It seems like this topic should be posted here.
I have been asked why I speak highly of Monks when they suck so bad. I point out a particular player who has taking Monk CO to scary places. I have been asked to post said player's stats, but I have a policy of not posting a player's stats without permission. Apparently at some time in the past this board has offended my player so bad that she will not post here. As such, I can only speak in generalities.
Since I am working on my WSA handbook (I am currently breaking down all individual Special Weapons, BTW) and she has said it's okay to use some of her older combos for the handbook, I'm posting some combinations that have come up in play for review before I put it in the handbook itself. Please post any useful comments.
Do note that I am running a RAW 3.0/3.5 campaign where anything published by WotC (even the Dragon magazines) is allowed as written. I expected the campaign to explode 20 levels ago, but it's been going strong for years now. Strangely enough we have not reached the Pun-Pun Event Horizon as I expected. So, until the players get bored or we finally reach PPEH and it collapses into a single PC that is so powerful the campaign become meaningless, I plod on.
What makes her monk scary is the sheer number of WSAs you can stack on her Improved Unarmed Strike before going epic. A normal fighter can take a single weapon and with some work get a total of +14 to any one given weapon. Now, it is possible to wield multiple weapons, but they count as different attacks, so one weapon can, at most have a base +1, +9 in WSAs and get hit with a Greater Magic Weapon spell for a +5 and that equals out to +14.
Now, an archer has the problem that projectile weapons are shut down by a number of low level spells, but projectile weapons and ammo can combine to give a theoretical max of +23. +1/+9 for the bow, +1/+9 for the Ammo, and GMW for another +5.
A monk can have a TO of +43.
Not that I allowed that, mind you, but she still managed to get it up to +33 and some other rules abuses that follow.
1) First of all, we have the Bracers of Striking. As written, they enhance the Improved Unarmed Strike Directly. The way it is written, you have to treat them as a Blunt weapon for purposes of enchanting, but they are not weapons in and of themselves. So, from the BoS we get our first +1/+9.
2) Next we have the Ward Cestus, which specifically states that it does damage: special. The special damage is that it does damage based on your Unarmed Strike, yet it is a weapon. Now, originally I argued that the WSAs of BoS and WC would not stack. However, my player came up with many counter arguments and in the end my player group agreed that she had a point. The main argument is this:
A) The Archer gets to stack WSAs from his weapon and his ammo. Ammo in and of itself does no damage. Ward Cestus does no damage in and of itself. So, in effect a ward cestus is reusable ammo, and your unarmed strike is the projectile weapon.
B) I countered with, "Archer's suck so they need all the love they can get.". Which she countered with, "Everyone says Monks Suck." So I let it go.
Thus we now have a total of +1/+18
3) The ward cestus is a Light weapon. So one can increase it's size and add the WSA Balanced to it. Now, since the WC does no damage in and of itself, I have ruled that increasing it's size does NOT increase the damage. She still went ahead and did it anyways, because increasing the weapon size makes it a one-handed weapon. Thus she can choose to wield it two-handed to set up some truly disgusting display of the use of the Power Attack feat.
4) A Necklace of natural attacks is worded very poorly. Alas, the way it reads, anything you put in it is added to your Natural Attacks. A monk's unarmed strike is considered a natural attack by the SRD. You don't even need to put that first +1 weapon enhancement in the necklace. In theory, you can have a Necklace of nothing but WSAs and they should stack with BoS and WC.
So now we are up to +1/+28
At this point, I wish to point out the Kensai class, which would allow you to add up to another +1/+9 to your fists. My player argued that the Kensai class added directly to your fists, not your unarmed strike, thus you should be able to stack it with the others. I ruled that BoS and the class feature of the Kensai class are virtually identical and would not stack with each other and to stop pushing it. If you buy into her argument, it would bring the total TO to +1/+37.
5) Under RAW, Defending adds to all other bonuses including itself, so, in theory, if you had 20 defending +5 weapons at the ready, you could increase your AC by a hundred. In my game, I have ruled that the way it reads, you have to use the weapon in combat. I felt this would limit it to a +10, because if a TWF wants to use two defending weapons, hey, go for it.
I forgot how many different means of Unarmed Strike a monk has.
So, if you take a ward cestus, make it +1, add defending, you can put it on your off hand and have it at the ready. It only costs 8,000 gp.
Now take a ward cestus, add +1, Defending, and Opposable. Opposable allows the weapon to be wielded by a non-standard limb. Monks can make an unarmed strike with fists, feet, elbows, and knees. So buy yourself 6 of these for 16,000 each.
Then she intended to buy an amulet of mighty fists.
In the only use of Amulet of Mighty Fists I have ever seen that was ACTUALLY cost effective, it would have boosted all 8 Ward Cestus up to a +5, which are all defending. Now, to do what she wanted normally, it would require 6 +7 weapons at 98,000 gp each. and one +6 weapon at 72,000 for a whopping 660,000 gp.
Her method had the same effect and only cost 266,000 gp. I should point out that she ditched this shortly after figuring it out because, "She wants to look pretty." When someone pointed out that multiple strips of leather with "thumbs" would be gripping her various body parts and that would look, and I quote, "Hawt", she had what could only be described as a full body seizure, then promptly ditched the plan to buy multiple ward cestus.
It also brings our final total up to +5 to hit and damage and +28 in WSAs for a total +33 to one two-handed attack.
Now, we have reached the end off what I am permitted by my player to discuss. So I welcome arguments as to why they should not work together because I'm going to eventually update the ward cestus entry and would like this peer reviewed before then.
