zen archer help


Rules Questions


Ok so I'm playing a lvl 13 Zen archer and it says that I can apply lawful/silver/cold iron/ and something else to my unarmed strike but a Zen archer doesn't use unarmed strike. So do I apply it to my arrows? Also what is my threat range for an AoO with my bow if I have reflexive shot? And last thing what would be my damage if I applied my unarmed damage die to my long bow? I think its 2d6 but I am unsure. Thank you for your help


Lawful/Silver/Cold Iron: No, I suggest getting a +5 bow (that will fix all of that).

Threat Range: this is the same as it is normally for your bow.

Unarmed Damage to bow: at level 13, 2d6 for a medium creature. But, I suggest making an extra attack instead, you will get better damage.


So if a monster with 110" of my bow I can make a AoO or is it 30"?
This is my first time playing a ranged character and I am unsure as to what I can do.


Neither, it is limited by your unarmed strike reach.

APG p115 wrote:
Reflexive Shot (Ex): At 9th level, a zen archer can make attacks of opportunity with arrows from his bow. The monk still threatens squares he could reach with unarmed strikes, and can still only make one attack of opportunity per round (unless he has Combat Reflexes). This ability replaces improved evasion.

If you threaten it with your unarmed strikes, you threaten it with your bow and can make an AoO. So if your reach is 5' then it is 5', if your reach is 15' then it is 15'.


Ok so ki stoke is useless. Reflexive shot works only in short range and there is no point of making my damage die the same as unarmed strike. Do I have that right?


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

No you don't apply it to your arrows.

Reflexive shot doesn't effect your threat range (Threat range is the range of natural numbers on your attack roll that threaten a critical). Reflexive shot allows you to make AoOs with your bow, you still only threaten squares in which you can make a melee attack into. Generally a medium sized monk wielding a bow that is all squares within 5' which he can hit with his unarmed strike.

Unarmed damage for a medium sized 13th level monk is 2d6.


Ok got it thank you for your time.


Your damage die is 1d8 for an average of 4.5damage. If you spend a ki point to make it 2d6 that is an average of 7damage.

At level 13 you have 5 attacks (2@full, 2@-5, 1@-10). Assuming ALL hit, that is an increase of 5*3.5 = 17.5damage. Most likely you will hit 3 times.

An extra attack will usually do 4.5+strength+2(weapon specialization)+1(point blank shot)+enhancement bonus.

Assuming your strength is decent (14 or so) and you have a +4 weapon enhancement then your average damage is 13.5 @full Base Attack.
13.5 is better than 17.5 when you consider that one of the -5 shots will miss and the -10 shot will almost certainly miss.


A Zen Archer can use unarmed strikes just like a normal monk. They just can’t use it with flurry of blows. At your level you can use the bow instead of unarmed strikes for most things, but in some cases it may be better to use an unarmed strike. If you don’t have arrows capable of bypassing the DR of a creature using unarmed strikes may be a better alternative.

The same is also true with Ki Arrows. For the most part taking the extra attack is going to be the better choice. But there are times when the higher damage may be the better option. If you are not able to use a full attack action the extra attack is useless. Also if you are having trouble getting through a creatures DR then the extra damage may be the better option. Also if you have a Monk’s Robe your damage is treated as 5 levels higher which may change things significantly.

Many players forget about abilities they don’t use all the time. The thing you want to do is be aware of all your abilities in case you run into a situation where a normally weaker ability is actually better.


Mysterious Stranger wrote:
A Zen Archer can use unarmed strikes just like a normal monk. They just can’t use it with flurry of blows. At your level you can use the bow instead of unarmed strikes for most things, but in some cases it may be better to use an unarmed strike. If you don’t have arrows capable of bypassing the DR of a creature using unarmed strikes may be a better alternative.

Doing flurry attacks with the Clustered Shots feat is usually the better option to deal with damage reduction you can't overcome with the bow.


For most DR, you can just use weapon blanches (I use cold iron durable arrows blanched with ghost salt or silver). Pick up some durable adamantine arrows for hardness--10 of these should be enough.

For lawful/evil/chaotic/good, just get some oil of Align Weapon (if there's no one who can cast it for you).

Fire any of these from you +1 Adaptive bow, and you should be fine.

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