Blacktalon - Monk 9 / Cleric 9 / Blackguard 22

Elf, LE
Playable 3-40
PvP or PvM

STR: 10
DEX: 18 (32)
CON: 12
INT: 12
WIS: 15
CHA: 8

All stat increases into dexterity.

1: M1) Ambidexterity
2: C1)
3: M2) Weapon Finesse
4: C2)
5: M3)
6: C3) Two Weapon Fighting
7: M4)
8: C4)
9: BG1) Weapon Focus: Kama
10: BG2)
11: BG3)
12: M5) ITWF
13: BG4)
14: BG5)
15: BG6) Improved Critical: Kama
16: BG7)
17: M6)
18: BG8 ) Blindfight
19: BG9)
20: BG10)
21: C5) EWF: Kama
22: M7)
23: C6)
24: C7) Great Dex I
25: C8 )
26: C9)
27: M8 ) Extend Spell
28: BG11)
29: BG12)
30: BG13) Toughness, Epic Prowess
31: BG14)
32: BG15)
33: BG16) Great Dex II, Armour Skin
34: BG17)
35: BG18)
36: BG19) Great Dex III, Epic Fiendish Servant*
37: M9)
38: BG20)
39: BG21) Great Dex IV
40: BG22) Epic Toughness

*I chose EFS here simply because the servant creates opportunities for flanking. Alternatively, Epic Toughness could be taken instead.

AC: 34
AB: 42 [56 buffed]
AB (Dualwielding): 40 [54 buffed]
Fortitude: 26
Reflex: 29
Will: 23
HP: 464 (I think) [484 if Epic Toughness is taken instead of EFS]

I was looking for a way to combine monk APR with a fair number of sneak dice, but maintaining a decent AB at the same time, hence Blackguard. I didn't want to have to rely on the sneak attacks to do any kind of damage, so I added in a little bit of cleric cheese. I admit, it does suck a bit to have only 9 cleric levels, horrible durations, and few spell slots, but it's only intended for buffing (and maybe some darkness if it can be squeezed in the few spell slots).
However, my main aim of the cleric levels was to amost 'fill in' the gap between 9 monk for IE, and epic BG levels a multiple of 3 for sneak dice. The one spell I really wanted for that little bit of extra 'oomph' in the damage sector was Darkfire, it adds up nicely with the 7d6 SA and 10 APR. Heck, there's even Bull's Strength for extra damage in that way. The BG and Cleric versions of the spell stack (I think) for a maximum +10 to strength (I think). That's +5 damage per hit x 10 APR = 50 extra damage per round!
It works as a standard buffing sneak character. The good ol' time-tested method of Buff-IKD-SA-hide-IKD-SA-hide... etc . Especially if playing PvP, ESF: Discipline might come in handy for IKD.
There are loads of different ways to make this. The most obvious is to take more cleric levels, gaining the opportunity for better durations and number of spellslots, and maybe some healing/offensive spells too. In the way of the order of levels, for example, there could be 1 level of monk then 7 of cleric to start off, providing access to the handy cleric buffs early on, and could be played armoured until strong enough to come out of the tin can.
I toyed with the ideas of going charisma focused for Divine Might/Shield, but decided that the build doesn't have an enormous number of feats anyway. (ITWF namely the biggest problem, but going fists would mean less APR and no GMW/DF) Alternatively, Dwarf could be used for more HP, or (using Dwarf) could go strength-based for even more damage, but suffer from less Hide/MS, and less AC. One thing that really appeals to me is to drop some dexterity, and maybe some strength/consitution, (you hopefully won't need to fight toe-to-toe, especially in PvP) and get more intelligence for extra skillpoints, putting them into taunt, listen... whatever suits you.

There it is, comments, criticisms, and suggestions would be very welcome.

Kurth Interesting, but there's a slight contradiction all over, if you want sneak attack power and BAB for APR take more Cleric instead and Rogue instead of Blackguard, to improve Divine Power duration, thus aiming for Epic Dodge.

But, that's too used, so there's no matter. It's not bad, however, you take 2 pre-epic feats in epic, might work well with Fighter or CoT instead of Cleric for feats, and lowering initial WIS for CON, and freeing two epic feats for Great DEX, just a thought.
Quote: Posted 12/22/06 04:37 (GMT) -- Thaxll'ssyllia

Interesting, but there's a slight contradiction all over, if you want sneak attack power and BAB for APR take more Cleric instead and Rogue instead of Blackguard, to improve Divine Power duration, thus aiming for Epic Dodge.

But, that's too used, so there's no matter. It's not bad, however, you take 2 pre-epic feats in epic, might work well with Fighter or CoT instead of Cleric for feats, and lowering initial WIS for CON, and freeing two epic feats for Great DEX, just a thought.

Thanks for the reply. I agree rogue would provide better sneak attack power, but if I were to go monk/cleric/rogue (which has been done to death already, as you say) then my BAB wouldn't hit the 16 required for full attack schedule. One thing I forgot to include was that I didn't want to use the divine power exploit, as he has limited castings of the spell per day.

Swapping cleric for fighter sounds a good idea, but then BG wouldn't be needed as fighter would provide all the AB I needed (as long as I used a fair bit of it). The whole concept was to include monk with BG because the latter includes AB and sneak attacks. The cleric was just added in for cheese, really, with that extra little bit of buffing power, especially for those high AC opponents in PvP. However, fighter would probably be a better choice all round, even if only for EWS.

Kurth