ATTRIBUTES
str:str: This is the most important stat by far for most monks, those who focus on damage as a secondary goal and trip/grapple/disarm/ etc. as a primary fighting method. It boosts your ability to hinder opponents and provides a small amount of extra damage (small compared to your base damage, that is).
dex:con:int:wis: Wisdom is probably the defining stat for monks. It makes you that wise old man with crazy kung fu skills. It can be your most important stat with Intuitive Attack.
cha:RACES
LA+0[spoiler] Many thanks to
AZNsupermarket for making and maintaining the
Master Player Race List Version 2.0Note: I never play with multi-class penalties. If you do, make sure to take that into account Buoman:Changelings:Dwarf: Who am I kidding? Dwarves are always cool. And the boost to con and penalty to cha is nice. Just be sure to not take a subrace that penalizes dex. Also opens up possibilities for Deepwarden fun.
Elan:Elf: Elves suck.
Oh, you wanted me to elaborate? Con penalty. The aquatic, artic, desert, snow and wild elves
mightGnome: Gnomes are fun, but not really all that good. The small size gets in the way of things, but the con boost is nice. Special mention is Whisper Gnome of awesome. Those things are really good for stealth characters.
Goblins: About the same as gnomes, bonuses in the right spots, penalties in the right spots, but small. And that
hurtsHalf-elf:Half-Orc:much better. Of special note: if your DM's a DB and doesn't let you multi-class to barbarian (there's no reason for you not to be able to) you can take half-or paragon to get rage if you really wanted to.
Halflings:Humans:Jermlaine:Kenku:Kobolds:Neanderthal:Neraphim:Orcs:Planetouched: Surprisingly, the Lesser Teifling is one of the best ones of these. The Lesser Aasimar is also nice, what with the +2 wis. But you can do better.
Raptorans:Shifters: Again, Warshaper. No infinite natural attacks (dang it I said ignore that from now on!) but the other bonuses are still great. Also, there is a shifting form that grants a boost to wis. And they have a boost to a key stat and penalty to two dump stats. All around a good option.
Xeph:Catfolk:Half-Giant:Goliath:Uldra: A very nice race, with boosts to two important stats and a penalty to a not so important stat. Really good for a frostfell campaign.[/spoiler]
LA+2
[spoiler]
Githyanki:Githzerai: Penalties in the right spots, bonuses in the very right spots, this race was
madeHalf-Ogre:Dragonborn:Lolth-Touched: Sure you have to be C/E, but +6 str AND +6 con? For +1 LA? Yes please!
Feral:not love.
Shadow Creature: No stat boosts, but the fast healing alone is nice. This is a great template for stealth builds.
Saint: Best LA+2 template ever. EVER! With this: wisx2 to AC. A slew of immunities. The catch? You must be exalted, which is a major commitment.