Playable 1-40 in any environment. Good for PvP against melees with dev crit or sneak attack.

I wrote a story for this but when I went to hit post the post got eaten because I'd taken too long to write it So I'll post the build now and the story later.

Human - Lawful, Non-Good (LN for powergaming)

Str 16
Dex 10
Con 14
Int 14
Wis 14
Cha 8

1 monk: luck of heroes*, strong soul*
2 monk:
3 monk: weapon focus (unarmed strike)
4 monk: +1 str
5 monk:
6 monk: toughness
7 monk:
8 monk: +1 str
9 monk: power attack*
10 monk:
11 monk:
12 monk: +1 str, great cleave*
13 monk:
14 monk:
15 monk: called shot*
16 monk: +1 str
17 monk:
18 monk: blind-fight*
19 monk:
20 monk: +1 str

21 wizard: epic weapon focus (unarmed strike)
22 wizard:
23 wizard:
24 pale m: +1 str, great str 1
25 pale m:
26 pale m:
27 pale m: great str 2
28 pale m: +1 str
29 pale m:
30 pale m: great str 3
31 pale m:
32 pale m: +1 str
33 pale m: great str 4
34 pale m:
35 pale m:
36 pale m: +1 str, epic prowess*, epic energy resistance**
37 pale m:
38 pale m:
39 pale m: epic spell (epic mage armor), epic spell (epic warding)
40 monk : +1 str

* - feat can be changed without endangering the build's viability, but in most cases I think it's the best feat for the character.

** - pick your energy type (fire is most common) or pick another epic pale master bonus feat.

Ending Vitals:

30 str

35 naked AC
432 max hp
+39 AB
26 fort 23 ref 27 will

31 SR

Immunities to: disease, poison, mind-affecting spells, stun, hold, paralysis, sneak attack, critical hits.

Able to cast 4th-level arcane spells.

The FAQ:
Q: Why didn't you take Dev Crit?
A: It's a choice. I don't really like playing with dev crit, and a lot of servers ban it, so I prefer to design builds that don't use it and then see if they can viably be converted to use it if the environment calls for that.

In this case, the build can be converted pretty easily (the tradeoff is losing 2 strength points that give +1 AB/+1 damage):
Step 1 - Change weapon focus/EWF to kama (so you can use keenness).
Step 2 - Change called shot to improved critical (kama).
Step 3 - Change Great Str 3 at level 30 to Overwhelming Critical.
Step 4 - Change Great Str 4 at level 33 to Dev Crit.

Optional Step 5 - Change Epic Prowess and Epic Mage Armor to Great Str 3 and 4. Not Recommended (lose Epic Mage Armor for +1 to damage, AB breaks even).

Q: Why monk/pale master?
A: Look at that immunities list, and look at the naked AC you're getting in a strength build.

Q: Why wizard instead of sorcerer or bard?
A: Because intelligence gives skill points, charisma doesn't, so you can benefit more from taking enough int to cast level 2 or level 4 spells than you would with cha. Also, you can scribe spells via scrolls as a wizard, so you have an advantage there too.

Q: Why not get a higher Int to cast higher level spells?
A: Because this is a melee build. With only 3 caster levels, you can't cast offensively with any degree of success and your buff durations will be extremely short. Going for higher level spells at the expense of strength would hurt your performance. Really, your best spell in this build is probably True Strike.

Q: Why not take more caster levels then?
A: Because it's a melee build, and you'd have to take both the caster levels and the higher int to function as a buff-caster. This level progression allowed me to take 2 epic spells at 39. I tried 6 wizard/13 PM and 9 wizard/10 PM and neither worked out to allow for both epic spells.

Q: Why take the epic spells at all? Why not take more monk levels or something?
A: Epic Mage Armor lasts a while even with few caster levels, and Epic Warding is just amazing. They're positively awesome spells. I wouldn't trade them in.

Q: Why human for this build? Why not dwarf or elf?
A: Dwarf would take an xp penalty, but if you can live with that, there's no reason not to be a dwarf instead of a human. Elf wouldn't have an xp penalty but would lose con for dex - 40 hitpoints and a feat for 1 AC isn't a good tradeoff in my opinion.

Gnomes and halflings are Small so they have weaker unarmed damage, and both lose strength, bad in a strength build. Halflings would take an xp penalty, too. However if you want to do something kinda silly but probably quite different and fun, make a kama-using dev-crit variant gnomish Master of the Long Death. Gnome of Dooooooom!

Q: Why did you name the build Master of the Long Death?
A: Because I designed the character as a high ranking monk in the Order of the Long Death. If my story hadn't been eaten by the internet gnomes that would be more clear
_________________
Experience is the mother of good judgement; bad judgement is the father of experience.

Edited By griphook on 10/30/05 22:50

Looks like a fun build. I have a build posted that is Monk 25/Wiz 5/PM 10, but if I were to build one today I'd probably opt for PM 16 or 20. As you point out, Epic Warding is hard to turn down.

Quote: 
I wrote a story for this but when I went to hit post the post got eaten because I'd taken too long to write it

I always write long posts in Notepad, then copy and paste. Ask Cinnabar how many lengthy PM's I've lost before I disciplined myself to always Copy & Paste.

Kaliban.
_________________
The people he knew were less than golden-hearted
Gamblers and robbers, drinkers and jokers, all soul searchers
Like you and me I saw your build Kaliban, I decided there were enough differences (race, level progression, epic spells, etc) to make posting this one stand out. I have a lot of monk builds around but I don't want to drop a monk-bomb on the forum so I'm pacing myself with when I release them.

I found it pretty interesting that you used Elf for your version of this character, actually. Elf is the absolute last race I'd have picked. At least Halfling has the "a-whaaaa?! a halfling monk/wiz/PM?!" factor going for it.

And I do think an undead gnome of doom would actually work out better than you'd think.

I'm going to write the stories in notepad from now on... is what I'd like to say, but the truth is I'll have to get burned several more times before I learn my lesson
_________________
Experience is the mother of good judgement; bad judgement is the father of experience. I think I picked Elf strictly to avoid the XP penalty. Note that build of mine has Dev Crit in it, which means it's old. And I was afraid to go look at the post - I recall there were too many errors pointed out.

Hehe.

As for your build,I just love the term "gnome of doom" and think you should trademark it!

Kaliban.
_________________
The people he knew were less than golden-hearted
Gamblers and robbers, drinkers and jokers, all soul searchers
Like you and me