[PF + 3.5] Recommend Me a ToB Class

[Karoht]

So my friends and I are playing in this lovely little PF + 3.5 campaign. One of my friends insisted on playing a Monk. And that's okay. She's done very well for herself as a Monk. But, we're at that level where she's starting to fall behind, and therefore she's losing interest in the character because she is being marginalized in pretty much every encounter. Her monk build is very good, but she's just at that point where she is running out of options to stay competative.

I want her to have fun. That is my goal here. Not optimize her better per se, but I think some optimization might help. The thing is, most of the party has some 3.5 elements. She wants to stay pure Pathfinder, which everyone is okay with of course. But I think that giving her a nudge towards a specific 3.5 resource just might get her back in the game.

Yeup, I'm talking about Tome of Battle.
So, she's 13 (levels, not age) she's Wisdom and Dexterity focused but has a 16 or better in all other stats (templates and other boosters), her character is sort of the defacto leader of the party (so I was thinking White Raven, but I'm not the expert on ToB), she is trying to Diplomacy her way to avoid encounters, and she's lawful neutral if it matters.

Retraining options exist, we did just have 60 days of downtime so some level retraining might be okay with her, might not. But for purposes of this discussion, lets say that she would be okay with 2-4 levels retrained, but the fewer the better.

What can the experts of the Giant board recommend for a class for her to begin progressing in?

[Sacrieur]

unarmed swordsage

No joke.

[Qc Storm]

It would help to know what your party looks like.

Swordsage is often regarded as "what monk should be". They even get an alternate class feature that gives them monk unarmed progression and wisdom to AC.

They get an immense selection of maneuvers from very good schools too.

[Larkas]

Unarmed Swordsage is a given, as people already said, but I want to point you towards a Hungry Ghost (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/advanced/coreClasses/monk.html#hungry-ghost-monk) Qinggong (http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/ultimateMagic/spellcastingClassOptions/monk.html#qinggong-monk-(archetype)) Monk build. It relies on two archetypes completely compatible with one another, and is widely regarded as the best you can do with a monk, having the advantage of being pure Pathfinder, which is something she wants! If necessary, just refluff Hungry Ghost and you're set.

[Karoht]

Party Comp:
Monk 13, Half-Celestial, Advanced, current build unknown at the moment.
Barbarian 13, Blood Orc, Half-Fiend, Advanced, Were Bear, I think he's now taking levels in War Hulk?
Anti-Paladin 12, Grave Knight? No idea what he's up to really.
Rogue/Ranger 13ish, Kobold, Advanced, makes traps, now trying to be a UMD Wizard.
Me-Swiss Army Sorcerer-6th Level Arcane and 5th Level Divine, Sorcerer 9 with Razmiran Priest/Cyphermage 4. Human with Half Elf racial heritage feat, Advanced template.
Mailman Sorcerer-Starting next session. No idea what he's up to.

Unarmed Swordsage has been recommended before, I'll start looking into it for her.

[Larkas]

Oh, forgot to mention, that Monk build I mentioned is sometimes regarded as a Tier 3 Monk, in case you understand what that means. If you do, you'll understand how much of an upgrade it is.

But check Unarmed Swordsage. It is just plain fun.

[Morbis Meh]

Unarmed Swordsage has been recommended before, I'll start looking into it for her.

Make sure she takes the feat Shadow Blade, it will add her dex to damage on top of strength for shadow hand weapons (unarmed being one of them) Also Superior unarmed strike will help her damage a bit if she is interested... As for discipline focus they're all good in different situations but I have a soft spot for shadow hand... I can become invisibe, teleport and force choke shadow garrote all in one round at a higher level!

[The Redwolf]

Granted, this is homebrew, but still, I've been using it in the campaign we're in right now and it's pretty great. Unarmed swordsage is like swordsage with a dash of monk, so this is monk with a dash of swordsage, it's nice. http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29762