Diamond Dragon Ardent Monk Tashalatora? (help please)

[Cypheryen]

Hey guys!

I'm in a bit of trouble making a build thanks to the way prcs and tashalatora might interact.
So, the general idea is, to make an ardent with Class Level 17 for the highest manifester level accest, while making it kinda gishy...
The general idea is to min-max as much as possible without losing flavour. The concept is a dragon-spirit fighter/manifester.

If I understand mechanics correctly
Monk 1 (Monastic training, Tashalatora-Ardent)
Ardent 5
Diamond Dragon 10
Ardent 4
Would allow Monk to be advanced to LVL 18 for AC, FoB, Unarmed, as Diamond Dragon would halt any further Monk progression, but would advance Ardent which would advance Monk.

My other idea was it would end up only as Monk 10.

(We play with minor on-the-case homebrew rules, so I'd propose Manifest claws to advance unarmed dmg dice instead of replacing it)

I'm open to any other class/PrC suggestions which fit the theme, but would like to keep manifester capabilities at maximum for ardent if possible.

[ExLibrisMortis]

Diamond Dragon only advances manifesting, not any other class features; as such, it won't advance anything granted by Tashalatora, either.

[Cypheryen]

Diamond Dragon only advances manifesting, not any other class features; as such, it won't advance anything granted by Tashalatora, either.

Thanks!
Would it mean it halts any later progression from Tashalatora-Ardent as Monk?

[Psyren]

Thanks!
Would it mean it halts any later progression from Tashalatora-Ardent as Monk?

I don't think Prestige Classes trigger the "no more Monk levels" restriction but I'm not 100% on that.

Regardless, ELM is correct, you'd only count as a Monk 10 for your tashalatora features (flurry, unarmed and AC) rather than 18.

[Zaq]

I don't think Prestige Classes trigger the "no more Monk levels" restriction but I'm not 100% on that.

Regardless, ELM is correct, you'd only count as a Monk 10 for your tashalatora features (flurry, unarmed and AC) rather than 18.

This is very plausibly a dysfunction (or simply a case of unnecessary rules text), but many PrCs that are obviously intended for monks contain something to the effect of “Special: a monk who takes levels in Timewasting Punchmaster can continue advancing as a monk.” That’s at least circumstantial evidence that some devs believed that PrCs trigger the “no coming back to monk” rule.

[Rebel7284]

A prestige class is also a class, I see no reason why it wouldn't apply to the monk's restriction. From the SRD: A monk who gains a new class or (if already multiclass) raises another class by a level may never again raise her monk level, though she retains all her monk abilities.
Pointless restriction on already a weak class, but it's there unless houseruled away.

And yeah, as others have pointed out Tashalatora only counts a single class which is problematic for anyone who wants to take PrCs. With that said, a pure Ardent is a pretty good class, especially if online content is open. Dominant Ideal is amazing!

You can also take Tashalatora - Diamond Dragon if you want.

[Maat Mons]

(Edit: Ninja-ed) You could key Monastic Training and Tashalatora to the Diamond Dragon prestige class instead of to the Ardent base class. Since you're planning to take 10 levels in the prestige class, you'll wind up at effective Monk level 11, which maxes out Flurry of Blows. You can then buy a Monk's Belt and Monk's Tattoo to get your unarmed damage up to effective Monk level 20.

As an asside, have you considered going Psion instead of Ardent, and taking one of the feats that switches your AC bonus to Intelligence? Buying a Necklace of Natural Attacks with the Skillful special ability will set your base attack bonus to 3/4 your level anyway.

[Cypheryen]

(Edit: Ninja-ed) You could key Monastic Training and Tashalatora to the Diamond Dragon prestige class instead of to the Ardent base class. Since you're planning to take 10 levels in the prestige class, you'll wind up at effective Monk level 11, which maxes out Flurry of Blows. You can then buy a Monk's Belt and Monk's Tattoo to get your unarmed damage up to effective Monk level 20.

As an asside, have you considered going Psion instead of Ardent, and taking one of the feats that switches your AC bonus to Intelligence? Buying a Necklace of Natural Attacks with the Skillful special ability will set your base attack bonus to 3/4 your level anyway.

Thanks for the ideas for everyone! Problem is, my DM said for her the Prc doesn't void the monk lvl advancement, BUT Tashalatora says "If you take levels in any other class, you lose your ability to progress as a monk as usual." and couldn't qualify without ardent, and doesn't want 6 levels of monk, so probably will make a new build without monk, with sth like fighter or another melee viable class, will try to look up some 5 lvl prcs.

The general mechanics idea is to not make it with too many powers, to keep combat flowing as my DM is not familiar with incarnum/psi/etc magic and I don't want to memorize atm the powers either, so the domain-like mantle system seems fun. Maybe I'll check on incarnum as well.

I'm thinking of sth like the dragonslayer magic of Fairy Tail if anyone knows it, so around a dozen or so powers/abilities/whatnot from the caster side, preferably not simple arcane/divine magic, but sth more out of the basic world (despite psi/magic transparency, psi applies thanks to focus and mana-like system instead of slots).

[Rebel7284]

Is you play a Dragonborn Monk 1/Ardent 19 you can keep most of your flavor while being better at what you do.

Dragonborn [Heart Aspect] gives you a breath weapon.
As part of your transformation, you can trade an existing feat for Dragon Wings or Dragon Tail (See mechanics of Rebirth on page 10)
Claws of the Beast power gives you claws.

You end up missing a minimal amount of class features while getting better manifesting and a better Monk progression.

Some other feats to look into:
Entangling Exhalation
Quicken Breath
Beast Strike

Edit:
If you start as one of the Dragontouched races, you might be able to get both Dragon Wings and Dragon Tail.
Also, Draconic Claw feat works for spellcasting, but it's VERY easy to change it to work with manifesting.

[Cypheryen]

Is you play a Dragonborn Monk 1/Ardent 19 you can keep most of your flavor while being better at what you do.

Dragonborn [Heart Aspect] gives you a breath weapon.
As part of your transformation, you can trade an existing feat for Dragon Wings or Dragon Tail (See mechanics of Rebirth on page 10)
Claws of the Beast power gives you claws.

You end up missing a minimal amount of class features while getting better manifesting and a better Monk progression.

Some other feats to look into:
Entangling Exhalation
Quicken Breath
Beast Strike

Edit:
If you start as one of the Dragontouched races, you might be able to get both Dragon Wings and Dragon Tail.
Also, Draconic Claw feat works for spellcasting, but it's VERY easy to change it to work with manifesting.

Thanks for this Rebel, this makes more sense both featwise and progressionwise, I'll take a look at how to get frightening presence like ability and probably my build will be complete with that.

[CactusAir]

Thanks for this Rebel, this makes more sense both featwise and progressionwise, I'll take a look at how to get frightening presence like ability and probably my build will be complete with that.

Go for Enlightened Monk (http://dsp-d20-srd.wikidot.com/enlightened-monk)/Formbound Surger (http://dsp-d20-srd.wikidot.com/formbound-surger)?

That gets you Frightening Presence. But FS is Cha-based psi, unfortunately, so it doesn't have the Wis synergy.

[Cypheryen]

Go for Enlightened Monk/Formbound Surger?

That gets you Frightening Presence. But FS is Cha-based psi, unfortunately, so it doesn't have the Wis synergy.

Thanks CactusAir, but we use Forgotten Realms setting and usually don't go into other ones, especially not PF, we like to keep settings as separate as possible.

To be honest my current plan is a silverbrow human Totemist with dragon melds, as psionics is a little bit overcomplicated for my concept and it can get so much more done in an other concept later.