Monk Tripper build advice


Advice

Silver Crusade

Hi. I would like to get the community's advice on this build I'm running for PFS. His name is Ichiro, of the mighty Toyotomi family of samurais. Ichiro, however, has a slightly different inclination in terms of fighting style that clashes with his family's tradition. Thus, he has embarked on a journey to prove that he is worthy of his family's acceptance while proving his unique (to them) way of combat.

I envision Ichiro being a battlefield controller with a radius of 25', being able to enlarge person himself (with wand) and lunge with a reach weapon. Or lunging for 15' with Temple Sword to take advantage of Vicious Stomp. Even against untrippable foes, Ichiro can still do decent damage while threatening a large area.

He's already 2nd level so can't go back to change anything without using the retrain rules.

As I'm still fairly new to pathfinder, I'm hoping the community at large can help refine this build to either be more efficient/productive in combat or increase his utility out of combat.

Toyotomi Ichiro current:
Human Male Monk (Sohei, Qinggong) 1/Bloodrager (Blood Conduit) 1
Str: 18 (16+2) Dex: 16 Con: 13 Int: 7 Wis: 14 Cha: 7
Traits: Berserker of the Society, Bred for War

Feats:
1st - Bloodrager (Blood Conduit): Power Attack
Bloodrager 1: Improved Trip (bonus)
Human: Fury's Fall
2nd - Monk (Sohei, Qinggong) 1: Combat Reflexes (bonus)

planned progression. Anything with ? is what I'm unsure about.
3rd - Brawler (Strangler): Vicious Stomp
4th - Monk 2: Dodge (bonus)
5th - Monk 3: Dragon Style?
6th - Monk 4:
7th - Monk 5: Combat Expertise
8th - Monk 6: Improved Grapple (bonus)
9th - Monk 7: Greater Trip
10th - Monk 8:
11th - Brawler 2?: Lunge
Brawler 2: Greater Grapple? (bonus)

So what do you think? Based on current plan and WBL, here are Ichiro's various level marks. () = when raging

4th level:
Human Male Monk (Sohei, Qinggong) 2/Bloodrager (Blood Conduit) 1/Brawler (Strangler) 1

Str: 18 Dex: 16 Con: 14 (+1 level) Int: 7 Wis: 16 (+2 headband) Cha: 7
HP: 37 (45) SP: 12 F: 10 (12) R: 9 W: 7 (9)

AC: 25 (+4 Mage Armor, +4 Shield (spell), +3 Dex, +1 Dodge, +3 Wis)
FF: 21 Touch: 17

Melee (flurry): MW Temple Sword (2H PA) +5/+5 (+7/+7) 1d8+10 (1d8+12), 19-20/x2 or
MW Guisarme (2H PA) +7 (+9) 2d4+12 (2d4+15), x2
Trip CMB: +14 (+16)

Items: Headband of Wis +2, Cloak of Resist +1


8th level:
Human Male Monk (Sohei, Qinggong) 6/Bloodrager (Blood Conduit) 1/Brawler (Strangler) 1

Str: 20 (+2 belt) Dex: 16 Con: 14 Int: 8 (+1 level) Wis: 16 Cha: 7
HP: 68 (84) SP: 32 F: 13 (15) R: 12 W: 10 (12)

AC: 31 (+4 Mage Armor, +4 Shield (spell), +3 Dex, +1 Dodge, +1 Haste, +3 NA (barkskin qinggong), +1 Deflection, +3 Wis, +1 Monk)
FF: 26 Touch: 20

(Assume hasted with boots and ki to extra attack)
Melee (flurry): +2 Temple Sword (2H PA) +11/+11/+11/+11/+6 (+13/+13/+13/+13/+8) 1d8+17 (1d8+19), 19-20/x2 or
MW Guisarme (2H PA) +10/+10/+10/+10/+5 (+12/+12/+12/+12/+7) 2d4+15 (2d4+17), x2
Trip w/ Temple Sword CMB: +24 (+26)

Item: Belt of Str +2, Boots of Speed, Cloak of Resist +2, Headband of Wis +2, Ring of Prot +1


11th level:
Human Male Monk (Sohei, Qinggong) 8/Bloodrager (Blood Conduit) 1/Brawler (Strangler) 2?

Str: 20 Dex: 18 (+2 belt) Con: 16 (+2 belt) Int: 8 (+1 level) Wis: 18 (+4 headband) Cha: 7
HP: 103 (125) SP: 44 F: 16 (18) R: 15 W: 12 (14)

AC: 36 (+4 Mage Armor, +4 Shield (spell), +4 Dex, +1 Dodge, +1 Haste, +3 NA (barkskin qinggong), +1 Deflection, +4 Wis, +3 Monk, +1 Luck)
FF: 30 Touch: 25

(Assume hasted with boots and ki for ki weapon +2 atk/dmg)
Melee (flurry): +2 Temple Sword (2H PA) +17/+17/+17/+12/+12 (+19/+19/+19/+14/+14) 1d8+19 (1d8+21), 19-20/x2 or
MW Guisarme (2H PA) +16/+16/+16/+11+/+11 (+18/+18/+18/+13/+13) 2d4+17 (2d4+19), x2
Trip w/ Temple Sword CMB: +30 (+32)

Item: Belt of Phys Perfection +2, Boots of Speed, Cloak of Resist +2, Headband of Wis +4, Jingasa of the Fortunate Soldier, Monk's Robe, Ring of Prot +1

Prior to BAB 6, plan to use martial flexibility (4 times/day) for improved grapple, weapon focus, furious focus?, or style feat (crane, dragon, pummel)
After BAB 6, greater trip (until level 7), lunge, greater grapple

Wand of Mage Armor, Shield, and Enlarge Person to cast those spells. Any other wands that might be useful (can't cast scrolls as dumped Cha)?

What else? Should I take weapon focus as a feat or use martial flexibility based on which weapon I'm using at the time? What else can I do to improve or add flavor that I haven't thought of. Thanks in advance for any help/advice.

Silver Crusade

I'm gonna guess lack of interest due to the numerous monk trip builds. However, none of those builds dip brawler for the martial flexibility. Any thoughts on how to best utilize that or don't even bother?

Anyway, thanks in advance.


Not gonna lie, I haven't read all that you've written. Just want to chime in and say that Maneuver Master 2/Fighter X makes a really nice whip build. Whip takes A LOT of feats, a painful number really, and fighter helps you get those in a relatively reasonable amount of time.

Plus, flurrying in full plate is just kind of badass.

Silver Crusade

RumpinRufus wrote:

Not gonna lie, I haven't read all that you've written. Just want to chime in and say that Maneuver Master 2/Fighter X makes a really nice whip build. Whip takes A LOT of feats, a painful number really, and fighter helps you get those in a relatively reasonable amount of time.

Plus, flurrying in full plate is just kind of badass.

How do you flurry in full plate? Doesn't flurry of maneuvers have the "can't flurry in armor" restriction? Otherwise, Zen Archers should be able to flurry of bows in armor as well but I don't think that's the case.


Sohei can flurry with armor, but I'm not sure if they can flurry with heavy armor or if its restricted to light.

Anyway, I don't see a single reason why you should take Monk levels in this build.

Not even the fluff you posted makes it sound like he's a Monk. He has a Japanese name but he might be a Japanese Brawler.

You could go full Strangler Brawler with 4 levels of Blood Conduit Bloodrager with the Aberrant bloodline for extra reach, and spells which are likely to be Enlarge Person.


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slin2678 wrote:
How do you flurry in full plate? Doesn't flurry of maneuvers have the "can't flurry in armor" restriction? Otherwise, Zen Archers should be able to flurry of bows in armor as well but I don't think that's the case.

Zen Archers have "Flurry of Blows" and a monk can't use Flurry of Blows in armor. But Maneuver Master replaces Flurry of Blows with Flurry of Maneuvers, and there's no restriction on wearing armor and using Flurry of Maneuvers.


Also you don't qualify for Dragon Ferocity as a Sohei

Scarab Sages

Secret Wizard wrote:
Sohei can flurry with armor, but I'm not sure if they can flurry with heavy armor or if its restricted to light.

RAW they can flurry with any armor because the restriction on flurry is in armor is in the armor proficency section of the monk, and Sohei alters it. However because of the FAQ, they are limited to light armor only despite that.

Silver Crusade

Secret Wizard wrote:

Sohei can flurry with armor, but I'm not sure if they can flurry with heavy armor or if its restricted to light.

Anyway, I don't see a single reason why you should take Monk levels in this build.

Not even the fluff you posted makes it sound like he's a Monk. He has a Japanese name but he might be a Japanese Brawler.

You could go full Strangler Brawler with 4 levels of Blood Conduit Bloodrager with the Aberrant bloodline for extra reach, and spells which are likely to be Enlarge Person.

I'm going Sohei so I can flurry with a Guisarme. Brawler's can only flurry with close and monk weapons. Also, monk's have better saves and AC.

RumpinRufus wrote:
Zen Archers have "Flurry of Blows" and a monk can't use Flurry of Blows in armor. But Maneuver Master replaces Flurry of Blows with Flurry of Maneuvers, and there's no restriction on wearing armor and using Flurry of Maneuvers.

Zen Archers have "Flurry of Bows" which replaces Flurry of Blows. It's similar language-wise to Flurry of Maneuvers because it doesn't address the armor restriction.

EDIT: Nevermind. Just read Zen Archer again and it does say Flurry of Blows.

Secret Wizard wrote:
Also you don't qualify for Dragon Ferocity as a Sohei

No biggie as I only need Dragon Style to charge through allies and difficult terrain to better fulfill my battlefield controlling role. Not planning to do too much unarmed striking with this build unless I require Pummeling Style to bypass DR.

Also, Dragon Style stacks well with Vicious Stomp.

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