|
Welcome to the forum and Pathfinder, Aedh11. The class chapter will help you figure out your hit points, skill points, BAB, saves, and also describes the many abilities each class has that separates one from another. I always use the character sheets as a checklist to see what info I still need to fill out and the class chapter is a big chunk of that.
Hey, welcome to the gaming world in general, and Paizo boards specifically. I'm sure someone will be around to offer you cookies soon.
There was a similar thread concerning building Druids. I posted a walk through of how to build a Druid (just one possible way among thousands) but it might help, as it walks through figuring out the BAB and saves and everything else. If you still have problems after reading it, just post again and everyone will try to help. I'll even do a Monk build example if needed.
The druid post was amazingly helpful. I got my skills done, and am now choosing my equipment. But its things such as...
How do i determine AC, Fort, Reflex + Will?
Whats BAB? Base Attack Bonus? If so, how do I work that out?Again, any help would be useful.
Max
AC - Armor class
10 + Dex Bonus + Feats + Armor + Shield + Class bonus + Natural Armor + Deflection bonusAs a monk you are not going to use any armor. Also you get to use your wisdom bonus as well as dex for determining armor class. When you go up in levels there be an additional bonus listed on the main monk chart.
Level 1 monk
AC = 10 + Dex + Wis + Dodge feat?
All monk saves start with a base of 2 and improve from there.
Fort - Fortitude save
Fort = base + Con
Reflex
Ref = Base + dex
Will
Will = base + Wis
Base Attack bonus is right off the chart
Level Bonus
1 - 0
2 - 1
3 - 2
4 - 3
5 - 3
6 - 4
When you use the monks flurry of blows ability use the second column of bonuses.
Normally you add your str bonus on rolls to attack and damage in melee.
Ok, why not, never hurts to make sure you know what you are doing. :)
Ok, so, making a Monk.
Same idea as the other one, we'll use an array of stats :
18, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8.
Monks are hard to build because they really need good numbers in four different stats. :( That's the first bad thing (kind of like Paladins). Arguably, his most important stat is his WIS though. Why? He gets his wisdom bonus to his AC and also it determines how many Ki points he gets. It also affects Quivering Palm, although that's not much of a reason honestly. So, 18 str to WIS. I think it's again arguable that the next most important stat for a monk is his Dex, he can't use armor, so he needs a REALLY good Dex to keep up with the other front line fighters. So 16 to Dex. The next two stats are pretty evenly matched. STR and CON. STR for hitting and CON for taking a beating. Under 3.5, I'd have said CON was more important (at lower levels) than STR, but under 3.p (3.5 Pathfinder), you can get extra HP's for taking your preferred class, so I think STR is more important for our Monk, so, 14 STR and 12 CON. For our Monk, INT and CHA are our dump stats. CHA the most, we only have two charisma based skills (Intimidate and Perform) and unless you want to be Jacky Chan, you don't care about either. SO, 10 INT and 8 CHA.
Again we'll go with Human for our race (just because). We'll put our +2 into our DEX, to make us harder to hit, and also give us some boosts to our skills (we have 4 dex skills, and Acrobatics is going to be a big one for a monk).
STR: 14 (+2)
DEX: 18 (+4)
CON: 12 (+1)
INT: 10 (+0)
WIS: 18 (+4)
CHA: 08 (-1)
Now, for Skills. We get, as a Monk, 4 skill points at first level, plus our Int Modifier (0). Since we are Human, we get +1 Skill point (Yes!). And, since we are choosing our preferred class (Monk) we get either a +1 skill point or +1 Hit Point. I think the Hit Point is more important, since we are human, so let's do that and have 5 skill points. That means we can take 5 skills at 1st level (you can't have more skill points in a skill than your level, and we are 1st level). Any Class Skills we put points into get a +3 bonus (sweet!).
Acrobatics : 8 (1 Skill Point (Rank), 4 for Dex, 3 for Class Skill)
Escape Artist : 8 (1 Skill Point, 4 for Dex, 3 for Class Skill)
Knowledge (Religion) : 4 (1 Skill Point, 0 for Int, 3 for Class Skill)
Perception : 8 (1 Skill Point, 4 for Wis, 3 for Class Skill)
Stealth : 8 (1 Skill Point, 4 for Dex, 3 for Class Skill)
Hit points : We should get full hit points for first level (that's the normal way, GM's differ though). If that's the case, then we have 10 hit points (1d8 Maxed is 8, +1 from CON, +1 from Favored Class (see above)).
AC : Monks have bonus's to their AC. As long as they are not using armor or shields and not weighted down, they get their Wisdom modifier as an AC bonus, in addition to the AC bonus from Class. At first level, the AC Bonus from class is 0 (Awwwwww). So, AC is :
AC : 18 (10 + WIS Modifier + DEX Modifier)
Touch : 18 (10 + WIS + DEX)
Flat Footed : 14 (10 + WIS) Note that the Class and WIS AC bonus's apply even when flat-footed (which means you don't get dex)
BAB : Our BAB for the monk is split, we get one for non-flurry, and none for flurry. So, we have 0 or 1 (nonflurry/flurry).
Our Fort, reflex and Will saves are based off our class plus the stat modifier (Fort = Con, Reflex = Dex, and Will = Wis).
So our monk has :
Fort : 3 (2 for class, and 1 for Con)
Reflex : 6 (2 for class, and 4 for Dex)
Will : 6 (2 for class, and 4 for Wis)
Ki Pool : A monk get's a Ki pool, this is sort of a representation of his spiritual power. It's equal to (1/2 Monk level) + (Wis Mod). Half of 1 is 0.5. Your GM may or may not count that as 1. I usually round in favor of the character unless the rules state otherwise, and they are silent on this issue, so... I would do : 1 + 4 = 5. So 5 ki pool to start.
We're almost done. Got to buy equipment (the ubiquitous Quarterstaff again comes to our rescue, free, and it's a Monk Weapon to boot! So we can use it with Flurry). A backpack (2gp), Flint and Steel (1gp) and a bedroll (1sp) and we are done. We'll save the rest of our meager gold (monks don't get much gold to start, just 35gp) for emergencies once the game starts.
Now, all that's left is choosing your feats. You get to choose 3 of them. One because you are first level (everyone gets one free at 1st). You get another one because you are Human (Yay you!).
The third feat has to be a bonus feat chosen from the Monk Bonus Feat list on page 59 (Upper left corner). I would suggest Combat Reflexes or Dodge for that one, both are good, and you have a high dex which makes Combat Reflexes useful. Dodge is good as it is a prerequisite for Mobility, which you want. So... Let's go with Combat Reflexes, and take Dodge as one of our other feats.
Combat Reflexes, Dodge, and let's choose Extra ki as our third, to boost our ki pool 2.
So here is our Monk :
Alignment : LG or LN (All Monks have to be Lawful)
STR: 14 (+2)
DEX: 18 (+4)
CON: 12 (+1)
INT: 10 (+0)
WIS: 18 (+4)
CHA: 08 (-1)
Acrobatics : 8
Escape Artist : 8
Knowledge (Religion) : 4
Perception : 8
Stealth : 8
HP: 10
AC: 19 (Touch 19, Flat-Footed 14)
Ki Pool : 7
Fort : 3
Reflex : 6
Will : 6
Special Abilities
Flurry of Blows
Unarmed Strike
Stunning Fist
Dodge
Combat Reflexes
To Hit :
Flurry : +1/+1 (-1/-1 from flurry and BAB, +2/+2 from str)
Unarmed : +2 (0 from BAB and 2 from str)
Melee : +2 (0 from BAB and 2 from Str)
Ranged : +4 (0 from BAB and 4 from Dex)
Thankyou, that was very useful. That in combination with the Druid Thread has allowed me to roll my first character. Thank you very much!
Max Ogden
LOL
Well, hopefully the Monk I typed up will help too. :)
Ah man, thats amazing! Thankyou!
Yours,
Max Ogden
No problem. Edited it to fix a few typos. I also left out the save data and put that back in.
Just a minor note on mgt's post. Ki pool is something you get at 4th level, so there is not reason to pick up extra Ki, yet.
that last feat is a great way to choose what kind of monk you are making. Some good ideas might be, Weapon Finesse, which lets yo use your dex mod to hit stuff. This means your monks is an elegant fighter who can use smaller lighter weapons to greater effect. Unarmed attacks for example work under with the weapon finesse feat.
you could also take Power Attack to represent focused hard hitting strikes. Power attack works great against lightly armed foes by sacrificing your bonuses to hit for extra damage. Also great for breaking inanimate objects in one hit.
Nimble Moves makes you a lot like a Jacky Chan type, someone who can use their agility to get just a little bit further in hard to move areas. You could also pick up Mobility at this level, making you very hard to hit when moving through opponent's spaces.
also welcome to Pathfinder and to forums, hope you have a good time.
|
Ok, I'll take a stab at this...
Given that you are making a human monk and already have your racial abilities recorded and have generated your attributes (str, dex, wis, etc). And assuming you are making a level 1 monk, here is what you do.
Hit points: Monks get a d8 for hit points but at level one you don't roll, you get all eight. Plus you get your constitution modifier added (or subtracted for low con). So 8+Con modifier.
Skill points: Monks get 4 plus their Int modifier in skill points per level, including level one. Since you are human you get an additional skill point per level including level 1. At level 1 you may buy a rank in any skill. If you buy a rank of a skill considered a monk class skill you get an additional +3 (but just the first time you buy a rank in that skill). So 4+Int mod+1(human) skill points at first level.
Favored Class bonus: It looks like Monk is going to be your favored class. So each time you take a level of monk you get a bonus. You can choose either an additional hit point or an additional skill point.
Base attack bonus: At level one your base attack bonus is +0. Add this value to your STR modifier for melee attacks or to DEX modifier for ranged attacks.
Base saves: At level one all of a Monks saves are +2. Add this value to your Con modifier for fortitude saves, Dex modifier for reflex saves, and Wis modifier for will saves.
Feats (and bonus feats): At level one everyone gets a feat, humans get an additional feat, and monks get an additional bonus feat. The feats you get for being level one and for being human can be any feat you qualify for. Your first level monk feat must be Catch Off-Guard, Combat Reflexes, Deflect Arrows, Dodge, Improved Grapple, Scorpion Style, and Throw Anything. So a total of 3 feats at level 1
Flurry of Blows: At level one a monk gets flurry of blows. When you attack as a full round action you may make a flurry of blows gaining an extra attack. Instead of using your base attack bonus for this attack add your flurry of blows attack bonus to these rolls. Note that this bonus is lower than your base attack bonus at first level but at fifth level it equals your base attack bonus and at 9th level it begins to exceed your base attack bonus.
Stunning fist: At first level a monk gets the Stunning fist feat for free (yep we're up to 4 feats at level one now). A monks stunning fist feat is quite a bit better than it is for anyone else so be sure to read about it in the monk description in addition to the feat chapter.
Unarmed Strike: At first level a monk gets Unarmed Strike as another bonus feat (5 feats at level one now). Again Unarmed strike for a monk is better than for anyone else so read about it in the monk chapter and the feat chapter. Note that your damage for unarmed strikes at level one is 1d6 (this will improve as you level).
Thats about it, after you record all this, figure out your equipment (monks really need very little) and you should be ready to play.
EDIT: Whoa ninja'ed by so many, I'm a slow typer.
you could also take Power Attack to represent focused hard hitting strikes. Power attack works great against lightly armed foes by sacrificing your bonuses to hit for extra damage. Also great for breaking inanimate objects in one hit.
Requires a +1 BAB so couldn't choose that feat as a 1st level monk.
Slight problem though MDT. Monk's don't actually get a ki pool until level 4, so the extra ki pool feat should be swapped for Weapon Finesse.
Just so you know new guy, Weapon Finesse lets you use your dexterity bonus in place of your strength bonus on attack rolls. In your case it doubles your non-flurry attack bonus, and is still a huge bonus on flurry (and valuable, considering flurry actually applies a -1 penalty over your non-flurry attack roll. Your Flurry BAB = your level, but you take a -2 penalty on that, and the net result is -1.)
So, with weapon finesse, your attacks would look like such.
Non-Flurry: +4
Flurry: +3, +3
LOL
Man, I'm slipping. You are right. :) Weapon Finess would work better.
you could also take Power Attack to represent focused hard hitting strikes. Power attack works great against lightly armed foes by sacrificing your bonuses to hit for extra damage. Also great for breaking inanimate objects in one hit.Requires a +1 BAB so couldn't choose that feat as a 1st level monk.
Actually, you could. But, you'd only be able to use it while Flurrying (Your BAB is your class level while Flurrying).
Just a minor note on mgt's post. Ki pool is something you get at 4th level, so there is not reason to pick up extra Ki, yet.
that last feat is a great way to choose what kind of monk you are making. Some good ideas might be, Weapon Finesse, which lets yo use your dex mod to hit stuff. This means your monks is an elegant fighter who can use smaller lighter weapons to greater effect. Unarmed attacks for example work under with the weapon finesse feat.
you could also take Power Attack to represent focused hard hitting strikes. Power attack works great against lightly armed foes by sacrificing your bonuses to hit for extra damage. Also great for breaking inanimate objects in one hit.
Nimble Moves makes you a lot like a Jacky Chan type, someone who can use their agility to get just a little bit further in hard to move areas. You could also pick up Mobility at this level, making you very hard to hit when moving through opponent's spaces.
also welcome to Pathfinder and to forums, hope you have a good time.
yep, was thinking Mobility had a level requirement on it. Like I said, tired today. :)
Actually, you could. But, you'd only be able to use it while Flurrying (Your BAB is your class level while Flurrying).you could also take Power Attack to represent focused hard hitting strikes. Power attack works great against lightly armed foes by sacrificing your bonuses to hit for extra damage. Also great for breaking inanimate objects in one hit.Requires a +1 BAB so couldn't choose that feat as a 1st level monk.
It's a pseudo BAB of +1, imo not one that would satisfy the prerequisite.
|
|
Thankyou, that was very useful. That in combination with the Druid Thread has allowed me to roll my first character. Thank you very much!
Max Ogden
I so jealous, I remember my first character - a halfling (basic D&D), got killed by a white dragon. I wish that dragon had read The Hobbit. Oh well.
Anyway, hope you have a fun time with pathfinder. And as you can tell, if you post any questions you will get helpful people well helping you out.
Welcome,
S.
And don't worry if you don't get everything at first, I've been GMing and playing for over 20 years, and I still overlook stuff when I'm in a hurry (see above) or when it's new material. :)
Just keep trying and you'll get it all down.