Stunning Fist

[triforcel]

I am currently in a campaign in which I'm playing a monk. Pretty much my focus for it is using Stunning Fist and using it well. We're only level four right now, and I'm not sure how high we're going to get level wise. Anyways, not having read all of the supplements available for DnD, I was wondering what suggestions people might have to make the best use of the aforementioned ability. So far I have Ability Focus (Stunning Fist) to add 2 to the DC, and I'm planning on taking the Sun School tactical feat and perhaps Freezing the Lifeblood as we've been encountering a lot of humanoids so far. So if anyone has any prestige classes or other feats that might help I'd be grateful.

[Armads]

Falling Sun Attack (ToB) lets you deliver Stunning Fist attacks with Setting Sun Strikes and adds 1 to the DC of Stunning Fist.

[MeklorIlavator]

The Players Hand Book 2 has some useful feats that use up stunning strike uses.

[tyckspoon]

Pain Touch is pretty nice; you can get it a lot faster than Freezing the Lifeblood and it doesn't have the type restriction on targets. It is restricted by size, but if you can get a spellcasting buddy to Enlarge you that's not too much trouble; between Freezing and Pain Touch you should be able to disable almost anything that isn't already immune to stunning. Rapid Stunning could be nice if you get a chance to launch a full attack. Forcing your opponents to save multiple times greatly improves your chance of successfully sticking the effect you want.

There are probably other Stunning Fist-based feats in other books, but I don't know their names, unfortunately.

The best Monk prestige classes tend to be gish-focused; Arcane Fist, Enlightened Fist, Fist of Zuoken, etc let you apply spellcasting to your monk abilities in various ways. Usually they require you to multiclass into a spellcasting class for at least a level or two to get into them. If you want to keep going straight monk into a PrC, you're kind of out of luck. Wizards doesn't like to let monks have nice things, so a lot of the Monk PrC's sorta suck. There's a pretty good chance that Dragon Magazine is going to be your best source for decent Monk stuff. There's a PrC in the Dragon compilation book that looks ok, although I haven't had a chance to sit down with it in play (... and I don't remember its name.)

Outside of Stunning Fist, you should look into getting Improved Natural Attack (Unarmed) [normally a monster feat; check the MM or SRD] and Superior Unarmed Attack [Tome of Battle] to help pump up your damage.

[triforcel]

Well I've decided to take Pain Touch instead of Freezing the Lifeblood. I've also finally gotten my hands on Mongoose's Quintessential Monk book so I'm going to see about taking the Five Animal Fist Fighter, five level prestige class whose snake ability adds to the stunning fist DC and will let me stun anything with a constitution score. Another thing I looked into is grabbing a level of rogue and taking the ascetic rogue feat since I'll probably be flanking a lot with the party rogue or paladin anyways.

[TGWG]

ki straps - a magic item from magic item compendium - will increase the DC by a further 2.

[Just Alex]

If retraining is allowed, you can grab the Decisive Strike alternate class level. You lose Flurry (and sun school) but it adds a bit to the DC of Stunning Fist.
The Tattoo'd Monk isn't a terrible prestige class to grab, as the Scorpion tattoo is pretty good, and Spider isn't awful.

[cupkeyk]

Falling Sun Attack and Ascetic Rogue(via Assassin's stance) totals to a +3 stun dc. Ability Focus +5. Halfling Monk substitution class RotW level 7, +9.

[Frosty]

Vow of Non-violence adds another +4 if you want to go that route.

[triforcel]

I can't believe that I forgot about the Ki Straps. Too bad I can't find a greater version of them somewhere.

I'd have to think a bit about taking the Decisive Strike if he allows retraining. But it might be worth it.

As for the Vow of Nonviolence, I think that would just aggravate the other players in this group, so maybe some other time.

So far, with Ki Straps, the 5 animals prc, and the bonus from aescetic rogue, I've got a stunning DC of 30 at level 12 which is when the prestige class is maxed out. Doesn't sound so bad if I do say so myself.

[Ne0]

Just pumping your wisdom helps, too. It heightens your DC and your AC.
Another good feat is 'Pharaohs fist'. It stuns all enemies adjacent to your SF target.

On another note: What's the use of Superior Unarmed Strike for monks? Does it actually raise your damage?

[Neon Knight]

Just pumping your wisdom helps, too. It heightens your DC and your AC.
Another good feat is 'Pharaohs fist'. It stuns all enemies adjacent to your SF target.

On another note: What's the use of Superior Unarmed Strike for monks? Does it actually raise your damage?

Superior Armed Strike allows Monks to be treated as 4 levels higher for purposes of dealing unarmed damage.