Meeky
2011-06-04, 11:16 PM
Hello there. My name’s Meeky, and I’ve always been a fan of the monk class. I’ve only ever played one once, and I realize that it, by nature, isn’t the mightiest of all classes. However, I’ve never felt it’s as useless as many members of this board make it out to be. Of course, that can be argued for days, but that’s not the goal of this thread -- The goal of this thread is to try and make a halfway decent monk build that makes up for some of the class’s generally accepted downfalls.
If what I’ve provided below has been done before, namely on this forum, please feel free to slap me and call me a ninny. I’m trying to come up with something new-ish that may be regarded as a useful application of monk abilities and such.
Firstly, it can be contended that the monk’s AC bonus is pretty negligible when combined with the fact that monks must be unarmored to reap most of their benefits, including that AC bonus. The build I provide will hopefully make the monk’s defensive abilities, including its AC, very delicious.
Secondly, it can be contended that Flurry of Blows should be renamed “Flurry of Misses.” The build I provide will hopefully provide the opportunity to turn the monk into something that doesn’t miss as much with a little bit of inventive multiclassing after the level goal here (level 11, ECL: 12) has been reached, as far in the future as that may be for an aspiring monk.
Thirdly, I wish to prove that the above can be done using only the three 3.5 core rulebooks supplied by Wizards of the Coast: The Player’s Handbook, the Dungeon Master’s Guide, and the Monster Manual. The use of outside material, even from other Wizards books, is optional. Everything necessary for this build is within these three books.
(EDIT: Thanks to OracleofWuffing, it should be noted that Maxie actually cannot, without houseruling, take levels of monk and THEN Paladin and then BACK to monk without taking a feat from the Complete Adventurer. However, it is possible to make this build without using that feat simply by leveling straight through one class and then the other -- probably paladin and THEN monk, in retrospect.
Also, Greenish pointed out that the defender bonuses in this build can actually be applied to a lot of other characters with similar funds. Maxie does have the benefit of extra saves and AC from stat bonuses, but the defender bonus stacking is not unique. I have been slapped and called a ninny.)
Finally, I wish it to be noted that if there is any official errata or similar source that makes this build unusable, I’m open to such information being presented. After all, I want this to be something that can be accepted by rules lawyers everywhere, with or without a grumble, so fine-tuning this build according to errata is fine by me.
With that said, I wish to present to you…
Maxie Parry, Aasimar Monk 8 / Paladin 3
Maxie isn’t actually all that intimidating a fellow. At level 1, before racial benefits and score allocation, he had a slightly above average array: 16, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8. However, using his racial benefits, we get the following stats for him at level 1 (ECL: 2):
STR 14, DEX 12, CON 10, INT 8, WIS 18 and CHA 18.
This may hardly seem optimal at first glance, particularly considering the fact that Charisma is fairly useless outside of social situations, but Maxie has his reasons for this.
Now, Maxie is going to start his career as a monk, but after getting two levels in it, he’s going to get three in paladin. At this level, he’s not particularly powerful, but certain things should be noted as his benefits:
1.) Without the use of feats or items, Maxie’s saving throws are as follows: 10 Fortitude, 9 Reflex, 13 Will. This makes him fairly difficult for spell casters to take out with a non-direct damaging spell.
2.) Without the use of feats or items, Maxie’s AC is a mere 16. Of course, this also means 16 AC against touch attacks and 15 when flatfooted, but it’s still a low number overall, especially for a level 5 (ECL: 6) character.
3.) Maxie is immune to both disease and fear, and probably picked up Snatch Arrows for extra defense at his second monk level. Evasion from the Monk class gives Maxie that extra edge against spellcasters again, making those nasty Fireball spells less of a hassle for our brave little quasi-celestial human. All in all, this is a solid defense against many attacks.
4.) Finally, Maxie can use Divine wands and scrolls because of his paladin levels (as you only need to have levels in a class that can eventually cast spells to use magical items without a use magic device check). This won’t be important yet, as Maxie only has the funds of your typical ECL 6 character, but we’ll see if it helps him out later.
Given these facts, we have a level 5 character that can face off against most spellcasters without a hinch but will ultimately die when facing other martial combatants. This, of course, is highly unacceptable. This is why Maxie is going to spend his hard-earned gold on a few magical items.
The first thing to note, before reading onward, is that the wording concerning monks and Unarmed Strike’s limitations is very specific. In fact, it’s so specific, it goes out of the way to help Maxie be a better defensive specialist.
Below is a quote from page 41 of the Player‘s Handbook, concerning Unarmed Strike:
“… A monk’s attacks may be with either fist interchangeably or even from elbows, knees, and feet. This means that a monk may make unarmed strikes even with her hands full. There is no such thing as an off-hand attack for a monk striking unarmed.”
Translation: Even if Maxie is balancing a bucket of water on his head and wielding a greatsword in each hand, non-proficient with either, he can run around kicking people in the nads without penalty so long as he isn’t actually doing anything with the greatswords.
Now, it just so happens that there’s a handy-dandy little weapon enchantment in the Dungeon Master’s Guide that reaps a very nice defensive benefit. To quote directly from the text on page 224:
“A defending weapon allows the wielder to transfer some or all of the sword’s (I believe they meant ‘weapon’, not ‘sword’ here, but we can roll with either) enhancement bonus to his AC as a bonus that stacks with all others. As a free action, the wielder chooses how to allocate the weapon’s enhancement at the start of his turn, before using the weapon, and the effect to AC lasts until his next turn.”
Let’s rewind that for a moment. Read this again…
“… enhancement bonus to AC as a bonus that stacks with all others.”
Maxie Parry is giggling right about now.
What what I can ascertain, this means that Maxie Parry can have a weapon that he never uses to attack but holds in his hand. It provides a bonus to AC that stacks with all others.
So, if it stacks with all others, what if he had two of them?
This can be achieved by one of two ways: Maxie, if he believes that only swords can be ‘defending’, can use his paladin levels to get some small, cheesy weapon that’ll give him those benefits and not way him down -- Say, a shortsword. He takes two shortswords, gets them enchanted, and dances with them as he fights in combat just to block incoming attacks with them.
Alternatively, we can stay true to the ‘Monk’ part of Maxie and use, say, a quarterstaff. A quarterstaff can be enchanted as a double weapon, and double weapons have separate enchantments for each end (for balance purposes). Therefore, Maxie Parry can just carry a big, magical stick instead of those pesky pokers. Yes. I like this image better.
Now, defending is a +2 magical item quality, so, right now, let’s just say that Maxie’s quarterstaff (or his two shortswords) has each side enchanted to be defending +2. This is a fairly expensive enchantment for this level, that’s true, and it’s a bit unrealistic, but let’s use it anyway. This means that, without any other enchanted equipment, Maxie’s measly 15 AC has jumped up to 19, so long as he holds this magic stick as he kicks people in the groin. Handy, that. It’s not a huge number, but again, this is a character with only a dexterity of 12, and no other magical items thus far.
Let’s go ahead and level Maxie up further, all the way to 8th level of monk, his goal, which brings him to a character level of 11 and an ECL of 12.. Let’s assume he hasn’t acquired any new magical items just yet, and instead just has a massive sack of gold with him. We’re also not going to assign his two stat points yet because, frankly, we need to see what he’s lacking. By now, his benefits from his classes are as follows:
1.) A total base attack bonus of 9, which is 2 less than he’d have had if he’d have gone 11 levels in a strictly melee class (fighter/ranger/paladin).
2.) A Flurry of Blows that, therefore, uses 8/8/3 from base attack bonus, without any feats or stats taken into account. While perhaps not as good as a solid 12/7/2 from a fighter of equal ECL, it’s still solid enough on its own. Of course, our friend’s average(ish) stat scores may impede him, but at least his actual attack damage from his Unarmed Strike is now 1d10 and counts as magical.
3.) His saves have all increased by 2 due to monk levels. This may not seem like much, but that turns his saves into: 12 Fortitude, 11 Reflex, 15 Will. Still a very mean roll to make against any spellcaster or poison, and did I mention that Maxie has a +2 additional bonus to save against Enchantment spells and effects from Still Mind?
4.) Maxie now has both Lay on Hands (for a total of 8 HP healed over a single day) and Wholeness of Body (for a total of 16 HP healed over a single day). That’s 14 HP that Maxie can heal himself for without having to resort to the use of wands or outside assistance. Considering that he only has 10 constitution, that’s not bad.
5.) Finally, our little friend has extra utility now. He can fall 40 feet without going ka-splat, can run an additional 20 feet faster than normal while unarmored and, wielding only his magical quarterstaff and ordinary clothes, has had his AC raised up to 20.
Now, remember again: All of this has been accomplished without ANY specific feats being taken, and with only ONE magical item, the defending +2 / defending +2 quarterstaff (or two magical items if you really think he should just use swords instead). And since Maxie has an ECL of 12 by now, he’d obviously have a LOT better equipment.
So, you know what? Let’s go hog wild with a few magical items.
Firstly, we’re going to bump up the staff to being defending +5 / defending +5. This is an immediate jump of 6 AC for a total of 10 from his weapon which, again, stacks with ALL other AC bonuses. If you want to bother with natural, deflection, and armor AC bonuses, let’s give him +3 robes for armor bonus, a +2 ring of protection, and a +2 amulet of natural armor. So, 20 + 6 + 3 + 2 +2... Carry the ‘1’…
Oh, whoa. At ECL 12, character level 11, Maxie Parry has 33 AC. And this isn’t with the most powerful items -- or a shield bonus. Or improved dexterity. Or his two, unallocated bonus stat points from 4 and 8.
Let’s read up on something else in the PHB real fast, something about monks and their AC bonuses they get for being unarmored:
“When unarmored and unencumbere, the monk adds her wisdom bonus (if any) to AC… She loses these bonuses when she is immobilized or helpless, when she wears any armor, when she carries a shield, or when she carries a medium or heavy load.”
So, we can’t use any magical shield tricks. Maxie can’t have a buckler on his arm, nor can he have an animated shield floating over his head, because animated shields “still any penalty associated with shield use, such as armor check penalty, arcane spell failure, and nonproficiency,” and the loss of that magical wisdom bonus and half of the monk’s abilities. Drat.
But you know what we can use? Spells that grant shield bonuses to AC. In this case, a simple potion of Shield from the arcane stuff can provide an additional +4 AC. Perhaps hean even get an item that lets Maxie cast it so many times per day, perhaps as a free action -- Whatever. In a fight, that’ll bring his AC up to 37, which isn’t a number to laugh at.
Now, let’s make him more obnoxious. The following level 2 spells all last for an hour per spellcaster level and give +4 to their respective stats: [I]Bull’s Strength, Bear’s Endurance, Cat’s Grace, Owl’s Wisdom, and Eagle’s Splendor. So, Maxie is going to have a wand of each, which he can use due to paladin levels, of caster level 3. He’s going to enchant himself with them before each fight. This has the following effects:
1.) His attack bonus and damage are each increased by 2;
2.) His AC will increase by 4 more points, due to both Wisdom and Dexterity increasing, bringing that up to 41.
3.) His saves will all increase by 2, due to his paladin ability Divine Grace, which boosts his saves up to 14 Fortitude, 13 Reflex, and 17 Will.
4.) His max HP will be boosted by 22 points, which is major for him because Constitution is his lowest score next to intelligence.
5.) Finally, because we raised DEX, CON and WIS each, Maxie's saves increase by ANOTHER 2 points. 16 Fortitude, 15 Reflex, and 19 Will are his saves while under the effects of all five of his wands.
What does this mean? Because Maxie is a monk and a paladin, he can turn himself into a nigh-indestructable force of doom. He fights using parts of his body besides his hands, which allow him to hold AC-specific items in his hands so as to give him extra AC. All Maxie needs to do this is a little bit of money.
We have done this using 0 feats, allowing for great customization for Maxie. We have done this using only material found within the three core rulebooks. We have done it in such a way that Maxie’s defenses incur jealousy in many poor sods, though perhaps a solid Drow with the same class levels would make Maxie seem weak due to the innate Spell Resistance. Furthermore, Maxie can use his feats to focus on offensive techniques if he really desires, allowing him a chance to stay up to speed with the party’s resident Fighter.
And if Maxie’s DM wants to argue that he can’t have two defender weapons both providing AC bonuses, despite the text from the DM’s guide saying otherwise -- That’s fine. Maxie still has 36 AC to play with, and that end of the staff can be ignored or used for other enchantments. (Or his single shortsword, if you still want to use those. But, really -- Isn’t it better to speak softly and carry a big stick?)
From here, Maxie can develop however he likes, dipping into other handbooks as he pleases. Perhaps he’ll take up the Kensai PrC from the Complete Warrior to enhance his body, thus giving it magical qualities. Perhaps he’ll keep leveling up as a monk. Maybe his DM allows a house rule that’ll let him have magical handwraps give his fists magical properties (or footwraps, if he’s allowed to keep both sides of the quarterstaff as Defender). Either way, he’s sure to lead a happy adventuring life.
We’ve done all this WITHOUT overpowered stats. Again, we started with 16, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8. This is a good roll, to be sure, but it fits perfectly into a 32 point buy system and started without a single 18 to accomplish the effects we desired.
Well, I hope this has been an enjoyable read for you. Maxie sure liked it. He’s flexing over there in the corner, see? If you notice anything incorrect about this build, please let me know, and feel free to play with a build similar to this if you ever want to experiment with playing a monk that can stand up for his class. Either way, that’s all I’ve got to offer about this class; so happy hunting and monster smashing and so forth.
If what I’ve provided below has been done before, namely on this forum, please feel free to slap me and call me a ninny. I’m trying to come up with something new-ish that may be regarded as a useful application of monk abilities and such.
Firstly, it can be contended that the monk’s AC bonus is pretty negligible when combined with the fact that monks must be unarmored to reap most of their benefits, including that AC bonus. The build I provide will hopefully make the monk’s defensive abilities, including its AC, very delicious.
Secondly, it can be contended that Flurry of Blows should be renamed “Flurry of Misses.” The build I provide will hopefully provide the opportunity to turn the monk into something that doesn’t miss as much with a little bit of inventive multiclassing after the level goal here (level 11, ECL: 12) has been reached, as far in the future as that may be for an aspiring monk.
Thirdly, I wish to prove that the above can be done using only the three 3.5 core rulebooks supplied by Wizards of the Coast: The Player’s Handbook, the Dungeon Master’s Guide, and the Monster Manual. The use of outside material, even from other Wizards books, is optional. Everything necessary for this build is within these three books.
(EDIT: Thanks to OracleofWuffing, it should be noted that Maxie actually cannot, without houseruling, take levels of monk and THEN Paladin and then BACK to monk without taking a feat from the Complete Adventurer. However, it is possible to make this build without using that feat simply by leveling straight through one class and then the other -- probably paladin and THEN monk, in retrospect.
Also, Greenish pointed out that the defender bonuses in this build can actually be applied to a lot of other characters with similar funds. Maxie does have the benefit of extra saves and AC from stat bonuses, but the defender bonus stacking is not unique. I have been slapped and called a ninny.)
Finally, I wish it to be noted that if there is any official errata or similar source that makes this build unusable, I’m open to such information being presented. After all, I want this to be something that can be accepted by rules lawyers everywhere, with or without a grumble, so fine-tuning this build according to errata is fine by me.
With that said, I wish to present to you…
Maxie Parry, Aasimar Monk 8 / Paladin 3
Maxie isn’t actually all that intimidating a fellow. At level 1, before racial benefits and score allocation, he had a slightly above average array: 16, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8. However, using his racial benefits, we get the following stats for him at level 1 (ECL: 2):
STR 14, DEX 12, CON 10, INT 8, WIS 18 and CHA 18.
This may hardly seem optimal at first glance, particularly considering the fact that Charisma is fairly useless outside of social situations, but Maxie has his reasons for this.
Now, Maxie is going to start his career as a monk, but after getting two levels in it, he’s going to get three in paladin. At this level, he’s not particularly powerful, but certain things should be noted as his benefits:
1.) Without the use of feats or items, Maxie’s saving throws are as follows: 10 Fortitude, 9 Reflex, 13 Will. This makes him fairly difficult for spell casters to take out with a non-direct damaging spell.
2.) Without the use of feats or items, Maxie’s AC is a mere 16. Of course, this also means 16 AC against touch attacks and 15 when flatfooted, but it’s still a low number overall, especially for a level 5 (ECL: 6) character.
3.) Maxie is immune to both disease and fear, and probably picked up Snatch Arrows for extra defense at his second monk level. Evasion from the Monk class gives Maxie that extra edge against spellcasters again, making those nasty Fireball spells less of a hassle for our brave little quasi-celestial human. All in all, this is a solid defense against many attacks.
4.) Finally, Maxie can use Divine wands and scrolls because of his paladin levels (as you only need to have levels in a class that can eventually cast spells to use magical items without a use magic device check). This won’t be important yet, as Maxie only has the funds of your typical ECL 6 character, but we’ll see if it helps him out later.
Given these facts, we have a level 5 character that can face off against most spellcasters without a hinch but will ultimately die when facing other martial combatants. This, of course, is highly unacceptable. This is why Maxie is going to spend his hard-earned gold on a few magical items.
The first thing to note, before reading onward, is that the wording concerning monks and Unarmed Strike’s limitations is very specific. In fact, it’s so specific, it goes out of the way to help Maxie be a better defensive specialist.
Below is a quote from page 41 of the Player‘s Handbook, concerning Unarmed Strike:
“… A monk’s attacks may be with either fist interchangeably or even from elbows, knees, and feet. This means that a monk may make unarmed strikes even with her hands full. There is no such thing as an off-hand attack for a monk striking unarmed.”
Translation: Even if Maxie is balancing a bucket of water on his head and wielding a greatsword in each hand, non-proficient with either, he can run around kicking people in the nads without penalty so long as he isn’t actually doing anything with the greatswords.
Now, it just so happens that there’s a handy-dandy little weapon enchantment in the Dungeon Master’s Guide that reaps a very nice defensive benefit. To quote directly from the text on page 224:
“A defending weapon allows the wielder to transfer some or all of the sword’s (I believe they meant ‘weapon’, not ‘sword’ here, but we can roll with either) enhancement bonus to his AC as a bonus that stacks with all others. As a free action, the wielder chooses how to allocate the weapon’s enhancement at the start of his turn, before using the weapon, and the effect to AC lasts until his next turn.”
Let’s rewind that for a moment. Read this again…
“… enhancement bonus to AC as a bonus that stacks with all others.”
Maxie Parry is giggling right about now.
What what I can ascertain, this means that Maxie Parry can have a weapon that he never uses to attack but holds in his hand. It provides a bonus to AC that stacks with all others.
So, if it stacks with all others, what if he had two of them?
This can be achieved by one of two ways: Maxie, if he believes that only swords can be ‘defending’, can use his paladin levels to get some small, cheesy weapon that’ll give him those benefits and not way him down -- Say, a shortsword. He takes two shortswords, gets them enchanted, and dances with them as he fights in combat just to block incoming attacks with them.
Alternatively, we can stay true to the ‘Monk’ part of Maxie and use, say, a quarterstaff. A quarterstaff can be enchanted as a double weapon, and double weapons have separate enchantments for each end (for balance purposes). Therefore, Maxie Parry can just carry a big, magical stick instead of those pesky pokers. Yes. I like this image better.
Now, defending is a +2 magical item quality, so, right now, let’s just say that Maxie’s quarterstaff (or his two shortswords) has each side enchanted to be defending +2. This is a fairly expensive enchantment for this level, that’s true, and it’s a bit unrealistic, but let’s use it anyway. This means that, without any other enchanted equipment, Maxie’s measly 15 AC has jumped up to 19, so long as he holds this magic stick as he kicks people in the groin. Handy, that. It’s not a huge number, but again, this is a character with only a dexterity of 12, and no other magical items thus far.
Let’s go ahead and level Maxie up further, all the way to 8th level of monk, his goal, which brings him to a character level of 11 and an ECL of 12.. Let’s assume he hasn’t acquired any new magical items just yet, and instead just has a massive sack of gold with him. We’re also not going to assign his two stat points yet because, frankly, we need to see what he’s lacking. By now, his benefits from his classes are as follows:
1.) A total base attack bonus of 9, which is 2 less than he’d have had if he’d have gone 11 levels in a strictly melee class (fighter/ranger/paladin).
2.) A Flurry of Blows that, therefore, uses 8/8/3 from base attack bonus, without any feats or stats taken into account. While perhaps not as good as a solid 12/7/2 from a fighter of equal ECL, it’s still solid enough on its own. Of course, our friend’s average(ish) stat scores may impede him, but at least his actual attack damage from his Unarmed Strike is now 1d10 and counts as magical.
3.) His saves have all increased by 2 due to monk levels. This may not seem like much, but that turns his saves into: 12 Fortitude, 11 Reflex, 15 Will. Still a very mean roll to make against any spellcaster or poison, and did I mention that Maxie has a +2 additional bonus to save against Enchantment spells and effects from Still Mind?
4.) Maxie now has both Lay on Hands (for a total of 8 HP healed over a single day) and Wholeness of Body (for a total of 16 HP healed over a single day). That’s 14 HP that Maxie can heal himself for without having to resort to the use of wands or outside assistance. Considering that he only has 10 constitution, that’s not bad.
5.) Finally, our little friend has extra utility now. He can fall 40 feet without going ka-splat, can run an additional 20 feet faster than normal while unarmored and, wielding only his magical quarterstaff and ordinary clothes, has had his AC raised up to 20.
Now, remember again: All of this has been accomplished without ANY specific feats being taken, and with only ONE magical item, the defending +2 / defending +2 quarterstaff (or two magical items if you really think he should just use swords instead). And since Maxie has an ECL of 12 by now, he’d obviously have a LOT better equipment.
So, you know what? Let’s go hog wild with a few magical items.
Firstly, we’re going to bump up the staff to being defending +5 / defending +5. This is an immediate jump of 6 AC for a total of 10 from his weapon which, again, stacks with ALL other AC bonuses. If you want to bother with natural, deflection, and armor AC bonuses, let’s give him +3 robes for armor bonus, a +2 ring of protection, and a +2 amulet of natural armor. So, 20 + 6 + 3 + 2 +2... Carry the ‘1’…
Oh, whoa. At ECL 12, character level 11, Maxie Parry has 33 AC. And this isn’t with the most powerful items -- or a shield bonus. Or improved dexterity. Or his two, unallocated bonus stat points from 4 and 8.
Let’s read up on something else in the PHB real fast, something about monks and their AC bonuses they get for being unarmored:
“When unarmored and unencumbere, the monk adds her wisdom bonus (if any) to AC… She loses these bonuses when she is immobilized or helpless, when she wears any armor, when she carries a shield, or when she carries a medium or heavy load.”
So, we can’t use any magical shield tricks. Maxie can’t have a buckler on his arm, nor can he have an animated shield floating over his head, because animated shields “still any penalty associated with shield use, such as armor check penalty, arcane spell failure, and nonproficiency,” and the loss of that magical wisdom bonus and half of the monk’s abilities. Drat.
But you know what we can use? Spells that grant shield bonuses to AC. In this case, a simple potion of Shield from the arcane stuff can provide an additional +4 AC. Perhaps hean even get an item that lets Maxie cast it so many times per day, perhaps as a free action -- Whatever. In a fight, that’ll bring his AC up to 37, which isn’t a number to laugh at.
Now, let’s make him more obnoxious. The following level 2 spells all last for an hour per spellcaster level and give +4 to their respective stats: [I]Bull’s Strength, Bear’s Endurance, Cat’s Grace, Owl’s Wisdom, and Eagle’s Splendor. So, Maxie is going to have a wand of each, which he can use due to paladin levels, of caster level 3. He’s going to enchant himself with them before each fight. This has the following effects:
1.) His attack bonus and damage are each increased by 2;
2.) His AC will increase by 4 more points, due to both Wisdom and Dexterity increasing, bringing that up to 41.
3.) His saves will all increase by 2, due to his paladin ability Divine Grace, which boosts his saves up to 14 Fortitude, 13 Reflex, and 17 Will.
4.) His max HP will be boosted by 22 points, which is major for him because Constitution is his lowest score next to intelligence.
5.) Finally, because we raised DEX, CON and WIS each, Maxie's saves increase by ANOTHER 2 points. 16 Fortitude, 15 Reflex, and 19 Will are his saves while under the effects of all five of his wands.
What does this mean? Because Maxie is a monk and a paladin, he can turn himself into a nigh-indestructable force of doom. He fights using parts of his body besides his hands, which allow him to hold AC-specific items in his hands so as to give him extra AC. All Maxie needs to do this is a little bit of money.
We have done this using 0 feats, allowing for great customization for Maxie. We have done this using only material found within the three core rulebooks. We have done it in such a way that Maxie’s defenses incur jealousy in many poor sods, though perhaps a solid Drow with the same class levels would make Maxie seem weak due to the innate Spell Resistance. Furthermore, Maxie can use his feats to focus on offensive techniques if he really desires, allowing him a chance to stay up to speed with the party’s resident Fighter.
And if Maxie’s DM wants to argue that he can’t have two defender weapons both providing AC bonuses, despite the text from the DM’s guide saying otherwise -- That’s fine. Maxie still has 36 AC to play with, and that end of the staff can be ignored or used for other enchantments. (Or his single shortsword, if you still want to use those. But, really -- Isn’t it better to speak softly and carry a big stick?)
From here, Maxie can develop however he likes, dipping into other handbooks as he pleases. Perhaps he’ll take up the Kensai PrC from the Complete Warrior to enhance his body, thus giving it magical qualities. Perhaps he’ll keep leveling up as a monk. Maybe his DM allows a house rule that’ll let him have magical handwraps give his fists magical properties (or footwraps, if he’s allowed to keep both sides of the quarterstaff as Defender). Either way, he’s sure to lead a happy adventuring life.
We’ve done all this WITHOUT overpowered stats. Again, we started with 16, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8. This is a good roll, to be sure, but it fits perfectly into a 32 point buy system and started without a single 18 to accomplish the effects we desired.
Well, I hope this has been an enjoyable read for you. Maxie sure liked it. He’s flexing over there in the corner, see? If you notice anything incorrect about this build, please let me know, and feel free to play with a build similar to this if you ever want to experiment with playing a monk that can stand up for his class. Either way, that’s all I’ve got to offer about this class; so happy hunting and monster smashing and so forth.