Hey, just writing a new character, thinking about taking Monk 1/Sorcerer X build. Gonna take Ascetic Mage feat. Any ideas for optimization?
Playing Pathfinder RPG. Allowed books are PathFinder Core plus 3.5 Completes, ToB, XPH.
Party includes rogue, cleric/crusader, fighter. 6th lvl party.
Stats:
Str - 10
Dex -16
Con -14
Wis -12
Int - 12
Cha -18
I'm still not 100% on this build. I'll either play a aasimar or elf (if i end up with a wizard) pumping my primary stat to 20 - headband of +4 with crafting will make it 24. Going 1 lvl of monk improves my AC by 8 and it keeps going. Is it worth it tho? My other consideration is a gish with (close to) max CL. Thoughts?
Hey, just writing a new character, thinking about taking Monk 1/Sorcerer X build. Gonna take Ascetic Mage feat. Any ideas for optimization?
Playing Pathfinder RPG. Allowed books are PathFinder Core plus 3.5 Completes, ToB, XPH.
Party includes rogue, cleric/crusader, fighter. 6th lvl party.
Stats:
Str - 10
Dex -16
Con -14
Wis -12
Int - 12
Cha -18I'm still not 100% on this build. I'll either play a aasimar or elf (if i end up with a wizard) pumping my primary stat to 20 - headband of +4 with crafting will make it 24. Going 1 lvl of monk improves my AC by 8 and it keeps going. Is it worth it tho? My other consideration is a gish with (close to) max CL. Thoughts?
I've actually tried this once, though I used the Battle Sorcerer variant from the Unearthed Aracana. You learn 1 less spell per spell level, and can cast 1 less spell per spell level, but you gain a d8 hit dice and a cleric base attack. (i did this back in 3.5 so the hit dice was a huge increase). Also, I went 2nd level of monk for evasion.
Over all, I had pretty ok casting abilities while still being viable in melee. I was also able to pick up Arcane Strike out of the complete warrior, but in the end I burned spells a lot faster than I had planned. It was fun to play though and it's defiantly worth giving it a try.
The only problem I could see with a base sorcerer would be having a little trouble hitting things in melee, but weapon finesse should pick up some of the slack there.
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hm... Well, a Monk's Robe will work wonders for you, but it is a bit on the expensive side (especially considering you plan on getting a +4 headband as a lvl 6 character). Monk will be very nice, I toyed around with taking a level of it with my halfling sorcerer along with the Ascetic Mage feat, but my AC is already pretty decent and any more will force my DM to throw horrible things at me...
Anyways, I would suggest that for the Monk bonus feat that you either get Dodge or Deflect Arrows, either is honestly very helpful. I favor Deflect Arrows, myself. If you use traits, there is one that increases your CL in one class by 2, but not past your HD. If you plan on getting into melee with those stats, I would suggest getting Weapon Finesse and Arcane Strike... although, with access to Mage Armor you may be able to swap out your Dex for your strength... But focusing on casting means you'll be lousy in combat anyways.
What is it that you want from the build? It seems like the level of monk is just for the defensive purposes... Also, Wizard may be a better choice since you're multiclassing and they get access to new spells faster than sorcerers. If you want more spells per day, there's always Pearl's of Power and supplemental scrolls, and you get the bonus feat at 5th for your Craft Wondrous Item, not to mention if you go Transmutation specialist you get a floating +2 to a physical stat.
Thanks for the feedback on your experience BlackWing.
I prob. won't be actually trying to hit anything tho(except with spells)
so BAB's not a prob. - can't use UA anyway, but that would be sweeeeeet!
I'm more doing it for the + to AC and role-playing aspect (kinda Wu-Jen but not).
I was even thinking of taking 2 lvls of Ninja to get Ghost Step, but really don't want to hurt my CL too much.
If i don't go with this build, prob go Wiz/Ftr/SpellSword/Abjurant Champion.
But again, don't want to hurt my casting too much.
btw, where's Monk's Robe?
btw, where's Monk's Robe?
Pathfinder Core Rulebook, page 528.
It's listed as Robe, Monk's, so it's annoying to find when your looking for 'Monk's Robe'. Honestly I hate it when things are listed like that :/
Ah, found it. grrrrr. that's annoying.
If i was playing a monk gish then it would be pretty good, but +1 AC doesn't cut it for 6,500gp unfortunately.
i mean, i am a monk, but not really interested in punching things :)
Tanis,you might want to look at the enlightened fist prestige class in one of the Completes books ( I think it's in Complete Arcane). You do lose one additional caster level,but it also advances some of your monk abilities as well as your spell-casting,plus it has a few special abilities.
Tanis,you might want to look at the enlightened fist prestige class in one of the Completes books ( I think it's in Complete Arcane). You do lose one additional caster level,but it also advances some of your monk abilities as well as your spell-casting,plus it has a few special abilities.
I played one of these in 3.5. Along with the ascetic mage feat and a monks robe it made a pretty wicked character. Plus there was something fun about punching people with spells. The cleric monk mix prestige class is more powerful in my opinion, but if you are going sorceror monk this is a great PrC to consider.
IIRC there's an old Dragon Magazine feat that allows for monks to replace wis with int for all monk-y things. It seems that would work well for a wiz/monk build.
u thinking of Carmendine Monk from Champions of Valour Forgotten Realms?
not available.
*bump*
Get a few spell storing monk weapons and quickdraw.
Laugh maniacally as you unleash 4 Scorching Ray spells on a single target.
It is kinda expensive, but I always though of it as the way any gish "power attack"s. With Flurry and one or two debuffing spells you will make the fighters green with envy.
...Unless it's immune to fire. Then you'll have to laugh a bit less maniacally with 4 lightning bolts.
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If you don't really plan on using the unarmed strikes so much, what exactly is your reasoning behind that first monk level to begin with? Besides a tiny hit die increase (for one level), a little boost to your initial saves, and some extra skill points, what is that level doing for you? Is it a character concept thing or is there some mechanical motivation for it?
Get a few spell storing monk weapons and quickdraw.
Laugh maniacally as you unleash 4 Scorching Ray spells on a single target.
It is kinda expensive, but I always though of it as the way any gish "power attack"s. With Flurry and one or two debuffing spells you will make the fighters green with envy.
...Unless it's immune to fire. Then you'll have to laugh a bit less maniacally with 4 lightning bolts.
May not even need quickdraw. 2 spell-storing sais, and 2 spell storing gauntlets. Stab-stab-drop the sais as a free action-punch-punch. Personally, I recommend storing Vampiric Touches if you're of a high enough level. A little less straight damage (depending on your level), but less susceptible to resistances, and you get the best roll for temp hp.
Now if you start considering spell-storing SHURIKEN, then it starts to get nasty. =)
Going 1 lvl of monk improves my AC by 8 and it keeps going. Is it worth it tho?How does 1 level of monk up the AC by 8?
The feat Ascetic Mage allows him to stack sorcerer and monk levels in terms of calculating bonus to AC, and allows him to use Cha instead of Wis for AC bonus.
+7 (from Cha) +1 (for a 6th level monk) = +8
If you don't really plan on using the unarmed strikes so much, what exactly is your reasoning behind that first monk level to begin with? Besides a tiny hit die increase (for one level), a little boost to your initial saves, and some extra skill points, what is that level doing for you? Is it a character concept thing or is there some mechanical motivation for it?
The concept behind him is that he's a wu-jen style sorcerer, with taboos and superstitions (hence lawful) - very philisophical type.
That and it's something different - not the same old God wizard.The mechanic is the AC bns obviously. I've started thinking that maybe Swordsage/Sorcerer/Jade Phoenix Mage might work. Marginally less AC, but maneouvers and stuff thrown in.
I'll keep in mind the spell-storing monk weapons but right now i'm focussed on class/feats/ACF's etc. Any other thoughts?
Off the top of my head...
Well, you've got flurry. So any kind of touch attack can potentially hit multiple times. That doesn't always help (vampiric touch is once), but things like chill touch will go the distance.
You also can do damage AND connect with the spell. It's a bit more damage, yay. More to the point, you can potentially stunning fist a guy with a vampiric touch to add insult to injury.
Another monk level would add evasion, and the ability to throw a fireball between your feet. Not that fireball is where you should be going with your spell list, but occassionally useful.
Take arcane strike, as soon as possible. Why not add to all your attacks? Besides, ki strike is monk 4, and you'll never get there, I'm thinking.
Remember, quarterstaff is a monk weapon, so you can actually flurry with, say, a staff of fire. And it's a MW weapon too.
Look for spells that last a long time, like mage armor, GMW. Yes, you can become astronomically powerful with enough time to prepare. Often, that time is bought with the blood of your party members, so give yourself a round to prep, and then get into the fight.
If you really want, just be a bald, lawful sorcerer with tattoos and mysticism.
You don't need to actually take a level in monk to be someone who lived in a monastery :p
Or if you have Complete's access, just make a Wu-Jen :)
If you have access to it, then Abjurant Champion from Complete Mage would be a good PRC to get into for keeping your AC high. With that PRC, you can get up to a +5 increase to the shield bonus provided by the Shield spell (for a total of +9 AC), and you can cast all your low level abjuration spells as swift actions, including the aforementioned shield spell. The strong shield spell plus the Cha to AC will provide a really high AC. The class has some other really nifty abilities too while giving full casting and full BAB over 5 levels.
The PRC requires proficiency with any one martial weapon (monk get this for free by being proficient with the short sword), combat casting (a solid choice in PF), able to cast at least one abjuration spell of 1st lvl or higher (shield spell), and a +5 BAB.
The BAB is the hardest requirement to get. I mean, any character will eventually get it (e.g. sorcerer 10), but getting it soon enough to get into the class and start to reap its benefits is pretty nice. The Enlightened fist PRC can help get into it quicker as it has a better BAB than sorcerer, but will cost 1 caster level. e.g. Monk 1/Sorcerer 4/Enlightened Fist 4/Abjurant Champion 5. That would give a BAB of +10 (straight sorcerer would have +7 at 14th lvl), the monk AC bonus of a 9th lvl monk (+2), Cha to AC instead of Wis, unarmed damage and speed of a 5th lvl monk (1d8 and +10ft), and the awesome Abjurant Champion goodies. Assuming say a 24 Cha at 14th lvl, thats +7 AC from Cha, +2 from monk, and +9 from the extended, swift shield spell, for a base AC of 28 not including dex, armor, deflection, etc.. An AC of 35+ would be easy for this character at that level, comparable to a shield/full plate fighter. With proper spell, feat, and equipment selection it could be significantly higher. The drawback is two lost caster levels in total. But boosting the AC real high and utilizing spells like mirror image or displacement can make you nearly unhittable for the level.
In the alternative, a Monk 1/Sorcerer 10 can get into the Abjurant Champion class 2 levels later without losing any more casting levels. The AC boosts would be the same in any event, it would just take two more levels to get there.