Ascetic Mage

[hivedragon]

Am I reading this wrong or an you take this feat without taking levels in monk?

[Rossebay]

Well, permanency me into a hobgoblin.
Yes, this can be taken without any levels in Monk... Or any levels in anything else. So we must ask ourselves... Do you then gain the listed abilities as a monk without taking any levels in the class?

EDIT: I assume not, but the feat could still be useful to one build or another.
Like most Monk PrC classes, you don't actually have to be a monk to do ANYTHING monk-related. There's always another way.

[Zonugal]

If you would normally be allowed to add your Wisdom bonus to AC (such as for a unarmored, unencumbered monk), you instead add your Charisma bonus (if any) to your AC.

Might be a waste of a feat as you don't possess that initial wisdom-to-ac ability.

[Rossebay]

Yes, but it's still a viable option for some builds.
Wouldn't that also stack with certain PrC's as monk levels? Enlightened Fist could work.

[Maho-Tsukai]

Could this be used to make a swordsage cha-based instead of wis-based? I thought they get wisdom to AC too, after all.

[Rossebay]

If the swordsage is a monk, yes.
Anything beyond that is your DM's jurisdiction.

[RagnaroksChosen]

If the swordsage is a monk, yes.
Anything beyond that is your DM's jurisdiction.

I'm going to have to disagree with you on this one.

The feat reads
"If you have levels in sorcerer and monk, those levels stack for the purposes of determining your ac bonus. For example a human 4th level sorcerer/1st level monk would have a +1 bonus to ac as if she where a 5th level monk.
If you would normally be allowed to add your wisdom to ac(such as for unarmorded unecumbered monk) you instead add your charisma bonus if any to ac."

The only monk specific part is based on the bonus to ac that monks get not the wisdom to ac ability they get. So in fact a swordsage or any other class that adds wisdom to ac could switch it for cha to ac

[Curmudgeon]

The only monk specific part is based on the bonus to ac that monks get not the wisdom to ac ability they get. So in fact a swordsage or any other class that adds wisdom to ac could switch it for cha to ac
Swordsage isn't required, either. A Monk's Belt will do quite nicely there.

[RagnaroksChosen]

Swordsage isn't required, either. A Monk's Belt will do quite nicely there.

Absolutly or any thing else that gives you wis to ac... just mentioned SS as it was mentioned previously...

I personaly like the monk belt method.