Monk / Cleric

[lokisapocalypse]

Hi all,

I'm thinking about my next character and I've always enjoyed playing monks. I wanted to play a monk that has trained / studied in a monastery dedicated to some guy I haven't decided yet and as part of his training, he is sent out in to the world at large to spread the word of same god and help others.

I'd like to create a monk / cleric multiclass character but where I'm stuck at is how much of each and when to take a level in either. I'd like to start monk and be more monk than cleric I think. I'm thinking the monastery will be in a mountainous region overlooking the seas so it will worship one of the gods of thunder / lightning leading me toward tempest cleric. For monk, I haven't decided on Way of the Shadow or Open Hand.

I guess my questions are:

How many levels of each class would you recommend I take?
In what order should I take those levels?

[Dudewithknives]

You could go path of tranquility monk if you want to be more monastic and healing.

Other than unarmed defense, monk does not bring much that would be worth delaying casting ability.

You could flavor a lizardman cleric to be monkish.
Natural attack with cleric buffs.
Natural armor is good backup, and can be like iron shirt kung-fu toughening.

[Fflewddur Fflam]

Monk 12/cleric 8 is a good mix. Always go first 5 levels monk to get extra attack. After that, you can do any sequence of monk/cleric levels you like.

If you want 5th level cleric spells and are willing to lose an ASI, then you can do monk 11/cleric 9.