Monk with Poison fists

[ZeroFX]

Hi, first post, long time player. I had this idea, to make a monk that fights dirty and uses poisons to hinder his foes. Alignment is L/E. I just need help figuring out how to go about it. Would you all mind sending me in the right direction?

[eggs]

The Master of Poisons feat in Drow of the Underdark allows a character to apply poison to a weapon as a swift action. The easiest way would be to use that to apply injury poisons, then whack monsters.

The Touch of the Golden Ice feat in Book of Exalted Deeds also does this automatically with one of its "Good-aligned-so-totally-not-poison" poisons. It won't fit this character, but you could probably just flip all references of "Good" and "Evil" and be in about the right place.

[ZeroFX]

Alright so the Character so far is as follows
Str 15
Con 17
Dex 18
Int 17
Wis 15
Cha 17

Stats could be better, but our DM had us call the stat before we rolled so :smallfrown:

Level 1
Human
Feats
Master of Poisons (character concept)
Improved Initiative (plot related)
Stunning Fist

We werent allowed to use character flaws otherwise I would have taken murky eyed. But I feel like it is a strong concept that just needs to be played out well. Sadly as a monk I started with 14 gp and the clothes on my back. I aim to be able to apply poison to myself and then use flurry to apply it to the enemy as a sort of choice application.

[ThiagoMartell]

Get wild cohort (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031118a), choose a viper as your pet, milk it for venom.

[ZeroFX]

Should I plan on any specific gear? a monks belt is obvious, and some way to change size would be a good plan to (general monk stuff) but as far as weapons go I cant make my fists into assassin weapons so is there anything I can do to up the potency without spending feats?

[Gnorman]

Alright so the Character so far is as follows
Str 15
Con 17
Dex 18
Int 17
Wis 15
Cha 17

Stats could be better, but our DM had us call the stat before we rolled so :smallfrown:

You've got nothing below a 15, three 17s, and an 18? That's phenomenal, even for a monk. You don't get to complain about that.

On topic, I'd recommend a Psion dip (or even just going straight psion and taking Tashalatora). Pick metacreativity as your discipline, pick Psionic Minor Creation as a power, and boom - as much poison as you can shake a dorje at.

Or, if you want to stay a bit fight-ier, you could go Psychic Warrior, using Hidden Talent to pick up Psionic Minor Creation, and kill people with your brain as well as your black lotus fist. They have a handy little power called Expansion, too, that you might find helpful.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

There's a feat in Sandstorm called Rattlesnake Strike, it allows you to spend a use of Stunning Fist to add poison to an unarmed strike. It's only 1d3 Con initial and secondary, but the DC scales with your level and Wis bonus.

Another option would be to go Monk 1/ Psychic Warrior with the feat Tashalatora from Secrets of Sarlona, you can take it in place of your Monk 1 bonus feat and it makes your Psychic Warrior levels count toward unarmed damage, flurry of blows, AC, and speed from Monk. With that you can use Prevenom Weapon (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/prevenomWeapon.htm), as a Monk's Unarmed Strike can be treated as a manufactured weapon for purposes of spells and powers. Note that Prevenom (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/prevenom.htm) on which it's based only lasts a minute/level, but Prevenom Weapon lasts forever until you hit with the weapon or set it down. Days ahead of time you could Prevenom Weapon each of your hands, feet, knees, and elbows, and strike with a different one of those on each attack until they're all used up.

[togapika]

Gloves.

The all important item for your character is a pair of gloves

[Ashtagon]

How are you planning on applying the poison to your unarmed strikes without poisoning yourself?

[Gnorman]

Saran wrap?

[Cespenar]

How are you planning on applying the poison to your unarmed strikes without poisoning yourself?

Monk 11, Diamond Body. :smalltongue:

[marcielle]

I'd have to say Psywar prevenom is the best choice so far as you can venomate your entire body and apply them all with a flurry. Several d3 Con at a respectable DC is nothing to sneeze at and Tash monk is strictly superior to normal monk anyway.

[Morph Bark]

I'd have to say Psywar prevenom is the best choice so far as you can venomate your entire body and apply them all with a flurry. Several d3 Con at a respectable DC is nothing to sneeze at and Tash monk is strictly superior to normal monk anyway.

Prevenom:


If you have a claw attack (either from an actual natural weapon or from an effect such as claws of the beast), you can use this power to produce a mild venom that coats one of your claws. On your next successful melee attack, the venom deals 2 points of Constitution damage. A target struck by the poison can make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + ½ your manifester level + your key ability modifier) to negate the damage.

Not your entire body, not even other natural weapons.

[Averis Vol]

For gear i suggest the gauntlet of the dwarven forge from complete warrior. It grants an extra 1d6+10 fire damage on a touch, which i cant see any reason it wouldn't be able to be used on an unarmed strike too. best part is its an active for ten round item with no limited uses a day, and you only need a free action to re activate it.

I'm also going to suggest the invisible fist ACF from EoE, gives you invisibility for 1 round per 3 rounds and at 8th level you get blink for your wis mod in rounds per 3 rounds. downside is you lose evasion and improved evasion (you can pick it up easily enough with level dips or a ring).

Then theres the shadow cloak from drow of the underdark, it grants a +! deflection bonus to AC and has 3 charges you can expend as immediate actions. the first one is an 10 ft teleport and the second is an until the end of turn displacement.

If your willing to brake off of monk for a bit you could take 2 levels in rogue (to pick up evasion) and grab the feat ascetic rogue from Complete adventurer. it stacks sneak attack damage for monk and rogue levels, increases your stunning fist dc by 2 if you get it off while you would get sneak and stacks for unarmed damage die. so its kind of a win win both ways.

For the moment thats about all i can think of, i'll post up anything else i find thats useful.

EDIT: ohh yea, see if your DM will let you power attack with your unarmed strike, its kind of a bum deal that their main fighting style gimps them on that damage option. if not opt for the hammer fists feat from the dragon compendium, it nabs you 1-1/2 str on unarmed strikes as long as you don't flurry, which i can only assume translates for a 2:1 return on power attack.

lastly theres dark stalker, which is kind of a necessity for stealthy characters. self explanatory.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Prevenom:

Not your entire body, not even other natural weapons.

True Prevenom can only be applied to claws, but Prevenom Weapon works just fine and it's actually better since it lasts indefinitely.

"A monk’s unarmed strike is treated both as a manufactured weapon and a natural weapon for the purpose of spells and effects that enhance or improve either manufactured weapons or natural weapons."

You can spend a day before your adventure using Prevenom Weapon on both hands, both feet, both elbows, and both knees, and make eight poisoned unarmed strike attacks before you have to reapply any of it.

[marcielle]

Why stop there? Prevenom your EYES (http://eternityhero.deviantart.com/art/knife-eye-attack-77364022).

[Zombulian]

Tattooed Monk from Oriental Adventures has a spider tattoo that gives poison on EVERY strike, forever. So y'know, kinda cool.

[ZeroFX]

Not sure if I'll be allowed to use any psionics, but if I can I will definatly look at the psychic warrior splash. I just dont want to give up my monk skills. which might happen depending on what the DM decides.

Ex-Monks
A monk who becomes nonlawful cannot gain new levels as a monk but retains all monk abilities.
Like a member of any other class, a monk may be a multiclass character, but multiclass monks face a special restriction. A monk who gains a new class or (if already multiclass) raises another class by a level may never again raise her monk level, though she retains all her monk abilities.


Then again getting my first level of it at level 3 might not be so bad. If I can get all of the items that improve my unarmed damage and with the feat that lets me stack my psychic warrior with monk levels.

[Answerer]

Also, should you get a claw attack from somewhere, Beast Strike allows you to make unarmed strike + claw damage attacks.

[ZeroFX]

alright so my build is going to look something like this

monk 2/psy war 2/fighter 1/ fist of the forest 3

1: Master of Poison, Improved Initiative, Stunning Fist, Improved Unarmed Strike
2: Monastic Training (Psychic Warrior)
3:Iron Will, Power Attack (bonus Warrior Feat), Prevenom Weapon
4: Great Fortitude( Bonus Warrior Feat), Expansion
5:Improved Trip(Fighter Bonus Feat)
6: Tashalatora, AC Bonus (Con), Feral Trance 1/day, Fast Movement, Primal Living.
7:Uncanny Dodge, Untamed Strike
8:Feral Trance, Scent
9:Improved Unarmed Strike

Assuming I get both a Monks Belt and Monks Tattoo thats an effective 17 levels of Monk for unarmed strike making it 2d8 but Fist of the Forest woul improve that to 3d8 (or would it be 3d6?) But having used Expansion I could be large sized and that would make my fists 3d8 Normal and 4d8 because of Fist of the Forest.
I would have an AC Bonus of 3 +dex+con+wis +10 +other items
I would have a movement of 30 (base) + 50ft (monk) +10(fast Movement) for a total of 90' per round
and each of my attacks would be imbued with venom dealing 1d3 con damage per failed save.

Am I correct or have I messed up somewhere?

[Averis Vol]

you need combat expertise for improved trip.

[Answerer]

But he could get it as a Monk Bonus Feat, in which case he wouldn't.

I cannot begin to guess why you're taking Tashalatora for all of 2 Psy War levels. That doesn't make sense. Two feats for half a damage step is not a good choice, not when Superior Unarmed Strike is one feat for a full damage step and Improved Natural Attack is more than that.

[ZeroFX]

I havent decided if I want to continue into psy warrior or not, but it seemed a waste to just end my monk bonus's at level 2

[Averis Vol]

aye, I know he could get it, I just felt it necessary to point it out that he was missing it. And yea, the main reason people take tosh is for the extra feats not just the damage continuation. that being said, if you want all the monk stuff, by all means keep goin with the monk, you'll just need some more party support. Psy Wars have the convenience of of good offenses AND Psionic support.