Monk? boosting AC? :)

[Dark_Ebola]

I'm running a campaign with a lvl9 Goliath monk (others are lvl10, due to the 1 LA of the Goliath)
I'm about to take my 10th lvl and I find my AC a bit low: 20
I wonder what I could do to improve that by ... let's say 5points ?
from what I remember (I let the sheet at the DM's place)
my stats are as follow:
Str: 22
Dex: 13
Con: 14
Wis: 16
Int: 12


I'm lawful good and have the following perks:
Evasion
Fling Enemy (haven't used this once ... maybe I'll try to ask my DM for a trade )
Improved Unarmed Strike
Improved Grapple
Improved Trip
Stunning Fist

I'm oriented Jump/Climb/Dodge/Acrobatics.
I wear 2x Protection ring +2 (which my DM said it was cumulative, but I doubt it) and a Wis Pearl +2.

I have access to pretty much anything in 3.5Books and maybe Faerun things; what class//perks would you take?

 

[Starbuck_II]

I'm running a campaign with a lvl9 Goliath monk (others are lvl10, due to the 1 LA of the Goliath)
I'm about to take my 10th lvl and I find my AC a bit low: 20
I wonder what I could do to improve that by ... let's say 5points ?
from what I remember (I let the sheet at the DM's place)
my stats are as follow:
Str: 22
Dex: 13
Con: 14
Wis: 16
Int: 12


I'm lawful good and have the following perks:
Evasion
Fling Enemy (haven't used this once ... maybe I'll try to ask my DM for a trade )
Improved Unarmed Strike
Improved Grapple
Improved Trip
Stunning Fist

I'm oriented Jump/Climb/Dodge/Acrobatics.
I wear 2x Protection ring +2 (which my DM said it was cumulative, but I doubt it) and a Wis Pearl +2.

I have access to pretty much anything in 3.5Books and maybe Faerun things; what class//perks would you take?

How much you have to spend:?
And yes, Rings of same type do not work by the rules, but if DM lets you cool.

Magic items you could get:
Ioun Stone Dusty Rose (+1 insight to AC).
Bracers of armor (1-8 Armor bonus to AC)
Monks Belt adds +1 AC and other benefits.

You could get Miss chance instead.
Cloak of Displacement, lesser or normal.
Shroud of Night (Tome of Magic, 1/day Displacement and +2 Deflection bonus like the ring so you coulod trade out one ring for it)

Do you have Use Magic Device skill ranks (cross skill):
Scrolls of Shield
Scroll of Mage armor (if no Bracers of Armor)
Scrolls of Displacement.

 

[Dark_Ebola]

I can't really buy anything right now, we are in the middle of a dungeon infested with undead ... I don't think we'll stumble upon a merchant quite soon

I was more thinking on advice on the character build, like if it was worth taking Psionic Fist levels or any (prestige) classes // skills to get some more AC.
Vow of Poverty seems nice also for now, but I fear that it'll be really a handicap at levels 15+
I deal nice damages, 2d8+6 with 3 attacks per round on flurry of blows. I just can't avoid as mush as I would like to

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Vow of Poverty is a trap. Nice early on, but it's crippling later on, and you're already level 10-11.

Do you have a party spellcaster? The Mage Armor spell (PH) is +4 AC for hour/level, spell level 1. Greater Mage Armor (Spell Compendium) is level 3 and adds +6. They don't stack, of course. If an arcane caster could prep one of those for you, it'd be great. Otherwise, buy them a wand (or eternal wand, if you have Magic Item Compendium) of the spell. Either spell as a wand is cheaper than an equivalent bracers of armor.

Get stat boosters. You add dex and wis to AC, and there's no reason you shouldn't have at least a +2 in each by now from items.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

1) I wouldn't call VoP a trap, but its not for everyone.

2) There are also ways to improve your Natural AC- mostly via magic items.

3) In addition, if you can't convince your party spellcasters to save a few slots for you, take a few levels of Sorcerer yourself...and then take the Ascetic Mage Feat from CompAdv (Sorc/Monk levels stack for certain purposes, sack a spell to give yourself melee bonuses, freely multiclass between the 2 classes). You'll be able to cast your own buffs- and other spells besides- and you'll open up the Sorcerer Heritage Feats (CompArc and others). Of those, going the "Draconic" route includes the fun fun fun Draconic Breath feat (sacrifice an arcane spell to do 2d6/spell level with an AoE breath weapon) but more on point, the feat Draconic Skin, which improves your NAC by +1.

And once you have that, you can use any of the things out there that enhance your NAC only if you have NAC to enhance. In addition, Races of the Dragon and Dragon Magic have feats that would enhance your AC or durability in some way or another.

Dragon Magic also has Dragontouched, a feat that opens up the Draconic Heritage feats to non-Sorcerers, but it doesn't grant all of the abilities that Draconic Heritage does.

 

[Shin Okada]

Convincing party mage is the easiest way for a monk to improve his AC.

Mage Armor/Greater Mage Armor (SC) will be the starting point. Then, maybe Dragonskin (SC) for gaining Enhancement bonus to your Natural Armor bonus. The duration is 10 min./Level. It is rather hard to get Deflection bonus to AC for a long period via spells.

Of course you can be a mage by yourself. Enlightened Fist is a good prestige class which you can advance from Monk/Mage. But your PC is already a 9th-level character and it is rather too late IMHO.

 

[Starbuck_II]

If you are a good person and so is the Mage: have them grab Luminous Armor (bigger AC bonus than Mage armor) drawback 1d2 Str damage so buy a wand of Lesser Restoration to fix that.

 

[Dark_Ebola]

thx for your replies, I'm looking at some monk/sorcerer builds. but I must admit I'm not really satisfied

Dannyalcatraz : your monk database is awesome!
I need all the books now

the party mage is a Pyromaniac Wizard that refuses to put some boosts on us, we found a Mage Armor wand which he agreed to use on us!
that's a nice +4 already
I've seen the Dragon Touched feat in Dragon Magic, I'm still looking at the draconic feats that I can take and wonder if it's really worth it, it *looks* good for now
I'll try to get my Wisdom and dexterity boosted somehow, buffs or looted items.

or maybe I'll just kill the fighter so that he re-rolls a priest ... fighting undead without priest ... a real pain!

thx for your replies guyz.

 

[NewJeffCT]

An item to bump your wisdom up (drawing a blank on the name for now...) and also the spell Owl's Wisdom would give you a +2 boost to your AC, if I'm not mistaken, as your wisdom would go up by 4, and a monk's AC gets a bonus from Wisdom, no?