My Monk Archetype(s)

[Third Mind]

Alright, let me start out by saying I am no pro at homebrew classes or archetypes, in fact one could call me a rookie. So if some abilities look weak or overpowered please feel free to give me ideas on how to fix them.

Also if you have an idea for an ability that may better fit the feel of an archetype I've created, please feel free to share.

So, without further ado, here is archetype #1 (for me at least):

Boxer:

Monk Archetype – Boxer

Description: A boxer has but one goal in his mind, to punch people and to punch them very hard.

Alignment: A boxer may be of any alignment.

Practiced Striker –
When making unarmed attacks, the boxer uses his monk level in place of his base attack bonus.

Heavy Hitter –
At 3rd level, a boxer increases his unarmed strike damage by one step. (Example: From 1d6 to 1d8) and increases further every time a monk’s unarmed damage would increase through level. (Example: At level 3, a monk would have 1d8 and at 5th level they would have 1d10.)

This ability replaces the Still Mind ability.

Reprisal –
At 4th level, the boxer bobs and weaves, striking when there is an opening. If an opponent attempts a melee attack against the boxer and misses, the boxer may make an attack of opportunity against that opponent.

This ability replaces the Slow Fall ability.

Unyielding –
At 5th level, the boxer becomes immune to fatigue and gains the Diehard feat. The boxer does not have to meet the prerequisites to gain this feat.

This ability replaces the Purity of Body ability.

Impairing Punches –
At 7th level, the boxer gains the Jawbreaker feat even if he does not qualify for it except that it deals 1d6 points of bleed damage instead of 1d4.

This ability replaces tongue of sun and moon.

Knockout Punch –
At 13th level, a boxer may attempt to knock an opponent unconscious right then and there. The boxer must declare he is attempting a knock out punch before making an attack roll (thus, a failed attack roll ruins the attempt.) Once per round as a standard action the boxer may make a melee attack against an opponent. This attack deals normal damage and the opponent must make a fortitude save (DC = 10 + ½ your character level + your Strength modifier). If the opponent makes the Fort save then they are only dealt damage as normal. If the fail their save however they are knocked unconscious for a number of rounds equal to the boxer’s strength modifier.

This ability may only be used once on a given opponent per day. (Example: If you attacked opponent A with the knockout punch, you may not do so again for 24 hours. However, you may attack both opponents A and B with the knockout punch in the same day.)

This ability replaces the Diamond Body ability.

As you can probably tell from the description the boxer was made to hit opponents hard primarily with unarmed attacks. I wanted to bring Heavy Hitter to level 1 but I figured a boxer would need to keep both flurry of blows and stunning fist, so I couldn't find anything to trade there. Impairing punches was meant to go a bit further, giving the opponent something like a black eye, impairing further attacks, but I wasn't sure if that'd be a condition or something I would write in. I feel Reprisal is fairly balanced and Unyielding is an attempt to have a boxer that keeps getting up. I did what I could to make sure Knockout Punch wasn't overpowered.

Now, I realize the wording needs some work (again, rookie) but please let me know what you think.

I may post other archetypes for the monk later on in this thread. I already have an idea for another one that I mulling over.

[Dabbler]

Hmmm. Looking at this:

Quote:

Alignment: A boxer may be of any alignment.

This is already under the martial artist archetype.

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Practiced Striker –

When making unarmed attacks, the boxer uses his monk level in place of his base attack bonus.

Just like he does for flurry-of-blows? How is this markedly different? What ability does it replace?

Quote:

Heavy Hitter –

At 3rd level, a boxer increases his unarmed strike damage by one step. (Example: From 1d6 to 1d8) and increases further every time a monk’s unarmed damage would increase through level. (Example: At level 3, a monk would have 1d8 and at 5th level they would have 1d10.)

This ability replaces the Still Mind ability.

Sounds rather overpowered. There's a reason why Improved Natural Attack (the feat that did the same thing as this ability in effect) was blocked from monks.

Quote:

Reprisal –

At 4th level, the boxer bobs and weaves, striking when there is an opening. If an opponent attempts a melee attack against the boxer and misses, the boxer may make an attack of opportunity against that opponent.

This ability replaces the Slow Fall ability.

This ability is identical to Snake Fang at the peak of the Snake Style feat tree.

Quote:

Unyielding –

At 5th level, the boxer becomes immune to fatigue and gains the Diehard feat. The boxer does not have to meet the prerequisites to gain this feat.

This ability replaces the Purity of Body ability.

Just like the Martial Artist again.

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Impairing Punches –

At 7th level, the boxer gains the Jawbreaker feat even if he does not qualify for it except that it deals 1d6 points of bleed damage instead of 1d4.

This ability replaces tongue of sun and moon.

Tongue of the sun and moon is a very high level ability, not a 7th level ability! Replacing a higher level ability is one thing if you are level or two below, but ten levels? No way. Added to that, this ability also duplicates other style feats again.

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Knockout Punch –/quote]

Why not just add more abilities to stunning fist instead of inventing new ones from scratch?

Not meaning to de-construct your ideas, but an archetype is for when you cannot create a concept any other way. This one can be adequately made with a Martial Artist archetype and some imaginative feat selection, and maybe a new feat or two.

[Third Mind]

Yeah, I knew I would mess archetype creation up. Like I had mentioned this was meant to be an archetype that would hit very hard once or twice but only with unarmed strikes, but I suppose later on they do hit hard enough.

But to answer some questions.

The practiced striker ability was more meant for singular attacks, something to help with attacks after moving instead of a full attack action that the flurry requires.

I did not know about Improved Natural Attack being tried for monks. I was simply trying to make a boxer character that could possibly go toe to toe with a person using a weapon. However, since it's overpowered (I can see it being such a later levels) I may just take it out.

I don't see a problem mimicking or even giving a feat through an archetype, as there are plenty of archetypes that do that. I suppose I could reword it to mention that snake style feat that you have mentioned.

Unyielding is different from the martial artist in that it only gives one ability and thus only takes away one ability, where the martial artist gives other abilities over time at the cost of the monks normal abilities. Admittedly the martial artist probably gives better abilities.

I did indeed mess up big time here, with the ability replacement. The goal here was to just increase the damage that jawbreaker did.

Why not just add more abilities to stunning fist than inventing new ones? Good idea. I could tack on or add an alternative allowing the player to attempt to make them unconscious instead of just stunning them for 1 round.

I guess I could / should do a complete overhaul. I could focus more on using his hands, hitting harder in other ways, maybe drop flurry since hard hitting boxers (at least the ones I'm thinking of) aim for one or 2 major blows. Possibly focusing on the stunning fist mechanic than making up new ways to add damage.

Or I suppose I could just stick with a monk, even though it'd probably take quite a while to get to where I want a "boxer" to go. I guess I'll mull it over.

Thanks for the input.

[Dabbler]

That's OK. The problem is the monk himself should be able to go tow-to-toe with a someone with a weapon and perform at least adequately. Currently, this isn't a great idea with the monk. As there is a fix on the way, why not wait and see what they include in it?

What I mean by the way, is that you could use a Martial Artist with Snake Style to make your boxer, and have many of the features you want. You could then make feats for the other abilities (there is one called Jawbreaker too, BTW).

[Third Mind]

They are working on a fix? I did not know that. If that is the case I am interested in seeing what comes from it.

I shall work on a martial artist build using the snake style and see what I feel is missing to pull off what, in my mind is a boxer.

Just out of curiosity, what fix is supposedly on the way? Is it a new book coming out or an update?

Thanks again for your input dabbler.

[Dabbler]

So they assure us. It's been on the back-burner while the conventions were on, and they have other schedules to keep, but the devs have stated they feel the monk is underpowered and needs a fix. They have also said, though, that a complete re-write is not on the cards, it'll be a tweak here and there.

[Third Mind]

Tweaks are fine with me, especially if it makes monks better.

[Borak the Bastard]

The issue with many archetypes is that they're restrictive...in concept. Some of the tradeoffs don't fit a concept you're trying to build. To alleviate this, I present a VERY flexible monk archetype I've used that lets the PLAYER pick his monk's abilities through feats, similar to a fighter:

The Tempest – a Monk archetype for Pathfinder:

Like a powerful storm, The Tempest is chaotic, unpredictable and destructive. His fighting technique does not follow rote Katas or obey orderly training regimens like some other monks, but instead flows from the moment, always improvising new paths to attack from and countering attacks against him with the best available defenses. Extremely versatile, no two Tempests are alike due to the large variety of feats available to them. Tempest monks begin like regular monks, but rapidly diversify; such diversification precludes access to esoteric Ki abilities in favor of combat-related feats. Tempests may be of any alignment, but those who embrace Chaos receive an additional BONUS FEAT at 1st level.

At 4th level, a Tempest gains two BONUS FEATs, rather than acquiring a Ki pool and Slow Fall (any). Any bonus feats acquired hereafter may be any combat feat, even those reserved for fighter levels.

At 7th Level, a Tempest replaces Wholeness of Body with a BONUS FEAT.

At 12th level, a Tempest gains a BONUS FEAT to replace Abundant Step.

At 17th level, a Tempest gains two BONUS FEATs to replace Timeless Body and Tongue of the Sun and Moon.

At 19th level, a Tempest gains Primal Charm, and taps into the protean forces of chaos that shape probability. Once per day, he may re-roll any die roll and take the better result. This replaces Empty Body.