So, to condense, a Monk 2/Fighter X is only losing 1 BAB for all the bonuses, including 1 net feat over straight fighter. So the question is, is the loss of 1 BAB of power-attack damage sufficient cost for all these benefits? With most of these feats there's a real cost behind using them, even if it is tolerable. A swift hunter, the most popular, is definitely spending feat slots to get his abilities, and the balance between Ranger and Scout is a non-negligible question

[Ravens_Wing]

The new feat needs some sort of drawback or restriction, cause right now, every sane Lawful fighter would 2-level dip monk for it.

See I didnt think that every Lawful fighter would go for it because while you do gain a fair amount you would lose the ability to wear armour basicly (if you wanted the wisdom and monk mods to Ac). Also you would only get the additional skill points and evasion for the levels that you take in monk but if you build a character right you can achieve the same thing by just taking levels of monk just grouped together.

Yes they get the monks unarmed combat damage which is something that they dont have to trade anything for except mabey that +1 BAB.

So yeah that was my thinking but comment on.

[DaTedinator]

Any sane fighter is already multiclassing, or just skips fighter altogether and started off as a Warblade. Even in a completely core game, there's very little reason to go very far as a fighter.

I mean, it's unfortunate, but it's true.

[Ravens_Wing]

I dont know I have made some fairly potent character concepts with mostly fighter builds.