Monk/Cleric

[Solace of Tides]

Hello,

I have researched this topic quite a bit, but I still have some unanswered questions I was hoping I could find the answers to here...

I have started a level 3 Monk/3 Cleric, and plan to stick to Cleric the whole way from here on out. I plan on running a DMM: Persist Cleric with the additional Monk damage and AC/flavor (got a whole bunch of skills at 1st level that will greatly affect future cleric gameplay - and i'm keeping both wis and cha high).
I know usually only 2 levels of Monk are recommended in a multi-class, but with the Monks belt I am able to strike with a d10 as opposed to a d8 from a level 2 monk with the belt.
I guess what I want to know is:

will this extra monk level be worth it ultimately?
will my caster progression be fine without having to use a prestige class?
will practiced spellcaster feat be necessary?
has anyone tried this before?

Also, if you have any additional feedback or insight on the subject I would be very happy to read it - as there aren't too many people I've found that multiclass the two like this.

I've been looking into this for quite some time to try and find the ins and outs of the whole thing, but I've only very recently started playing again and again, I would appreciate any and all feedback - sorry if this kind of rambles on...

(Oh, domains are earth and water - probably not the best domains choices, but I thought it'd be a cool concept to mess with, especially with persisted iron body at later levels... stack with divine power btw?)

Thank you.

[Magnetic]

I have a played a Monk/Cleric - I believe it was a Cleric 11/Monk 1 by the time the campaign ended.

I super-duper do not recommend it.

I was playing this character back in the old days of 3.0 edition, so 1 level of monk gave me Evasion, in addition to the useful +2 to all saves and Wis to AC when unarmored, plus crappy unarmed damage and stunning fist. The 3.0 Monk was more front-loaded than it is now in 3.5.

Also, the DM was running a practically NO-wealth by level campaign. I remember around 9th level, our party's fighter still had to rely on a Masterwork weapon because we couldn't even get our hands on, yet alone afford, magical equipment at PHB prices. So it's not like I could afford decent armor, thus Wis to AC was a good deal.

Anyway towards the very end of the campaign my DM let me rebuild and I was able to get rid of that level of monk to be a pure level 12 cleric who hit things with a 2 handed weapon under divine power when not using Harm. That was so much better than flailing away with my fists.

So back to your monk. This is my advice. The optimal amount of monk levels your cleric should take is 0. The closer you get to 0 the better off you will be.
4 levels of monk is worse than 3 levels which is worse than 2 levels which is worse than 1 level of monk in your build. All those monk levels do for you is reduce your ability to manipulate reality through access to the awesomely powerful cleric spell list.

Seriously, you are trading way your ability to do incredibly powerful magic for the ability to punch slightly harder. How could that ever be a good deal? Each level of monk displaces your highest level of cleric so you are always trading off the most powerful spells you could have been casting if you didn't have monk levels. The higher in level your character gets, the more severe this opportunity cost becomes. Those monk levels are like a balance on your credit card that you never pay off - the interest keeps building and building until it costs your everything.

Also, you must have a GOD-LIKE array of stats for your monk 3/cleric 3 to be viable in combat with that build. You said you are focusing on CHA and WIS, so how are you even hitting things and surviving being attacked? How many attributes do you have in the 16-18 range before buffs?

[Mjollnir075]

Well, while the above poster is indeed correct in saying that adding Monk to Cleric builds is sub-optimal, you clearly wished for more advice than "Don't do it!". Besides, like you said, you wanted the Earth and Water Domains for flavor, not power.

Having said that, I'll do what I can to offer some advice on the subject.

I don't think that Monk 3 is really the best choice. Yeah, d10 is bigger than d8, but the average damage isn't going to change enough to really warrant the level lost to Monk (it's probably an average of 1 more damage per hit). Wis to AC is really the big draw for those 2 levels of monk, and the bonus feats/Imp. Unarmed Strike are nice little additions. Oh, and the +2 to all three saves.

As far as worrying about caster level loss, that's also in favor of Monk 2. Yeah, you would still end up with 9th level spells should you make it all the way to 20, but that's quite a wait and many games never reach those higher levels.

With prestige classes in mind, I would suggest looking at the Sacred Fist. It's a prestige class from Complete Divine (providing you have access to it) that combines the Monk and Cleric classes, progressing your Unarmed damage, but you lose 2 levels of your spellcasting progression (Not having the book in front of me, though I know there is a discrepancy over text v.s table. One says you get full spellcasting, the other says no. I'm going to assume the worst for the rest of my advice.) That's a pretty crappy if you take it all the way, so I would suggest just hopping out after getting Blindsense at 6th level (also increasing your Fast Movement to 20ft).

If you went Monk 2/Cleric x/Sacred Fist 6, you would still end up with 9th level spells at 20, if that's a concern.

If losing 9ths isn't really a concern to you (personally, all of my characters are flavor over power, but I don't play in high-op games.), then a cool build might be something like..

Monk 2/Cleric 3/Sacred Fist 6/Fist of Raziel 9
Fist of Raziel is from Book of Exalted Deeds, and it's not really related to fists at all, but it does come packed with 9/10 casting progression and a bunch of abilities tied to hurting evil enemies. So if you are all about bringing the pain to evil-doers, this could be halfway decent.

Anyway, I hope I helped you a bit with my advice. I tend to ramble a bit, and I'm sure some of the other playgrounders have better advice, but I hoped it at least gave you some ideas.

[Solace of Tides]

Scores are a bit high, we got to swap our lowest for an 18 and then we found a Tome of Int:

STR: 16
DEX: 18
CON: 14
INT: 14
WIS: 18
CHA: 18

In theory I would still have access to 9th level spells right? With a high enough Wis (periapt wis etc) would it ever be a worthy trade off? Also since I'm fairly new I'm not sure what endgame damage looks like - will I be doing more as lvl8 unarmed monk dmg dmmcleric or as reg dmm cleric?



Sorry this took so long...

Sent from my XBox

[Solace of Tides]

Well, while the above poster is indeed correct in saying that adding Monk to Cleric builds is sub-optimal, you clearly wished for more advice than "Don't do it!". Besides, like you said, you wanted the Earth and Water Domains for flavor, not power.

Having said that, I'll do what I can to offer some advice on the subject.

I don't think that Monk 3 is really the best choice. Yeah, d10 is bigger than d8, but the average damage isn't going to change enough to really warrant the level lost to Monk (it's probably an average of 1 more damage per hit). Wis to AC is really the big draw for those 2 levels of monk, and the bonus feats/Imp. Unarmed Strike are nice little additions. Oh, and the +2 to all three saves.

As far as worrying about caster level loss, that's also in favor of Monk 2. Yeah, you would still end up with 9th level spells should you make it all the way to 20, but that's quite a wait and many games never reach those higher levels.

With prestige classes in mind, I would suggest looking at the Sacred Fist (http://dndtools.eu/classes/sacred-fist/). It's a prestige class from Complete Divine (providing you have access to it) that combines the Monk and Cleric classes, progressing your Unarmed damage, but you lose 2 levels of your spellcasting progression (Not having the book in front of me, though I know there is a discrepancy over text v.s table. One says you get full spellcasting, the other says no. I'm going to assume the worst for the rest of my advice.) That's a pretty crappy if you take it all the way, so I would suggest just hopping out after getting Blindsense at 6th level (also increasing your Fast Movement to 20ft).

If you went Monk 2/Cleric x/Sacred Fist 6, you would still end up with 9th level spells at 20, if that's a concern.

If losing 9ths isn't really a concern to you (personally, all of my characters are flavor over power, but I don't play in high-op games.), then a cool build might be something like..

Monk 2/Cleric 3/Sacred Fist 6/Fist of Raziel 9
Fist of Raziel (http://dndtools.eu/classes/fist-of-raziel/)is from Book of Exalted Deeds, and it's not really related to fists at all, but it does come packed with 9/10 casting progression and a bunch of abilities tied to hurting evil enemies. So if you are all about bringing the pain to evil-doers, this could be halfway decent.

Anyway, I hope I helped you a bit with my advice. I tend to ramble a bit, and I'm sure some of the other playgrounders have better advice, but I hoped it at least gave you some ideas.

Thanks a lot, I really appreciate it. I'm really trying to avoid Prestige classes though, but really want to keep those 9th level spells. Any viable option for just the two base classes?


also: i thought maybe death domain for secret monk priest death strike type attack but Slay Living is pretty similar, so any domain/feat combo for this hybrid class would be cool to get advice on.

[One Step Two]

Thanks a lot, I really appreciate it. I'm really trying to avoid Prestige classes though, but really want to keep those 9th level spells. Any viable option for just the two base classes?


also: i thought maybe death domain for secret monk priest death strike type attack but Slay Living is pretty similar, so any domain/feat combo for this hybrid class would be cool to get advice on.

Your best bet is Monk 2/Cleric 18, grab a Monks Belt, and take the Superior Unarmed Strike feat from Tome of Battle. You'll count as a Monk of level 11 for unarmed Damage, and monk level 7 for your AC bonus. Add in Snap Kick, also in tome of battle from to get another hit for "flurry of blows"

However, wanting to avoid Sacred Fist is your desire, but it really is a pretty top-notch PrC, text trumping table means you get full caster progression, full base attack bonus. It scales your Monk Class Skills for movement, AC and damage. With Monk 2/Cleric 8/Sacred Fist 10, and a Monk's belt, you're Doing the damage of a 17th level monk, along with the AC, and all the buff spells you could want.

While Sacred fist does lend towards being a Good character, you could always talk to your DM to refluff it as a Profane Fist. Making all the bonuses profane so you can be evil instead.

[Magnetic]

Thanks a lot, I really appreciate it. I'm really trying to avoid Prestige classes though, but really want to keep those 9th level spells. Any viable option for just the two base classes?

Look, just don't take that extra level of monk. If the first 3 weren't worth it, then the fourth definitely isn't. You are just digging a deeper hole.

Your spellcaster progression is totally shot. I mean, you'll be okay at level 20 when 17 of those levels are cleric. But GETTING TO 20 is going to be a much harder slog because of those monk levels. They are a cost, not a benefit.

If you FIRST took 17-18 straight levels of cleric, and THEN decided you wanted to hit stuff with your fists for your last 2-3 character levels - well that's okay - you already made a beeline for the best spells in the game so maybe you can afford to play kung-fu action hero because if that doesn't work out you can literally just call your god for a Miracle. But taking those monk levels first just means you have no safety net - you will always have worse spells than you are expected to have for the monsters of CR you would usually be fighting.

Regarding your remaining questions from the original post:

(2) Practiced spell caster doesn't really mitigate the greatest source of harm - which is that your multi-classing is delaying access to better spells by 3 to 4 levels. The feat will increase your caster level, but your caster level is not what determines what spell levels you have access to. But still, you should take the feat. It will help. Just don't expect it to solve the problem.

(4) I've played a monk/cleric (although my stats were typical of 4d6 drop lowest (str 11, dex 13, con 13, int 11, wis 17, cha 7) and I only took 1 level of monk.

You seem to care about effectiveness. All your questions relate to the idea of being effective. My advice to anyone attempting this kind of class combo who also cares about effectiveness is this: don't do it - or at least don't go adding monk levels until you have already gained enough cleric levels to have access to all the spells that you want to be able to cast. Once you have 9th level spells, who cares what you do with your build - it's impossible to screw up at that point. But delaying access to those spells is... not something you do if you care about effectiveness.

[Solace of Tides]

Your best bet is Monk 2/Cleric 18, grab a Monks Belt, and take the Superior Unarmed Strike feat from Tome of Battle. You'll count as a Monk of level 11 for unarmed Damage, and monk level 7 for your AC bonus. Add in Snap Kick, also in tome of battle from to get another hit for "flurry of blows"

However, wanting to avoid Sacred Fist is your desire, but it really is a pretty top-notch PrC, text trumping table means you get full caster progression, full base attack bonus. It scales your Monk Class Skills for movement, AC and damage. With Monk 2/Cleric 8/Sacred Fist 10, and a Monk's belt, you're Doing the damage of a 17th level monk, along with the AC, and all the buff spells you could want.

While Sacred fist does lend towards being a Good character, you could always talk to your DM to refluff it as a Profane Fist. Making all the bonuses profane so you can be evil instead.

Ill definitely switch to Monk 2 while I still can. Were pretty much just using the core set, with complete arcane and divine to get the metamagic feats so Ill be a little limited on some of that stuff though. Any ways it might work without those books?

[Solace of Tides]

Look, just don't take that extra level of monk. If the first 3 weren't worth it, then the fourth definitely isn't. You are just digging a deeper hole.

Your spellcaster progression is totally shot. I mean, you'll be okay at level 20 when 17 of those levels are cleric. But GETTING TO 20 is going to be a much harder slog because of those monk levels. They are a cost, not a benefit.

If you FIRST took 17-18 straight levels of cleric, and THEN decided you wanted to hit stuff with your fists for your last 2-3 character levels - well that's okay - you already made you beeline to the best spells in the game so maybe you can afford to play kung-fu action hero because if that doesn't work out you can literally just call your god for a Miracle. But taking those monk levels first just means you have no safety net - you will always have worse spells than you are expected to have for the monsters of CR you would usually be fighting.

Regarding your remaining questions from the original post:

(2) Practiced spell caster doesn't really mitigate the greatest source of harm - which is that your multi-classing is delaying access to better spells by 3 to 4 levels. The feat will increase your caster level, but your caster level is not what determines what spell levels you have access to. But still, you should take the feat. It will help. Just don't expect it to solve the problem.

(4) I've played a monk/cleric (although my stats were typical of 4d6 drop lowest (str 11, dex 13, con 13, int 11, wis 17, cha 7) and I only took 1 level of monk.

You seem to care about effectiveness. All your questions relate to the idea of being effective. My advice to anyone attempting this kind of class combo who also cares about effectiveness is this: don't do it - or at least don't go adding monk levels until you have already gained enough cleric levels to have access to all the spells that you want to be able to cast. Once you have 9th level spells, who care what you do with your build - it's impossible to screw up at that point. But delaying access to those spells is... not something you do if you care about effectiveness.

To be totally honest I never gave leveling in that order much thought. I always assumed the skills and monk's belt early on would be a no brainer, but in playing the character recently the lack of spells has been a hinderance and this could very well be the answer to my problem. Is it possible to go back to being a nonlawful cleric after taking monk? And also, will those 2 monk levels for damage feats and evasion give me any sort of edge over the traditional DMM Cleric?

[One Step Two]

Thing is, once you multi-class out of Monk, you cant go back. You keep monk abilities, but cannot progress further.

What comes next, is a hard question: How much do you want to keep monk levels at all? What kind of DMM did you want to use?

If you want to focus on spells and self-buffs and whatnot, at the end of the day Cleric 20 is always gonna be good, and a Monk's belt is enough to fake 5 levels of Monk without spending levels or feats. Divine power yourself, and start punching stuff, even without other feats or Divine Meta-magic, that still works.

[Solace of Tides]

Thing is, once you multi-class out of Monk, you cant go back. You keep monk abilities, but cannot progress further.

What comes next, is a hard question: How much do you want to keep monk levels at all? What kind of DMM did you want to use?

If you want to focus on spells and self-buffs and whatnot, at the end of the day Cleric 20 is always gonna be good, and a Monk's belt is enough to fake 5 levels of Monk without spending levels or feats. Divine power yourself, and start punching stuff, even without other feats or Divine Meta-magic, that still works.

I originally liked the monk for the feats, evasion, damage, innate wis to ac (just b/c) and the skills. I chose Improved Grapple and Combat Reflexes, which I thought, with Imprv Unarmarmed Strike and the damage, would give my character something special - an edge other clerics didnt have at the expense of a couple spells a day.

[Zombulian]

Well, while the above poster is indeed correct in saying that adding Monk to Cleric builds is sub-optimal, you clearly wished for more advice than "Don't do it!". Besides, like you said, you wanted the Earth and Water Domains for flavor, not power.

Having said that, I'll do what I can to offer some advice on the subject.

I don't think that Monk 3 is really the best choice. Yeah, d10 is bigger than d8, but the average damage isn't going to change enough to really warrant the level lost to Monk (it's probably an average of 1 more damage per hit). Wis to AC is really the big draw for those 2 levels of monk, and the bonus feats/Imp. Unarmed Strike are nice little additions. Oh, and the +2 to all three saves.

As far as worrying about caster level loss, that's also in favor of Monk 2. Yeah, you would still end up with 9th level spells should you make it all the way to 20, but that's quite a wait and many games never reach those higher levels.

With prestige classes in mind, I would suggest looking at the Sacred Fist (http://dndtools.eu/classes/sacred-fist/). It's a prestige class from Complete Divine (providing you have access to it) that combines the Monk and Cleric classes, progressing your Unarmed damage, but you lose 2 levels of your spellcasting progression (Not having the book in front of me, though I know there is a discrepancy over text v.s table. One says you get full spellcasting, the other says no. I'm going to assume the worst for the rest of my advice.) That's a pretty crappy if you take it all the way, so I would suggest just hopping out after getting Blindsense at 6th level (also increasing your Fast Movement to 20ft).

If you went Monk 2/Cleric x/Sacred Fist 6, you would still end up with 9th level spells at 20, if that's a concern.

If losing 9ths isn't really a concern to you (personally, all of my characters are flavor over power, but I don't play in high-op games.), then a cool build might be something like..

Monk 2/Cleric 3/Sacred Fist 6/Fist of Raziel 9
Fist of Raziel (http://dndtools.eu/classes/fist-of-raziel/)is from Book of Exalted Deeds, and it's not really related to fists at all, but it does come packed with 9/10 casting progression and a bunch of abilities tied to hurting evil enemies. So if you are all about bringing the pain to evil-doers, this could be halfway decent.

Anyway, I hope I helped you a bit with my advice. I tend to ramble a bit, and I'm sure some of the other playgrounders have better advice, but I hoped it at least gave you some ideas.

Sorry quick thing. I would recommend scrubbing those DnD Tools links. The site hosts illegal material and the mods don't like seeing it posted round here. Just trying to look out for you.

[One Step Two]

To be quite honest, Monk 2 is pretty much worth it, the spells are very nice, but evasion means laughing off fireballs, cause you have the saves and stats to pull it off. That said, grapping is worthless at high levels when Freedom of movement becomes more prevalent, and those extra spells per day are a higher level set, which can matter.

A couple of things I missed earlier:

Practiced spellcaster, can help keep your Persisted buffs safe vs enemy dispellers, no matter what the case a ring of counter-spells with a stored dispel magic to keep your buffs protected is definetly worthwhile, a ring of spell battle (from the magic item compendium) is better if you can snag it.

You have access to Complete Divine, for the feats, it also the Sacred Fist PrC? I know you wish to avoid PrCs, and it needs some feat re-shuffling, but it pretty much carries your concept forwards, and you have the stats to really make it work.

Finally, the bonus to strength from iron body and divine power will not stack, but it will stack with Righteous Might.

[Solace of Tides]

To be quite honest, Monk 2 is pretty much worth it, the spells are very nice, but evasion means laughing off fireballs, cause you have the saves and stats to pull it off. That said, grapping is worthless at high levels when Freedom of movement becomes more prevalent, and those extra spells per day are a higher level set, which can matter.

A couple of things I missed earlier:

Practiced spellcaster, can help keep your Persisted buffs safe vs enemy dispellers, no matter what the case a ring of counter-spells with a stored dispel magic to keep your buffs protected is definetly worthwhile, a ring of spell battle (from the magic item compendium) is better if you can snag it.

You have access to Complete Divine, for the feats, it also the Sacred Fist PrC? I know you wish to avoid PrCs, and it needs some feat re-shuffling, but it pretty much carries your concept forwards, and you have the stats to really make it work.

Finally, the bonus to strength from iron body and divine power will not stack, but it will stack with Righteous Might.

Ok. Is there any equipment that will help me use more spells (other than +wis)? I remember the vest of the archmagi in the compendium let you recycle spells or something (edit:its arcane spells only)? Are there other items/abilities with similar effects?

[Krazzman]

Pearl of Power let's you reactivate a spellslot(with a spell prepared in it) as if you never cast that spell.

I would also recommend going into the PrC since Cleric 20 is pretty worthless except for the spells.

If I were to make a "Cleric/Monk" mix I would go Monk2/Cloistered ClericX/Cleric PrCX/Sacred Fist.

[olentu]

Ok. Is there any equipment that will help me use more spells (other than +wis)? I remember the vest of the archmagi in the compendium let you recycle spells or something (edit:its arcane spells only)? Are there other items/abilities with similar effects?

Pearls of power.

[sleepyphoenixx]

Monk levels on a caster are never worth it imo. You can get a lot more mileage out of 2 levels of (unarmed) Swordsage if you're set on the concept of an unarmed/unarmored Cleric/Martial Artist.

You would lose Evasion and have a lower will save but gain access to maneuvers (which are a lot more valuable imo). It also has the option to get into Ruby Knight Vindicator (5 if you want to keep 9th level casting) if you get Martial Study/Martial Stance, allowing you to recharge maneuvers with TU uses with a swift action (negating the greatest weakness of the Swordsage).

If you're set on Monk levels anything beyond 2 is pretty much a waste. An increase on damage die is practically worthless since you get many times the damage boost from getting your cleric buffs a level earlier.
Monk 3 gives you nothing worthwhile. Monk 4 is even worse since you'd give up 9th level spells for two effects that are worse versions of first level spells.

If you can spare the feats, practiced spellcaster is a good choice to take on pretty much any caster multiclass. You can further boost your CL with a Bead of Karma (DMG) and Ankh of Ascension (MIC).

[nedz]

Cleric is pretty powerful so although dropping a couple of levels will hurt, it won't hurt all that much.

Druid, or even Spirit Shaman, might have been a better choice: there are a number of buffs which you can apply to a quarter staff, which you can flurry with.

I would stop at Monk 2 though. Ask yourself what Monk 3 gives you ?
+1 BAB , +2 on a few saves, +2 skill points and a small bump in speed and damage. The opportunity cost: You lose a level of Spell casting.

The trouble with the build is that at high level, if the game lasts that long, your Monk combat stuff will be pretty irrelevant. Sacred Fist would address this, but at that stage you're going to be casting every round anyway.

[Gnaeus]

I agree with most everything that has been said. But...



will my caster progression be fine without having to use a prestige class?
will practiced spellcaster feat be necessary? .

Optimization is not done in a vacuum. If your party is a fighter, a rogue, and a warmage, Monk 3/Cleric 17, or even Monk 4/Cleric 16, will do fine, and probably be the MVP. If your party is Warblade, Beguiler or Factotum, Wizard & you, you may be fatally crippling your character with monk levels. The full cleric will always be stronger, but what is "fine" or "necessary" depends on information we do not have.

[Prime32]

I know usually only 2 levels of Monk are recommended in a multi-class, but with the Monks belt I am able to strike with a d10 as opposed to a d8 from a level 2 monk with the belt. That's only +1 damage. With an extra level of cleric you get buffs that can grant much larger bonuses.

Monk 2/Cleric 3/Sacred Fist X should be fine; just switch out that Improved Grapple for Stunning Fist (not only do you need the prereqs, grappling prevents you from spellcasting, and you won't be able to grapple anything that's larger than you or under a freedom of movement effect anyway).

[Mjollnir075]

Sorry quick thing. I would recommend scrubbing those DnD Tools links. The site hosts illegal material and the mods don't like seeing it posted round here. Just trying to look out for you.

Hey, thanks. I'm always a little unsure about what sites are ok to link to. Thanks for the heads up.


Yeah, like a couple other posters above said, using the books you have access to pretty much narrows it down to either Monk 2/Cleric 18 or Monk 2/Cleric 8/Sacred Fist 10.

I do like the idea of the Secret Death Priest though. Worship Wee Jas, Take Death and Law, hunt down those who try and cheat Death.

[DMVerdandi]

I will agree that monk will dilute the cleric, by A LOT.
Remember, the monk's source of strength comes from ki, not truly from martial arts. After all, even the fighter can practice the way of the fist.

To be perfectly honest, rather than monk, A level of fighter and one of a feat rogue would do you FAR BETTER than one of a monk, because you can get some bonus feats out of the deal, and possibly some skillz.

A human Fighter 1/Feat rogue 1/Cleric of war and strength 4 would do some DAMAGE. Get spontaneous domain casting.
First feats.
1. Practiced spellcaster. So you can keep your caster level high.
1.Able Learner. Will kick ass because of your rogue level.
Bonus- Intuitive Attack (wis to attack[simple weapons])
Bonus- Power attack


3. Item Familiar (Oh, boy, this is a cool feat. +10% experience alone is INSANE for being item creation, for example. Then you get more skills through your familar, which should obviously be a ring) If you want to get started early on the DMM persist thing, ignore this.

Wear gauntlets. They are enchantable, and you are proficient. Pick up a monk's belt, and if later, depending if you have a spare feat, pick up snap kick.

[Emperor Tippy]

Monk dips tend to be ill-advised on clerics.

Lack of Arcane Spell Failure means that you will usually be wearing armor and thus loose out on the one real benefit of a Monk Dip (and if you aren't wearing armor than a Monk's Belt will give you the Wis to AC anyways).

On a Wizard a one level Monk dip can make sense. It puts you on the same spell progression as a Sorcerer but (after Chaos Shuffling Improved Unarmed Strike and your 1st level bonus feat) nets you Int to AC, +2 to every save, and a feat while costing you 1 point of AB. It also makes the skills that are adventuring staples (Hide, Move Silently, Spot, and Listen) class skills.

Gray Elf Monk 1 with 16 base Dex and 18 base int becomes 18/20 after racial mods and with Kung Fu Genius that gives you a first level AC of 19 and nets you 8 extra skill points. Go wizard after that and Chaos Shuffle IUS and your Bonus Feat into whatever and Faerie Mysteries Initiate. Feat wise it ends up as a wash but you get Int to AC and Int to HP along with the class skills, 4 extra HP, and skill points. All for being minimally behind on spells.

You can make a Monk 1/ Wizard 19 that has around 330 HP and an AC of 41 at ECL 20 with a net investment delaying spell progression for 1 level and one spell cast per day.

---
So no, I don't think that the third level of Monk is worth it. Honestly I would put no levels of Monk on your build. They add nothing really to your build that a cheap item couldn't provide.

[Solace of Tides]

I never knew about the evasion ring, and if the melee damage/abilities is close between the two builds I guess that would lead me to second guess the whole multiclass in general - especially since being a powerful cleric is my main goal. Would I benefit more from having the abilities innately and using the gear slots for other items (rings of force armor, other belts/rings etc) or would I benefit more from using the ring/monks belt and the two extra cleric levels?

Thanks for all of the feedback.