Shadow Monk MC that is not assassin

[arrowstorm]

I am making a Forest Gnome Shadow Monk 18/Illusionist 2. The basic idea is that he was forced to train as a wizard, focused on illusions to escape, happened upon monastery, boom, monk. I went with this because I thought the Illusionist would be more fun than assassin as I could focus more on stealth and deception rather than "I punch him in the face and his head explodes". Plus more levels in monk and I already have minor illusion as a gnome. Starting at level 3 so Wiz 2/Monk 1.
Spell list is Minor Illusion, Dancing Lights, Message, Mold Earth, Color Spray, Disguise Self, Shield, Find Familiar, Magic Missile, and Absorb Elements.
Thoughts and suggestions are welcome. Thanks in advance.

[SharkForce]

if you want to focus on stealth and deception, why not take arcane trickster? or just take 2 rogue levels with no subclass at all? nothing says that if you take rogue levels, they *must* be to get the assassin subclass.

[coredump]

Warlock 2, devils sight.....

[glickman]

what about Ranger/Hunter? that extra d8 is nice bit of bonus Dmg

[Dalebert]

You also get Minor Illusion from Shadow Monk at 3rd. That will be redundant. If you sincerely just like the idea of a gnome, go for it. If it's just for min-max reasons and for a free cantrip, maybe consider a high elf. They get a free cantrip of your choice. Maybe consider Warlock 2 with Devil's Sight as suggested and the Silent Image at will invocation? Or maybe the Disguise Self at will one. But half-elf is probably the way to go for a monk/warlock ideally for the right stat bonuses and the extra skills won't hurt.

[BootStrapTommy]

The question is Pact of Tome, Chain, or Blade?

[EvanescentHero]

For flavor reasons, you could do shadow monk/shadow sorcerer. Not sure off the top of my head how good a combo that is, but it seems like a potentially fun one.