Monk's Belt and Kung Full Genius

[schreier]

I was looking to take a dip in monk with a psion for the AC bonus ... Specifically using kung fu genius from the dragon compendium to take advantage of the high intelligence. I then noticed the prereqs for kung fu genius, and realized that there was a possibility of not needing the level dip ...

The text of kung fu genius says:
Prerequisite
INT 13, Must be gained at or before the first level of the monk class is taken.

Benefit
You use your Intelligence modifier rather than Wisdom modifier for all monk special abilities that normally rely on Wisdom.




It looks like it would work with a monk's Belt without a level in monk ... Thoughts?

[Cerefel]

The prereq does state that you have to take a monk level eventually, so definitely ask your DM about whether 'before never' parses the way you want, rulewise

[schreier]

My reading is more that you can't take it if you already have a level of monk. I see your point though

[torrasque666]

I was looking to take a dip in monk with a psion for the AC bonus ... Specifically using kung fu genius from the dragon compendium to take advantage of the high intelligence. I then noticed the prereqs for kung fu genius, and realized that there was a possibility of not needing the level dip ...

There is also the Ascetic Psion feat from Secrets of Sarlona. Would requires you burning another two feats, but has less ambiguous reading. Switches all Wis-To-AC to Int too. So if you somehow manage to pickup Saint....

[schreier]

Two feats that are relatively useless outside to get the ability to take ascetic psion - you're right, no question it works -- but doesn't seem worth it.

I think that Kung Fu genius was written in a way that didn't consider the possibility of gaining AC other than through a level in the class. That being said, I would say that a character can clearly take the feat before taking a level in monk. There is no explicit mention of not gaining use of the feat without a level in monk. I would argue that RAW is 95% that it should work with the belt.

The belt's relevant text for the AC ability is:
If the character is not a monk, she gains the AC and unarmed damage of a 5th-level monk. This AC bonus functions just like the monk's AC bonus.

I think that the feat and belt should work together - but it seems open to interpretation (it says before the first level of monk, not "any levels of monk" which would be more clear).

[Zanos]

The belt and the feat work together by RAW, since you explicitly gain the AC ability of a 5th level monk and Kung Fu Genius alters that.

[schreier]

Unless there is some clarification that addresses items granting class abilities and their interaction with feats or other items, I would definitely agree with you.