I was wondering one thing about the Qinggong Monk:
It replaces the following:
slow fall (4th), high jump (5th), wholeness of body (7th), diamond body (11th), abundant step (12th), diamond soul (13th), quivering palm (15th), timeless body (17th), tongue of the sun and moon (17th), empty body (19th), and perfect self (20th).
However, the list seems to be f@#~ed up:
4th-Level Ki Powers
6th-Level Ki Powers
8th-Level Ki Powers
10th-Level Ki Powers
12th-Level Ki Powers
14th-Level Ki Powers
16th-Level Ki Powers
18th-Level Ki Powers
20th-Level Ki Powers
In fact:
slow fall (4th), abundant step (12th) and perfect self (20th)...
...are properly matching the lost ability with the gained ability.
high jump (5th), wholeness of body (7th), diamond body (11th), diamond soul (13th), tongue of the sun and moon (17th), empty body (19th)...
...aren't matching with anything above!!
So...how this "hot mess" works?
In fact, seems that the Qinggong Monk is being "punished" by having abilities taken away, but have access only to lower level abilities because of the messed up way in which are set most of the replacements!
And the mess is even worse because the replaced abilities are shown at the higher level (for example, high jump appears at 6th level)!
For example, if I wanted to give up "high jump" could I take "gaseous form" at 6th level?
Or even...could I take a 4th level ability and retrain into "gaseous form" at 6th level?
Thanks,
Skarm
Every thing you replace with the Qinggong Archetype is optional. So if you want to keep high jump you can.
If you don't want to keep it, you can take any of the ki powers that you qualify for (at 5th level, that would be any of the powers available at 4th level.) If you replace Diamond Body you can take any one of the 4th level powers, the 6th level powers, the 8th levels or the 10th level powers. If you don't think any of those are a good as Diamond Body, then don't trade it out.
Retraining class features says: "Retraining a class feature means you lose the old class feature and gain a new one that you could otherwise qualify for at that point in your level advancement. For example, if you want to retrain your paladin’s fatigued mercy (which she gained at 3rd level), you can replace it only with another mercy from the 3rd-level list. "
So just like a Paladin's mercy, you can't retrain a 4th or 5th level qi power into a 6th level ki power, even if your character is now 6th level (or higher).
Think of qinggong monk as the "modular monk". Pick and choose what you want for each monk ability you would normally get. Whenever you decide to replace a default ability, choose from all of the ki powers available as replacements at that level or lower. You can even mix it with other archetypes so long as the others take precedence (i.e., you don't try to replace an ability that is already replaced/altered/whatever by another archetype).