my monk incidentally acquired wild shape; need help with mechanics

[King of Nowhere]

my monk got ahold of an homebrewed magical effect that let him transform into a earth elemental, in a manner similar to the druid wild shape. it was mostly accidental (randomized reward), and not motivated by particular optimization ideas.
in a couple sessions it has been good for utility - earth glide let us escape from a drow city after the wizard run out of teleports, and immunity to paralysis allowed me to escape paralysis by shapeshifting into elemental (we were unsure whether it was a "purely mental action", dm decided it was).
However, we then realized we really were unsure on how to stat it for fighting. the instructions are complex, especially when they refer to stuff like "special qualities" that are on monster stats, not on character sheets.

So I'm asking if some kind soul would help me with the conversion, particularly related (but not limited) to the following doubts
- how does my monk speed boost affect my new move speed?
- do I keep my monk AC and spell resistance?
- how does my monk unarmed damage interact with the new form's natural attacks?
- can i still use stunning fists and abundant step?
- do I gain any of the elemental's feats? which ones?
- if I take off my magic items before changing shape and don them while in elemental form, do they work while I am elemental? after I turn back to human, do I keep them? do they fall off my body?

thanks.
P.S. Please do note that, contrary to popular assumption, my monk is reasonably effective, and therefore it does not need any special buff

[Psyren]

3.5 or Pathfinder? Wild Shape is very different between the two.

[Falontani]

3.5
You keep all your class stuff, your unarmed strikes deal damage based on your new size, you can still flurry in new form. You keep your base saves and base attack bonus. You can only flurry with unarmed and the specific weapons.

[Necroticplague]

in a couple sessions it has been good for utility - earth glide let us escape from a drow city after the wizard run out of teleports, and immunity to paralysis allowed me to escape paralysis by shapeshifting into elemental (we were unsure whether it was a "purely mental action", dm decided it was).
Well, for one thing, your lack of having read Wild Shape's entry is made very clear here, since you wouldn't get immunity to paralysis. That's a result of your type, which is unchanged.




The instructions are complex, especially when they refer to stuff like "special qualities" that are on monster stats, not on character sheets. Not really. Class levels are covered one of the bullet points, so it's not needed to re-iterate. The rest is covered what you have as a creature vs. what you have as a different creature. Class remains the same.



- how does my monk speed boost affect my new move speed?
- do I keep my monk AC and spell resistance?
- can i still use stunning fists and abundant step?
All of these can be answered in one chunk together:

At 5th level, a druid gains the ability to turn herself into any Small or Medium animal and back again once per day. Her options for new forms include all creatures with the animal type. This ability functions like the alternate form special ability, except as noted here.

Alternate Form

A creature with this special quality has the ability to assume one or more specific alternate forms. A true seeing spell or ability reveals the creature’s natural form. A creature using alternate form reverts to its natural form when killed, but separated body parts retain their shape. A creature cannot use alternate form to take the form of a creature with a template. Assuming an alternate form results in the following changes to the creature:

The creature retains the type and subtype of its original form. It gains the size of its new form. If the new form has the aquatic subtype, the creature gains that subtype as well.
The creature loses the natural weapons, natural armor, and movement modes of its original form, as well as any extraordinary special attacks of its original form not derived from class levels (such as the barbarian’s rage class feature).
The creature gains the natural weapons, natural armor, movement modes, and extraordinary special attacks of its new form.
The creature retains the special qualities of its original form. It does not gain any special qualities of its new form.
The creature retains the spell-like abilities and supernatural attacks of its old form (except for breath weapons and gaze attacks). It does not gain the spell-like abilities or attacks of its new form.
The creature gains the physical ability scores (Str, Dex, Con) of its new form. It retains the mental ability scores (Int, Wis, Cha) of its original form. Apply any changed physical ability score modifiers in all appropriate areas with one exception: the creature retains the hit points of its original form despite any change to its Constitution.
The creature retains its hit points and save bonuses, although its save modifiers may change due to a change in ability scores.
Except as described elsewhere, the creature retains all other game statistics of its original form, including (but not necessarily limited to) HD, hit points, skill ranks, feats, base attack bonus, and base save bonuses.
The creature retains any spellcasting ability it had in its original form, although it must be able to speak intelligibly to cast spells with verbal components and it must have humanlike hands to cast spells with somatic components.
The creature is effectively camouflaged as a creature of its new form, and it gains a +10 bonus on Disguise checks if it uses this ability to create a disguise.
Any gear worn or carried by the creature that can’t be worn or carried in its new form instead falls to the ground in its space. If the creature changes size, any gear it wears or carries that can be worn or carried in its new form changes size to match the new size. (Nonhumanoid-shaped creatures can’t wear armor designed for humanoid-shaped creatures, and vice versa.) Gear returns to normal size if dropped.
Bolded the relevant clause here. Since that covers anything that isn't explicitely mentioned, it also covers class levels. So even when you're an elemental, you're still a monk (just as if you were an elemental that took monk levels, instead of a human that took monk levels and then turned into an elemental).



- do I gain any of the elemental's feats? which ones?
Nope. There's nothing that says you gain the feats, so you don't.


- if I take off my magic items before changing shape and don them while in elemental form, do they work while I am elemental? after I turn back to human, do I keep them? do they fall off my body?
Yes to the first one. Why wouldn't they? Wild Shape's description itself is very clear on the second part.

Any gear worn or carried by the druid melds into the new form and becomes nonfunctional. When the druid reverts to her true form, any objects previously melded into the new form reappear in the same location on her body that they previously occupied and are once again functional. Any new items worn in the assumed form fall off and land at the druid's feet.
So if you turn into an elemental, put on all your gear, and turn back, you'll just have a heap of equipment at your feat. I'd recommend bringing Wilding Clasps.


- how does my monk unarmed damage interact with the new form's natural attacks?
Not at all. Your monk unarmed damage only applies to your Unarmed Strike, not to any of your other natural weapons (barring the Beast Strike feat, of course).

Do note, however, that you might get a damage boost to your unarmed strikes if your elemental form is larger than your normal form.

[Falontani]

Do note, however, that you might get a damage boost to your unarmed strikes if your elemental form is larger than your normal form.


Necroticplague's post is 100% correct; however I just wanted to elaborate a little bit about this last point. If you were a human you are considered medium (usually). This means you follow the table presented in the Monk class for medium for your unarmed strikes. Since Unarmed Strike is a class feature (and also added to with feats) you may still make unarmed strikes as a monk. However if you are any size other than medium while you are in your elemental form, then your unarmed strikes' damage dice change. Your strength changes, so your attack bonus changes and your bonus to damage changes. However since your BAB does not change you still make the same number of unarmed strikes.

If you do not know much about natural attacks I highly suggest Ur Priest's Monstrous Monster Handbook (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?207928-Urpriest-s-Monstrous-Monster-Handbook) It teaches you everything you need to know when playing the monster.

[King of Nowhere]

Ok, thanks for the help.
I do want to point out, though, that i did try to read the srd for alternate form, and that i skimmed the first third of the linked urpriest guide without finding anything new.
But while every single point is manageable, taken all together they are daunting. At the third or fourth need to cross-reference something else because i needed to see what category everything fell in, i gave up. Rules are not complicated, but all their interactions are.
Also, i could not stop the table for one hour while i tried to figure out everything. We mostly handwaved it, and turns out we mostly got it right - except for the paralysis part.

[eggynack]

Nope. There's nothing that says you gain the feats, so you don't.

This is not necessarily true. If what we're dealing with is just wild shape that happens to be into an elemental, then definitely, feats aren't part of the package. If instead we're dealing with the druid ability to wild shape into an elemental, then that changes things somewhat. "In addition to the normal effects of wild shape, the druid gains all the elemental’s extraordinary, supernatural, and spell-like abilities. She also gains the elemental’s feats for as long as she maintains the wild shape."

[King of Nowhere]

this all seems very powerful, anyway. Basically, compared to my human form, I would lose a bit of dexterity - i'd still get enough for a second attack of opportunity with my gloves, though. while i'd gain a lot of STR, some con, plenty of natural AC and some damage. And reach. If i get this right, I'm losing nothing but that bit of dexterity. I may have to nerf it

[Necroticplague]

This is not necessarily true. If what we're dealing with is just wild shape that happens to be into an elemental, then definitely, feats aren't part of the package. If instead we're dealing with the druid ability to wild shape into an elemental, then that changes things somewhat. "In addition to the normal effects of wild shape, the druid gains all the elemental’s extraordinary, supernatural, and spell-like abilities. She also gains the elemental’s feats for as long as she maintains the wild shape."

Fair enough point. And if he's getting the Earth Glide from the elemental form, than it must be emulating that version of the ability, so he actually does get the feats.