[Scottg]

There are 3 basic types of Monk builds:

1. Just 1 level for the wisdom AC modifier,
2. 1 or more levels for semi-monk, often to about Monk 11 for Greater Flurry for the additional attack.
3. Mostly purist Monk with perhaps a few levels for other effects.

All 3 are good uses of the class.

IF you want a Monk-based unarmed attack WITH spell casting then you are looking at #2 above. My recent preference is for:

Human
1 Monk
1 Cleric (Strength Domain & Time Domain)
3 Druid (Boar)
8 Sacred Fist (Cleric as your spellcasting continuation class)
17 Druid

Major Feats (in order):

Power Attack, Cleave, Great Cleave, Blind Fighting, Extended Spell, Practiced Caster Druid (only), Natural Spell, Persistent Spell.

Also consider: Empower Spell and Scribe Scroll, with secondary consideration to the spell penetrations.

Forget about Divine Might, Divine Shield, and Elephant's Hide. (..your sacred fist special ability provides a LOT more damage - as does changing into a Form; Barkskin is almost as good as Elephant's Hide and generally better than Divine Shield - and it can be persistent, additionally Owl's Insight provides a good boost to AC.)

This build provides you with 2 Divine casting classes:

Cleric provides attack number buffing via several spells: Divine Might, Haste, Bless, Divine Favor, and Aid. It also gives you *spell-slot* access to types of healing spells (allowing your druid class to concentrate on offensive spells).

Druid provides you with lots of different damage spells and two good persistent spells (Body of the Sun and Barkskin.. with Blind Sight if you don't have your spot skill high). Mass Drown and a follow-up of Ice Storm can take out a lot of enemies. Owl's Insight will pump up your Save and Spell penetration as well as your AC.

Druid also provides you with Plant Form and latter Elemental and finally Elder Elemental Form. ALL work well with your Monk Unarmed Attack - and with Natural Spell you can cast spells when you are in these forms.

Finally, Druid provides you with 8th level Storm Avatar (..and you can cast this while in a Form).

The Sacred Fist gives you a good enough BAB for most battles and twice a day gives you a LOT of extra damage (..note though that IF you want to apply this damage AND be in a druid Form then you will need to use this skill and only then turn into your druid Form).

Its a good build, but offensive spell casting isn't *really* good until epic levels.