Judge my Build: Heavyweight Boxer

[Squawk Featherbeak]

Stuck at my aunt's house, I decided to make a new build. Lol. I know a lot of my ideas have to do with monks, but that's because my favorite attack are unarmed ones. So here goes.

Race::

You're a vanilla Half-Elf. Skill Focus is needed at Level 1, and this build multiclasses. You can also take Human and get the Eclectic trait. Actually, this would be wiser.

Abilities::

Str>Cha>Wis>Dex>Con>Int. Strength is important for more damage. Charisma is needed for the Eldritch Heritage line, as well as performance feats and party facing. Wisdom is needed due to Will being your worst save, plus it adds AC if you're armorless. Dexterity and Constitution are mostly there for defense purposes, and Int is there for skill points. If you want to be more of a party face, give Int more importance, but not enough to make you a Venetian Glass cannon.

Skills::

This build requires a charismatic fighter. So let's be the party face. Intimidate is a class skill and important to mid-level skills. Max it out. Other important Face skills would be Bluff, Diplomacy, and Sense Motive. Perception is the most-used skill in the game, and this build requires at least 1 rank in Survival at level 1

Items::

• Armor: None
• Belt: Belt of Physical Might/Giant Strength/Physical Perfection
• Body: Monk's Robe
• Chest: Mantle of Spell Resistance
• Eyes: Goggles of the Night
• Feet: Boots of Speed
• Hands: Any
• Head: Medusa's Mask
• Headband: Headband of Inspired Wisdom/ Mental Superiority/ Mental Prowess
• Neck: Amulet of Might Fists
• Rings: Ring of Protection
• Shield: None
• Shoulders: Cloak of Resistance
• Wrist: Bracers of Armor

Class Progression:

Level 1: Take a level in Monk. Specifically, Master of Many Styles and Monk of the Sacred Mountain. Your chosen feats should be Scorpion Style, Skill-Focus (Survival), and Dragon Style. Scorpion Style is not a style feat, so you may mix it in with Dragon Style. Other than that, you get Improved Unarmed Strike, and Stunning Fist. Also, Skill Focus is a chain to the higher feats.

Level 2: Another level in Monk. Take Dragon Ferocity. Due to Sacred Mountain, you also get +1 natural armor and Toughness.

Level 3: Now, we multi class to Brawler/Gladiator Fighter. Remember that Skill Focus? Take Eldritch Heritage for the Orc Bloodline. As your Fighter feat, take Weapon Focus (Unarmed Strike). You also get Performance Weapon Mastery. So much feats in 3 levels. 10 in total. Lol.

Level 4: Fighter again. Go take Power Attack. Everyone loves this feat for a reason.

Level 5: Fighter. Make your Power attack even better with Furious Focus.

Level 6: You're now a Level 4 Fighter. That means Weapon Specialization on your Unarmed Strikes.

Level 7: I think it's safe to say Fighter until said otherwise. Take Gorgon's Fist.

Level 8: Remember that you're a warrior of high Charisma. Take Dazzling Display.

Level 9: Most Fighters that would take Dazzling Display go for Shatter Defenses, but we don't want that. Welcome Performing Combatant. Are you not entertained yet?

Level 10: Here's the split in my build. You have three choices. Be more of a Gladiator and take Savage Display for more damage, take a long awaited Iron Will, or you can be more accurate and take Greater Weapon Focus. You decide. This decision will affect you for a very long time, be it minimal.

Level 11: Improved Eldritch Heritage. Take the 9th level option. You get more Strength.

Level 12: Medusa's Wrath. More attacks! Yay!

Level 13: Take the Improved Eldritch Heritage once again. Take the other choice for more natural armor bonus and immunity to fear.

Level 14: Greater Weapon Specialization. Your punch should be immensely tough by now.

Level 15: Remember that you're a Monk of MANY Styles? Take Boar Style. More damage. This time, it's bleed.

Level 16: Another choice here. Actually a dump. It's practically free here. You could take whatever feat you missed at 10. You could take Hero's Display, which is a better version of Shatter Defenses. You could take Improved Initiative. You could take Leadership if your GM allows it, so that you'd always have a crowd around you, plus a buffing Wizard sidekick. You could take Boar Ferocity. You could take Improved Natural Armor. Actually, since the next and last feat needed is Character Level based, you could even multiclass. Go back to Monk, or forsake the lawful ways and go Barbarian. You could go Rogue or Ninja for a sneak. Maybe even go wild with a Ragechemist/Vivisectionist Alchemist.

Level 17: Take Greater Eldritch Heritage. You can now enlarge yourself with better buffs than the spell.

Levels 18-20: Dump levels. Read "Level 16"

So that's about it. What do you think?

[ProfPotts]

With the option to deliver nonlethal damage and a focus on Intimidate I'd seriously look at taking the Enforcer Feat from the APG as early as possible with this sort of build.

[Oliver Volland]

Where do I find the Orc Bloodline?
Is it possible to have two MOnk Archtypes at once?

[Gworeth]

Tarakin wrote:

Where do I find the Orc Bloodline?

Is it possible to have two MOnk Archtypes at once?

You find it here: Orc Bloodline

[Squawk Featherbeak]

You are allowed to have as much archetypes as you want, as long as the changes don't clash.

ProfPotts wrote:

With the option to deliver nonlethal damage and a focus on Intimidate I'd seriously look at taking the Enforcer Feat from the APG as early as possible with this sort of build.

Thanks. Maybe we could add that as an option for level 6. A choice between that and Furious Focus.

[n00bxqb]

It seems very odd that a Boxer would have such DEX and CON as such low priorities while WIS and CHA are both so high. I understand it's a Monk and all, but it just doesn't seem to fit, IMO.

[Squawk Featherbeak]

true. that was for optimization purposes though.

Also, I just realized I need to rewrite this build, because of my misunderstanding of the monk's "Unarmed Attacks don't count as offhand" together with the TWF feats.

[Squawk Featherbeak]

Ok. Here goes. A less charismatic, less wise version, supposing that the "No off-hand unarmed attacks" thing only applies to damage and not to attack.

Race::

You have only two choices. This depends primarily on your GM's campaign rules. If traits are given at level 1, choose Human and go with the Eclectic trait. If not, go for Half-Elf. You may choose Human even without traits, but you'll have your first two levels without favored class bonuses.

Abilities::

Str>Dex>Wis>Con>Int>Cha. Strength plays a huge role as it is your damage and accuracy. By level 8, this will be used to demoralize your enemies through Intimidate checks. Get this as high as you can and place all your ability score increases on this, except one if your base strength is an equal number. Dexterity provides your ability to dodge as well as being the base ability for Reflex saves and a requirement for Two-Weapon Fighting. Have this at at least 15, but remember to boost this to 17 by level 7, and 19 by level 12. Wisdom will benefit your AC early on (While you don't wear armor) and is the base ability of your worst save, Will. It also takes care of Perception and Sense Motive, which in my opinion are really important. Intelligence is a dump stat. Take only as much as you see required to get skill ranks. This is why Human is better than Half-Elf. Charisma is a dump stat as well. Your only Charisma-based skill is Intimidate, and by the time you need it, Strength takes over.

Skills::

Maximize Intimidate as it is an immense help your build especially at level 9. Perception and Sense Motive are quite important. Acrobatics might help you get through tight situations. And Climb and Swim, although situational and rarely needed, use Strength as a base ability and you'll be really awesome at it.

Items::

• Armor: Mithral Full Plate/Cloud Giant-Hide Armor
• Belt: Belt of Physical Might (Str/Dex)/Physical Perfection
• Body: Monk's Robe
• Chest: Mantle of Spell Resistance
• Eyes: Goggles of the Night
• Feet: Boots of Speed
• Hands: Any
• Head: Medusa's Mask
• Headband: Headband of Inspired Wisdom
• Neck: Amulet of Might Fists
• Rings: Ring of Protection
• Shield: Animated Heavy Shield
• Shoulders: Cloak of Resistance
• Wrist: Bracers of Armor

Class Progression::

Level 1: Take a level in Monk. Specifically, Master of Many Styles and Monk of the Sacred Mountain. Your chosen feats should be Power Attack, Skill-Focus (Survival), and Dragon Style. Other than that, you get Improved Unarmed Strike, and Stunning Fist. Also, Skill Focus is a chain to the higher feats.

Level 2: Another level in Monk. Take Dragon Ferocity. Due to Sacred Mountain, you also get +1 natural armor and Toughness.

Level 3: Now, we multi class to Brawler Fighter. Remember that Skill Focus? Take Eldritch Heritage for the Orc Bloodline. As your Fighter feat, take Two Weapon Fighting. You're not going to main in Monk, so that's why you're taking this feat. So much feats in 3 levels. 9 in total. Lol.

Level 4: Fighter again. Go take Weapon Focus for your Unarmed Strikes. +1 is more helpful than i sounds. Also this feat is the prerequisite of a huge feat tree.

Level 5: Fighter. Get Furious Focus. More accuracy to that Power Attack

Level 6: You're now a Level 4 Fighter. That means Weapon Specialization on your Unarmed Strikes.

Level 7: I think it's safe to say Fighter until said otherwise. Improved Tow-Weapon Fighting. More attacks! Yay!

Level 8: OK. Remember what I stated in the Abilities section about Strength and Intimidate? Take Intimidating Prowess.

Level 9: Right after Intimidating Prowess, take Enforcer. Debuff Punch!

Level 10: Take Greater Weapon Focus. More accuracy means more happiness.

Level 11: Improved Eldritch Heritage. Take the 9th level option. You get more Strength.

Level 12: Greater Two-Weapon Fighting. One more attack!

Level 13: Take the Improved Eldritch Heritage once again. Take the other choice for more natural armor bonus and immunity to fear.

Level 14: Greater Weapon Specialization. Your punch should be immensely tough by now.

Levels 15-16: These, as well as 18-20 are dump levels. These are mostly up to you. You could keep these two levels in Fighter to take the level 16 feat, maybe even until level 20 for a final +1 on the Close Control ability of Brawler. Other ideas would be to forsake monkish ways to be a Barbarian. Samurai would offer more defense. Order of the Cockatrice Cavaliers offer more defense. Ninjas, and Vivisectionist Alchemists offer Sneak Attack. The difference is Ninjas have a Ki Pool and Vivisectionists can also take the Ragechemist archetype. (In which I would highly suggest Intelligence bonuses). Feats that you could get could be Boar Style for bleed damage and slashing attacks, Improved Initiative for that extra jump into battles, as well as many others.

Level 17: Take Greater Eldritch Heritage. You can now enlarge yourself with better buffs than the spell.

Levels 18-20: Dump levels. Read "Levels 15-16"