TheCavalieric's page

Love this package, but I'd like to know if there are any plans to update it for compatibility with Monster Core, and if there are, will the update be free for existing owners or a paid add-on?

Looks great, hopefully there'll be a Foundry VTT module for it as well.

I'd like to see a number of minor changes:

* Brawling Focus to become a class feature obtained at relatively low level rather than a feat - most martials including Champions can get crit spec as part of their regular class progression rather than having to pay a feat tax for it, and I can't see any good reason for the Monk to be different in this respect.

* The bump from Expert to Master unarmored proficiency to occur at level 11 rather than 13 so you don't have a weird gap where their armor proficiency becomes equal to that of other martials that go from Trained to Expert at 11 (Fighter, Ranger, Thaumaturge, Magus) when high armor proficiency is supposed to be one of the Monk's unique things.

* Either Flurry of Blows to be removed from the Monk archetype entirely or Monks to get a non-poachable Flurry upgrade (maybe a significant MAP reduction on the second strike?) at level 10. As it stands, Monk is the only martial class whose signature attacking quality can be poached in its entirety at full power without limitation or restriction, which feels pretty bad.

* Ki Strike to get a couple of buffs: first, the status bonus should increase to +2 at rank 5 and +3 at rank 9 in parallel with the damage dice, and second it should last for 2-3 rounds rather than one to make it more useful at low levels.

* There should be some new weapon stances, particularly for staves/polearms, and some of the existing weapon stances (hi Shooting Stars...) should be buffed.

* They should get a class feature that lets them spend an action to get a +2 circumstance bonus to AC like Raise a Shield while unarmed or wielding a Parry weapon. Say no to shield monks!

Didn’t they playtest a similar “expert proficiency, but success to critical success shift with the animist though? I don’t think there is a hard “not possible” line with saving throw boosters.

The animist didn't get degree of success boosts on all three saves, though, which the remaster rogue apparently does. Having a class with upticks on all three saves absolutely is a major departure from the existing design.

I think the fighters power is a bit exaggerated. Most other martials get riders to damage of some kind that make their attacks hit harder, fighters lack that in exchange for the accuracy, an accuracy that is still affected by the dice rolls.

That's not strictly true since fighters get more bonus damage from Weapon Specialization than other martials as a result of their higher proficiency. They also benefit more from runes and weapon modifications with powerful effects on crit like Phantasmal Doorknob and Crushing Runes because as the class that crits most frequently they are most likely to proc those effects.

3-Body Problem wrote:

R3st8 wrote:

Honest question why is clone bad? I feel like its overrated because unless you get a party wipe your allies will bring you back and you can always go to a major capital and pay a lawful church to revive you later, besides we have feats that have a similar effect like the psychic's "Become Thought" or the animist "Eternal Guide" so why not just slap a similar feat on wizards and call it "Arcane Clone" or something? it just feels weirdly arbitrary to me.

I can give some context here.

When combined with Magic Jar which I insinuated when I mentioned both spells in the same post, Clone allows you to not worry about defending your abandoned form. If you ever wish to return to the body you had before you can just die and pop back up as yourself.

Can't you just do the same as a psychic and use Possession + Become Thought?

Possession is an uncommon spell and thus not expected to be available by default, while Become Thought is a level 20 capstone feat that will only be available for a few sessions in a typical 1-20 campaign; on top of that, its resurrection effect can only be used once per in-game year. It's not at all comparable to a spammable spell that becomes available at level 15.

Oh and as for electric arc its not 2d4 + ability mod (till the remaster when the mod goes away) its D4 + ability mod unless you heighten it. Heighten it and its not per day its 2d4 (in circumstances) + ability if you use one of your 1st level slots which makes it limited per day.

Uh, this is not how heightening cantrips works at all. Cantrips automatically heighten to the highest spell level you can cast and never consume a spell slot when cast. Electric arc cast by a level 3 or 4 caster always does 2d4 + mod damage and can be cast an unlimited number of times.

Anytime we have failed to complete the entire mission objectives it's not been from combat it's been from martial characters getting multiple crit failures on social skill checks. Just about every thread about optimizing characters or improving a class I've seen is centered around combat.

This was my experience in PFS games as well and is why I eventually retired my PFS Monk for a Thief Rogue who could cover a lot of skills that were commonly missing in pickup games. It's much less of a problem when you're playing ongoing campaigns with regular groups who know enough to coordinate their skill proficiencies so more or less everything is covered, and I suspect that's why it's not talked about so much.

I would change panache so that once you get it, you retain it until the end of your next turn and it is not consumed by doing a finisher. That way you actually get to use things like the panache speed boost, precise strike, and your bonuses to panache-generating skillchecks, making it easier to retain panache over the course of a fight.

I'd also make Parry and Riposte a level 12-14 feat rather than 18.

Yeah, it'd be great if there was a low-level class ability along the lines of dueling parry. Something like this:

-----------------------
Monk's Parry

One action
Requirements You are unarmed or wielding a Monk weapon with the Parry trait
You can parry attacks against you with your limbs and weapons. You gain a +2 circumstance bonus to AC until the start of your next turn as long as you continue to meet the requirements.
------------------------

Then change the AC bonus of Crane Stance and Crane Flutter from circumstance to status so they're not made redundant by this and shields.

For bonus points, add a level 10-12 feat that lets you have Monk's Parry constantly active.

You don't need a lot of mobility to flank. Sudden Charge is what I refer to as practical mobility versus the monk having 65 to 70 feet of movement in one action but no need to travel that far too often for most combats.

Sudden charge is two actions to stride twice and then strike

With the same two actions, a monk can stride about the same distance and then strike twice with flurry.

I don't quite see how the former is "practical mobility" but the latter isn't, despite being strictly better.

Ki Strike is a pretty decent damage booster for Monks, especially with the upcoming refocus change making it possible to consistently use it twice per fight at level 2 and three times by level 4. It could stand to be buffed so that it adds the higher of a d6 or the current weapon/unarmed attack damage dice, but eh.

As for Monk changes that I'd personally want:

* A bo staff/polearm stance. Just copying and pasting Whirlwind Stance from the Staff Acrobat archetype would be fine. It's wild that the class has sword and bow stances but not a stance for one of the iconic martial arts weapons.

* Monks (and Champions) to get their bump from Expert to Master (un)armor(ed) proficiency at level 11, when fighters, rangers, and maguses get their bump to Expert, rather than 13 so you don't have a weird two-level interlude where half of the offense-focused martial classes are just as good at defending themselves as the two martials that are hyperspecialized in defense.

Things I want, in no particular order:

Monks to get a bo staff/polearm stance. Just copying and pasting Whirlwind Stance from the Staff Acrobat archetype would be fine. It's wild that the class has sword and bow stances but not a stance for one of the iconic martial arts weapons.

Swashbucklers to get auto-scaling proficiency in Acrobatics and/or their Style skill. If the core functionality of a class depends on passing skill checks then it should always get auto-scaling proficiency in the relevant skills, in the same way that Inventors get auto-scaling Crafting and Thaums get auto-scaling Esoteric Lore.

Monks and Champions to get their bump from Expert to Master (un)armor(ed) proficiency at level 11, when fighters, rangers, and maguses get their bump to Expert, rather than 13 so you don't have a weird two-level interlude where half of the offense-focused martial classes are just as good at defending themselves as the two martials that are hyperspecialized in defense.

Champions to get access to Paragon's Guard stance. I really don't like the fact that the iconic sword and board class doesn't get to eliminate the action tax of raising a shield until level 20 when Fighters and Swashbucklers can do it by level 12.

Panache to be something that persists for a fixed duration once acquired rather than earned and then spent on a Finisher immediately afterwards. If getting panache meant retaining it until the end of your next turn and it was not consumed by doing a Finisher, it'd be a lot more attractive for non-Gymnasts to take advantage of their panache bonuses and Derring Do, and a lot easier to keep panache up, especially against bosses. I think that'd address a lot of the Swash's current pain points.

Good changes for the most part, but the voluntary flaw rebalance is a bit of a gutpunch for the human and orc ancestries because it removes their only option for getting three ancestry stat boosts like every other ancestry can.