Is there an official ruling on it? Can Clerics of Xan Yae multiclass as monks even if not lawful? (as with paladins and some FR gods) Or are all monks who worship Xan Yae lawful? But what about the Supreme Mistress herself....
The questions came up because I'm trying to convert the 1E catlord who has considerable Monk levels, is a noted friend of Xan Yae, but also definately True Neutral.
When contemplating this I came across the feat Infusion of Blance.
How would you rule that it affects a monk? Would it be too far fetched to allow a neutral aligned character to advance in the monk class if he has this feat?
So far I have the Catlord advancement like this:
Rog7 (CN) -> Monk20 (LN perhaps due to cursed item, later turn true neutral at CL 21) -> Shadowdancer10 (...association with Xan Yae)
As for Cat Lord, I always thought he was a supreme rogue rather than a monk, many of whose abilities can be mimicked by other Feats in any event.
As for True Neutral monks, it seems reasonable, you'd just have to remove the ki strike: lawful ability.
But that's assuming a normal lawful monk who's gone astray.
For a true neutral monk, who never was lawful, I'd not give him the ki strike lawful. The natural replacement would be something like ki strike : balanced, which would effect creatures of extreme alignment(CE,LG, etc.) but that seems a bit overpowered. Maybe give it at a higher level.
I will point out however that the Catlord, as well as dozens of other "special" NPCs in 1e may have had the "abilities" of a certain class of a certain level, but that by no means suggested they actually had levels in that class, a case which is proven by the Catlord as a matter of fact. In 3e, such things are explained by Spell-like, Supernatural, or Extraordinary abilities. To refer to a character as having the "ability of a 15th-level monk" actually doesn't give as much information in 3e as it did in 1e because the abilities of a monk are no longer as static as they were back then (without kits).
If you want to have a N monk in your home campaign, go crazy. You don't have to design special rules or wonder whether a specific feat will grant abilities, you just allow N monks. All you really need to modify would be a bit of class flavor which is a pretty simply deal since the concept of balance is easily incorporated. Whether they get Ki Strike (Lawful) is your call based on whether you think it makes sense. Supplementing the ability with some other power is a simple enough task, perhaps their hands strike as silver or cold iron weapons instead, or maybe they can choose an alignment axis to bypass based on their training.
That's because 1e stats simply don't translate into much of anything in 3e. What do you expect? You seemed to be asking for 3e help and that's the "official" version, at least as close as we can get to canon in modern-day GH.
Frankly i expect nothing much from Wotc Core stuff. At least considering Greyhawk material and taking over the flavor from earlier editions. I know of the ELH build and am trying to come up with my own version which does stick a little more to the flavor of the 1E catlord from the 1E MM2 and the Catlord from the Gord stories.
If you find a straight-classed 37th-level Rogue boring, I'm inclined to think you have little imagination, since I doubt any 37th-level Rogue would ever look like another, let alone the sheer rarity of 37th-level Rogues in general. By the time you get to epic-level rules the options are so vast it's hard to have a vanilla character.
Well I don't find every 37th level rogue boring. But as a representation of the Catlord I thought the ELH built to be lacking. I only skimmed it in the shop though... Will have to check it again to incorporate any good stuff that it already has.
Personally, I consider the fact that I have a stat-block of the Catlord which is already bad-ass without tweaking to be a pretty good deal. I honestly doubt my players would be able to tell the difference at that point between him being a 37th-level Rogue or a 20th-level Rogue/17th-level Monk, especially since he's not even one of the base races! You're entitled to your own opinion of course.
Exactly. To each his own. I'll be posting my version here for you all to judge for yourself which one you like better. If i ever get it finished...
I will point out however that the Catlord, as well as dozens of other "special" NPCs in 1e may have had the "abilities" of a certain class of a certain level, but that by no means suggested they actually had levels in that class, a case which is proven by the Catlord as a matter of fact. In 3e, such things are explained by Spell-like, Supernatural, or Extraordinary abilities. To refer to a character as having the "ability of a 15th-level monk" actually doesn't give as much information in 3e as it did in 1e because the abilities of a monk are no longer as static as they were back then (without kits).
I know. Many of the special NPCs did break the 1E or 2E rules a bit, multiclassing or dual classing or having tons of special abilities. But that actually makes conversion to 3E much easier in many cases. For example why give the Catlord dimension door and ethereal jaunt as supernatural or spell like abilities that don't seem to come from anywhere or built up a special new template, when you can have them from the shadowdancer and monk classes with just a little tweaking. Add to that the right feats and you have a build that has all the abilities of the 1E MM2 catlord without (m)any special rules.
Also about the classes yes the 1E catlord entry said either monk or rogue, but that doesn't make much sense in the 3E environment. In 1E a 19th level rogue was already (almost) epic. But in 3E the ELH build sets a nice precedent being a 37th level caharacter , and it makes a whole lot of sense to simply give him both the rogue and the monk levels. ...and probably DvR 0.