Also, please note:Combat reflexes is meaningless to you due to your dex mod. Still just one AoO.
Invisible fist wont ever grant you etherealness, you just threw away the best part of that ACF.
Invisible Fist is good (sure if you have 12+ Wis it's good, but with 8 wisdom it doesn't do anything worthwhile).
I think the etheralness has a 1 round minimum, and Combat Reflexes still lets him take AoOs while flat footed.
True on the combat reflexes. On the invisible fist. Nope, it doesn't have a minimum 1 clause, so RAW you need 12+ wis to use it. Which Giacomos monk build didn't have.
JaronK: Someone pointed out the low duration of the poison created with Minor creation. Assuming you have a feat to spare or one you can change, you could, I believe, remedy that with Practiced manifester. Two hours becomes ten hours, which isn't too bad.
True that. A decent expert build could probably be made with Necropolitan, Hidden Talent minor creation, practiced manifester and item familiar.
I'm going to re-post this as I feel it is an adequate (or at least worth-while attempt) at a monk build that utilizes monk class abilities in conjunction with some other non-monkish features/tactics.
The Shade: Male Ghostwise Halfling Monk 7; CR 7; Medium Humanoid (Halfling); HD 5d6+2/2d8+2; hp 45; Init +3; Spd 40 ft.; AC 17, touch 17, flat-footed 11; Base Atk +5; Grp +1; Atk +9 melee (1d6+0/x2; unarmed strike) or +9 melee (1d3+0/x2; 10ft.; sai) or +10 ranged (1/x2; 10ft.; shurkin); SA Skirmish (+1d6 & +1 AC); SQ Speak Without Sound (20ft. telepathy towards one person), Darkvision (60ft.), Invisible Fist (1/4 rounds invisibility), Still Mind, Shadow Blend and Blur of Motion; AL LG; SV Fort +7, Ref +8, Will +7; Str 10, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 14, Cha 10.
Skills, Skill Tricks and Feats: Balance +5 (0 ranks +3 dex +2 synergy), Bluff +1 (1 rank +0 cha), Climb +4 (2 ranks +0 str +2 racial), Craft (Poison) +8 (7 ranks +1 int), Disguise +1 (1 rank +0 cha), Hide +13 (10 ranks +3 dex +4 size bonus), Intimidate +11 (9 ranks +0 cha +2 apprentice bonus), Jump +13 (5 ranks +0 str +2 synergy +2 racial +4 speed), Knowledge (Local) +12 (10 ranks +1 int +1 specialized), Move Silently +14 (9 ranks +3 dex +2 racial), Profession (Merchant) +4 (2 ranks +2 wis), Read/Write/Speak (Common, Halfling and Sylvan) and Tumble +15 (10 ranks +3 dex +2 synergy); Collector of Stories; Apprentice (Soldier), Combat Reflexes, Favored in House, Improved Unarmed Strike, Knowledge Devotion, Master of Poisons and Mindsight.
Traits & Flaws: Specialized (Knowledge: Local); Inattentive & Unreactive
VariantsIn a non-sunlit room within the city against humanoids
AC 22 (10 +1 size +3 dexterity +1 monk bonus +2 wisdom +4 total defense) [Total Concealment is also in effect so flip a coin...]
Attack +12 (+5 BaB +1 size bonus +3 weapon finesse +3 knowledge devotion [he'll easily be hitting 26 by this level])
Damage +5 & purple worm poison (1d3[2 average] +0 strength +3 knowledge devotion with purple worm poison)
So we end up with a guy who, honestly, can't hit for a whole lot of damage but if he lands his blow begins to inflict some nasty poison. In addition his defense is hurting too difficult (this is after all without any magic items factored in) so he can continue to dance with his foes until he lands something.
ADAPTATION
If the flavor and mechanics surrounding using a Ghostwise Halfling don't work for you the build is easily adapted to using the Jungle Halfling from Unearthed Arcana, which means The Shade loses Mindsight but picks up two open feat spaces & a legitimate ranged combat option in the form of a shortbow.
The build is decent, but it still loses horribly to just about anything that is CR6+. And this is essential to the argument against the monk.
The monk just doesn't have enough power to stand up to the creatures he meets. The expert probably doesn't have either. But he isn't trying to do so.
This means that the only thing either of them have going for them is the non-combat ones. To which I can only say that a monk has invisible fist, and an expert has skills. I'd argue that skills are sligthly better, but could see some arguments the other way.
The problem is, if for some reason, invisible fist is out of the question. The monk has crap. (what is he gonna do about 3 trolls at level 7? Run away?) The expert does still have plenty of tricks, since skills are versatile.
So basically, everything comes down to the fact that monks suck, and while experts suck more at some areas, they are better in the areas that matter. Since monks are so bad in combat, it doesn't matter if you are worse than him.
So to put it in terms of odds, the monk might have 3% chance of succeeding in a combat, and the expert might have 1% chance of succeeding. So while the monk might be three times as good as the expert here, he is still worthless. The expert might have 80% chance of succeeding at a skill related task, while the monk might have 40%, so while the expert is just double as good as the monk at this. It doesn't matter, since the expert can actually do something.