Bullet Proof Monk

[Aazen]

Heya. A friend is doing an adventure in Alkhenstar(?) and was looking for help on how a monk there might be constructed. Do they pack heat or just deflect it? I'd like to see if it's possible to do Pathfinder Gunfu. The build is 20 point buy human. Thanks.

[blackbloodtroll]

A single level in Cleric of Cixyron, and you can flurry with a musket, and use your wisdom for attack rolls with it.
Cost you about 3 feats.

[Maxximilius]

How could you flurry with a musket since you can't reload it as a free action ? It may pass with another deity granting the pistol as it's deity favored weapon ; though. Another way to do it is take the Zen archer, and simply use a pistol instead of a bow.
If you want to deflect hits, just take high Dex and Wisdom, plus the Deflect/Catch Arrow feats.

Another way is to take five levels of musketeer gunslinger to be able to reload as a free action and get gun training bonus to damage, then one level of Cleric of Cixyron, followed by all other levels in monk with Crusader's Flurry and Guided hand feats. Now you can flurry with a musket, using your Wisdom to attack and Dex to damage.
Eventually, just get 3 levels of gunslinger, follow the same progression and get a Guided musket.

If you want to perform Gun-fu equilibrium style, to fill a empty spot in the rules I wrote a Gun-fu master you may be interested into.

[blackbloodtroll]

You can go Sensei after the cleric dip. You lose flurry, but no longer need to pick up Guided Hand to use wisdom for attack rolls.
There is also the Ki Diversity feat and Guided weapon enchantment.

[Maxximilius]

Note that Ki Diversity was designed for level 7 or 9 characters to mind ; as such, a character should not expect to get this feat earlier, and having to wait until these levels to start enjoying your character may be a bit too late.

A sensei would lose a lot of offensive power.

[blackbloodtroll]

Guided is the answer.

[Aazen]

What about 1st to third level though? Keep in mind; this is Alkhenstar, so magic will be at level nil. Would Monk of the Empty Hand work?

[Maxximilius]

blackbloodtroll wrote:

Guided is the answer.

While a good answer, guided was out in 2008 for a 3.5 ruleset ; as such it may not be allowed in some games if the DM wants to keep the rules Pathfinder-friendly only. Even then, the player would need to wait until he can get a hold on a +2 equivalent weapon.

@ Aazen : If you are going strictly by RAW, don't even expect being an awesome firearm wielder before being at least 5th level.
A Monk of the Empty hand says that you may flurry as normal with common weapons treated as improvised, but it says a one-handed weapon is treated as a club ; and a normal flurry allows only the use of unarmed strikes or monk (melee) weapons. So, I don't believe it allows you to use a firearm.