Ascetic knight without monk levels?

[Particle_Man]

Could a human paladin take ascetic knight and improved unarmed strike at level 1 and just go paladin to level 20, increasing unarmed strike damage as a monk would?

Are there other multi class feats that don’t actually require you to multi class?

[StSword]

Well I mean logically since you add your paladin levels to your monk levels for unarmed strike damage, than logically that would work even if you have 0 monk levels because that's how math works.

I am not sure that is rules as intended though, nor am I narcissistic enough to think that your DM will necessarily agree.

[Zombulian]

Ascetic Mage lets you apply your Cha to AC and sacrifice spells to get a bonus on attack and damage rolls so long as you have the Improved Unarmed Strike. This seems to hold true for all the Ascetic (X) feats, though they tend to not be particularly useful unless you have levels in monk.

[Gorthawar]

Swift hunter doesn't require either ranger or scout although it gets a bit pointless without both. Skirmish can be gained through prc or monk acf and favorite enemy via druid/barbarian acf for example.

Same is true for swift ambusher with sneak attack from a prc or fighter acf.

Swashbuckler 3/ sneak attack fighter 3 is a decent daring outlaw build for E6 with 4d6 SA and +6 bab.

[Maat Mons]

Tashalatora is the classic "monk without Monk" feat.

[Zombulian]

Tashalatora is the classic "monk without Monk" feat.

Huh! For some reason I was always under the impression that Monastic Training had at least 1 level of monk as a prerequisite.

[Frostmoon]

Not a feat, buuuuut the Green Whisperer prestige class (Dragon Magazine, #311) is intended to be a theurge Druid/Bard, with a line about how "at each green whisperer level, the character gains new bard and new druid spells per day (and spells known, if applicable) as if she had also gained a level in the bard and the druid classes." However, the class itself only requires a Neutral alignment, Nature 8, Perform 8, and Survival 5 to get in, meaning that's it not at all restricted to only Druid/Bards. Moreover, the spells per day say nothing about about only working for those with pre-existing Bard or Druid levels, meaning that your local Expert could easily get in and suddenly gain spell levels in two separate classes. XD

[Saintheart]

Technically anything that needs Sneak Attack but without actual rogue levels would come under this.

[Gruftzwerg]

Could a human paladin take ascetic knight and improved unarmed strike at level 1 and just go paladin to level 20, increasing unarmed strike damage as a monk would?

Are there other multi class feats that don’t actually require you to multi class?

It's a bit iffy here.

The main problem is that monastic training doesn't give the scaling unarmed strike ability of the monk. It just lets you add your paladin lvls for possible progression.

So, you would need to get the ability somehow by either dipping monk or something else that gives the ability (e.g. swordsage or some PRC).

____________________

Other Options:

1) Tashalatora is (as Maat Mons said^^) the standard way to solve this request. A special thing to note here is that this also progresses "Flurry" (there are sole a handful of alternative progressions for Flurry. Even most monk PRC don't progress it..).

2) UMD a "Monk's Belt" or a "Monk's Tattoo" (roll needs to be refreshed once per hour. A natural 1 blocks access to the items effect for 24h.)
This is an extreme cheesy approach (and you DM may not like it ;) which comes with some downsides. But it may still be worth it in some niche cases.
You UMD a class feature (monk's unarmed strike ability). The item doesn't need to require the ability to be used with UMD. If it works different when you have ability "X" it is enough to use UMD with it.
So you basically roll "UMD -20" and add the +5 from the belt on the result (+ any possible non monk classes that progress the ability that you might have).
The downside is, that the belt doesn't give you the monk's unarmed strike ability, but sole the unarmed dmg of a monk (of X lvls). So you would need to get that either via dipping into any non-monk that gives the ability (if you want the special "works as both manufactured and natural weapon..." line of the ability for some reasons) or stick to the Improved Unarmed Strike feat (that lacks the monk stuff, but at least lets your US count as armed).

[St Fan]

Those feats are a bit like the bloodline levels from Unearthed Arcana, I guess. Those specifically advance the level of class abilities you already have, but don't grant you any new abilities.

In other words, a feat can advance an ability as much as you want; if you don't already have the basic ability, it will have no effect.

But I entirely agree that those feats as a whole not having at least one level of monk as a prerequisite is a big dysfunction.

[Particle_Man]

Perhaps the feat was leaving space for a not-Monk base class to be developed in the future that granted scaling unarmed combat damage?

Anyhow, thanks for the replies. I didn't have a build in mind but was just curious after noticing the listed prerequisites.

[Gruftzwerg]

But I entirely agree that those feats as a whole not having at least one level of monk as a prerequisite is a big dysfunction.

I glad that it is not a prerequisite. Because if it was, it wouldn't work with a dip in e.g Swordsage, or any PRC that grants monk's unarmed strike ability (there are a few). Those wouldn't qualify if "monk 1" would have been a requirement.
The way it is now, you can pick Ascetic Knight without any levels in monk, nor paladin as long as you have the required abilities in other classes (e.g. Swordsage / Cleric / Fist of Raziel or something like that).