# Monk equipment?



## TracerBullet42 (May 3, 2004)

I'm probably starting up a monk character, and I was looking for ideas of how to equip this fella...with no armor or significant weapons...what kinds of things work out for this class?


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## demiurge1138 (May 3, 2004)

Any item that boosts stats is a good investment, especially Str, Con or Wis. So is the _amulet of mighty fists_ (magic fang for unarmed strikes), the _monk's belt_ (treated as 5 levels higher for unarmed damage and unarmored AC) and _boots of speed_ or of _striding and springing_. Since you want the highest AC possible, you might invest in _bracers of armor_, potions of _shield_ and a _ring of deflection_.

That ought to be at least a starting point.

Demiurge out.


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## Gizzard (May 3, 2004)

What level are we talking?  Sure, the _Monk's Belt_ is quite nuts but it's also out of your reach until about 9th level.


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## Sammael (May 3, 2004)

_Boots of striding and springing_ wouldn't help much, because they give an enhancement bonus, which doesn't stack with monk's increased speed (also an enhancement bonus). Likewise, _boots of speed_ have a diminished effect once the monk hits 9th level.

Remember that special armor enhancements can be added normally to _bracers of armor_ (as stated in _Arms and Equipment Guide_).


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## shilsen (May 3, 2004)

demiurge1138 said:
			
		

> Since you want the highest AC possible, you might invest in _bracers of armor_, potions of _shield_ and a _ring of deflection_.




Potions of _shield_ don't exist in 3.5 (check DMG pg. 286).


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## diaglo (May 3, 2004)

get some silk rope preferrably 50', an 11' pole, robe, and backpack.

also take at least 1 rank in the crossclass survival skill.


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## Rabelais (May 3, 2004)

*Monk Stuff*

Well, if you're a Jackie Chan style monk... an Iron Pot, half a dozen fish hooks, and a pound of ham.


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## Ibram (May 3, 2004)

Amulet of the Mighty Fists is a good item for a lower level monk (it grants enchantment bonuses to your unarmed attacks).

Gloves of Flaming/shocking/ect are another good way to boost your combat power.


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## DanMcS (May 3, 2004)

A sling.  Or three.  They're like a silver piece, buy a dozen of them.  They're small and concealable, and between those and your natural weapons, you'll never lack a weapon.  Use one to tie your hair back and they probably won't even take it away from you if you're captured.

Playing a monk is really fun until you run into something that flies or can rip you up if it gets a full attack on you, because monks are all about full attacking.  Something like that takes you down to 1 or no attacks a round.  What you need then is a missile weapon.  Crossbows also work, but don't seem very monklike to me.  I like the sling, and oil of Magic Stone isn't too expensive.

Kamas can be used for tripping, nunchuku and sais for disarming.  A staff can be used two-handed for 1.5* your strength bonus; at low levels, when your fist does only 1d6, if something is hard to hit, you might as well use the staff.  You can throw clubs if you have a couple of them, and they're free.

In any case, always have a weapon in case there's something you don't want to touch with your hand, like a black ooze.

If you're going after spring attack, get it as early as possible, like with your level 6 feat, because once you get higher level you'll have better things you feel like taking.  If you're not, don't bother taking mobility, it will almost never be useful since you'll be maxing out tumble.

With your bonus 6th level monk feat, pick up Improved Trip, not Improved Disarm, because your fists are light weapons and take a penalty compared to most weapons opponents will have anyway.  Unless you really like the sai, which has a +4 to disarm and is light, so it evens out with a medium weapon, and then your bonus from the feat would put you higher.

Flurry early and often.  From first to 4th level, the only time flurry results in lower average damage for a round of full attacking is when you have to roll exactly a 19 to-hit.  At all other times, it is as good or better than your single attack.

Don't forget to use your stunning fist feat; if you're fighting a wizard or something with bad fort saves, just declare it before you roll to attack, and it activates automatically if you hit.


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## Calico_Jack73 (May 3, 2004)

If your DM is using the 3.0 Splatbooks I'd invest in Potions of Flaming Fists (from Sword & Fist).  If I remember correctly they don't cost all that much and they add 1d6 of fire damage to your unarmed strikes.  The item that you should most save up for though might be the Amulet of Mage Armor (also from S&F).  WAAAAYYY too expensive in my opinion for an item that creates a permenant 1st level spell effect.  Potions of Barkskin would also be good since Barkskin stacks with pretty much every other AC boosting spell.


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## isoChron (May 4, 2004)

I play a human monk Level 2 and he took martial weapon proficiency glaive.

 He also bought a MW glaive. I did it mostly for flavor reason (glaive is called naginata) but I was surprised how much damage you can dish out with only 14 Str and a two handed reach weapon. He threatens all squares from 10 ft to 5 ft (unarmed strike works with legs, too) and the damage is quite high. I recommend combat reflexes as bonus feat. I made the mistake to chose Deflect arrows...  .

 He also has 2 smokesticks, a sunrod and 20 shuriken. I think he performs better than expected, at least now at low levels.

 The only weak point is his AC of 14.
 BYE


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## ph0rk (May 6, 2004)

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S H U R I K E N

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## Legildur (May 6, 2004)

DanMcS said:
			
		

> With your bonus 6th level monk feat, pick up Improved Trip, not Improved Disarm, because your fists are light weapons and take a penalty compared to most weapons opponents will have anyway.




Improved Disarm can be a viable feat if the monk uses a staff.  A 6th level monk with a meager 12 Str would have a +13 Disarm check [+4 2 handed wpn, +4 disarm feat, +4 BAB, +1 Str] with no reciprocal chance to disarm on a failed attempt (unlike trip attempts).  If he were enthused enough to take EWP spiked chain, he could raise that to +15.

And this doesn't even begin to look at the bonuses that could accrue through Weapon Focus, use of magical weapons or the Enlarge spell.

_Edit: correction to disarm check calculation.  Forgot to include feat bonus._


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## TracerBullet42 (May 6, 2004)

Well...I ended up rolling up a swashbuckler character instead.  But thanks for the suggestions!  It'll make for a nice reference thread!


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