Making a Barbarian / Monk


Advice


Hey guys,

So I was curious on your feedback here for this class combo. I typically will play a caster of some sort for my games, but this time around I want to try a unique type of brawler character.

First I made him a Half-Elf so he can choose both of these classes as his favored class. Then I took the stock Barbarian at level one. I didn't use anything from Ultimate Combat yet. Now at 2nd level I made him a Monk(Martial Artist), so he can be any alignement and then at 5th level he gains the ability to no longer be fatigued. So my thought with this later is that he can rage, use flurry, and not be fatigued afterwards. From what I understand of the rules I can use these abilities this way. What are your opinions on feats I should take, or skills to focus on. Or even prestige classes?


Extra rage feat might be an early choice since you are going to have the same number of rage rounds as a level 1 barbarian until level 6. Otherwise, it seems alright enough. You also have the advantage of ignoring DR using only a swift action (plus an extra +2 to hit). I do believe that this could be done during rage since it is Wisdom based, so no problems.

The only problem I could ever see coming from this is that you are still a bit of a MAD character, since you would want Wisdom for exploit weakness, Constitution to keep up your rage rounds since you are not getting as many as a pure barbarian, Strength...because you hit things. And you would still want some dex to make up your loss of AC.

I was curious though: could a martial artist 5/ barbarian 10 pounce and do flurry at the same time? That would be scary. Temple swords will be your friend since they are monk weapons that can be wielded two-handed. That could take full advantage of STR, rage, and maybe power attack.

Dark Archive

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I see one possible conflict in this combo. Monks must be lawful. Barbarians must be Chaotic.

Scarab Sages

Mazlith wrote:
I see one possible conflict in this combo. Monks must be lawful. Barbarians must be Chaotic.

Martial Artists can be any alignment.

Dark Archive

Ssalarn wrote:
Mazlith wrote:
I see one possible conflict in this combo. Monks must be lawful. Barbarians must be Chaotic.
Martial Artists can be any alignment.

Well played sir.

note to self: change alignment of gnome martial artists/synthesis


Mazlith wrote:
Ssalarn wrote:
Mazlith wrote:
I see one possible conflict in this combo. Monks must be lawful. Barbarians must be Chaotic.
Martial Artists can be any alignment.

Well played sir.

note to self: change alignment of gnome martial artists/synthesis

Furthermore:

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/traits/race-traits/enlightened-warrior-aasimar--idy llkin


Corrections:

1) Barbarians don't have to be Chaotic, just non-Lawful. That includes both Chaotic and Neutral.

2) Monk alignment restriction only applies to gaining levels as a Monk. If you gain your monk levels first, you can swap to a non-lawful alignment and then take your levels in Barbarian while keeping all Monk abilities.

3) There's an Aasimar trait that allows you to take monk levels even if you're TN or NG (not NE, though). This is another way, besides Martial Artist, to gain levels as a non-lawful Monk.

Scarab Sages

Kithal wrote:

Hey guys,

So I was curious on your feedback here for this class combo. I typically will play a caster of some sort for my games, but this time around I want to try a unique type of brawler character.

First I made him a Half-Elf so he can choose both of these classes as his favored class. Then I took the stock Barbarian at level one. I didn't use anything from Ultimate Combat yet. Now at 2nd level I made him a Monk(Martial Artist), so he can be any alignement and then at 5th level he gains the ability to no longer be fatigued. So my thought with this later is that he can rage, use flurry, and not be fatigued afterwards. From what I understand of the rules I can use these abilities this way. What are your opinions on feats I should take, or skills to focus on. Or even prestige classes?

I did a barbarian/monk build using the Martial Artist, but I actually went with the Urban Barbarian archetype for the barbarian levels. Once I was able to buy an Agile Amulet of Mighty Fists, I could pump all of my Rage stat bonus into Dex and have it boost my attack, damage, Reflex save, AC, and skills. I was a little low damage for the first couple levels (though I could still assign my Rage bonus to STR when I needed to), but by the time I was around level 8 or so I was dealing very competitive amounts of damage, had one of the top AC's in the party, and could Rage cycle all day long (or at least until I ran out of rounds of Rage).

Grand Lodge

Kazaan wrote:

Corrections:

1) Barbarians don't have to be Chaotic, just non-Lawful. That includes both Chaotic and Neutral.

2) Monk alignment restriction only applies to gaining levels as a Monk. If you gain your monk levels first, you can swap to a non-lawful alignment and then take your levels in Barbarian while keeping all Monk abilities.

3) There's an Aasimar trait that allows you to take monk levels even if you're TN or NG (not NE, though). This is another way, besides Martial Artist, to gain levels as a non-lawful Monk.

Great, one of the most popular cheese builds. (Yes, OP, you're not the first to think of this) now has a legal road for expansion.

Grand Lodge

So "that's cheese" = "I don't like, and also you iz the doody heads"?

Grand Lodge

blackbloodtroll wrote:
So "that's cheese" = "I don't like, and also you iz the doody heads"?

If you've been around the game long enough, you've would have seen a whole train of monk/barbarian wannabes because it IS a popular cheese build.

Grand Lodge

Most Monk/Barbarian builds are not very powerful in comparison to other damage builds.

Why is there a hate against the combination?

Lantern Lodge

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I'd say ignore the haters and play what you want. I have a Barb/Monk/DD that I love to play and could care less if someone calls cheese.

One man's cheese is another's sandwich garnish.

Grand Lodge

blackbloodtroll wrote:

Most Monk/Barbarian builds are not very powerful in comparison to other damage builds.

Why is there a hate against the combination?

Because the roleplaying attempts to justify this combination of two antithetical classes tend to stink to high heaven

Grand Lodge

Full Barbarian will still beat the stuffing out the Monk/Barbarian.


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So wait at the start you go lawful to get your monk levels for a multi-class build

Then what does your PC like punch a baby in the face or shave off the party wizard's eyebrows or just like suddenly yell out "WOOOO SPRING BREAK" to change your alignment so that you can now go barbarian at a certain level?

Grand Lodge

LazarX wrote:
blackbloodtroll wrote:

Most Monk/Barbarian builds are not very powerful in comparison to other damage builds.

Why is there a hate against the combination?

Because the roleplaying attempts to justify this combination of two antithetical classes tend to stink to high heaven

That sir, is your opinion.

Likely tainted by bad experiences.


My thoughts with this build are purely for character back story. He is a brawler of sorts, but has been trained by a group of monks in my world. His temper is what got him kicked out of their guild, so now he wanders a local city as a "fist" for hire sort of deal. I am trying to design him more off of his concept on life and his philosphies, rather than feats that just make him an overbearing powerhouse in combat. That being said, I will take the extra rage feat probably at some point, but I want him to be more of a nimble character that uses his mind first, and fist second.

Thank you guys for the input, and I know it is a potential cheese build, but our group is playing more for the story of trying to kill this mindflayer that TPK'd the last party I ran in the final battle.

Grand Lodge

Lamontius wrote:


So wait at the start you go lawful to get your monk levels for a multi-class build

Then what does your PC like punch a baby in the face or shave off the party wizard's eyebrows or just like suddenly yell out "WOOOO SPRING BREAK" to change your alignment so that you can now go barbarian at a certain level?

No. You take the appropriate Archetypes or traits to combine the two.

No need to change alignment.


Also, when you take the martial artist archetype for Monks, you no longer have an alignment restriction. His alignment is CG.


blackbloodtroll wrote:
Lamontius wrote:


So wait at the start you go lawful to get your monk levels for a multi-class build

Then what does your PC like punch a baby in the face or shave off the party wizard's eyebrows or just like suddenly yell out "WOOOO SPRING BREAK" to change your alignment so that you can now go barbarian at a certain level?

No. You take the appropriate Archetypes or traits to combine the two.

No need to change alignment.

I understand Martial Artist or the Aasimar thing. But my post was more for:

Monk alignment restriction only applies to gaining levels as a Monk. If you gain your monk levels first, you can swap to a non-lawful alignment and then take your levels in Barbarian while keeping all Monk abilities.

Grand Lodge

Yes. I agree shoehorning an alignment change for a build is cheesy.

Simply combining the two, without alignment change, through the appropriate archetypes, or traits, or a really good story behind an alignment change(like, awesome good) is not cheesy.


I don't need to be lawful for this build. He is CG to start, and can continue to gain monk levels as a martial artist because he gives up certain abilities for others. I agree that changing an alignment just so you can multiclass is a little ridiculous, hence why I'm not doing it.


I think I am keeping the Spring Break concept in my back pocket if I ever need to shift a monk PC's alignment

He starts out lawful when he gets there and after like a week of doing body shots off of a cleric of Calistria and waking up without his pantaloons a few times he's sold on becoming a barbarian

Man where in Golarion would Spring Break even happen


Probably near the Eye of Abendego I would say.

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

i made a barbarian/martial artist not long ago- she was part of a tribe that revered dragons as their collective totem and had a traditional fighting style, modeled after them (the dragon style tree), which some warriors were trained in every generation. at 11th level her AC and attack bonus were behind the fighter, but her Hp was competitive and she punched for like 3d6+24 (i think); most importantly, she was a lot of fun to play.

for whatever its worth- for feats i took dodge and toughness for survivability, dragon style and ferocity (for story, and also extra damage), and things to improve unarmed strikes (wpn focus/specialization, improved natural attack- though, i guess there's some debate about whether monk's should be allowed to do that...).


Thanks for the tips on that. I like the back-story for your character as well. I want to develop more of a back-story for my character and have some ideas in mind in order to make his build feasible. Personally, have a solid back-story is really important to our group, as we all try and use that as a basis for some of our campaign hooks.


Kithal wrote:
I don't need to be lawful for this build. He is CG to start, and can continue to gain monk levels as a martial artist because he gives up certain abilities for others. I agree that changing an alignment just so you can multiclass is a little ridiculous, hence why I'm not doing it.

I had a foppish bard who lost his older brother (paladin) in a siege of their home town. His father blamed him for being a wastrel and expressed that the wrong son died... Out of guilt my PC changed his alignment and took his vows as a paladin. I (as the player ) had no intention of multiclassing till my DM threw that plot hook in. Bear in mind that this was 3.5, but ever since then I have been obsessed with bardadins. No cheese intended at all.

Scarab Sages

Byrdology wrote:
Kithal wrote:
I don't need to be lawful for this build. He is CG to start, and can continue to gain monk levels as a martial artist because he gives up certain abilities for others. I agree that changing an alignment just so you can multiclass is a little ridiculous, hence why I'm not doing it.
I had a foppish bard who lost his older brother (paladin) in a siege of their home town. His father blamed him for being a wastrel and expressed that the wrong son died... Out of guilt my PC changed his alignment and took his vows as a paladin. I (as the player ) had no intention of multiclassing till my DM threw that plot hook in. Bear in mind that this was 3.5, but ever since then I have been obsessed with bardadins. No cheese intended at all.

Pathfinder removed the alignment restrictions from bards though, so you can actually have a bardadin without any alignment shenanigans.

Shadow Lodge

LazarX wrote:
blackbloodtroll wrote:

Most Monk/Barbarian builds are not very powerful in comparison to other damage builds.

Why is there a hate against the combination?

Because the roleplaying attempts to justify this combination of two antithetical classes tend to stink to high heaven

Sagacious Lu comes to mind, but then that's just 14th century fiction. Probably not appropriate for a 21st century roleplaying game.


What is wrong about an Urban Barbarian/Martial Artist? Why would a tribesman who got raised in the city be unable to become a Martial Artist? I don't see any flavor problems here.

What about mixing Tetori with Barbarian? Could one manage to make a Body bludgeon Build this way?

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