I am in an epic evil campaign and have decided I want to go for the drunken master prestiege class. The way I see it is, in my last few games I've played all roles except for the loud strong one. I have always sorta wanted to play a drunken master, and figured this was the perfect oportunity.

I have narrowed most of my progression ideas down, but wanted some input from others. So far I haven't received much. So here are my main thoughts.....

standard monk -> drunken master - while this one is plain, It is also fairly self explanatory for why it would be a choice.

chaos monk -> drunken master (might even skip out on barb....idk) This I feel could fit the general feel of a drunken master with the chaotic side to being drunk. The ability to be confusing on top of being drunk on top of confusing people because you are mimicing being drunk/are severely drunk would give incredible ability to not get hit to top off the flavor of the character.

Unwavering Dedication Monk -> Paladin of tyranny -> Drunken Master - This I would most likely only dip into paladin of tyranny a bit to get the auras, and some of the touch attacks, while focusing mostly on the monk aspects. Seeing as we will most likely be involved dealing with those pesky goody goody cleric and paladins trying to ruin our plots and such, having the ability to recognize when they get near might come in handy, along with dealing extra damage to them from a smite ability.

Check the Sohei from Oriental Adventures, it's a Ki raging quasi fighter.

The weak little smite from a Paladin dip won't add enough damage to be worth considering, though the auras are indeed nice (if you can afford to not dump Cha). Is this character already in play, or are you just in the planning stage right now?

Edit: Also, what sources are allowed?

So far I am in the process of making the character. Hoping to finish it in a few days though. He hasn't rejected any sources yet, but I've been mostly sticking to the complete series, and core books. I wouldn't be opposed to using other sources, but for instance I have been less of a fan of using additional components that end up (in my opinion) complicating characters more than needed like the use of incarnum and other things. I tend to not use those features in play when they are available, where as I use the ones I am highly familiar with frequently.

How epic is this game, exactly? Since monks are an annoyance to casters, you could make a fair nuisance of yourself by tailoring your build to specifically shut down the "pesky goody goody" clerics. You might consider the Unarmed Swordsage as your base, rather than a Monk, because their class abilities aren't anti-synergistic... and you can get the Child of Shadow stance, which just looks cool.


A 23rd-level Paladin's special mount is more dangerous than the paladin himself, though the pally can build himself for caster-killing or ubercharging and come out as a decent sidekick.

The goal in my mind would be to take your character concept and make it as mechanically effective as possible while retaining the desired flavor.