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Okay so I'm coming into a friends game with a level 8 character so im starting with 2 levels in monk and go magus all the way after that. The monk is mainly flavor for his backstory and the saves arent too bad for 2 level dip along with evasion =D
Undecided name Human Monk Bladebound Kensai Magus
Str 7
Dex 19 (+1 from level and +2 from Belt of Dex)
Con 12
Int 20 (+2 Human +1 from level and +2 Headband of Int)
Wis 14
Cha 10
So I originally wanted a sort of wandering swordsman with a katana deal but did not like where the point spread was at so any help to get a good katana build while maintaining a high enough dex, int, and wis for AC would be appreciated. So Im leaning towards a Dervish build with these stats. My GM is going to let me have a Permanent Mage Armor and Shield on me and along with a Monks Robe, Ioun Stone, Amulet of Nat Armor, and Ring of Protection my AC is hitting 33 from my calculations. So im trying to make a very hard to get character who can get in your face with Spellstrike and have no problems hitting. So any advice is welcome.
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I'm not familiar with the magus and its spell capability, but with a Str that low, you're going to be relying on spells entirely to deal damage. Which means that when you're out of spells, you won't be dealing damage anymore.
Maneuver focus instead of damage focus would be a wiser choice. Swapping Str and Dex would be acceptable too, as well as freeing up some feats.
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I'm not familiar with the magus and its spell capability, but with a Str that low, you're going to be relying on spells entirely to deal damage. Which means that when you're out of spells, you won't be dealing damage anymore.
Maneuver focus instead of damage focus would be a wiser choice. Swapping Str and Dex would be acceptable too, as well as freeing up some feats.
With the build posted, he is using dervish dance so using a scimitar means he uses his Dex to hit and to damage so his Str can be his dump, especially when he doesnt even wear armor.
I'm not familiar with the magus and its spell capability, but with a Str that low, you're going to be relying on spells entirely to deal damage. Which means that when you're out of spells, you won't be dealing damage anymore.
Maneuver focus instead of damage focus would be a wiser choice. Swapping Str and Dex would be acceptable too, as well as freeing up some feats.
Do not make a dervish . If you gonna make a monk/Magus go staff. Nothing about a blade bound / monk works together.
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This is my staff magus monk character. Ignore the "masters blood" part. That's campaign specific. Otherwise I was going straight Staff Magus with a one (maybe two eventually) level dip into monk. It's pretty sweet and I highly recommend it.
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With the build posted, he is using dervish dance so using a scimitar means he uses his Dex to hit and to damage so his Str can be his dump, especially when he doesnt even wear armor.
Why not use Str?
Is a 27 AC so bad that you spend two feats to get it to 33? Your DM is giving you a lot to shore it up, are you sure you're not going to overkill?
Heck, those two feats could be Power Attack and Combat Expertise instead, letting you increase damage or AC as the situation requires.
This is my staff magus monk character. Ignore the "masters blood" part. That's campaign specific. Otherwise I was going straight Staff Magus with a one (maybe two eventually) level dip into monk. It's pretty sweet and I highly recommend it.
I have a similar character on the drawing board. Except I went weapon adept rather than straight monk, for that extra bit of quarterstaff specialization.
I don't know about your DM but I would penalize you to no end for having a 7 in str (or in any stat for that matter).
This means you will have trouble carrying your weapons, spell components, clothing and spell book. A 7 str is limiting you to like 30 lbs of stuff. So forget a backpack, bedroll, rope, and rations. Your movement is going to suffer.
While you may have a completely different set of issues I would swap str with charisma.
This is my staff magus monk character. Ignore the "masters blood" part. That's campaign specific. Otherwise I was going straight Staff Magus with a one (maybe two eventually) level dip into monk. It's pretty sweet and I highly recommend it.I have a similar character on the drawing board. Except I went weapon adept rather than straight monk, for that extra bit of quarterstaff specialization.
I thought about that too. It's a good idea. I can't remember why I chose not to, but Im sure it was just me.
I'm going to agree with several people here and say that if you dip into Monk levels at all (Weapon Adept recommended), you should be doing the Staff Magus archetype. I did a build for it (but haven't playtested it), and the flavor of it seems pretty awesome.
If you're doing a Dervish Magus, I think you should just stick with 100% Magus. I'll also agree with Mage Evolving that your strength shouldn't be so low. I don't think it should ever be a dump stat for any character. If so, it should still only ever be as low as 10. I know you may not need it for damage, but, in the completely wrong situations, it could really end up screwing you over.
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I thought about that too. It's a good idea. I can't remember why I chose not to, but Im sure it was just me.This is my staff magus monk character. Ignore the "masters blood" part. That's campaign specific. Otherwise I was going straight Staff Magus with a one (maybe two eventually) level dip into monk. It's pretty sweet and I highly recommend it.I have a similar character on the drawing board. Except I went weapon adept rather than straight monk, for that extra bit of quarterstaff specialization.
With Weapon Adept you lose Evasion. Go Maneuver Master to get Flurry of Maneuvers and pick up Improved Trip and Improved Disarm as bonus feats.
With Weapon Adept you lose Evasion. Go Maneuver Master to get Flurry of Maneuvers and pick up Improved Trip and Improved Disarm as bonus feats.I thought about that too. It's a good idea. I can't remember why I chose not to, but Im sure it was just me.This is my staff magus monk character. Ignore the "masters blood" part. That's campaign specific. Otherwise I was going straight Staff Magus with a one (maybe two eventually) level dip into monk. It's pretty sweet and I highly recommend it.I have a similar character on the drawing board. Except I went weapon adept rather than straight monk, for that extra bit of quarterstaff specialization.
That's all well and good, but most of us are talking about 2 level Monk dips for Staff Magus, so Flurry of anything will become quite useless very quickly. And that's assuming you play from 1st level and start out with 2 levels of Monk. Otherwise it will never be useful.
Getting the Improved maneuver feats right away is nice, but with a staff, you can't trip with it until later on in levels when you're able to take the Tripping Staff feat anyway. So Improved Trip at 1st level isn't that conceptually cool when you can't even properly trip with your own weapon until 9th level, or whatever it may be.
Evasion is really nice to have, but not necessary. A Magus would never have that anyway, so they wouldn't miss it. You actually get quite bit of nice things from two levels of Weapon Adept. Probably things that are more useful immediately and long-term (Perfect Strike, Weapon Focus, plus the normal Monk benefits).
I'm not dumping on your idea, though. It's good. I just think it would be better for someone taking more than two levels of Monk.
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With the build posted, he is using dervish dance so using a scimitar means he uses his Dex to hit and to damage so his Str can be his dump, especially when he doesnt even wear armor.Why not use Str?
Is a 27 AC so bad that you spend two feats to get it to 33? Your DM is giving you a lot to shore it up, are you sure you're not going to overkill?
Heck, those two feats could be Power Attack and Combat Expertise instead, letting you increase damage or AC as the situation requires.
This is very true and I really want that katana for flavor so what kind of spread would you think?? That closely resembling the Staff Magus spread I have been seeing seems like a solid choice for a kind of balance but is there another decent spread letting my dish some damage and yet maintain a good AC score. I want to hit hard and not be hit similar to the Swordmasters from the Fire Emblem series.
With Weapon Adept you lose Evasion. Go Maneuver Master to get Flurry of Maneuvers and pick up Improved Trip and Improved Disarm as bonus feats.I thought about that too. It's a good idea. I can't remember why I chose not to, but Im sure it was just me.This is my staff magus monk character. Ignore the "masters blood" part. That's campaign specific. Otherwise I was going straight Staff Magus with a one (maybe two eventually) level dip into monk. It's pretty sweet and I highly recommend it.I have a similar character on the drawing board. Except I went weapon adept rather than straight monk, for that extra bit of quarterstaff specialization.
That was it. I was planning on taking another level of monk eventually and I wanted evasion. I can take the other thing as a feat when it was convinient.
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With Weapon Adept you lose Evasion. Go Maneuver Master to get Flurry of Maneuvers and pick up Improved Trip and Improved Disarm as bonus feats.I thought about that too. It's a good idea. I can't remember why I chose not to, but Im sure it was just me.This is my staff magus monk character. Ignore the "masters blood" part. That's campaign specific. Otherwise I was going straight Staff Magus with a one (maybe two eventually) level dip into monk. It's pretty sweet and I highly recommend it.I have a similar character on the drawing board. Except I went weapon adept rather than straight monk, for that extra bit of quarterstaff specialization.That's all well and good, but most of us are talking about 2 level Monk dips for Staff Magus, so Flurry of anything will become quite useless very quickly. And that's assuming you play from 1st level and start out with 2 levels of Monk. Otherwise it will never be useful.
Getting the Improved maneuver feats right away is nice, but with a staff, you can't trip with it until later on in levels when you're able to take the Tripping Staff feat anyway. So Improved Trip at 1st level isn't that conceptually cool when you can't even properly trip with your own weapon until 9th level, or whatever it may be.
Evasion is really nice to have, but not necessary. A Magus would never have that anyway, so they wouldn't miss it. You actually get quite bit of nice things from two levels of Weapon Adept. Probably things that are more useful immediately and long-term (Perfect Strike, Weapon Focus, plus the normal Monk benefits).
I'm not dumping on your idea, though. It's good. I just think it would be better for someone taking more than two levels of Monk.
I had statted one out on paper as well but I seemed to have lost it. Plus I'm kind of a stickler with my gold and would rather spend it on things such as stat boosting items, pearls of power, wands, etc so the idea of the Bladebound Kensai came since I save tremendous amounts of gold not having to enchant weapons and armor and spend it on the more important things, especially since I've only got between 30-40k starting out. I love the Staff Magus and well really everything about it, but with a gold deprived start and flavor I was feeling once i got a bit of a spoiler for the Kensai I just had to try it
I agree about Kensai. It seems like really cool flavor, especially if you can mix it with Bladebound. I can't wait to get my hands on UC and see if I can improve upon any of my concepts. =)
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I agree about Kensai. It seems like really cool flavor, especially if you can mix it with Bladebound. I can't wait to get my hands on UC and see if I can improve upon any of my concepts. =)
Exactly, I really cant wait to get ahold of the book as well. Im thinking since I want Evasion and from what I have on hand material wise, Im thinking of starting him as a core Monk, especially if I go the Str route afterall, otherwise I can see myself doing a Monk of the Lotus. But again Im waiting to see some peoples opinions of a Strength build since Im sure there are others who may have possibly playtested something close to this...maybe
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This is very true and I really want that katana for flavor so what kind of spread would you think?? That closely resembling the Staff Magus spread I have been seeing seems like a solid choice for a kind of balance but is there another decent spread letting my dish some damage and yet maintain a good AC score. I want to hit hard and not be hit similar to the Swordmasters from the Fire Emblem series.
Your class choices have made you depend on a lot of ability scores. I recommend putting Cha to an 8 or 9 to even out the 7 to an 8. Another option would be to lower your Int by 2. That gives you 4 more points to bring your 7 up to a 10, and set that 12 up as a 13, which you can move that +1 level increase from the 19 to make a 14 and an 18. (19 doesn't really give you more than 18 anyway.) It'll hurt your AC by at least 4 putting the 18 in Str, but you can fix that with some help from Owl's Wisdom and Cat's Grace from friends. Your spell saves will take a hit too, but it's a price you pay.
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This is very true and I really want that katana for flavor so what kind of spread would you think?? That closely resembling the Staff Magus spread I have been seeing seems like a solid choice for a kind of balance but is there another decent spread letting my dish some damage and yet maintain a good AC score. I want to hit hard and not be hit similar to the Swordmasters from the Fire Emblem series.Your class choices have made you depend on a lot of ability scores. I recommend putting Cha to an 8 or 9 to even out the 7 to an 8. Another option would be to lower your Int by 2. That gives you 4 more points to bring your 7 up to a 10, and set that 12 up as a 13, which you can move that +1 level increase from the 19 to make a 14 and an 18. (19 doesn't really give you more than 18 anyway.) It'll hurt your AC by at least 4 putting the 18 in Str, but you can fix that with some help from Owl's Wisdom and Cat's Grace from friends. Your spell saves will take a hit too, but it's a price you pay.
Yes this is a very MAD class choice, but I think it will be rather fun to play it. and thanks TOZ for some more number crunching
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With Weapon Adept you lose Evasion. Go Maneuver Master to get Flurry of Maneuvers and pick up Improved Trip and Improved Disarm as bonus feats.I thought about that too. It's a good idea. I can't remember why I chose not to, but Im sure it was just me.This is my staff magus monk character. Ignore the "masters blood" part. That's campaign specific. Otherwise I was going straight Staff Magus with a one (maybe two eventually) level dip into monk. It's pretty sweet and I highly recommend it.I have a similar character on the drawing board. Except I went weapon adept rather than straight monk, for that extra bit of quarterstaff specialization.That's all well and good, but most of us are talking about 2 level Monk dips for Staff Magus, so Flurry of anything will become quite useless very quickly. And that's assuming you play from 1st level and start out with 2 levels of Monk. Otherwise it will never be useful.
Getting the Improved maneuver feats right away is nice, but with a staff, you can't trip with it until later on in levels when you're able to take the Tripping Staff feat anyway. So Improved Trip at 1st level isn't that conceptually cool when you can't even properly trip with your own weapon until 9th level, or whatever it may be.
Evasion is really nice to have, but not necessary. A Magus would never have that anyway, so they wouldn't miss it. You actually get quite bit of nice things from two levels of Weapon Adept. Probably things that are more useful immediately and long-term (Perfect Strike, Weapon Focus, plus the normal Monk benefits).
I'm not dumping on your idea, though. It's good. I just think it would be better for someone taking more than two levels of Monk.
Not sure why you have to wait till higher levels to make use of Improved Trip, having Tripping Staff allows you to use the enhancement bonus of the staff to trip, but it isn't necessary to use trip. Also, you can take both Weapon Adept and Maneuver Master, they do not replace the same class abilities. Being able at first level to skip Combat Expertise and take improved trip and at level two to take improved disarm is boss.
7 Str light load is 23 lbs
Barely enough for sword and clothes
Okay so I'm coming into a friends game with a level 8 character so im starting with 2 levels in monk and go magus all the way after that. The monk is mainly flavor for his backstory and the saves arent too bad for 2 level dip along with evasion =D
Undecided name Human Monk Bladebound Kensai Magus
Str 7
Dex 19 (+1 from level and +2 from Belt of Dex)
Con 12
Int 20 (+2 Human +1 from level and +2 Headband of Int)
Wis 14
Cha 10So I originally wanted a sort of wandering swordsman with a katana deal but did not like where the point spread was at so any help to get a good katana build while maintaining a high enough dex, int, and wis for AC would be appreciated. So Im leaning towards a Dervish build with these stats. My GM is going to let me have a Permanent Mage Armor and Shield on me and along with a Monks Robe, Ioun Stone, Amulet of Nat Armor, and Ring of Protection my AC is hitting 33 from my calculations. So im trying to make a very hard to get character who can get in your face with Spellstrike and have no problems hitting. So any advice is welcome.
My suggestion for Kensai Katana using your spread:
Str 20(16 + 2 human + 2 Belt)
Dex 14
Con 12
Int 19(15 + 2 from levels + 2 Headband)
Wis 10
Cha 7
AC will be 27 without the Monk's robe. If you take the 13k from that and bump your ring and amulet to +2 you're at 29. If you take the time for a mirror image before combat, you're sitting pretty well in the defense department. You now have the 2 feats from Dervish Dance to spend how you see fit.
Not sure why you have to wait till higher levels to make use of Improved Trip, having Tripping Staff allows you to use the enhancement...
The only reason I said that is because the staff isn't already a trip weapon until you take the Tripping Staff feat, which has a pretty high bab requirement for someone multiclassing with two medium bab progressions. But, no, you don't have to wait that long to start (improved) tripping people, of course. It will just be way more effective at later levels (just like anything else, I suppose).
Also, you make a fine point about mixing Weapon Adept and Maneuver Master. Good call!
I did one simular to this. I did 3 lvls master of many styles and the rest as a kensai. I used ascetic style mixed with panther style while wielding the urumi. I chose not to go blackblade because my gm allowed me to give my urumi the agile enhancement. Loved the character
Not sure what you might be looking for really, sounds like the GM with be handing our freebies. Can't Permanency Mage Armor or Shield normally, so a free 8 AC that takes no slots at lvl 8. Fairly safe to assume you will get whatever you want in this game. Even if those spells could be done it takes a CL or at least L9, I doubt gold will be a concern either.
I have to agree that a 7str is crippling for any melee character, one str debuff with take you out of the game.
Guys you may wanna look at the date of the post just before you two's