Had this concept for a while now and it looks like I finally have a chance to run this character.
The idea is that it is a person who has lived his life angry, but sometime during his adventure, he has an epiphany and begins to fight with focus and purpose rather than just anger.
mechanics wise, I'm looking at taking about 4 levels of monk mixed with about 5 levels of barbarian. My question is: How do I make this character good at what he does? I am particularly stuck on a race right now. Dwarf seems most appealing, but human also has some merit and halfelf and halforc are contenders as well.
***Before anyone goes and tells me I can't do this because of alignment restrictions: neither monk's nor Barbarians lose their class abilities if they change alignment, they just can't gain more levels in that class once their alignment shifts. Thus the epiphany in the backstory.
Thanks in advance. I know you guys always have good advice.
Go!
First and foremost, you absolutely do lose abilities when you change alignment. As is explicitly stated under "Ex-Barbarians," "A barbarian who becomes lawful loses the ability to rage and cannot gain more levels as a barbarian." Losing rage is pretty close to losing the entire reason for being a Barbarian.
You can get around this by being a Martial Artist. This has the advantage of making you immune to fatigue at Monk 5, allowing for very early rage cycling (that is, switching rage on and off every round to constantly use 1/rage powers). However, damage reduction vs unarmed strikes becomes a mega pain. No Ki pool, and multiclass Exploit Weakness will be hard to pull off.
Overall, you best bet is 5 levels of Martial Artist and the rest in Barbarian. A temple sword will suit you well. Flurries+Two Handed Power Attack, easier to get around damage reduction, and due to being behind in unarmed damage from the multiclass, you aren't losing out on much damage.. Dwarf is a probably your strongest choice for race. Great stat boosts, Darkvision, and a pile of other useful abilities. Half-Elf and Half-Orc, while not bad choices, don't offer quite as much. Unless you add in elaborate feat chains, human isn't necessary either.
3.5 material, of course, opens up a slew of other options. But pure Pathfinder, this is what I would recommend.
I recently put together a character with a similar concept. 2 barbarian for health, Lesser Elemental Rage and Power Attack, 5 monk then the rest in barbarian. Once you hit level 7 you can rage cycle and use Elemental Rage, Lesser every round.
Martial Artist/Urban Barbarian
Urban Barbarian's rage seems to be more like a "focus" than mindless rage, which suits the concept. It also lets you cycle rage to DEX vs STR, giving you a +2 to armor and related skill checks which is sexy. Definitely get Dragon Style and Dragon Ferocity. Additional strength damage to unarmed strikes is terrifying and when you get pounce at 15 you can do it over difficult terrain and through your buddies.
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One of my favorite characters from 3.5 days was a barbarian that became a paladin. 2 levels of barbarian then 2 levels of fighter then 2 levels of Paladin (at which point the campaign fizzled out) Yes it was mechanically gimped, but my group and I loved that character. He took one for the team many times.
So, I say, go for it. Just be prepared to have moments when you are not quite built right to do some things. But you will have HP's and AC and movement. What else do you need really?
There is the Rage cleric domain and the Anger inquisition too^^
Ok so it looks like, RAW, I'm going to have to start with a monk: disciplined, focused, but with a power inside him that he dare not release until something someday makes him snap and he begins to rage across the battlefield.
mechanics wise it's: 5 levels of martial artist monk, alignment change, the rest in barbarian.
I think I will go with dwarf, but rp aspect makes a monk a less usual start. Any other comments anyone can make? suggestions? feat choices in particular would be handy.
You can change your alignment if you want, but Martial Artists don't have to be lawful. This conflicts a bit with your concept, but Barbarian 1 or 2 -> Martial Artist 5 -> Barbarian X would probably make your lower levels less painful. It would also make an interesting dwarf, perhaps a worshiper of Cayden or Gorum that is dedicated to the art of the bar fight.
Feats... build like a Barbarian. Power Attack, Raging Vitality, and (much later) Raging Brutality are all great. Grab as many copies of "Extra Rage Power" as you can, as there are just gobs of good ones (especially with rage cycling). Seriously, go through the rage powers and write down all the 1/rage stuff. The only thing you need to look for is what you want to use your swift action on, as that makes many of the choices mutually exclusive.
Ok so it looks like, RAW, I'm going to have to start with a monk: disciplined, focused, but with a power inside him that he dare not release until something someday makes him snap and he begins to rage across the battlefield.
mechanics wise it's: 5 levels of martial artist monk, alignment change, the rest in barbarian.
I think I will go with dwarf, but rp aspect makes a monk a less usual start. Any other comments anyone can make? suggestions? feat choices in particular would be handy.
No need for the alignment change. Martial artists can be any alignment.
This is something I put together a few days ago for a level 7 alt character. I like to keep a few of them in the hopper. Our ability scores are a little wonky, but other than that it's RAW to my knowledge. Might be a decent starting point for ideas.
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Ok so it looks like, RAW, I'm going to have to start with a monk: disciplined, focused, but with a power inside him that he dare not release until something someday makes him snap and he begins to rage across the battlefield.
mechanics wise it's: 5 levels of martial artist monk, alignment change, the rest in barbarian.
I think I will go with dwarf, but rp aspect makes a monk a less usual start. Any other comments anyone can make? suggestions? feat choices in particular would be handy.
Well, the alignment of the martial artist is not restricted(the reason why the multiclass works so well together), so you don't have change alignment. Getting your anger under control and learning new ways to channel that torrent of force(in PF rage can give you freaking wings and horns, it's no longer just pure wrath) does not have include an aligment shift if you don't want to.
Well, AC might be hard to come by, but Urban Invulnerable Rager gets a nice amount of DR to offset that. Other option is to go Urban Savage Barbarian(sounds like an oxymoron right?), since they too gain gradual dodge boni and natural armor too if unarmored. One more option is to take up the beast totem tree, which, besides giving pounce on level 10(or 15 with your multiclass) bestows natural armor while raging. It's handy for sure.
For feats, after exhausting Dragon Style feats I'd recommend grappling and feats involved with that. Sure, concentrating on grappling is a bit boring, but if you spend some of your monk bonus feats to at least get rid of the aao and more chances to to do damage during the maneuver(Rapid Grapple and Greater Grapple), you'll gain a nifty trick which you can use to subdue enemies and wreak havoc on single opponents.
Then, since you are a dwarf, Steel Soul from APG doubles your racial bonus vs. spells, poisons and slas and Improved Stonecunning and Stonesense build upon your other racial abilities. Improved SC is a bit of a weak feat, but Stonesense makes it worth the while.
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Overall, you best bet is 5 levels of Martial Artist and the rest in Barbarian. A temple sword will suit you well. Flurries+Two Handed Power Attack, easier to get around damage reduction, and due to being behind in unarmed damage from the multiclass, you aren't losing out on much damage.. Dwarf is a probably your strongest choice for race. Great stat boosts, Darkvision, and a pile of other useful abilities. Half-Elf and Half-Orc, while not bad choices, don't offer quite as much. Unless you add in elaborate feat chains, human isn't necessary either.3.5 material, of course, opens up a slew of other options. But pure Pathfinder, this is what I would recommend.
Isn't Flurry a dead end? From the FoB entry: For the purpose of these attacks, the monk's base attack bonus is equal to his monk level.
So your FoB BAB will cap at your Monk lvl won't it?
Isn't Flurry a dead end? From the FoB entry: For the purpose of these attacks, the monk's base attack bonus is equal to his monk level.
So your FoB BAB will cap at your Monk lvl won't it?
That isn't the way it works. Check out the FAQ
It works as if you took Two Weapon Fighting, and never took the follow-up feats. You get all your iterative attacks, plus the one extra from FoB.
Yeah apparently I'm not as original as I thought, Lazar. I can see the appeal though: You can explore the lawful/chaotic axis, which we sometime have difficulty conceptualizing in comparison to the more straightforward good/evil axis. You get to tell a story of overcoming personal strife and turning a negative into a positive, or alternatively you get to tell the story of accepting oneself, warts and all. The mechanics work together really well too. It's just fun I think.