All Monk PrCs

[Man on Fire]

So, I'm trying to make a list of Prestigle Classes intended and or good for Monks. Prefferably with list of sources where I can find them. What I have so far:

?? mens I'm not sure about this one - it either seems to fit in the fluff or seems like a good idea but nothing seems to clearly indicate it's for Monks. (?) means I don't know the source.

Argent Fist (Faiths of Eberron)
Atavist (Races of Eberron)
Black Blood Cultist (Champions of Ruin)
Cloud Anchorite (Frostburn)
Devoted Defender (Sword And Fist) ??
Disciple of the Word (Tome of Magic)
Dragon Descendant (Dragon magic)
Drunken Master (Sword And Fist)
Enlighted Fist (Complete Arcane)
Fist of Dal Quor (Secrets of Salrona)
Fist of the Forest (Complete Champion)
Initiate of Draconic Mysteries (Draconomicon)
Initiate of Pistis Sophia (Book of Exalted Deeds)
Kensai (Complete Warrior)
Master of the Easth Wind (Dragon Magazine 314)
Master of the North Wind (Dragon magazine 314)
Master of the South Wind (Dragon magazine 314)
Master of the West Wind (Dragon Magazine 314)
Monk of the Enabled Hand (Dragon Magazine 299)
Ninja of the Crescent Moon (Sword and Fist)
Ninja Spy (Oriantal Adventures)
Psionic Fist (SRD)
Reaping Mauler (Complete Warrior) Still possible, but not a good idea apparently.
Red Avenger (Sword and Fist)
Sacred Fist (Complete Divine)
Shadow Sun Ninja (Tome of Battle)
Shou Disciple (Unapprochable East)
Shiba Protector (Oriental Adventures)
Tattooed Monk (Complete Warrior)
Thief Acrobat (Complete Adventurer)
Weapon Master (Sword and Fist) ??
Zerth Cenobite (Complete Psionics)

Also, discussion about which PrCs are the best for the Monk is higly encouraged.

[HunterColt22]

Initiate of the Draconic mysteries might be a good choice as well. Should be in the draconomicon I think.

[Mishkov]

http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=1015.0

[Blue Lantern]

Enlightened Fist from Complete Arcane

[Man on Fire]

http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=1015.0

Thanks, that's a pretty good list, through I see some strange picks on it. Anyway, I'll add these to the list. Are there any others?

[dextercorvia]

Shou Disciple is Unapproachable East rather than Unearthed Arcana.

[Man on Fire]

Thanks, fixed that.

[Gnaeus]

Reaping mauler is actually bad for anyone, and particularly bad for monks (who aren't actually very good at grappling what with their medium BAB and MAD issues).

[gallagher]

Here is something I always wanted to do:

Fire Hobgoblin Carmendine Monk/Stonedeath Assassin/Shadow Sun Ninja

[Heilmut Von L.]

Argent Fist (Faiths of Eberron)

[Man on Fire]

Reaping mauler is actually bad for anyone, and particularly bad for monks (who aren't actually very good at grappling what with their medium BAB and MAD issues).

And what do you think about other PrCs I'm not sure about - Devoted Defender and Kensai? Are they good choice for Monk? With Kensai I wonder if it's not secondary PrC, the one you take after taking another, like what Warshaper would be for Monk in levels with Bear Warrior (say Half-Orc Paragon/Monk mix or Psionic/Sacred fist with right spells/powers). And with Devoted Defender, I don't really know - for some reason class that is supposed to defend other characters seems like a good fix for one of Monk's intended purposes he completely fails at.

[jmelesky]

PF has Brother of the Seal and Champion of Irori, both from Paths of Prestige, both available at the community SRD.

Champion of Irori is intended for Paladin/Monk multis.

[Telonius]

For Kensai ... the main benefit is getting the enchantments to your natural weapons. You're paying only XP, not GP; and at a very much reduced rate. It's also one of a very few ways (other than Necklace of Natural Weapons) to get special enhancements (something more than +1 enhancements, a la Amulet of Mighty Fists) on your unarmed strike.

Monk is probably the easiest entry to the PrC other than Paladin, Samurai, or Crusader, thanks to the skill requirements.


Initiate of Pistis Sophia from BoED is pretty clearly intended for Monks.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Reaping mauler is actually bad for anyone, and particularly bad for monks (who aren't actually very good at grappling what with their medium BAB and MAD issues).

By RAW this is unfortunately true.

Reaping Mauler is the victim of a rather obvious editing mistake that was never caught or errata'd.

It should have imp grapple as a prereq and get, IIRC, clever wrestling as a bonus feat. Instead it's the other way around. That single change makes it decent at what it was intended to do, if not particularly excellent.

[Man on Fire]

For Kensai ... the main benefit is getting the enchantments to your natural weapons. You're paying only XP, not GP; and at a very much reduced rate. It's also one of a very few ways (other than Necklace of Natural Weapons) to get special enhancements (something more than +1 enhancements, a la Amulet of Mighty Fists) on your unarmed strike.

Monk is probably the easiest entry to the PrC other than Paladin, Samurai, or Crusader, thanks to the skill requirements.


Initiate of Pistis Sophia from BoED is pretty clearly intended for Monks.

Thanks, that clears things up a lot.

[eggs]

Fist of Dal Quor from Secrets of Xen'drix is specifically focused on cranking Stunning fist by spending PP.

Disciple of the Word from Tome of Magic is a Truenamer/Monk, so red flags should be waving, but it actually has some really nice features - keying things like saves and dispels off a skill check, and letting the monk ignore DR/epic and move as an immediate action.

In a similar vein, Atavist from Races of Eberron has the dubious distinction of being the only dual Soulknife/Monk advancement class, but it has a really nice capstone, and I'm pretty sure there's a feat in a Dragon magazine somewhere that lets a Soulknife shape its mind blade into an unarmed strike.

And there are all the Master of the [cardinal direction] Wind classes from dragon, that weaker time traveling Psionic Fist clone in Complete Psionic, Monk of the long death from Player's Guide to Faerun (kind of crap unless you're just really digging deep for Death Attack levels to stack).

[Keld Denar]

Zerth Cenobite works, Comp Psi, I think. Falcon punch people into the future. Its also Tash-able. In that regard, War Mind could be considered a good monk PrC, since with Tashalatora it would progress UAS damage, Flurry, and AC bonus. Same with Psionic Assassin from Secrets of Sarlona.

Really, the best multiclass for monks isn't a prestige class. PsyWar, PsyRogue, Psion, and Ardent are all much better tacked onto 2 levels of monk with Tash than just about any other PrC.

[Man on Fire]

Zerth Cenobite works, Comp Psi, I think. Falcon punch people into the future. Its also Tash-able. In that regard, War Mind could be considered a good monk PrC, since with Tashalatora it would progress UAS damage, Flurry, and AC bonus. Same with Psionic Assassin from Secrets of Sarlona.

Really, the best multiclass for monks isn't a prestige class. PsyWar, PsyRogue, Psion, and Ardent are all much better tacked onto 2 levels of monk with Tash than just about any other PrC.

Sorry, but I'm looking only for actual PrCs. And quite frankly, Tashalatora progression is more like a Psionic class build with two-levels of monk dip than actual monk build(note that, given a chance, I would just give the Monk psionic powers and be done with it).

Not to mention that I still cannot find what book this feat is in and what it does, the only things I get are entry from some questionable source at wikidot and Ascetic Psion feat.

[Keld Denar]

Its in Secrets of Sarlona, but about 60% of it is published on wizards.com. It requires Monastic Training for any one Psionic class, and then it stacks that class with your levels in monk to determine AC, UAS damage, and Flurry progression.

Monk6/WarMind10 is actually a decent build with Tash. Expansion, Scorpions Grasp, and a War Mind's ability to hit squares rather than people means you can grab a bunch of people, take the -20 to hold them in your off hand, and then attack all of them at once with each hit. Think of it like you got 2 coconuts and you are banging them together.

So is Monk 5/PsychicAssassin10. Mind Cripple + Flurry of Blows results in a lot of really dumb people really quick. Compression + Confound the Big Folk means you can stab people in the soles of their feet and make them dumb.

What would you consider a monk PrC? One that advances UAS damage? All monk abilities? Some monk abilities? Requires Imp UAS? Just curious.

[Man on Fire]

Its in Secrets of Sarlona, but about 60% of it is published on wizards.com. It requires Monastic Training for any one Psionic class, and then it stacks that class with your levels in monk to determine AC, UAS damage, and Flurry progression.

Thanks, now I finally found it.


Monk6/WarMind10 is actually a decent build with Tash. Expansion, Scorpions Grasp, and a War Mind's ability to hit squares rather than people means you can grab a bunch of people, take the -20 to hold them in your off hand, and then attack all of them at once with each hit. Think of it like you got 2 coconuts and you are banging them together.

So is Monk 5/PsychicAssassin10. Mind Cripple + Flurry of Blows results in a lot of really dumb people really quick. Compression + Confound the Big Folk means you can stab people in the soles of their feet and make them dumb.

These sounds interesting. I'm glad to see this feat can be used for more builds than just those that make monk 2 level dip, and pretty fun-sounding ones to that.


What would you consider a monk PrC? One that advances UAS damage? All monk abilities? Some monk abilities? Requires Imp UAS? Just curious.

Really, anything that is either:
a) requiring Monk's class features
b) fluffed for Monks
c) in other way supports Monk Entry (like Psionic Fist which allows to freely multiclass Monks with it)
d) In other way seems like a good choice for a Monk, or at least doesn't make entry to it from Monk seems almost impossible

Generally, whatever works really. I honestly think even of including PrCs that would require some additional multiclassing, like Bear Warrior (which requires either Half-orc Paragon or Barbarian or Broodguard template, from what I managed to gather).

[Venger]

Fist of Dal Quor from Secrets of Xen'drix is specifically focused on cranking Stunning fist by spending PP.

fist of dal quor is in secrets of sarlona, not secrets of xen'drik. just so OP can find it easier. it's in a weird place, on p119, after all the feats.


one that's absolutely excellent for monks (or anyone who can qualify, really) is Oriental Adventures' Ninja Spy.

requires evasion (monk2) and dodge (cobra strike monk 1) to get in along with some some sneaky skills.

gives poison use, progresses slow fall, grants imp evasion, 3 EWPs with oriental-type weapons, +10 and later +20 to athletic skills (along with skill mastery with them), HIPS, thousand faces, poison immunity, slippery mind, abundant step a la monk, 3 dice of SA. average BA and all 3 good saves too!

alignment reqs even mesh with monk

though being a nonhumanoid with a natural attack is harder than it seems, a soul eater (book of vile darkness) dip is a popular choice for anyone who focuses on natural weapons, letting you dish out negative levels like terrible, terrible candy.

thief acrobat (complete adventurer) offers almost unparalleled mobility on the battlefield (after of course drunken master. combine its stagger ability with leap attack and fly anywhere on the battlefield) granting skill mastery with athletic skills, progressing slow fall, giving a small bonus to defense, giving defensive roll, and imp evasion over 5 levels, requiring evasion to get in along with some physical skills, all of which monk has as a class skill

cloud anchorite (frostburn) is overspecialized to the point of uselessness in many situations, but it is very good at what it does, and what that is is climbing mountains. the "improved unarmed combat" is not in fact a real feat, they probably meant IUS, which all monks have. mountaineer as a feat tax is a bitter pill to swallow, as are all the ranks in athletic type skills it requires of you, and the highish BA req. your skill list is good and pretty similar to monks', levels stack for unarmed damage and AC bonus, you get a climb speed that starts at 10ft and goes up 10 every odd level, capping at 50 at 9. you add wis to athletic skills, get a bonus to holding your breath (lol) get some bonus feats from a small list relating to surviving cold, some cold resistance, fast movement (its own, not monk progression, much slower) also gains acrobatic charge. you can walk on water (concentrate as a standard or move, later free) or other surfaces you normally wouldn't be able to stand on. capstone is immortality, which while not useful mechanically, is super cool thematically

black blood cultist (champions of ruin) is great for nonhumanoid monks, gaining a variety of cool abilities about grappling and natural attacks

seconding (or thirding) zerth cenobite. very fun class, tragically underutilized.

[Kelb_Panthera]

I don't think I'd add souleater to this list. Yeah it's good for a monk, but -any- build with souleater in it is going to have souleater doing all the heavy lifting. A commoner 6/ souleater 5 isn't significantly less dangerous than a monk 6/ souleater 5, and is technically 1 CR lower if you take your CR by rote from RAW instead of eyeballing it.