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There's Signature Deed, and I would love to see something similar for monks.
Signature Ki Technique
You have mastered a single technique to such a degree that you can use it at will with no need to tap into your inner reserves.
Prerequisites: Ki Pool class feature, monk level 11th
Benefit: Choose a single class feature or feat which you have access to that requires one or more ki points to activate. You may activate this ability for one less ki points than it would usually take (minimum 0). If the cost would be reduced to 0, you may activate the ability for the normal action cost as long as you have at least one ki point.
Special: You may take this feat multiple times. Each time, you must designate a different class feature or feat you have access to which requires ki to activate.
What do you guys think of this?
Kind of broken. Unless you're a qinggong monk, the only power worth using it on is the bonus attack on FoB, which is a really powerful and ruins the whole point of ki in the first place. If you ARE a qinggong monk, then you can essentially get at-will SLAs.
Ki and grit are totally different resource systems. Deeds are typically weaker and designed around the fact a gunslinger can potentially do them all day. Ki powers are designed around the fact a monk can do them a limited number of times per day.
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Could you give an example of a spell that a Qinggong Monk has access to that costs 1 ki point or less (and thus would make it usable at will) that would be broken at level 11+ if usable at will?
Also, is sinking 11 levels into monk for the ability to make +1 attack per round, and only when using Flurry of Blows, that strong at that level when Haste is so much better overall and available so much sooner?
Also, I would argue that Up Close and Deadly on demand with Signature Deed is pretty dang strong too :-P
i actually put a playtested and balanced version of this in racial guide 4 by little red goblin games(its in the ganeshan section). You really cannot allow a less than 1 cost with this as it makes some options for qinggong too good, like unlimited gaseous form, barkskin, and truestrike. it also completely cuts out some extremely good third party options such as the qinggong feats from Dragon Tiger Ox.
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Regarding Barkskin, is it that much stronger to spend a feat to basically duplicate an Amulet of Natural Armor?
For True Strike, is spending a round "charging" up (and perhaps taking an AoO if you're in melee, as monks tend to be) that powerful just to get your first attack next round to auto-hit (especially when you're usually flurrying for many attacks)?
Lastly, Gaseous Form might be quite good... but it won't help you much in combat, but is it all that great at level 11+, even at will, when casters get it 6 levels earlier?
While these options might be good, I don't see them as anything near "broken"...
Also not familiar with Dragon Tiger Ox, but this feat doesn't assume that all other 3rd party content or homebrew is available, FWIW.
true enough, unless you are a sensei giving it to everyone every round. also i'm not keen on zen archers automatically getting unarmed strike damage with arrows basically permanently. this only works when you don't factor in the monk archetypes that do not suck.
Could you give an example of a spell that a Qinggong Monk has access to that costs 1 ki point or less (and thus would make it usable at will) that would be broken at level 11+ if usable at will?
Also, I would argue that Up Close and Deadly on demand with Signature Deed is pretty dang strong too :-P
I don't need to give an example. You're deliberately breaking the ki economy by having abilities not cost anything. Signature Deed exists because grit works very differently from ki. However, I'll give an example anyway: true strike. With Quicken Spell-Like Ability (which you can get at this level), a monk gets an at-will +20 on one attack or combat maneuver per round at the cost of a swift action.
Also, is sinking 11 levels into monk for the ability to make +1 attack per round, and only when using Flurry of Blows, that strong at that level when Haste is so much better overall and available so much sooner?
A extra attack that stacks with haste is strong at any level.
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true enough, unless you are a sensei giving it to everyone every round. also i'm not keen on zen archers automatically getting unarmed strike damage with arrows basically permanently. this only works when you don't factor in the monk archetypes that do not suck.
As a sensei you'd still be limited by the rounds of Advice you have every day. And while I do agree that it's pretty cool to give those things to allies, I don't think it's really overpowered to do so...
I don't need to give an example. You're deliberately breaking the ki economy by having abilities not cost anything. Signature Deed exists because grit works very differently from ki. However, I'll give an example anyway: true strike. With Quicken Spell-Like Ability (which you can get at this level), a monk gets an at-will +20 on one attack or combat maneuver per round at the cost of a swift action.
Examples are good. Without them, points tend to be moot.
With that said, you're wasting 2 feats at level 11+ in your example in order to make a single attack autohit 3x per day...? That seems decent for the investment, but nowhere near overpowered. You could already use quicken spell-like with true strike on a qinggong monk without the need for this feat, since it doesn't cost much in the way of ki points. It seems a waste to use this feat on True Strike in that case, since after the 3x per day that you use it, you'd be spending a whole round "charging up" in order to use true strike again (though at no ki cost).
A extra attack that stacks with haste is strong at any level.
While I agree that it's strong, I don't think it makes the monk unduly strong. Plus you're wasting a swift action that you could use for all the aforementioned stuff.
Examples are good. Without them, points tend to be moot.
Arguing against individual examples doesn't go anywhere, because it's not possible to fully evaluate every possible option. Even so, cursory look at ki powers shows how powerful the feat is and the kind of design risks it creates. The extra flurry attack for free sufficiently demonstrates the issues with this feat.
However, one can evaluate how the option disrupts the internal mechanisms of the game. The feat screws with a fundamental assumption about a resource economy. That makes it broken. Additionally, feat ultimately is not fun or creative enough to warrant the associated design risk. As a result, I feel confident enough to say that the feat is poorly designed and that any GM would/should think twice about even considering allowing it in their campaign.
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If you think this feat is poorly designed, I suggest looking at the Ring of Ki Mastery. Already in the game, costs a fraction of your wealth at higher levels, and affects everything that costs Ki, not just a single ability.
Do you think this item is also poorly-designed, and breaks the game? If so, then it's inherently broken, as it was published by Paizo. If not, then this feat is technically weak, as you're paying a full feat at higher levels to replicate only a part of what an item costing a fraction of your wealth can do.
Still, if you say that something's broken, but can give no actual examples of it, your point is moot as you have no evidence to back your statement.
Ring of Ki Mastery cannot reduce ki power costs to 0. It says so right in the description.
I'd say the feat is fair and balanced, only because the monk is already one of the most underpowered classes in the game.
As for it's effects on resource costs, I'd say it's similar to Spell Perfection, and the action economy is still the real limit anyway.
In fact the only problem I have with it is that it's too good in a way that basically makes it mandatory as the 11th level feat for any monk that isn't garbage. I'm just not a fan of "choices" that are so good that only complete idiots wouldn't choose them. At that point this shouldn't be house ruled as a feat, but as a class feature instead.
I still would take that over increasing zen archer damage to match a monk's unarmed strike, and stacking the 2 for permanent cover ignoring. I wouldn't be ok with them granting permanent extra attacks to soheis or almost guaranteed stunning fist on a sensei every round since they can afford to jack up its DC. If it weren't for the few good archetypes for the monk this really wouldn't make me bat an eye too much, i would just recommend not having it stack with the ring. Unfortunately their few archetypes that can hold their own are pushed too far with this.
Signature Deed for Swashbucklers? Fine. Signature Deed for any other class with resources needs to be looked at very, very carefully, because turning a resource-limited ability into an at-will ability is extremely powerful.
This.
I'm all for options to make a monk's life easier and more fun, but breaking a class's already well-functioning resource economy is a terrible way to give more power to a class. I've seen many developers make this mistake, both on tabletop and otherwise.