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I’m a level 8 human unchained zen archer monk (based off of the Everyman Unchained Monk Archetypes). Our current party consist of a homebrew half-orc barbarian, a nagaji summoner, a oread cleric of Torag and a human inquisitor/cleric of Sarenrae. I’m having trouble deciding which path my character should take, as I’m trying to add something with that has more utility and is a bit more interesting to play other than being a lie detector and spamming full round flurry of blows. With this archetype I get the following class abilities:

• Weapon proficiency with Bow weapon group instead of monk weapon group
• Additional flurry of blow at level 11 (like the normal unchained monks)
• Reflexive shot at level 9: AoO with a bow
• Trick Shot at level 12: same as the zen archer
• Ki focus Bow at level 13: same as the zen archer
• Maneuver shots at level 5 and every 4 levels: I designate 1 attack to additionally add a combat maneuver and if that attack hits, I can perform the combat maneuver. Combat maneuvers options are bull rush, dirty trick, disarm, reposition, sunder, and trip. I picked trip at level 5.
• At level 15, I can designate 2 attacks in a flurry of blows as a maneuver shots.
• Ki powers as normal except for the level 4 and 12 ki power (zen archery and trick shot replaces theses)

Otherwise class abilities are the same as the chained zen archer and the unchained monk.
o https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/monk/archetypes/paizo-monk-ar chetypes/zen-archer/
o https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/unchained-classes/monk-unchained

It seems that my options are to either multiclass now at level 9, after level 11, after level 13 or stay as a zen archer the entire way through. The issue I’m having is what classes or feats would help with this. I am open to any and all suggestions. My original plan(s) was to go to level 13 so I can apply stunning fist and touch of serenity to my ranged attacks or to 15 and somehow make use of dirty tricks. The only thing I know I’m not allowed to do is take a dip into an empyreal sorcerer (supposedly conflicts with DM’s story plans for my character), and retrain class levels. My stats and proposed build are listed below. Again I’m open to any ideas Thank you in advance for your time and help.

Str: 17 Dex: 14 Con: 16 Int: 14 Wis: 21 Cha: 8
Human Bonus Feat: Deadly Aim
Monk 1 feats//Class: Dodge/ Improved Unarmed Strike, Point Blank Shot, Perfect strike//Flurry of Blows (1st bonus attack)
Monk 2 feat: Weapon Focus: longbow, Precise Shot
Monk 3 feat//Class: Cosmopolitan// Fast Movement, Ki pool, Ki strike: magic
Monk 4 feat//Class: Point Blank Master// Zen Archery
Monk 5 feat//Class: Iron Will// Maneuver shot: trip (1/round), Ki arrows
Monk 6 feats//Class: Weapon Specialization: longbow, Improved precise shot// Ki power: Ki metabolism
Monk 7 feat//Class: Clustered Shots// Ki strike: cold iron/silver
Monk 8 Class: Insightful Wisdom

Planned Feats// Class Abilities to take
Monk 9 feats//Class: Touch of Serenity/ Reflexive shot, Maneuver shot: bull rush or disarm
Monk 10 feats//Class: Pinpoint Targeting or Improved Critical: longbow// Abundant Step, Ki strike: lawful
Monk 11 feat//Class: Stunning Fist// Flurry of Blows (2nd bonus attack)
Monk 12 Class: Trick Shot
Monk 13 feat//Class: Crushing Blow// Maneuver Shot: Bull Rush or disarm, Ki focus Bow
Monk 14 feat//Class: Pinpoint Targeting or Improved Critical: longbow// Ki power: Diamond Soul
Monk 15 feat//Class: Paralyzing strike or another bonus feat bonus feat// Maneuver shot: 2/round
Monk 16 Class: Ki power: Ki volley, ki strike: adamantine
Monk 17 feat//Class: Paralyzing strike or another bonus feat// Timeless Body, Maneuver Shot: reposition or dirty trick
Monk 18 feat//Class: Snatch Arrows// Ki power: Quivering Palm
Monk 19 feat//Class: bonus feat// Flawless mind
Monk 20 Class: Perfect Self, Ki power: Empty Body

I am currently a level 8 unchained zen archer monk in a rise of the runelord campaign. My character build is based off of the Everyman Unchained Monk Archetypes. The party is about to level up soon and I am interested in doing more crowd control with combat maneuvers, touch of serenity and stunning fists through ki bow focus. At level 5. the everyman zen archer gets maneuver shots instead of style strikes. Basically, at level 5 and every 4 levels, I designate 1 attack to additionally add a combat maneuver and if that attack hits, I can perform the combat. At level 15, I can use designate 2 attacks in my flurry for combat maneuvers. The combat maneuvers I can pick from are as followed: bull rush, dirty trick, disarm, reposition, sunder, and trip. The idea of ranged stun, bull rush, disarm and trip seems like a good crowd control in addition to a torrent of arrows. I do have a few questions for my build and I am open to other suggestions and improvements.

1.What would be the best combat maneuvers to select and focus on? I’ve already picked trip as the first one, but am still undecided on the others

2.Is it possible to be good with just 2 or 3 combat maneuver or is being good with 1 of them the limit?

3.As combat maneuvers seem to be feat intensive, which one should I start investing in and when should I start, at level 9 or later?

4.Are there any multiclass options that would help make this better, or should I stick with a straight monk?

5.Should I just not focus on combat maneuvers and focus on things like touch of serenity, stunning fist, primal strike, etc.?

6.Any other improvements and suggestions for my planned feats/class abilities?

Ideally, I would like to take the zen archer to 13 for the full flurry bonus and ki bow focus, but if it makes the character more fun and interesting to play, I’m open to suggestions. The only things I know I’m not allowed to do is dip into empyreal sorcerer (supposed character plot issue according to DM) and take qinggong ki powers. My stats and proposed build is listed below. Thank you in advance for your time and help.

Str: 17 Dex: 14 Con: 16 Int: 14 Wis: 21 Cha: 8
Human Bonus Feat: Deadly Aim
Monk 1 feats//Class: Dodge/ Improved Unarmed Strike, Point Blank Shot, Perfect strike//Flurry of Blows (1st bonus attack)
Monk 2 feat: Weapon Focus: longbow, Precise Shot
Monk 3 feat//Class: Cosmopolitan// Fast Movement, Ki pool, Ki strike: magic
Monk 4 feat//Class: Point Blank Master// Zen Archery
Monk 5 feat//Class: Iron Will// Maneuver shot: trip (1/round), Ki arrows
Monk 6 feats//Class: Weapon Specialization: longbow, Improved precise shot// Ki power: Ki metabolism
Monk 7 feat//Class: Clustered Shots// Ki strike: cold iron/silver
Monk 8 Class: Insightful Wisdom

Planned Feats/Class Abilities to take
Monk 9 feats//Class: Touch of Serenity/ Reflexive shot, Maneuver shot: bull rush or disarm
Monk 10 feats//Class: Pinpoint Targeting or Improved Critical: longbow// Abundant Step, Ki strike: lawful
Monk 11 feat//Class: Stunning Fist// Flurry of Blows (2nd bonus attack)
Monk 12 Class: Trick Shot
Monk 13 feat//Class: Crushing Blow// Maneuver Shot: Bull Rush or disarm, Ki focus Bow
Monk 14 feat//Class: Pinpoint Targeting or Improved Critical: longbow// Ki power: Diamond Soul
Monk 15 feat//Class: Primal strike or Paralyzing strike or another bonus feat bonus feat// Maneuver shot: 2/round
Monk 16 Class: Ki power: Ki volley, ki strike: adamantine
Monk 17 feat//Class: Primal strike or Paralyzing strike or another bonus feat// Timeless Body, Maneuver Shot: reposition or dirty trick
Monk 18 feat//Class: Snatch Arrows// Ki power: Quivering Palm
Monk 19 feat//Class: bonus feat// Flawless mind
Monk 20 Class: Perfect Self, Ki power: Empty Body

Question about DR/- application and the clustered shots feat. Let’s say a creature has DR 10/- and an longbow archer full round attacks with clustered shot, firing 3 arrows. The arrows do 8, 10 and 12 points of damage. How would you apply the damage DR10/- with clustered shots feat?. My DM says that if the enemy has one of the “normal” DR (magic/cold iron/adamantine/alignment), you would add the total damage from the attacks together and then apply the DR. So those 3 attacks would do 20 points of damage (30-10 = 20). However, my DM says that because DR/- is special, it applies to each arrow fired rather than combining the total damage before applying, so I would only deal 2 damage total. This seems weird to me since the language of the Clustered shots feat specifically says to total the damage from all hits BEFORE applying DR. Is my DM wrong on this or am I misunderstanding something about the DR/-? Thank you for your help in advance.

Clustered Shots Feat: https://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/clustered-shots-combat/

Damage Reduction: https://www.d20pfsrd.com/Gamemastering/special-abilities/#TOC-Damage-Reduct ion