I'd like to get my monk up to a decent state; I was thinking adding cleric for darkfire/buffs/etc, and SD for the extra benefits. Boss critters, and a few mobs, have TrueSight, so HiPS is not really a powerful tool here. If there is a benefit to the class other than the HiPS I'd take the class happily.
Beasties he faces: Hard hitters with heavy attacks; dragons, balors, casters, and more.
So far, from memory I have (might have one or two points incorrect, I can make more correct if need be):
ELF
Str: 16
Dex: 16
Const: 13
Wis: 15
Int: 10
Cha: 8
Monk6
Taken Feats: Dodge, Mobility, Ambidex.
Discipline maxed
Move Silent8
Hide8
Tumble5 (want to max this for the extra ac, due to monk not having good ac at all).

So, now I've broken the poor build a bit, anyone got some advice for me? Erm.. bump?
Quote: Posted 10/19/04 10:16:33 (GMT) -- Khandahr

I'd like to get my monk up to a decent state; I was thinking adding cleric for darkfire/buffs/etc, and SD for the extra benefits. Boss critters, and a few mobs, have TrueSight, so HiPS is not really a powerful tool here. If there is a benefit to the class other than the HiPS I'd take the class happily.
Beasties he faces: Hard hitters with heavy attacks; dragons, balors, casters, and more.
So far, from memory I have (might have one or two points incorrect, I can make more correct if need be):
ELF
Str: 16
Dex: 16
Const: 13
Wis: 15
Int: 10
Cha: 8
Monk6
Taken Feats: Dodge, Mobility, Ambidex.
Discipline maxed
Move Silent8
Hide8
Tumble5 (want to max this for the extra ac, due to monk not having good ac at all).

So, now I've broken the poor build a bit, anyone got some advice for me?

Yes, Cleric levels should work well for you. I would say go Rogue/Monk/Cleric, but you have already started as a Monk, and chosen Elven as your race, which is arguably not the best choice, as it limits your options for multiclassing if you don't want an XP penalty.

Still, you should be able to make a decent build out of it. I would probably try something like Monk 9/Cleric 15/Blackguard 16. This will get you an XP penalty, but it will only be at 20% since prestige classes don't count toward the calculation. If you go Monk 8/Cleric 4/Blackguard 8 pre-epic, you will get a pre-epic BAB of 17, which isn't bad. You will get 5d6 sneak attacks from your BG levels, so with 10 attacks per round with dual kamas you should be able to dish out some damage.

As for stats, I would put 1 more point into Con, 3 more points into Wis, and then the rest into Dex. You'll probably want to take Armor Skin when you hit epic levels to help boost your AC, and I'd probably take Toughness as well for the extra HP. Monk X/ COT4 wouldn't be a bad combo. You didn't mention your alignment, but Assassin could work for you. Without incurring an XP penalty, you'd gain access to Use Magic Device and sneak attack damage (a nice addition to Improved Knockdown). I'd stick more with Monk levels and not even bother trying to raise your Death Attack DC though, just pretend it's regular Sneak Attack.

Shadowdancer is severely front-loaded with HiPS, but has other useful features (there's a good post with details in the "Info about Classes" folder here) -- all of which are defensive/tactical utility for a roguish character but won't help vs. True Seeing and Sneak Attack immune enemies.

Other than that, with your race and stats, probably the best thing to do is stay Monk. darn.. might just end up rebuilding.. taking more wiz-able stats. The PW Im on cannot change alignment; and Im Lawful neutral; so Assasin is not possible . but thanks for input, everyone - at least I have a few ideas now if i want to salvage this toon. Agree with above poster; if you can't take BG because of alingment, CoT is probably a good choice. Of course, if you only lvl 6 rerolling probably isn't a huge issue, so you may want to do that and start with a clear build in mind.

Still, a Monk 9/Cleric 15/CoT 16 should be pretty effective, getting a decent AB and AC and very good saves. Damage probably won't be all that high, but you should be able to get up to 10 attacks per round if you dual-wield, so you should do ok.