Kytti.Eggcollector's page

Changes I've seen and enjoyed. Taken together, I think they make the monk much more useful party members.

Problem: Can't hit much if they move
Solution: Full BAB. They get it for most other things anyway.

Problem: MAD
Solution: Make the wisdom bonus to AC replace dexterity, so dexterity is much less important. Make the static AC bonus start at +4 and increase by +1 at every even level. IF you're feeling really generous, extend this defensive replacement to initiative modifiers, too. They'll still need dexterity for acrobatics, though.

Problem: Flurry is mechanically opposed to movement, a hallmark of monks (certainly more so than flurry).
Solution: Replace the chain of TWF feats from flurry with the vital strike feats at 6th, 11th, and 16th levels. To compensate for the lack of initial benefit, give monks 1.5x strength to damage, as if using a two-handed weapon (They *ARE* two-handed weapons). This bonus would be incompatible with TWF. Keep flurry as an option for monks that like TWF with a staff or something.

With the understanding that this will probably drift into a discussion of the relative merits of monks, I'd like to propose a new option for monks. Flurry of blows would still be allowed, of course, but I'd like to give them another option. One of the themes of pathfinder seems to be giving classes choices in how they are made, and the monk has none beyond the standard feat and skill choices.

Basically, I hate that monks are terrible in combat unless they are full attacking. That's not exactly a terrible thing to be good at, but combat consisting of moving next to an enemy if you aren't already and full attacking if you are isn't especially interesting, and it makes all the interesting speed and mobility powers of the monk a lot less useful.

I'd like to replace the TWF feats that FoB gives with the Vital Strike chain, but, quite frankly, that would be too good. TWF feats have +1/+6/+11 BAB prereqs, and VS feats have +6/+11/+16. So...that won't work. Vital Strike would be way too good at level 1. Vital Strike and Improved Vital Strike could be decent replacements for the ITWF and GTWF, but they still need something at first level, and probably a way to get greater vital strike at some point.

So, two questions.

1. What would be a decent level 1 FoB substitute for a monk that hits things HARD, not over and over? Power attack? The ability to treat unarmed strikes as two-handed attacks? A faster unarmed damage progression?

2. Would giving monks a full BAB for hitting without flurry and for qualifying for feats really be so bad? They don't get the to-hit increasing abilities of the other martial classes, and it's harder to get enhancement bonuses. They already get a lot of the benefits of a full BAB; I don't think they would be overpowered with the rest.

Commence heated discussion of the utility of monks in general, hopefully while answering my question.

A +1 Con item can make the difference between life and death in the case of con-draining poisons and monsters.

A +1 Dex item lets you win initiative ties that you would otherwise lose.

Everything has some usefulness, and if it were some unslotted item like an earring?

Hell, I'd make them a pair of earrings that give you the standard +2/+4/+6 if both are worn, and +1/+2/+3 if only one is worn, and let the backstory be that the earring's mate was lost. That sort of stuff should happen with treasure all the time.

I'd probably allow it as an unslotted item. The main problem I see is the cheesiness of just paying for an odd bonus if you have an odd stat. There's a reason that even stats usually have a higher cost in PF point-buy, and getting a cheap magic item to offset an odd stat seems a little iffy to me. But, you pay more for unslotted items, so that would probably be fine.

Incidentally, yes, physical stats give you tiny boosts for odd stats, like for carrying capacity, initiative ties, and ability to not die until -con HP, but those are REALLY minor, especially compared to what you get from an even stat bump. Moreover, mental stats don't even get that. I'd be careful about adding +odd items, particularly crafted ones. +1 in particular is REALLY cheap.

Maybe count odd bonuses as 1.5, 3.5, and 5.5 for the pricing, to reflect that about half the time they act like +2. So, 2250 gold, 12250 gold, and 30250 gold for +1, +3, and +5 stat boost items. I'm not sure how that changes for the ones that benefit multiple stats, but it would probably be similar.

People are serious about changing the mechanic to be situational across creatures? Intelligence? Language?

I'm fine with it as it stands.

"I'ma kill you, Ooze!"

Not that precision damage works against oozes. Still, it should probably be allowed.

Without playing either class, I can't be sure about this, but I do have some thoughts.

Regarding the Cavalier...frankly, I don't like the challenge mechanic at all. It seems too much like the PHB II knight in flavor and too much like the paladin in mechanics.

The oaths also bug me. As people have said, the name sounds too exclusively lawful, and the mechanics are kinda finicky. Achieve a fairly specific task for a minor benefit that doesn't stack with a lot of bard and cleric buffs, and goes away under equally specific circumstances. Frankly, I think that the entire class feature could be removed with no real problems. The benefits are too minor and fleeting to justify such a complex system.

I'd play up the mounted combat section more, with bonuses to ride checks and more Cavalier-specific uses of the skill. Maybe instead of challenge (and, indeed, the orders), there could be a progression based on the KIND of mount. As people have pointed out, the Cavalier's mount is pretty frail for something so important. Expanding the options there and giving them better bonuses over time could be cool. Maybe some ride horses, others wolves, others dinosaurs or sharks. An evil cavalier might ride undead mounts or wyverns or something. Maybe a clockwork robotic horse-construct (although that doesn't really fit the flavor of a lot of games).

Anyway, stuff seems too exclusively lawful now. I'd change it to be more focused on mounted combat so it steps on fewer toes.