Merin Gloomstorm's page

Hey there

I've just been looking over some stuff for a Gnome bard, and I kind of want to have a guard dog to hold my stuff, but Bards don't acquire animal companions I don't think, or at least I can't find anything that will allow me to have one. Would I be allowed to use the Guard dog in play as long as I pass my handle animal checks? If so, would I be able to use the guard dog in combat? Would these animals level up with my character or is there something else required for that?

Thanks in advance

So I've been looking through my brand new books, bought them all today finally, and I've been trying to play around with my monk. I've found a combination that I think is pretty good, but I can't figure out if it's a stupid thing to do or not, and I'm still new to all this, so if it's awful, let me know. I like the ideas, but I don't know if I'm missing something that would make me useless, or at least more so. So currently I'm floating two ideas, where my stats are:

Tetori

Str: 10 (0)
Dex: 17 (13) (+2 Human)
Con: 10 (0)
Int: 10 (0)
Wis: 15 (7)
Cha: 10 (0)

(Feats: Improved Unarmed Strike, Improved Grapple, Agile Manoeuvre, Dodge)

Then with my second level feat (one more mission hopefully) so I'm not completely useless, Stunning Pin

Or

Sensei/Monk of the Four Winds

Str: 14 (5)
Dex:13 (3)
Con: 12 (2)
Int: 10 (0)
Wis: 14 (7) (+2 Human)
Cha: 13 (3)

(Feats: Improved Unarmed Strike, Elemental Fist, Snake Style, Deflect Arrows)

My biggest issue with my first is that my strength is 10, and my modifier would be +0, but in regards to that I was actually going to make a Tetori monk (The grappling kind). Aside from some skills and being a pretty shitty puncher, I wouldn't really need to use strength for anything monk related (aside from CMB, which I have the Agile Manoeuvre feat) would I? I don't know if I've missed anything there and that's my main concern that I've just nerfed myself by not having strength. What I'll basically have at 1st level, which might seem silly to some, but fun to me, is a Monk that can get in real close; then grapple and subdue most characters with relative ease. This would go along with my alignment and my characters hesitation to kill people. Also, I've looked; but I can't seem to find if there's a limit on what one can grapple, so I'm under the assumption I can grapple anything I want as long as I can explain it correctly,

My second build is a little more complicated, so I probably got a lot of things wrong with it, but I have tried my best to look up rules and sort it all out. Apparently you can mix two Archetypes together as long as the feats and bonuses don't conflict, and I found a good mix for me, which is actually very close to my ideal character. Not as much of the in your face, fast moving monk; but still able to (sort of) hold his own during a skirmish, and aid everyone around him with the Sensei Archetype, combined with the Monk of the Four Winds Archetype. Not overly powerful on it's own, but can help out pretty well, and with Insightful strike at second level, I can replace any dex or strength mods with my wisdom mod for attack and Combat Maneuver checks which should make things pretty interesting.

They're both pretty basic and fit my preference of character, I was just hoping someone could let me know if I got anything wrong with them, or if you could let me know of any ways to improve them, but keeping them on the same sort of level. I'm not really looking for a powerhouse max stats kind of guy, just someone that I would have fun playing.