Hi.
OK. I am biting the bullet and looking at building a MONK.
Now being Honest. I have not played a Monk since 3.5
I play a ton of Pathfinder but my Primary Classes I play tend to be Fighter, Ranger, Magus and Inquisitor, Barbarians.
Now anyone that knows much about me on these boards, I tend to Gravitate towards High Save/High Damage builds.
This is what I want to achieve with my Monk.
I have read the two Handbooks in the Guides section and think I wanna go with a Sohei/Master or Many Styles monk.
Primarily because he'd get Weapon Training, better armor and weapons (rather than relying on the horrendously expensive AOMF) and better access to the Awesome style feats.
But beyond Knowing I want to go with either a Human (+1 skill point, extra feat) or a
Dwarf (Hardy, Access to Steel Soul, Glory of Old Trait for total +5racial bonus to Saves vs Magic)
I have no idea what I wanna do...
I do love the idea of running around the field Provoking AOO's and getting Counter attacks so Panther Style sounds great.
Also Crane Style sounds wicked. -1 to attack for like +5 AC and deflect an attack? Awesome.
How do I make this work?
Also IS FLURRY SAME AS TWF? Or can I flurry with just one weapon?
Suggestions on Stat Array are appreciated. 20 point buy.
I need some monky advice please.
Crap. Just saw MoMS monk gives up flurry. Now I am really confused.
Weapon Adept looks cool but doesn't work with Sohei.
I am after a High Too Hit/High Save Ginsu. HELP!
OK.
Just checked over the style feats. Most require you to fight unarmed.
I want to use a Weapon
So Bugger MoMS.
I'll just go Sohei /Quiggong
I think I'll use a Nine section whip 1 handed.
This will allow use of Crane Style and the whip grants +1 AC when fighting defensively.
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the only monk cranking out high damage is the Zen Archer (possibly sohei too), and by level 8 he is falling behind most of the other archers.
The monk isn't a damage machine, but he does dominate a campaign for some time if you play to his strengths. We have a flowing monk with improved trip, combat reflexes and vicious stomp in our campaign and through level 2 he has pretty much been the star of the show. He pretty much dominates all the combat and is able to keep his DPR very high through use of trip/vicious stop/his replacement ability for stunning fist which lets him trip as a response to an attack.
If you go Sohei, you can get Mounted Skirmisher as a bonus feat right from level 1 and do a flurry of blows on the move. At level 6, you can the ability to flurry with your lance. With Spirited Charge (after the recent errata), you will get x3 damage on the first lance attack and then normal damage on the rest of the flurry attacks.
This is the highest damage a pure monk build can probably hope to do. Similarly, a Sohei Monk archer w/ flurry of blows + rapid shot and manyshot and ki points on extra attacks can put out pretty high damage numbers from sheer number of attacks.
In any case, once you grab the level 6 ability to flurry with weapons you have weapon training for, I'd suggest jumping to Fighter or some other full BAB class, mid and late level Sohei gives up a lot for not much in return, IMO. Doing 4 into Cavalier and taking Horse Master feat to get a fully advanced mount is good if doing the mounted route.
Your spirited charge suggestion has a flaw in that it requires charging. Mounted skirmishers doesnt change the charge rules. It just changes when you can full attack.
Yes, with the new rules you can only get the first attack multiplied on a charge.
Apparently when I said, "With Spirited Charge (after the recent errata), you will get x3 damage on the first lance attack and then normal damage on the rest of the flurry attacks." ...
I wasn't being clear enough!
I recommend you read the many inspiring/depressing threads on monks. There is much to absorb. Monk build threads can be interesting to read.
OK. I am biting the bullet and looking at building a MONK.
This will be a challenge, but it's doable.
Basically whatever archetype you go for, you have a series of options, and some questions to ask yourself.
First: What do you want to do? Kick butt, scout, or do maneuvers? if you want to scout Intelligence just become your third attribute, and if not you have a freer rein.
Second: You have two ways of building a monk, strength-primary and dexterity-primary. In either case Wisdom is your second stat.
If you choose a dex-based monk then Weapon Finesse is feat-tax you will have to pay, and if you want maneuvers then Agile Maneuvers too. However, despite low damage you will have a killer AC. You can make the most of either Snake Style or Crane Style.
If you go for a strength-based monk, then Dragon Style or Tiger Style are good options, but you will need to look to your defences because your AC will not shine. You will need Toughness most likely, and Dodge.
I wanna be a weapons/str based melee warrior with high saves.
Sohei let's me flurry with Nine Section Chain (which gives +1 when fighting defensive) and probably use crane style
You won't have a hand free for crane style, though, with a nine-section chain. I suggest you may make more of the advantages of Dragon Style even if fighting unarmed is not a primary weapon.
9-section chain is a 1H weapon. You can 2H it, but you don't have to.
Or you could just 2H it during your turn and 1H it for AoOs.
ah, I stand corrected!
Since it's one handed, can I flurry with 1 weapon?So at 20 7 attacks with just the chain?
If you want an awesome Monk, go Snake Style instead of Crane Style. Snake Style works against ranged attacks and touch attacks and you don't have to fight defensively.
Go Maneuvre Master/Weapon Adept archetype and play a Half Elf with Ancestral Weapon race option to grab a Kama, Double Chained at 1st level. You will use this weapon as a two handed weapon and not as a double weapon. You also want Skill Focus:Sense Motive which you get for free at first level.
You pick up Improved Trip, Improved Dirty Trick (for blinding), Weapon Focus, Combat Reflexes and Snake Style all by 3rd level. What does this mean? It means you have an insanely high CMB trip and CMB Dirty Trick for your level to trip and blind opponents that come within 10 feet of you before you beat the crap out of them with 2 handed high strength attacks. Start with a STR of 16-18, some in Dex, Con, Wis and dump Chr. You also get to flurry these maneuvre attacks and you can even use perfect strike all by 3rd level.
Read up about Snake Style. It's under-rated.
