Level 5 Monk / Sorcerer Build

[Ogadim]

I've been playing around with several different characters for my backup to my frontline Shield Fighter. My current party has gotten remarkably close to a TPK on a couple of occassions so it seems warranted to build a backup. It will be a 25 point buy with level 5 gold (10,500 no item more than 4,000).

Here's what I came up with:

Race - Human
Class - 4 Master of Many Styles Monk/1 Protean Sorcerer

Base Stats
Str 14 (5)
Dex 13 (3)
Con 14 (5)
Int 10 (0)
Wis 16 (10)
Cha 12 (2)

Human +2 bonus goes into STR and lvl 4 +1 bonus into DEX for the additional AC boost and AoOs from Combat Reflexes.

Feats
(monk): Improved Unarmed Strike
(sorc): Eschew Materials
(human): Snake Style
(MoMS, 1): Panther Style
1: Panther Claw
(MoMS, 2): Snake Fang
3: Combat Reflexes
5: Panther Parry

As you can see, the idea is to provoke Attacks of Opportunity with movement which triggers the Panther retaliations. Snake Style turns their misses into Attacks of Opportunity for myself as well as a potential AC boost once per turn or extra attack off an AoO. The Sorcerer splash gives me access to the Protoplasm ability (when I can't get in range or the enemy needs to be immobilized), Mage Armor (helps trigger Snake Fang and can buff teammates), and Enlarge Person (increases Unarmed Strike damage, threat range). Granted, I can only cast them 4 times per day, but their durations should make that manageable. The Protean bloodline also makes it a bit tougher to dispel Mage Armor and Enlarge Person.

Items
Headband of Inspired Wisdom +2 4,000gp
Cloak of Resistance +2 4,000gp
Wand of Shield 750gp
+1 Kama 1,002gp

The headband improves my AC/CMD through the Monk's AC Bonus, bumps up the Sense Motive check for Snake Style, and gives an additional retaliation for Panther Claw. The cloak makes my already good saves quite solid. The wand allows me to have substantial AC when combined with Mage Armor. They don't stack with Snake Style's ability, but are very good on their own for enabling Snake Fang. The +1 Kama is there to get through damage reduction when I don't have Ki Strikes available.

Final Stats
Str 16 +3
Dex 14 +2
Con 14 +2
Int 10 0
Wis 18 +4
Cha 12 +1

AC: 17 (up to 25 with Mage Armor and Shield, -2 when enlarged)
Touch: 17
Flat: 15

Fort/Refl/Will: 8/8/12
BAB: +3
CMB: +7 (9 when enlarged)
CMD: 22 (23 when enlarged)

Unarmed Strike (med/large)
Attack Bonus: 6/7
Damage: 1d8+3/2d6+4

+1 Kama (med/large)
Attack Bonus: 7/8
Damage: 1d6+4/1d8+5

Skills - TBD (At least 1 in Acrobatics and 3 in Sense Motive for Snake Style)

Let me know if there is anything that I am not reading correctly. I haven't had much experience with Pathfinder, but I'm steadily gaining more knowledge as I go. If there are any recommendations you can think of, please share them. I'm looking to make this guy more of a frontline tank than an all-out DPR machine.

Thanks for your time and patience.

[RainyDayNinja]

If you're multi-classing with monk, I would recommend instead taking the Empyreal bloodline, which lets you use WIS instead of CHA for your sorcerer class features. You wouldn't get the Protoplasm ability, but that's not much of a loss IMO. That would let you take CHA down to 8, freeing up points to bump up DEX and STR.

[Rynjin]

^That.

[Ogadim]

RainyDayNinja wrote:

If you're multi-classing with monk, I would recommend instead taking the Empyreal bloodline, which lets you use WIS instead of CHA for your sorcerer class features. You wouldn't get the Protoplasm ability, but that's not much of a loss IMO. That would let you take CHA down to 8, freeing up points to bump up DEX and STR.

That is an excellent suggestion. I forgot to look through the archetypes in Ultimate Magic. Trading the Protoplasm ability for the Heavenly Fire ability is a wash, but gaining the Wisdom modifier instead of Charisma is definitely nice. It's not quite enough to get me another level 1 spell use unfortunately, but it does seem more suitable.

Dropping it to 8 Cha would free up 4 points. I believe I could then do my stats as such:

Str 15 (7)
Dex 14 (5)
Con 14 (5)
Int 10 (0)
Wis 16 (10)
Cha 8 (-2)

Putting my race +2 and level 4 +1 both into Strength bumps me up to 18 with my other stats equal to what they were before (other than Charisma of course).

[Mystically Inclined]

You might want to take a second level of sorcerer. The +1 BAB makes it doable. Depends on if you want another level 1 spell use (and a cantrip, I think) or whatever you're going to get from the monk level.

Monk level is probably better, but it's worth thinking about.

[Ogadim]

Mystically Inclined wrote:

You might want to take a second level of sorcerer. The +1 BAB makes it doable. Depends on if you want another level 1 spell use (and a cantrip, I think) or whatever you're going to get from the monk level.

Monk level is probably better, but it's worth thinking about.

The biggest thing about 4th level in monk is the damage dice increase for unarmed attacks. Especially while under Enlarge Person making them do 2d6 with all of my free attacks. But there's also access to Ki Pool abilities, the monk's AC/CMD bonus, an extra +1 to all saves, and the BAB is a wash since the monk gets his increase at 4 as well.

[Anonymous Visitor 163 576]

You can do both, eventually.

[Ogadim]

Suppose for my next feat I take a 3rd style but can still only have 2 active due to my monk level. For example, Panther/Snake/Boar with Panther and Snake as the current active stances. If I move near an enemy to provoke an attack of opportunity, can I use a swift action after my Panther Parry ability but before their attack of opportunity? I'd want to switch out Panther Style for Boar Style so that if he misses, my Snake Fang would trigger potentially giving me the 2nd hit to trigger Boar Style's bleed.

Am I allowed to do this? I'm not positive of the timing constraints of a Swift action, but it reads as an Immediate action that you can only use during your turn assuming you didn't use an Immediate action since your last turn.

[Rynjin]

I'm not sure what you're asking for.

In any case, may I suggest the Combat Style Master Feat?

[Ogadim]

Rynjin wrote:

I'm not sure what you're asking for.

In any case, may I suggest the Combat Style Master Feat?

That would be nice to have, but I'm a bit feat-starved as it is.

This is the scenario I am setting up: my feats include Panther Style, Panther Parry, Snake Style, Snake Fang, and Boar Style. Assume that I am not yet a level 8 monk and therefore can only have 2 stances active at once. During combat, I have Panther Style and Snake Style as my actives. I walk through an enemies threatened square in order to provoke an attack of opportunity. Panther Parry lets me get an attack before their AoO, assume it hits. If their AoO misses, Snake Fang triggers giving me another unarmed strike. Between their AoO missing and my Snake Fang attack, can I use a swift action to activate Boar Style in the place of Panther Style?