Rod Millard's page

OK, so I am in the process of converting my home-brew setting over from AD&D 2nd to Pathfinder. I (personally) prefer playing and DMing at the "low" and "heroic" levels, and looking over my 10 year old notes the setting reflects this - traditionally, campaigns have petered out around 12th/13th level and the surviving characters have been retired to run temples/gilds/small countries (many of them have entered the canon as minor NPCs...)

Then it hit me: rather than end campaigns when the characters progress beyond the levels I enjoy running, why not cap advancement at 12th level and allow mythic characters - beyond 12th, the party would use XP to learn new feats (as per any of the EX systems) and adventuring could focus on gaining new mythic tiers.

So, my question is should I try and do this? Is combining the mythic rules with EX advancement a good idea (or even possible?!)

Sorry, it's another monk thread ;)

I am trying to revise the monk class for my homebrew setting, while keeping the changes as simple as possible for the players to understand (I would rather have a list of 2 or 3 bullet points than completely rewrite the class)

For the purposes of the setting, monks are scholars and advisors - often found in positions of authority such as magistrates or chamberlains. There are no clerics (it's complicated) so non-casting monks fill much the same role in society.

I am looking at crudely balancing the monk against the ranger (also a non-casting class in this setting - they use the Skirmisher archetype by default), while also reducing the insane MADness of the class, so:

* Full BAB/d10 Hit dice This puts the monk on a par with the Ranger for BAB/HP, and also reduces their dependence on CON; the Maneuver Mastery class feature is now redundant
* 6 Skill points per level Again, this puts them on a par with the Ranger; it also makes INT a more viable dump-stat which mitigates against the MADness
* Sensei Archetype by default. This fits their role in the setting. It also reduces the MADness as Sensei get to use their WIS bonus in combat, and the fact that Linguistics is on the Sensei's skill list helps to make INT a viable dump

In that form, Monks need high WIS and DEX, reasonable STR and CON, and can afford to dump INT and/or CHA.

But using the archetype as written they swap out Flurry of Blows, Fast Movement, Evasion (and Improved Evasion) and all but one of their bonus feats for the Advice, Insightful Strike, and Mystic Wisdom abilities. I feel this still leaves them relatively weak compared to the Ranger (Skirmisher).

I am therefore tempted to put some of the core monk abilities (that would normally be swapped out for Sensei) back into the mix - maybe just drop the bonus feats but keep the other class features. But would it then be too powerful?

Thoughts?