Getting All Out Of Monk That You Can For Shadowlord?

[Amor]

Simply put, how can you milk a six level dip into monk for all the juicy benefits you want with Telflammar Shadowlord?  In this case asking for an alternate side of a gestalt, with the other side taken up by rogue/assassin/shadowlord (shush, it makes me feel good).  So far I've stumbled upon cobra style for getting the entire spring attack chain for free (plus doubling the dodge bonus of Dodge), and...  That's about it.  Otherwise Flurry of Blows/Unarmed Strike damage won't matter because the concept utilizes hidden blades and shortswords/daggers/rapiers as his weapons (although it does allow qualifying for Snap Kick), monk AC bonus is nice, although getting it in light armor would be better, evasion is already covered, and the speed bonus is nice, but once again needs to be used while armored - and might not be seeing much use once Shadow Pounce kicks in.

Character concept is a keen minded assassin which, if I can make it worthwhile, invests more in intelligence than dexterity.  I've thought about going wizard/psion for the other side, but nothings really popped out to me so far that meshes perfectly for the assassin's creed feel.  There is Swordsage, but I've done the Shadowlord/Swordsage gestalt pair already, and wouldn't mind a change of pace (that, and its not really intelligence focused.  Monk at least has Kung Fu genius).  Due to best progression being used, the other gestalt side should probably offer things that aren't covered by the other side (Sneak Attack, Reflex saves, 3/4th BAB progression, Death Attack).

[Prime32]

Take 7 levels of monk, with the Invisible Fist ACF (Heroes of Horror) and the Mantis Leap feat.

[Amor]

Take 7 levels of monk, with the Invisible Fist ACF (Heroes of Horror) and the Mantis Leap feat.

I don't see Invisible Fist anywhere in Heroes of Horror, page?  Also, I don't think Mantis Leap would work out too well, since its A) Iffy if it'll work with Shadow Pounce, B) Character is Dex/Int focused (wanting to try and make him rely on intelligence more than dex, even, for vast skills + cunning feel), C) Character is already feat starved, with 13 feats required for the core concept (not including things such as snap kick, shadow blade, or such depending on what's taken with gestalt).  Otherwise, seems like a nifty feat.

[Cannotthink]

Invisible Fist is in Exemplars of Evil (pg 21)

[Amor]

Oh wow, that 9th level ability...  A +3 wisdom mod (Or int, with kung fu genius) equals free, permanent blink and sneak attacking. O.o

[littha]

Free is a strange word to use in combination with 9 monk levels... Persistent spell is going to blow your mind.

[Amor]

Free is a strange word to use in combination with 9 monk levels... Persistent spell is going to blow your mind.

...Point taken.  Although, monk meshes better with the concept and rather low-magical campaign than going a full spellcaster (although psion is tempting).

[littha]

Ardent is my go to for psionic classes, not as strong as psion (depending on Dominant Ideal ofc) but I like it more.

[Amor]

Ardent is my go to for psionic classes, not as strong as psion (depending on Dominant Ideal ofc) but I like it more.

Ardent is nice, and if I wasn't trying to get as much out of intelligence as I could, I'd probably lean closer towards it for the other side of the gestalt.

[Amor]

Ok, so updated things I've gotten so far, thanks to help and tracking down the monk handbook from the old wizards forum.

Invisible Fist: Trade Reflex for invisibility for a round, one out of three rounds.  A nifty trick, very Assassiny, helps with the rogue side getting sneak attacks.  And, well, very flavorful.  If I go nine levels into it, also gain essentially permanent blink.

Wall Walker (Dungeon Scape): Running up walls could be fluffed as parkour or what not, very Assassin's Creed and also in tune with the character concept!

Dark Moon Disciple (Champions of Valor web enhancement): Trade still mind for Darkvision 60ft (awesome, although I was contemplating getting shadow-walker), Total concealment in any condition over than full daylight at 7th! (does this allow you to make hide checks, ala Hide In Plain Sight!?), and shadow jump flavored dimension door instead of abundent step.

Useless baggage still left: Can't get the armor bonus in light armor, although I suppose armor isn't entirely necessary, its still nice to have.  Flurry of blows still can't be used with hidden weapons and daggers/shortswords/rapiers.  Unarmed damage won't be used (except if snap kick is taken), Purity of Body is still relatively useless.

Other options: I recently took a look at the Slayer, and it seems like it could certainly make for a good pair on the gestalt.  Near full psionic progression, good BAB (makes up for the 3/4th on the left side), a nondetection on steroids (what more can you ask as an Assassin?) and permanent mind-blank essentially.  Going psionic won't really make up for the feat issue, but its a potential option.  Also, why he'd have a prestige class so talored around killing Mind-Flayers is an issue, when he's an assassin.  Alternatively, if the DM rules that Kung-Fu Genius could be applied to swordsage, it could also work.  I don't know how I'd make it different from my previous shadowlord//swordsage, though.

[Garryl]

Dark Moon Disciple's total concealment will allow you to hide without anything to hide behind. Note that you still won't be allowed to hide while observed (unlike most forms of Hide in Plain Sight), although a high enough Bluff check can make a distraction for that.

Regarding Mind Flayers, the generic version of the Slayer (not Illithid Slayer) in the SRD lets you pick any psionic creature to focus on hunting. And if anyone asks why you spend your spare time tracking ((psionic creature))s when you're not working... everyone needs a hobby, right?

[Amor]

Ah, the confusion came from someone mentioning the Shadow creature template from Lords of Madness, which also gave Total Concealment in anything but bright daylight - mentioning that it was as good as Hide In Plain Sight...  Of course, now if you took this with the Dark creature template, it'll give you true hide in plain sight!  Even though the template version from Faerun does that anyway.

And while true, a lot of its abilities are pretty much built around hunting and killing Illithid.  Unless there's another creature which likes to munch on your brains (besides zombies).

[Ithamar]

Since you will be INT focused, 3 levels of Factotum and perhaps 3 levels of Swashbuckler would help with a variety of things.

You could try to combine with Decisive Strike so that instead of doing a bunch of weak attacks, you just get one extra strong attack.  Shadow Pounce lets you full attack after teleporting, but perhaps a kind DM would let you Decisive Strike after a teleport instead.  Not super powerful, just tossing out some ideas...  If you get to double your sneak attack damage, that would obviously help quite a bit.

[SorO_Lost]

Dark Moon Disciple does indeed grant Total-Concealment and has not been errata'ed otherwise.

Total Concealment is hiding. Like literally, they cannot see you.
So who cares about making a Hide check so you can remain unseen when you can't been seen to begin with?
(barring stuff like blindsight)

What you want is Move Silently bonuses, so they can't hear you running around punching people in the face.
Cat's Paws (online, just hit Class Boost's Rage granting cloak link up) gives a +10 circumstantial bonus in that are to help you on your way too.

[blind sight]

Since you will be INT focused, 3 levels of Factotum and perhaps 3 levels of Swashbuckler would help with a variety of things.

You could try to combine with Decisive Strike so that instead of doing a bunch of weak attacks, you just get one extra strong attack.  Shadow Pounce lets you full attack after teleporting, but perhaps a kind DM would let you Decisive Strike after a teleport instead.  Not super powerful, just tossing out some ideas...  If you get to double your sneak attack damage, that would obviously help quite a bit.

This. Actually, does it have to be 6 levels of monk? If you took 4 levels, Factotum 16 gives Int to AC all the time. Plus the extra standard actions.

[Amor]

Well, I'm still interested in this concept for a theoretical purpose (at the moment, its SORT of decent.  Grabbing total concealment, 3/4 of the feats needed, and one round of invisibility every three makes for a somewhat decent chassis if you want to use unarmed strikes as a Shadowlord - provided you get the sneak attack.  Heck, Shadow Pounce makes Flurry of Blows a lot better).  At the moment, however, the character concept has evolved into a healer who took up the assassin role as an evolution of his philosophical view (some people are a sickness on society and can only be cured by cutting out the illness).  I've currently decided on filling the other half of the role with an Egoist, since that gives some decent healing powers (especially with the ACF) to fulfill the concept, while still allowing a lot of flexibility and utility.  Heck, with the Mind's Eye web enhancement for psychoportation powers, he can make 3 full attacks while scismed for ~5 PP a round, and not have to worry about psionic focus to do so.