It really is, the changes I made are small but they are really doing the trick. So far, the changes have not been overpowered, and they have not been underpowered either. They have given the monk more strategic options, which compensate for his fragility (high AC, but hit points are about 60% the barbarian's so if an attack can hurt him, it will definitely hurt him).
I'm really pleased with how this has worked out, but I plan on taking this through to as high a level as I can to make sure that it works OK.
I think the best addition is the ki-for-attack in all situations. The way I read it it allows the monk to not spend a round attacking, but still spend ki to get an attack. So he could take out a potion, drink it, and still trip somebody, all in the same turn.
The problem of course comes in conjunction with multi-classing; this could allow combat-orientated casters to cast and attack for example.
I think the best addition is the ki-for-attack in all situations. The way I read it it allows the monk to not spend a round attacking, but still spend ki to get an attack. So he could take out a potion, drink it, and still trip somebody, all in the same turn.
The problem of course comes in conjunction with multi-classing; this could allow combat-orientated casters to cast and attack for example.
I could see a problem with a Monk/Magus doing something like this. Especially with that Ki = Arcane Pool feat that lets the Magus get an infinite number of Arcane Pool points by playing a Drunken Master Monk or a Hungry Ghost Monk.
The amendment I am using is ki-for-attack as long as you are making at least one attack. Less versatile, less powerful, but it still allows you to attack effectively and move (which is the main point).
Yesterday's game was...amusing, I think is the best word.
After fighting off the black dragons last session, the party continued to explore the swamps of the Hooktongue Slough. Present were the undine monk, the halfling rogue, the human alchemist, human ranger (and elk companion), and dhampir magus.
They discovered the dragonfly grade by following various boggard trails, and were amused by the pretty coloured dragonflies. They started catching some big ones, remembering the quest for dragonfly wings. The the REAL giant dragonflies showed up!
Achieving surprise as they flew in, and scoring an excellent initiative they managed to bite the flat-footed party several times, though not seriously before the party turned things on them. The biggest issue was not destroying the dragonflies so badly that their wings were damaged. The ranger rode his elk out of the immediate conflict and then did his machine-gun impression, while the monk stayed in the thick of things and use her Crane Style to great effect.
The magus got to shine a little as he sprang his Intensified Spell feat for the first time and one-shotted his only attacker, while the alchemist tossed around nets (from his clockwork servant) and tanglefoot bags, while the rogue darted around to wherever he was needed.
It was all over in three rounds, the party left several dragonflies unconscious and took wings from the dead ones to complete their quest.
The party continued exploring, and discovered a patch of dangerous flowers they simply avoided, before moving on to explore the remaining parts of the Glenebon Uplands they had not yet forayed into. The hills were largely empty of any encounters remaining, until I diced up an encounter with a single Will-o'-Wisp in the hex with the abandoned mine. So I decided to make it interesting...
The party found the mine, and entered the main shaft that ran horizontally. The ranger and rogue scouted ahead, and saw in the distance a flickering light (the Wisp), but avoided the concealed shaft it tried to leave them over. The rest of the party joined them, and the undine monk opted to see what was below the waterline twenty feet down. He dived in and started looking around, discovering the silver veins.
Meanwhile the party followed the light, avoiding another pitfall. The magus used invisibility and fly to get up close to the Wisp, which noticed him and went invisible again, then attacked him.
Things got fun, as the rogue rushed forward, failed his perception abysmally, and missed both the invisible magus and Wisp, as well as the third shaft in the floor. His ring of feather falling prevented damage, and his splash as he fell into the flood water alerted the monk who swam through the tunnels to his aid. The ranger tried to search for invisible enemies ahead with his amazing Perception score, and started shooting...he hit the Wisp...and he hit the magus, in the butt.
The magus realized that his glitterdust might be effective, and relinquishing his invisibility he glittered the Wisp, then hit it with magic missiles. The alchemist then hurled some bombs...badly. One hit a pit-prop to the right, one a prop to the left, using the rules for missing with grenade-like weapons.
At last the ranger got a clear shot, and ended the Wisp, as the mine groaned ominously. The party ran & swam for it, exiting with a cloud of dust and rubble behind them.
They voted it most fun encounter ever!
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Yesterday's game was...amusing, I think is the best word.
** spoiler omitted **...
I don't know if your players GM for you, but if they do, expect that to come back and bite you in the ass. I used Will-o-wisps in Curse of the Crimson Throne and my GM turned around and used them exactly the same way against us on that island in the middle of the lake with the tower on it.
Everyone blamed me for teaching him to will-o-wisp :(
Currently I'm the main GM, my son is learning, and one other player (absent last night) might be persuaded...
Besides, the Wisps have been used before, but this time I played a lone Wisp very clever, and the riotous fun was in the party's attempts to take it down without thinking things through...
Plus, they are really taking their time to get the hint that keeping a means of seeing the invisible around is a good idea...
Currently I'm the main GM, my son is learning, and one other player (absent last night) might be persuaded...
Besides, the Wisps have been used before, but this time I played a lone Wisp very clever, and the riotous fun was in the party's attempts to take it down without thinking things through...
Plus, they are really taking their time to get the hint that keeping a means of seeing the invisible around is a good idea...
Before I dropped out, the party cleric prepped Invisibility Purge every single day no matter what. Sometimes twice, and he also always had a scroll of it. This is all due to my GM using my own tactics on the party.
Next session I am starting a side adventure I've written to add a little colour and to give the party a little extra XP before we start the next module. Those interested can download it from here in PDF format.
So the first session of the side-adventure tonight. As this is not a Kingmaker module, I can talk in open text. Missing were the barbarian and the alchemist, leaving the halfling rogue, the undine monk, the dwarf cleric, the dhampir magus, and the human ranger.
The party received word of the disappearance of the Hamlet of Candlelook, and made their way to the neighbouring hamlet to discover it in dire straights, with a make-shift stockade and a very frightened populace. They set about reinforcing the defences of the village and training the locals. Because of the party's laws everyone in the kingdom had to have a weapon and know how to use it; so the villagers were largely experts and warriors, quite tough but far from being in the party's league. There were two "notable" villagers, the headman (warrior 4, composite longbow), and Boris "the reaper", a local farmer (warrior 3, masterwork scythe). The rest of the villagers were treated as warrior 3, spear or crossbow, +4 to hit, +1 to damage, AC15, 15hp.
I planned for the party to have concerns keeping the villagers safe, which they did.
As evening fell, the warped winter wolves crept close, and the halfling rogue was out in front of the village setting traps with five villagers when he spotted one villager (Boris) about to be pounced on and shouted a warning. He dinged the wolf for a lot of temporary damage, and the monk made a flying leap over the parapet and hurtled in with a stunning fist that laid it out cold.
The situation was interesting because outside the stockade was difficult terrain (deep snow), and inside it was normal. There were low buildings on the inside as well, and a low tower acting as a vantage point. The monk and the ranger were drilling villagers in an open area by the tower, and the villagers they were drilling, and the ranger, rushed to battle stations. The magus hasted most of the party and the villagers outside.
The four remaining wolves visible attacked, one falling into a trap, two being tripped by the monk's kusarigama before they could close, and the last mauling a villager. The remaining villagers made morale checks: two ran for the gate, one rushed to the aid of the fallen villager, and Boris attacked a prone wolf with his scythe. Boris got one hit, followed by a haste attack that was a confirmed crit. Boris got much kudos from the party!
The dwarf cleric called down a flame strike courtesy of Torag on two of the wolves (the one mauling the villager, and the one Boris was fighting), and mounted up on the ranger's elk. He made a Perception check and caught sight of a second group of the wolves that had leapt the stockade onto the roofs of the houses beyond them, and were closing with the villagers emerging from their homes, weapons in hand. The dwarf rode in to present himself as a target, and took some hits while the villagers - inspired by their leader's successes' - massed to attack.
Round 2, and the halfling rushed the wolf mauling a villager and finished the job the cleric started, laying it out with his light mace. The monk unloaded on a tripped wolf and beat it to a bloody pulp. The ranger drew a bead and made a pincushion of a wolf threatening the cleric. The magus also doubled back to face the new threat, and backed this up with a brace of fireballs that roasted four of the wolves including that pincushion, which died of it.
The magus found himself squaring off with a scorched wolf, but his defences foiled it.
Boris took a hit from the wolf's breath-weapon, but the monk finished it when it tried to rise. Boris and the other villagers outside rushed back to the stockade, taking the wounded with them. A squad of them rushed to the magus' aid, providing him with flanking. The cleric took some hits from the wolves, but countered with his holy hammer and a dancing greatsword that turned two of them into chutney.
Round 3, the halfling went to finish the wolf caught in (and destroying) the trap, the monk made a great leap to get back into the stockade and raced toward the other end of the village where four wolves were closing with villagers. The ranger kept shooting (almost killing one wolf), and the magus killed his wolf with a lethal vampiric touch and a series of blows from his scorpion-whip.
Now the villagers started taking serious casualties as they rushed the wolves: three were struck by a breath weapon, nearly killing one outright and injuring the others. Another villager fell to a mauling, a third retreated into a house. The cleric delayed, waiting for the monk to make her move next turn. The villagers were having some success mobbing the wolves, but were starting to fall.
Round 4: the halfling finished off the trapped wolf, and the monk raced past three injured wolves to provoke AoO's so he could retaliate with Snake Fang; he killed the most injured, stunned the next, and tripped the last. The ranger moved in, and the magus used a phantasmal killer on the tripped wolf. The dwarf started healing the villagers close to death, seeing everything was under control. The villagers surrounded the stunned wolf, and the monk finished it off the next round.
On the whole, a battle that made the party stretch themselves not to avoid personal damage, but to prevent the wolves massacring the villagers. As it was the wolves came close, inflicting serious injuries, but there were no fatalities.
Analysis: the monk was unleashing around 2/3 the damage the barbarian normally churned out, but made up for this by being tactically astute and using her mobility. In this fight, her reflexes and chain reach were valuable in denying enemies the attacks they wanted on the villagers. The ranger actually turned out easily as much damage, similarly effective in this scenario. It was good to see the magus and the cleric also getting in on the action more.
What stats are you using for the wolves? I've read your adventure above, but the wolves weren't included in it (though the wolves exist as a potential enemy should the PCs get attacked leaving the village). I'm going to forward it on to the GM of the kingmaker game I dropped out of, though I'm not sure how much help it will be.
The pseudonatural winter-wolf stats are right at the end, bottom right hand corner of the second-from-last page. They were amphibious, AC18, 87hp, attack +14 (2d6+10), or breath weapon (15' cone 6d6 cold).
My party earmarked the island for greater things as well, but as I said to my players last night, people squatting and setting up on their own without permission WILL happen from time to time, in fact that's how most villages start up: someone finds a likely spot, then sets up on it. Someone else joins them, and before long you have a hamlet.
I didn't write this encounter into the adventure but left it as a possibility. I decided to include it because I wanted the players to have an idea of what they were dealing with. It made the point that while the villagers were capable they were out of their league. They were impressed with Boris, though!
Ah!! Missed that somehow.
I'm sure, if my GM has no use for it, I know I will at some point. I've got a winter themed campaign with an enemy who plots to plunge the region into torrential winter to help Charon (Lord of the Styx) gain in power. So I'm sure I could twist this idea around to fit it in somewhere...
But, as for your party, have they had to face inclement weather problems before? As far as danger goes, I'm pretty sure the cold hazards are amongst the most dangerous in the book because, as written, there is no way to stop the cold from killing you outside of magic, warm shelter, or a resistance/immunity to cold damage.
How prepared do you think your party is to handle so many instances of cold damage coming their way? Do you expect them to rest in town at all or do you think they'll handle the town in 'one day'?
I don't know. It's a case of wait and see, I think. The party equipped themselves with some wands of endure elements before they set out, so it may be interesting. I have warned them that blizzard conditions will get through the spell effects, but the undine monk has cold resistance 5 naturally so she's relatively safe.
I don't know. It's a case of wait and see, I think. The party equipped themselves with some wands of endure elements before they set out, so it may be interesting. I have warned them that blizzard conditions will get through the spell effects, but the undine monk has cold resistance 5 naturally so she's relatively safe.
I doubt it, Endure Elements shields the recipient from between -50 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit. You'll have to get pretty damned cold before they start suffering from the effects of the cold. Geographically speaking, the River Kingdoms is in a similar location to that of the U.K. and the lowest recorded temperature there is -17 degrees F.
I dunno, telling your players that it's colder than -50 is going to cause a lot more problems in the Kingdom than anywhere else. It's unlikely the kingdoms buildings are designed to withstand that kind of cold, so the people of the area are likely die in such cold weather if exposed to it, even in their house. They'd have to maintain a hot fire and all bundle together near it to make it through a night at -50. Animals and crops in such a temperature would more than likely die unless native to that environment. That is, if it drops to lower than -50 degrees.
Did you know that, at that temperature, you can actually take a pot of water outside, throw it up in the air and have it nearly instantly freeze and fall to the ground as snow or ice? I've done it. It doesn't get that cold here in Alaska all the time, but it does about 3 or 4 times every winter. I live in a house built to withstand Alaskan winters, and let me tell you, even with the extra insulation and out kick ass heater, when it gets down to that temperature range, you're putting on extra clothes and walking around everywhere with a blanket.
Two words: Wind chill. WCF can reduce effective temperatures even further, that's why blizzards are so deadly. I would rule that endure elements doesn't protect against WCF reducing the effective temperature further. By the same token, while it works in air, taking a dip in the lakes at that kind of temperature is going to have an effect as well.
Also, I live in the UK and it's climate is coastal, with the gulf stream supplying 1/3 of the heat during winter. We're actually (largely) further north than Moscow, and it gets famously could there in a continental interior much more similar to the geographic locale of the River Kingdoms. I imagine the housing to be more similar to that of medieval Russia than to modern Britain.
Lastly, this is not going to be a natural event, the hags will be using weather control magic, and have been for weeks to chill things down. I have stressed this is a particularly severe winter to them...
A quick update:
The party (alchemist, cleric, monk, magus, and rogue) rested up and then progressed on to the ruined village where the encounter with the frostbitten skeletal champions was planned. We didn't even get as far as the weather rules - when I described the oncoming storm they decided under cover was where they wanted to be, endure elements or not. They got into the small longhouse, and the cleric's fabricate made short work of a weather-proof wall to cover the damaged area. As the monk kicked into the snow drifted inside, he uncovered the first skeleton which was the queue for all of them to leap to their feet.
There were five inside, and the fight was quite intense as the party couldn't use many of their most destructive spells inside. These enemies were not very hard-hitting, but had good hit points and AC for their CR. A "standard" monk would have real problems hitting them; the party monk did have some difficulty, but he scored significant hits. Then he started using maneuvers, and started knocking down bones like ten pin bowling. While he didn't destroy that many skeletons, he was able to use the reach on his kusarigama to trip many that threatened the rest of the party.
The cleric did well using his channels and a flame strike on the second wave of skeletons that threw open the doors the party forgot to bar and storm in with the blizzard. The alchemist started nailing them with fire bombs to great effect, and the magus buffed the party and let rip with spell-strikes. The rogue wasn't to be left out, although his favourite non-lethal damage wasn't an option, he was able to consistently get good flanking opportunities in the confined space.
We had to cut the game short there, but more to come next week...
Been a while since I updated, so here's the latest:
The party exited the ruined village to cross the ice to the village on Candlemere. This time, all were present, and the adventure took a lively turn. Arriving at the village, the party called in to the most central "authoritive" building they could see, the shrine to Hatspur. The disguised hag there gave them polite but evasive answers, and they opted to call out the militia - as in, the village militia - for inspection.
According to the laws they had made, they had this right and with some initial bemusement the locals filed out and lined up with what weapons they had - mostly pitchforks and harpoons, with the odd crossbow here and there. In the midst of this, Tavalcar the Graltian tavern-keeper stood out as the only formally-trained, seriously armed villager. The cleric interviewed him, and he intimated that they should join him in his tavern for lunch where he could speak freely. There he revelaed to the party what he knew of the hags (he considered them witches and vampires, slightly misleading), and forewarned them that the hags were planning dastardly deeds against their nation.
Now there is an old saying among old adventurers: Never Split the Party.
They split the party.
The monk and cleric went to interview the "priestess" at the shrine, leaving everyone else in the tavern. Only minutes after they left, the green hag called by in her disguise to ask for "help with some chores" from the biggest and strongest party member she could see (the barbarian). Well, the man who has his HQ in the brothel wasn't going to say "no" to a hot red-head, and off they went. The party ranger sneaked out after him, to make sure he didn't get into trouble.
Witnessing this, the remaining winter hag started making her way toward the remains of the party in the tavern to find out if the tavern-keeper had spilled any information.
This is how the fighting then broke out:
In the shrine, the blood-hag uncorked her eversmoking bottle to attack the two under cover of smoke. This didn't go too well as the cleric could buff while blinded and the monk had both Blindfight and and a stellar Perception score. He homed in and unloaded on her, and she had to switch to her fire-form to fly away in the smokescreen, then attacked him with a series of scorching rays. This hurt the monk quite badly. A normal combat class would have been much less effective at pinning the hag down, but wouldn't have suffered as badly from being zapped by rays. Once again the cleric and the monk attacked, and she died and exploded.
The green hag got the barbarian back to her house and they immediately got down to business. The ranger circled the house and found a view through a window to observe the proceedings. Now that the hag had the barbarian just where she wanted him, he used her prehensile hair to grapple him and hold him in place, threw off her disguise and attacked with claws and teeth (she had a cloak of fangs). What she expected was terror, horror, and an attempt to break free. What she got was an enraged beast-totem barbarian sprouting claws of his own and tearing back at her. It was a straight up rip-rend-tear fight, and after two rounds the hag realised that dinner might win this time, and tried to escape - and failed! Eventually the barbarian finished her in more way than one, and took a breather before getting his armour back on.
All the while the ranger stared aghast, doing nothing, and two of my players had asthma attacks from laughing so hard. I am not sure who should be more ashamed of this encounter, me for using it or them for finding it so hilarious.
Lastly, the winter hag called in at the tavern. Throwing the door open she strode in, staff in hand. When the tavern-keeper shouted: "It ees 'er!" she blasted the tavern with a cone of cold. She was then struck for masses of temporary damage by the rogue's sling, took a critical hit from the alchemist's fire-bombs, and got stabbed several times by the magus, and died on the spot.
The party gathered at the shrine as the villagers wandered around somewhat dazed as the charm effects broke. However they scattered as the sounds of fighting had alerted the malformed semi-spawn hiding under the boats, as well as Gerta and the Spawn.
What followed was a pitched battle between the party and a horde of mooks, with two serious opponents and the tentacled Spawn in addition. While the mooks were not meant to be a serious threat, the Spawn of Yog-Sothoth most certainly was. In fact for the first time in a long time I wondered if I had put them up against something too strong.
Several party members got grappled and wounded by the tentacles and bite of the Spawn, but the illuminated it with glitterdust and the ranger peppered it with arrows while the alchemist acid-bombed it. The barbarian had problems getting into position to fight, and by the time he did, the magus got off a phantasmal killer, twice. The first save was made with ease, but the second was a natural '1'...and the Spawn bit the dust.
The rogue had focussed on the leaders of the attacking mob, and both were downed before the rest of the party waded in. The cleric hit them with some flame strike spells, and the monk and barbarian mopped up: the barbarian threw himself into the midst of the survivors and used Great Cleave, the monk did likewise but instead using Snake Fang to do the heavy-lifting.
Now the party made their second error: they healed up with indiscriminate channels, forgetting that the rogue had dropped both witch and barbarian with temporary damage. They recovered, and the witch used dimension door to escape with her brother.
The party took themselves to the concerns of the local villagers, and relocated them to the remains of the ruined village to get them away from the spooky tower. The cleric used hallow to remove the taint of chaos and stoneshape to erase the runes. The the party set off to run down the escaping two.
They ran them down just inside their borders with Pitax, and the conclusion to the adventure was short and to the point.
The Rushlight Festival
At the start of this adventure, here's what our monk looks like:
Female undine monk (drunken master) 12 (Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player's Guide 110, Pathfinder RPG Advanced Race Guide 174)
LN Medium outsider (aquatic, native)
Init +8; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +27
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Defense
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AC 32, touch 28, flat-footed 27 (+4 armor, +2 deflection, +4 Dex, +1 dodge, +11 untyped bonus)
hp 99 (12d8+36)
Fort +13, Ref +14, Will +17; +4 to avoid being knocked prone
Defensive Abilities improved evasion; Immune drunken courage; Resist cold 5, fire 10
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Offense
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Speed 70 ft., ki stagger, swim 30 ft.
Melee +1 shock kusarigama +17/+12 (1d3+2+1d6 acid plus 1d6 electricity) or
+1 shock kusarigama flurry of blows +18/+18/+13/+13/+8 (1d3+2+1d6 acid plus 1d6 electricity) or
dagger +10/+5 (1d4+1/19-20+1d6 acid) or
mwk temple sword +17/+12 (1d8+1/19-20+1d6 acid) or
mwk temple sword flurry of blows +18/+18/+13/+13/+8 (1d8+1/19-20+1d6 acid) or
sai +10/+5 (1d4+1+1d6 acid) or
sai flurry of blows +11/+11/+6/+6/+1 (1d4+1+1d6 acid) or
unarmed strike +19/+14 (2d8+10+1d6 acid) or
unarmed strike flurry of blows +20/+20/+15/+15/+10 (2d8+10+1d6 acid)
Ranged or
mwk shuriken flurry of blows +18/+18/+13/+13/+8 (1d2+1+1d6 acid) or
mwk shuriken +17/+12 (1d2+1+1d6 acid) or
underwater light crossbow +13 (1d8/19-20+1d6 acid)
Special Attacks drunken strength, flurry of blows, stunning fist (13/day, DC 23)
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Statistics
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Str 12, Dex 18, Con 16, Int 12, Wis 24, Cha 10
Base Atk +9; CMB +20 (+13 bull rush, +13 dirty trick, +13 disarm, +13 drag, +13 feint, +15 grapple, +13 overrun, +13 pull, +13 push, +13 reposition, +13 steal, +13 sunder, +15 trip); CMD 38 (40 vs. grapple, 44 vs. trip)
Feats Blind-fight, Combat Reflexes, Deflect Arrows, Dodge, Improved Grapple, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip, Improved Unarmed Strike, Snake Fang[UC], Snake Sidewind[UC], Snake Style[UC], Stunning Fist
Traits child of the temple, noble born - lodovka
Skills Acrobatics +24 (+28 to avoid being knocked prone, +52 to jump), Climb +10, Escape Artist +8, Intimidate +4, Knowledge (history) +5, Knowledge (nobility) +7, Knowledge (religion) +6, Perception +27, Perform (string instruments) +4, Profession (brewer) +11, Profession (driver) +11, Profession (soldier) +20, Ride +8, Sense Motive +24, Stealth +11, Survival +11, Swim +15
Languages Aquan, Common
SQ abundant step, amphibious, drunken ki, fast movement, high jump, hydrated vitality, ki pool (16 points lawful), maneuver training, slow fall 60 ft., wholeness of body (12 hit points)
Combat Gear deliquescent gloves, potion of cure light wounds (3), potion of cure moderate wounds, potion of enlarge person, potion of pass without trace; Other Gear +1 shock kusarigama, crossbow bolts (20), dagger, mwk shuriken (25), mwk temple sword, sai, underwater light crossbow, belt of physical perfection +2, boots of elvenkind, bracers of armor +4, campfire bead, cloak of resistance +2, eyes of the eagle, figurine (silver raven), guided amulet, handy haversack, headband of inspired wisdom +4, monk's robe, ring of fire resistance (minor), ring of protection +2, tome of clear thought +2, applejack (per gallon), bedroll, canteen, flint and steel, grappling hook, silk rope (50 ft.), trail rations (3), light horse, bit and bridle, military saddle, saddlebags, 50 pp, 3,003 gp
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Tracked Resources
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Applejack (per gallon) - 0/1
Crossbow bolts - 0/20
Dagger - 0/1
Deflect Arrows (1/round) - 0/1
Drunken Ki (Su) - 3/6
Figurine (silver raven, 24 hours/week) - 0/24
Hydrated Vitality (24 HP/day) - 0/24
Ki Pool (16/day) (Su) - 0/16
Masterwork shuriken - 0/25
Potion of cure light wounds - 0/3
Potion of cure moderate wounds - 0/1
Potion of enlarge person - 0/1
Potion of pass without trace - 0/1
Stunning Fist (13/day, DC 23) - 0/13
Trail rations - 0/3
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Special Abilities
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Abundant Step (Su) Use 2 Ki as a move action, to dimension door self.
Amphibious (Ex) You can survive indefinitely on land.
Blind-Fight Re-roll misses because of concealment, other benefits.
Campfire bead On command bead becomes 2 ft tall fire for up to 8 hrs.
Combat Reflexes (5 AoO/round) Can make extra attacks of opportunity/rd, and even when flat-footed.
Darkvision (60 feet) You can see in the dark (black and white vision only).
Deflect Arrows (1/round) While have an empty hand, negate one ranged weapon hit you are aware of (unless from a massive weapon).
Deliquescent gloves +1d6 acid dam to touch/weapon att. Natural/unarmed att is immune to ooze acid & doesn't split.
Drunken Courage (Su) Immune to fear as long as you have 1 Drunken Ki.
Drunken Ki (Su) Drunken Ki pool allows the use of Ki powers.
Drunken Strength (max 2 Ki) (Su) Add 1d6 per Ki point spent to a melee attack.
Energy Resistance, Cold (5) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Cold attacks.
Energy Resistance, Fire (10) You have the specified Energy Resistance against Fire attacks.
Fast Movement (+40 ft.) The Monk adds 10 or more feet to his base speed.
Flurry of Blows +10/+10/+5/+5/+0 (Ex) As full-rd action, higher BAB and combo unarmed/monk wep as if two-weapon fighting.
High Jump (+12/+32 with Ki point) (Ex) +12 to Acrobatics checks made to jump.
Hydrated Vitality (24 HP/day) Gain fast healing 2 when submerged completely in natural, flowing, water.
Improved Evasion (Ex) If you succeed at a Reflex save for half damage, you take none instead. If you fail you take half damage.
Improved Grapple You don't provoke attacks of opportunity when grappling a foe.
Improved Trip You don't provoke attacks of opportunity when tripping.
Improved Unarmed Strike Unarmed strikes don't cause attacks of opportunity, and can be lethal.
Ki Pool (16/day) (Su) You have a ki pool equal to 1/2 your monk level + your Wisdom modifier.
Ki Stagger (Su) As long as he has at least 1 drunken ki point, the monk can spend 1 ki point as a move action to move 5 feet without provoking attacks of opportunity.
Maneuver Training (Ex) CMB = other BABs + Monk level
Slow Fall 60 ft. (Ex) Treat a fall as shorter than normal if within arm's reach of a wall.
Snake Fang If opponent misses you, make an attack of opportunity as an immediate action
Snake Sidewind Gain a bonus to avoid being knocked prone, and use Sense Motive check to confirm critical hits
Snake Style Gain +2 on Sense Motive checks, and deal piercing damage with unarmed attacks
Stunning Fist (13/day, DC 23) You can stun an opponent with an unarmed attack.
Swimming (30 feet) You have a Swim speed.
Wholeness of Body (12 hit points) (Su) Use 2 ki as a standard action to heal own wounds.
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Zen Warrior: A monk may choose to use their Wisdom bonus rather than their strength or dexterity bonus for attacks made with special monk weapons, combat maneuvers, or with the monk’s unarmed strike. Regardless of which ability modifier is used, the monk adds his AC bonus to his number to hit with unarmed strikes and special monk weapons.
Currently, +5 modifier to hit.
A monk’s unarmed strike treats the hardness or damage resistance (of any type) of a target as less by one point for every level of monk the character possesses.
Currently, reduce DR by 7
Amending the Ki-Pool entry as follows:
As long as he has at least 1 point in his ki pool, he can make a ki strike. At 4th level, ki strike allows his unarmed attacks to gain a +1 enhancement bonus as the spell greater magic fang. At 7th level this increases to +2, at 10th level, his unarmed attacks are +3, at 13th level +4, and at 16th level his unarmed attacks gain a +5 enhancement bonus.
By spending 1 point from his ki pool, a monk can make one additional attack a round at his highest attack bonus.
In addition, he can spend 1 point to move 20 feet in a swift action.
The monk is proficient with all weapons of the type "monk".
As part of their kingdom plans they have withdrawn funds from the kingdom for extra gear they may need - the cleric wanted a clockwork charger, made by the alchemist, for example. The rogue picked up a set of sniper's goggles that had been for sale in their capital. The monk opted for a Tome of Clear Thought +2, because she desperately wanted more skills.
For the Rushlight Festival, I decided to expand it and give them some extra events: a "Wonder" to display, a chariot race, and a wrestling contest. This gave the players a little more to do!
The party accepted King Irivoti's invitation and attended, bringing with them some rich gifts. Since they have built many mines and quarries, and Pitax is hungry for stone and metal, this also made for a great opportunity for a trade delegation.
The games:
The first game was archery contest. The ranger stood up to the plate and scored 32 points by nailing the red target six times in five rounds. The monk spotted the arrow switch used by the Daggermark candidate, and the cleric persuaded the marshals to intervene and check them. They indeed found that he had swapped normal arrows for adamantine-tipped arrows, and he was disqualified. Of the other contestants one came in with 26 points, and might have beaten the ranger save for a failed threat confirmation, and the party walked away with the prize.
The test of the axe was met by the party barbarian, who's rage and pounce proved decisive - he could move and full-attack, which was crucial given that he needed five hits to destroy a log - he smashed five, when the most any competitor made was four with one damaged. Again, the party walked away with the prize...
The Rushlight festival continues!
The contest was designed like most of them, with some clear "losers" in the deck, a cheat, and in this case one solid foe that had a very good chance of winning. In this case, the reigning champion was an ogre with eight levels of fighter (brawler) on top. With a CMB of +27 in grappling and CMD 36 he was going to be tough for the monk (grapple CMB +22, grapple CMD 40) to beat, but not impossible.
The monk beat her first two foes (human unarmed fighter 6/ranger 2, half-orc tettori 9) with straight-up grappling, and didn't need to get clever until his third opponent (human barbarian brawler 10) who he tripped repeatedly with AoO's until he was able to get a good grapple on him, and ended things with three rounds of pinning.
The fourth foe was a rogue 6/maneuver master 6 with a hidden dagger of venom should any enemy prove hard to quell. The monk spotted that something was up (with a huge Sense Motive check), and as soon as he had the rogue in a grapple the knife popped out. It could have gone badly with a natural 20 on the attack roll, but the dwarven cleric also spotted it and used his divine ability to force a re-roll on any one dice roll to negate the potential threat. The monk applied the grapple and exposed the cheat, who was promptly disqualified.
Then it was up against the ogre, and I expected this to be tough, especially as the monk player's rolling had been abysmal so far (I counted no less than six natural '1's in his combats to date), but his luck changed: as the fight opened he used Acrobatics to bypass the ogre's reach and got a 20 on his first grapple check. The ogre got a 4 on his attempt to break free, and the monk followed it with four excellent rolls to pin the ogre for the required three rounds to win the fight.
While he basked in his glory, the Spymaster of the kingdom, the halfling rogue (in disguise as a mere servant), was in receipt of interesting information: one of the other halfling servants from Pitax let slip that cartloads of supplies had been leaving the capital for areas close to, but not directly toward the Rushlight ground (the reserve armies in hexes above and below Lake Rushlight). I had the main Pitax army already across the border and advancing on their capital at this point, as the wyvern flight would be able to suppress any messengers that got away from their watchtowers or guard posts until they reached the Narlmarches. Only then would word get out, and at that point the Rushlight festival would be just ending.
Putting two and two together, and with the monk running interference with his new-found celebrity, the cleric used airwalk to go for a look around with the magus, rogue, and alchemist, while the ranger roved out on the ground on her elk.
The party spotted two of Irevotti's reserve armies, the Pitax Horde and the Catspaw Marauders, and quickly ascertained that the latter were very alert and the former were somewhat less so. The ranger snuck close to the Catspaw Marauders and identified them as the mercenary company.
Now the party got clever...
Seeing these armies clearly aimed at invading their homeland, they hatched a plan to reduce or negate the threat. First they would steal some official correspondence from Irevotti's tents while the latter was watching the evening's entertainments (a fencing display put on by Mivon), then they would use it as a template to forge new orders for the Catspaw Marauders.
Off sneaked the party rogue, wearing his hat of disguise. He bluffed and sneaked his way into Irevotti's pavilion complex as a halfling servant, and from there sneaked his way into the King's own chambers where he avoided waking the paramour asleep in the King's bed and enjoyed a quiet read through all of Irevotti's correspondence. Among this he happened on the orders for the Catspaw marauders that Irevotti intended to send at the the end of the Rushlight festival, which was pretty much pay-dirt.
Sneaking out the way he came in, he once more bluffed his way past the guards, who the cleric targeted with a modify memory spell to make think that they had seen one of the Daggermark delegation hanging around suspiciously. The party carefully forged a new letter, with the Alchemist able to even duplicate the seal. The new orders were that the barbarian horde has switched sides, and for the Catspaw company to attack them where they were encamped before they could move on Pitax.
Now the rogue had to get the orders to the enemy, so on went the hat of disguise once more, this time to present him as a Pitax Herald. He bluffed his way into getting an official Herald's horse, and rode like the wind for the Catspaw Marauder's encampment, arriving after dawn. He was apprehended by the guards, and convinced them he was on official business and so they accompanied him to see Alisen...several Bluff and Sense Motive checks (and a Perception to see through the disguise) and he allayed her suspicions and handed over the orders, then departed. The ranger stayed in position spying on the Catspaw camp, and picked off any riders they sent toward Pitax or the Rushlight encampment (or coming the other way) to ensure they didn't get any differing orders.
Behind him, the encampment began to stir...
Off board (and unknown to the players I have already diced for this combat), the Catspaw Marauders will spend the day marching and moving into position, then launch a night ambush on the Pitax Horde. This will go badly for the Horde initially and they will take severe casualties, until their commander can switch tactics and use their dirty tricks (playing dead in the night) to get the drop on the Catspaw company and rage to inflict crushing casualties on the marauders, routing them. Both armies will be severely diminished, and will have to downsize before being usable once more.
Not bad for a night's work!
On the back of this, the party are quietly sending their own people home early, to get as many of their civilians out in case things turn ugly at the Rushlight grounds. This includes their King (the sorcerer, now an NPC but able to teleport) and the barbarian-General (who will move their field army up to position to counter an invasion - as they do not yet know an invasion has already begun).
Dear god, I have unleashed a monster.
My idea for running the chariot race as an interactive game was either genius or idiocy.
Basically, I prepped some charioteers and used the vehicle rules from Ultimate Combat. I cut out some chariot templates from card stock and sketched a simple course on my largest battlemat.
After it was decided who were the charioteers for the PC's nation, I handed out the other chariot teams to the other players.
It was carnage.
In one night of play, we achieved half a lap. For the lead chariots.
My players really got into the use of spells and tactics to disrupt their fellow charioteers, though, and it's been a great lesson for them in using battlefield control spells. They'd never really "got it" before, but they did now.
The chariot teams:
Yolonia: The PC's nation was represented by Marshal Leessin Ledovka (the monk) as driver and Viceroy Fredrick Garess (alchemist) as engineer. Their heavy chariot was pulled by a pair of clockwork chargers with an auxiliary half-sized alchemical engine as a back-up. In many ways this was by far the most advanced chariot participating, especially as the alchemist attached his clockwork servant to the chariot, making it part of the mechanism and thus part of the chariot rather than a separate entity. It was immediately nicknamed "R2".
Pitax: Two heavy horses pulled the Pitax entry of a professional driver and a siege engineer (fighter) manning a self-loading light balista omn their heavy chariot. They were the only non-magical pair in the match.
Daggermark: A wizard and his ranger driver ride a medium chariot pulled by a single rhinoceros (the animal companion).
Mivon: a magus and a professional charioteer, pulled by two very fine horses.
Gralton: A halfing summoner who has a six-limbed, long winged, dragon-like Eidolon that pulls his specially made winged light chariot.
Tymon: A gnome druid (pack lord) rides in a light chariot drawn by two powerful wolves - her animal companions.
All the chariots were magically treated to resist damage...this didn't help them much!
The Rules
Anyone directly attacking another charioteer, damaging their reins, or injuring their beasts, is disqualified. One lap must be completed completely on the ground, and no flight faster than a chariot's ground speed or above twenty feet off the ground, also disqualifies. No teleporting of the chariot is permitted.
Attacking the chariot itself, or using battlefield-control spells to impede it (including, say, a wall of fire right in front of a chariot), are fair game.
First to complete five laps of the circuit wins.
The race started with the Yolonian team winning initiative and immediately taking the lead, dropping a fire trail behind them and zig-zagging to block the other chariots. The Pitax chariot moved next, narrowly avoiding the fire trail they shot a ballista bolt at the Yolonian chariot and damaged one wheel, leaving a cable between the bolt and the balista blocking other charioteers. The Gralton chariot made a slow start, and the druid cast resist energy (fire), communal on herself, the chariot, and the wolves and then ignored the fire trail and the Gralton chariot got off to a good start. Last to go was the Daggermark chariot, who charged the Gralton chariot and rammed it.
It was like Wacky Races meets Ben Hur, it really was.
The first corner was soon largely blocked by: [b]black tentacles[/i] from the summoner on the outside, soften earth and stone from the druid on the inside, capped with a solid fog from the Daggermark wizard. A web also hampered the inside of the course just before the corner. Also just before the corner a create pit nearly stopped the druid dead, but her wolves scrambled out while she changed into a bird to escape the pit. The Yolonian chariot had acquired the broken condition from damage (which was then repaired by the clockwork servant) and got bogged down in the soften earth and stone and the solid fog. This blocked the passage of the Pitax chariot and the Gralton chariot; the latter worming their way past, the former struggling after the balista was damaged and the siege engineer blinded by a glitterdust spell.
The Gralton and Daggermark chariots managed to take the lead, and the monk used abundant step to get onto the back of their chariot, as his own was bogged down. The plan was to simply bash the chariot to bits with his unarmed strikes, in the belief that they would not be able to stop him without attacking him. The wizard (a transmuter) got around this by using beast shape III to turn into an elephant, large enough to force the monk off the chariot...did I mention their chariot was already broken thanks to the alchemist's bombs? It now collapsed, so if it can't be repaired he's out of the race.
The Mivon chariot was bringing up the rear, one horse badly burned, after they baulked at crossing the flame trail.
Dear god, I have unleashed a monster.
My idea for running the chariot race as an interactive game was either genius or idiocy.
Basically, I prepped some charioteers and used the vehicle rules from Ultimate Combat. I cut out some chariot templates from card stock and sketched a simple course on my largest battlemat.
After it was decided who were the charioteers for the PC's nation, I handed out the other chariot teams to the other players.
It was carnage.
In one night of play, we achieved half a lap. For the lead chariots.
My players really got into the use of spells and tactics to disrupt their fellow charioteers, though, and it's been a great lesson for them in using battlefield control spells. They'd never really "got it" before, but they did now.
The chariot teams:
Yolonia: The PC's nation was represented by Marshal Leessin Ledovka (the monk) as driver and Viceroy Fredrick Garess (alchemist) as engineer. Their heavy chariot was pulled by a pair of clockwork chargers with an auxiliary half-sized alchemical engine as a back-up. In many ways this was by far the most advanced chariot participating, especially as the alchemist attached his clockwork servant to the chariot, making it part of the mechanism and thus part of the chariot rather than a separate entity. It was immediately nicknamed "R2".
Pitax: Two heavy horses pulled the Pitax entry of a professional driver and a siege engineer (fighter) manning a self-loading light balista omn their heavy chariot. They were the only non-magical pair in the match.
Daggermark: A wizard and his ranger driver ride a medium chariot pulled by a single rhinoceros (the animal companion).
Mivon: a magus and a professional charioteer, pulled by two very fine horses.
Gralton: A halfing summoner who has a six-limbed, long winged, dragon-like Eidolon that pulls his specially made winged light chariot.
Tymon: A gnome druid (pack lord) rides in a light chariot drawn by two powerful wolves - her animal companions.
All the chariots were...
*takes off sunglasses* Mother of God... I must use this in a game!!!
You know what this reminds me of? Wacky Races.
On a side note, I don't know if you've been following the Occult Playtest at all, but, supposedly, Mark may or may not be ordering a 'unarmed' archetype for the Kineticist so you can be a Monk-ish character that also shoots energy blasts at will. Possibly a Monk archetype that will get limited kineticit blasts too. Do you think this will interact with your houserules at all?
*takes off sunglasses* Mother of God... I must use this in a game!!!
You know what this reminds me of? Wacky Races.
My thoughts exactly. Many, may years back in my early gaming days somebody brought a set of rules for chariot racing to the gaming club, and we had great fun with it. When I was looking for additional events for the Rushlight Festival...well, I couldn't resist, especially as we now have vehicle rules. The hard part was making rules that allowed conflict without characters just blasting one another to bits right at the start, or flying around the circuit at 600' per round etc.
On a side note, I don't know if you've been following the Occult Playtest at all, but, supposedly, Mark may or may not be ordering a 'unarmed' archetype for the Kineticist so you can be a Monk-ish character that also shoots energy blasts at will. Possibly a Monk archetype that will get limited kineticit blasts too. Do you think this will interact with your houserules at all?
I haven't, unfortunately; time has been limited so I've just been focussed on this project. By the sound of things that won't impact my changes, unless the energy blasts are monk weapons.
At any road, there's one more "unscheduled" event to happen in the Rushlight festival, an assassination attempt on the PCs prompted by their disruption of the military plans of King Irovetti, and their unprecedented success at the Festival. Irovetti is hiring a Daggermark assassin to do the deed, and he's recruited the two Daggermark contestants who got disqualified thanks to the party pointing them out, along with some extra muscle. They will attack the party at the culmination ceremony.
Odds are on the party will spot the attempt and avoid serious damage, but it will be an excuse for Irevetti to vanish. At this point, they will receive messages that tell them that a Pitax army is already well inside their borders, so chasing Irovetti while injured is probably not the best course of action.
Hey, I've been reading through this entire thread for the past three days and finally got caught up. I love all the changes you've made to the Monk so far, and while I don't fully agree with your adherence to Paizo standards, I can certainly support how the small things are adding up!
So far, what are all the changes you've made to the monk throughout the course of the campaign and do you feel you'll be making any more any time soon?
Certainly I can :)
Dabbler’s Monk Amendments:
Full permission is given to Paizo to incorporate part or all of these ideas in the Monk class.
Zen Warrior: A monk may choose to use their Wisdom bonus rather than their strength or dexterity bonus for attacks made with special monk weapons, combat maneuvers, or with the monk’s unarmed strike. Regardless of which ability modifier is used, the monk adds his AC bonus to his number to hit with unarmed strikes and special monk weapons.
(Suggest this be a 1st or 2nd level ability, will require slight amendment to the Sensei and Zen Archer archetypes. This ability makes the monk a lot less MAD, which is a lot of his initial problem. Adding the AC bonus to hit with monk weapons and unarmed strikes matches the bonuses to hit that most other combat classes get, without gaining their bonuses to damage).
Added to the Unarmed Strike section:
A monk’s unarmed strike treats the hardness or damage resistance (of any type) of a target as less by one point for every level of monk the character possesses.
(Suggest the martial artist archetype be modified to add an insight bonus to hit rather than to bypass DR, as they already have an ability to assist them in this. Alternatively this could be removed and the enhancement bonus from ki-strike [below] made a standard enhancement bonus that can bypass DR as an enhanced weapon does, and possibly include the existing damage bypass properties of ki-strike, but amending /lawful to /alignment. This is what enables the concept of "lots of small attacks" actually work in practice).
Amending the Ki-Pool entry as follows:
As long as he has at least 1 point in his ki pool, he can make a ki strike. At 4th level, ki strike allows his unarmed attacks to gain a +1 enhancement bonus as from the spell greater magic fang. At 7th level this increases to +2, at 10th level, his unarmed attacks are +3, at 13th level +4, and at 16th level his unarmed attacks gain a +5 bonus.
By spending 1 point from his ki pool, a monk can make one additional attack a round at his highest attack bonus when making an attack. By spending 1 point from his ki pool, a monk can make one additional attack a round at his highest attack bonus. In addition, he can spend 1 point to move 20 feet in a swift action.
(This is one of the most far-reaching changes, it liberates the monk from the amulet of mighty fists, but if he chooses to use it he has access to a full +10 worth of enhancement and properties, just like every other class. It also allows the monk to use his mobility and still be able to attack effectively.)
Weapon Proficiencies: Add the following line:
A monk is proficient with all weapons of the type “Monk”.
(This makes a big difference, freeing the monk from having to pay in feats for largely 2nd-rate weapons with one or two handy properties).
so have you incorporated pummeling style into your stuff yet? it has interesting potential when mixed with your dr bypassing mechanic.
It wasn't out when I created the amendments, but I don't think it breaks anything - not any more than Clustered Shots does, and the DR-bypass keeps the non-Pummelling Style combatants relevant; otherwise for the monk there would be no other way to go if you wanted to remain effective with unarmed combat at high level.
Really, I was very disappointed with the Brawler: it's inconsistent with previous decisions that Paizo have made with regard to the monk and unarmed combat, and it's removing from the monk it's unique feature - with the brawler, the (unadjusted) monk is no longer even the best unarmed combatant in the game. It's not that the Brawler is bad or unworkable, quite the opposite: the Brawler is good and functional, in a way that the monk itself is not and that only highlights further how weak the original monk was.
It wasn't out when I created the amendments, but I don't think it breaks anything - not any more than Clustered Shots does, and the DR-bypass keeps the non-Pummelling Style combatants relevant; otherwise for the monk there would be no other way to go if you wanted to remain effective with unarmed combat at high level.
Really, I was very disappointed with the Brawler: it's inconsistent with previous decisions that Paizo have made with regard to the monk and unarmed combat, and it's removing from the monk it's unique feature - with the brawler, the (unadjusted) monk is no longer even the best unarmed combatant in the game. It's not that the Brawler is bad or unworkable, quite the opposite: the Brawler is good and functional, in a way that the monk itself is not and that only highlights further how weak the original monk was.
I tried my best to argue against so many of the Monk's toys being included in the Brawler, enough so that I got a couple bans because I wouldn't let the subject drop.
I really dislike the Brawler as a class because it feels like nothing less than a slap in the face as a fan of the Monk. Monk was always *the* unarmed class... so they went and made Unarmed Class v2.0.
Yeah I really haven't liked the hybrid classes by any means, they either invalidate or replace their parent classes
A lot of people didn't like it, so why did they do it? Beats me.
Some of the classes in the ACG are pretty good, at least in concept, and have been asked after for ages, but some seem so unnecessary and I don't think anyone was asking for them. I could go on at length, but that's not what this thread is for. Hopefully some people out there like them and will enjoy them, even if we don't.
Here's hoping they eventually fix the monk and return it to being a class that can hold it's own (especially against the brawler), and this thread may give them some ideas for this.
The two big changes that have made the biggest difference are Wisdom-to-hit, and ki-strike being an actual enhancement. The others help, but those are the two things that have made the monk really stand out as a spiritual philosopher-warrior not relying so much on physical power as on inner strength.
I actually wanted to ask you about an idea I had.
Improved Unarmed Strike seems like a very dead feat, basically being a weapon proficiency feat for a very ineffective weapon. I was thinking it'd make more sense for unarmed strike to be considered a martial weapon, as anyone who's proficient with a wide array of martial weapons would be expected to know basic hand to hand combat. This would mean that Monks wouldn't get the feat anymore, but automatically be considered proficient, with the added bonus of their unarmed strikes being treated as weapons/natural attacks/etc and being able to attack with feet and knees and elbows rather than just fists like improved unarmed strike allows.
Improved Unarmed Strike would become an improvement to anyone proficient with unarmed strikes, increasing the size damage category by one, and then again at character level 10.
What's your opinion on this? Obviously any feats that require IUS would simply require the martial proficiency, and it would also further ease the need for STR for damage for Monks since getting the feat adds onto their own increased damage dice, while still being a viable feat for Monks that want more damage.
It wasn't out when I created the amendments, but I don't think it breaks anything - not any more than Clustered Shots does, and the DR-bypass keeps the non-Pummelling Style combatants relevant; otherwise for the monk there would be no other way to go if you wanted to remain effective with unarmed combat at high level.
well if you rule they stack then it definitely gives a tradeoff earlier for dr bypassing, but the craziness comes when you hit that 5%(or 10 if you have improved critical) chance per attack to crit, for which the the ability to flurry is a boon.
Really, I was very disappointed with the Brawler: it's inconsistent with previous decisions that Paizo have made with regard to the monk and unarmed combat, and it's removing from the monk it's unique feature - with the brawler, the (unadjusted) monk is no longer even the best unarmed combatant in the game. It's not that the Brawler is bad or unworkable, quite the opposite: the Brawler is good and functional, in a way that the monk itself is not and that only highlights further how weak the original monk was.
i feel if the monk were better at its mysticism on top of being a competent unarmed combatant then brawler wouldn't even faze me. of course from what ive seen of a youtube video on the boards monks are getting full bab and better mystical options of a similar vein to qigong so maybe we will see something there.
I actually wanted to ask you about an idea I had.
Improved Unarmed Strike seems like a very dead feat, basically being a weapon proficiency feat for a very ineffective weapon. I was thinking it'd make more sense for unarmed strike to be considered a martial weapon, as anyone who's proficient with a wide array of martial weapons would be expected to know basic hand to hand combat. This would mean that Monks wouldn't get the feat anymore, but automatically be considered proficient, with the added bonus of their unarmed strikes being treated as weapons/natural attacks/etc and being able to attack with feet and knees and elbows rather than just fists like improved unarmed strike allows.
Improved Unarmed Strike would become an improvement to anyone proficient with unarmed strikes, increasing the size damage category by one, and then again at character level 10.
What's your opinion on this? Obviously any feats that require IUS would simply require the martial proficiency, and it would also further ease the need for STR for damage for Monks since getting the feat adds onto their own increased damage dice, while still being a viable feat for Monks that want more damage.
Myself I am cool with things the way they are. Weapons ARE a big advantage over being unarmed, and a lot of people trained in weapons aren't trained in unarmed fighting, so it kind of makes sense. I agree it's a weapon proficiency with a not-very-good weapon but that's why people prefer weapons, and at a pinch at least it's a weapon you can't have taken away from you easily.
Having a feat that improves unarmed strike damage, that would be interesting - there was one in 3.5, Superior Unarmed Strike, but the problem with that was that it stole the monk's thunder (again).
It wasn't out when I created the amendments, but I don't think it breaks anything - not any more than Clustered Shots does, and the DR-bypass keeps the non-Pummelling Style combatants relevant; otherwise for the monk there would be no other way to go if you wanted to remain effective with unarmed combat at high level.well if you rule they stack then it definitely gives a tradeoff earlier for dr bypassing, but the craziness comes when you hit that 5%(or 10 if you have improved critical) chance per attack to crit, for which the the ability to flurry is a boon.
It is, but remember it's a single blow, the DR reduction would only count once.
i feel if the monk were better at its mysticism on top of being a competent unarmed combatant then brawler wouldn't even faze me. of course from what ive seen of a youtube video on the boards monks are getting full bab and better mystical options of a similar vein to qigong so maybe we will see something there.Really, I was very disappointed with the Brawler: it's inconsistent with previous decisions that Paizo have made with regard to the monk and unarmed combat, and it's removing from the monk it's unique feature - with the brawler, the (unadjusted) monk is no longer even the best unarmed combatant in the game. It's not that the Brawler is bad or unworkable, quite the opposite: the Brawler is good and functional, in a way that the monk itself is not and that only highlights further how weak the original monk was.
I agree, but if those are the changes they are making (more magical abilities, full BAB) then they will not have licked the monk's fundamental problems - MAD, and lack of enhancement - so it's an exercise in passing water while facing into the prevailing weather conditions...
I actually wanted to ask you about an idea I had.
Improved Unarmed Strike seems like a very dead feat, basically being a weapon proficiency feat for a very ineffective weapon. I was thinking it'd make more sense for unarmed strike to be considered a martial weapon, as anyone who's proficient with a wide array of martial weapons would be expected to know basic hand to hand combat. This would mean that Monks wouldn't get the feat anymore, but automatically be considered proficient, with the added bonus of their unarmed strikes being treated as weapons/natural attacks/etc and being able to attack with feet and knees and elbows rather than just fists like improved unarmed strike allows.
Improved Unarmed Strike would become an improvement to anyone proficient with unarmed strikes, increasing the size damage category by one, and then again at character level 10.
What's your opinion on this? Obviously any feats that require IUS would simply require the martial proficiency, and it would also further ease the need for STR for damage for Monks since getting the feat adds onto their own increased damage dice, while still being a viable feat for Monks that want more damage.
Myself I am cool with things the way they are. Weapons ARE a big advantage over being unarmed, and a lot of people trained in weapons aren't trained in unarmed fighting, so it kind of makes sense. I agree it's a weapon proficiency with a not-very-good weapon but that's why people prefer weapons, and at a pinch at least it's a weapon you can't have taken away from you easily.
Having a feat that improves unarmed strike damage, that would be interesting - there was one in 3.5, Superior Unarmed Strike, but the problem with that was that it stole the monk's thunder (again).
Well, obviously not trained to the point of expertise a monk has, but again, the proficiency would simply be for throwing a punch, not roundhouse kicks or headbutting without injuring yourself. Plus it doesn't make sense to me that all you need is a gauntlet to no provoke AoOs, the gauntlet doesn't make you any more skilled than before after all.
Did SUS give unarmed strikes Monk progression? Mine would cap out at 1d6 for someone who never takes Monk levels, going from base 1d3>1d4 with the feat>1d6 at character level 10. For full monks, it would go 2d10>2d12>3d8 ((This is by increase damage dice, not increasing size dice))
Well, obviously not trained to the point of expertise a monk has, but again, the proficiency would simply be for throwing a punch, not roundhouse kicks or headbutting without injuring yourself. Plus it doesn't make sense to me that all you need is a gauntlet to no provoke AoOs, the gauntlet doesn't make you any more skilled than before after all.
A gauntlet actually protects your hand and arm from retaliation if you throw a punch - remember that in the abstract D&D combat system, getting an attack and making an attack roll do not just represent stroking at something, but doing so successfully past any protection it may have. Otherwise when you make an unarmed attack a parry with an edged weapon could injure you, represented by the AoO.
Did SUS give unarmed strikes Monk progression? Mine would cap out at 1d6 for someone who never takes Monk levels, going from base 1d3>1d4 with the feat>1d6 at character level 10. For full monks, it would go 2d10>2d12>3d8 ((This is by increase damage dice, not increasing size dice))
SUS used to give a semi-monk unarmed striked progression - slightly inferior, but on the order of it. Two strikes stand against this idea:
The first is that Paizo specifically restricted Improved Natural Attack from affecting the monk's unarmed strike, so they are unlikely to put through anything similar.
The second is that the dice type of a weapon is actually the smallest component of the damage - far more important in the long run is the threat range and the static bonus to damage, as well as the odds to hit. You can already build a fighter with Improved Unarmed Strike who, through focusing on static damage bonuses and hitting more reliably, out-damages in DPR terms many monk builds at the same level.
That said I'd like to see some improved access to unarmed strikes as a combat form for other classes than the monk (and the abomination that is the brawler) - I toyed with a ranger archetype that had "unarmed" as their fighting style, with unarmed damage going 1d6 > 1d8 > 2d6 at the stages where their combat style improved. I like the idea of your feats for that alone.
A gauntlet actually protects your hand and arm from retaliation if you throw a punch - remember that in the abstract D&D combat system, getting an attack and making an attack roll do not just represent stroking at something, but doing so successfully past any protection it may have. Otherwise when you make an unarmed attack a parry with an edged weapon could injure you, represented by the AoO.
I still think unarmed strikes should be considered martial, at least in regards to not provoking AoO like you wouldn't with IUS. Without the proficiency you'd still provoke AoO and need a gauntlet not to. But that's not a major point in the grand scheme of things so I'll focus more on the next part:
SUS used to give a semi-monk unarmed striked progression - slightly inferior, but on the order of it. Two strikes stand against this idea:
The first is that Paizo specifically restricted Improved Natural Attack from affecting the monk's unarmed strike, so they are unlikely to put through anything similar.
The second is that the dice type of a weapon is actually the smallest component of the damage - far more important in the long run is the threat range and the static bonus to damage, as well as the odds to hit. You can already build a fighter with Improved Unarmed Strike who, through focusing on static damage bonuses and hitting more reliably, out-damages in DPR terms many monk builds at the same level.
That said I'd like to see some improved access to unarmed strikes as a combat form for other classes than the monk (and the abomination that is the brawler) - I toyed with a ranger archetype that had "unarmed" as their fighting style,...
I'm not too bothered about what Paizo does or doesn't put out, this is purely homebrew. I can't really expect much from Paizo, especially when we've gotten such great hits as 'Take a feat to make heal checks on unconscious allies, who also need the feat for some reason' and 'Take a feat to aid another on a knowledge check and somehow know the exact same information without communicating".
As for the static damage, I was also thinking that at some point Monks would be able to apply 1.5x their STR to their unarmed strikes and them only, then later on 2x. This alleviates the need for str and rewards str monks at the same time. At first wielding weapons two-handed would still be beneficial, but eventually Monks should become weapons unto themselves like their description says.
I totally get where you are coming from with some of the feats.
If a monk wants to do more damage without strength there are the agile and guided weapon properties, and these are more than enough if the monk's unarmed strike gets enhancement elsewhere than the AoMF. It really does make the monk a weapon unto himself, even from low-levels onward. The only reason the monk in my campaign uses a weapon is for properties rather than damage - he likes to trip at range!
But by all means, if you want to try other fixes and ideas, do so. I'd be interested to hear how they pan out.
Thank ya sir, I may not agree with everything you say, but I really wanted to hear your opinion on any monk fixes cuz at the moment I consider you the expert on them! I've looked through a lot of monk threads in the past week that I'd been reading along with this one, most of said threads having been linked on here, and so far you seem to have the best grip on the subject!
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Dabbler is arguably the 'most involved' poster on fixing the Monk. Every 'Monk thread' I've ever seen has him posting in it.
I think that either makes me an expert or a loudmouth...
Meanwhile, back at the plot...
The chariot race ended; after destroying, repairing, then destroying their own chariot again in a collision with the Pitax chariot, the Daggermark team tried to <ahem> "commandeer" the Mivon chariot to their needs, which ended with the Mivon chariot at the bottom of a pit, also in bits.
The Pitax chariot and the PC's chariot had a collision worthy of Ben Hur, and this time the Pitax chariot did not survive being run over by a pair of clockwork chargers. And bombed, by an alchemist.
The Gralton and Tymon chariots took to the air after their first lap, getting them over many of the obstacles. Except for a web spell, in the case of the Gralton chariot, which caught the halfling summoner and left the eidelon to circle back for him - an event capitalised on by the PC monk who used abundant step to get aboard the chariot and flurry of blows to smash it to bits.
That left it race between the PC's and Tymon - the PC's had greater speed (160' top speed, vs 120') but the Tymon chariot was avoiding many of the obstacles (battlefield control spells, wrecked chariots etc.) now littering the track by flying.
Sadly, it was not immune to thrown bombs, and was shot down in flames.
The players agreed it was the most fun two sessions yet...
Last night's game saw the end of the Rushlight festival...
The dwarf cleric took on the final challenge of the Rushlight Festival, the drunken joust. Amusingly, he wasn't drunk (cleanse spell), and he let his clockwork charger do the jousting while he hunkered behind his shield. In this was he got right through to the final against Villamar Koth, who - per the scenario - tried to run him through rather than knock him off. Ragnar responded in kind, and after several passes, both were bleeding. Realising that Ragnar would see him and raise him, Villamar went for Bull Rush and knocked Ragnar off his horse.
With so many wins - the archery, wood-chopping, chariot race, and wrestling - the PC's won the competition, and that's when I sprang the assassination attempt.
The monk made the DC to spot the assassins, just as the party ascended the podium to take their prize. Scoring a 20 on initiative, he acted fast enough to get between Irovetti and the assassins using his abundant step. Then the first shot was fired "at" Irovetti, he deflected it.
Then the ranger acted before the rest of the assassins and cloaked the party in fickle winds...well that was the end of the assassination, basically. The assassins tried to escape, and two of them made it. One was killed, and they captured the other, to unmask him as Daggermark's wrestler. He spilled all he knew, at which point the PC's King teleported in from their capital with the news that a Pitax army was already in the Narlmarches...
Latest Instalment - the War of the River Kings
The party teleported to their commands and the war began in earnest. I did not expect it to go well for the PCs in the opening phase, but was surprised at what they pulled out.
The Battle of the Narlmarches
This conflict took place around the old troll-lair/watchtower on a rocky hill in the southern Narlmarches, past which the PC's had built a road to connect to the west side of the Hooktongue Slough and Fort Drelev. The commander of this fight was the party Ranger Ilyana - whose player was a veteran war-gamer, I will add. The situation he entered into was that there was a small detachment of Watch (4th level warriors) in the tower, and the elf ranger battalion (Large army of 4th level rangers) was also dug in on the hill. The Castleton Guard (Huge army of 4th level phalanx-fighters) were a half-day's march to the east, and the Pitax combined army of humans and trolls a half-day's march to the west.
She immediately ordered a night-march to attack the Pitax Regiment under cover of darkness. As she was using elf rangers in their Favoured Terrain at night, and one of their boons was Hit and Run, she had a tremendous advantage. They attacked in the pre-dawn, and surprise was total, inflicting serious casualties on the Pitax Regiment before withdrawing. They returned to the Watchtower by mid-morning, the Castleton Guard arriving shortly thereafter. The Pitax Regiment and the Troll Marauders approached more cautiously after their losses from the night before.
The hill, forest, watchtower, and lair all combined to give the defenders a +5 DV advantage, and they used it with the rangers adopting Expert Flanking tactics, and the Guard Relentless Brutality (the guard were nominally under the control of the barbarian PC, but the player has retired so this character is now an NPC). The Trolls and the Pitax Regiment went for Relentless Brutality.
The battle opened with the exchange of missile fire between the two armies. The PC's army threw everything it had at the trolls, but didn't inflict significant damage, while the Pitax Regiment let loose at the Guard, dealing a few points of damage. The trolls lead the charge, the tactic being to let them absorb the attacks as much as possible while the Pitax Regiment followed them into battle. They had a numerical superiority of around three-to-one, so I thought it likely they would at least force a retreat.
The trolls just failed to inflict casualties on the Guard, then the the watch, the guard, and the rangers threw everything they had at the trolls and with two lucky rolls eradicated them. The Pitax Regiment attacked the guard and did some damage, but the trolls were now gone so everything could be concentrated on the Pitax Regiment. After getting the worst of the exchange the Pitax Regiment switched tactics to Dirty Tricks and managed to inflict very serious damage on the guard. The combined attacks of the guard and the rangers proved too much, and the Pitax Regiment was destroyed as a fighting force.
The Battle of Templeton
The PC's second city of Templeton in the northern Narlmarches was the only settlement they had not yet fortified. As such is was vulnerable to attack, and this was where the First Wyvern Flight was heading to do as much damage as possible. Unfortunately the Slough Spellswords (Large army of 5th-level Magi) was in residence, with the party magus as commander. The Magus army had the Taunt tactic, and they used it to get the wyverns to indulge in ill-advised attacks that left them exposed.
The party magus spammed phantasmal killer spells at the wyvern leader, until it succumbed, at which point it was pretty much all over for the wyverms.
The Battle of Fort Drelev
The PC's had wisely sent three of their armies to Fort Drelev in the anticipation of trouble with Pitax. As such they had three Large armies and Huge militia there waiting...to be continued!
War of the River Kings - Continued
The forces inside Fort Drelev consisted of:
Large army of 5th level human monks (The Templeton Monks), lead by Leessin PC Monk.
Large army of 4th level human cavaliers (Nettle's Knights), Lead by Ragnar, PC Cleric.
Large army of 5th level human alchemists (Alchemical Bombardiers), Lead by Fredrick, PC alchemist.
Huge army of 2nd level human warriors (Fort Drelev Militia), Lead by NPC Lord Terion Numesti.
The forces approaching Fort Drelev consisted of the two units the PCs had dummied into fighting each other plus reinforcements:
Large army of Catspaw Marauders (reduced from Huge)
Huge army of the Pitax Horde (reduced from Gargantuan)
Small army of Tusker Riders (Hill giants on mammoths)
The PC's initial idea was as with the previous set battle, to sally forth and disrupt the enemy with a Hit-and-Run attack at dawn. Both the monks and the cavaliers had this boon, so they moved to attack, singling out the Tusker Riders as their intended targets. They inflicted some casualties - mainly through the Zen Archers among the monks - and then withdrew without taking any damage themselves.
When the combined armies approached Fort Drelev, the PCs decided to use a different tactic, and draw the Tusker Riders up to the walls with a False Retreat using the Knights. The other troops were inside the city wall and the castle, and providing missile support. The Knights took some serious casualties from missile fire themselves, but inflicted more serious casualties on the hill giants. The PCs had figured out, of course, that the hill giants represented the most serious threat to the fortifications.
Siege of Fort Drelev
Rather than assaulting the city directly, the enemy were content to camp up outside the city walls out of range, and settled in for a siege. At first the party were not worried as they could rely on resupply and reinforcements by boat, but on day two, the reserve flight of wyverns arrived, and these were able to patrol out over Lake Hooktongue.
On the third day, the second Pitax Regiment arrived with another unit of Troll Marauders. These reinforcements had been dispatched from Pitax when it was realised that the Catspaw Marauders and the Pitax Horde had been significantly weakened. In the intervening period the latter units had been able to make basic siege engines (rams and catapults) and the Pitax Regiment deployed these as they broke siege and attacked Fort Drelev.
With a Defence rating of 14, Fort Drelev was not going to be a pushover and the point of the attack was to tie down the defenders while reducing the walls to a low enough level where they could attack the defenders directly.
The defenders realised this, and focussed their attacks largely on the Hill Giants and the Pitax Regiment. The Hill Giants were routed after a particularly brutal attack from the Alchemical Bombardiers on the second phase of the battle; the bombardiers thereafter focussed their attacks on the trolls which were destroyed on the forth phase of the battle.
By this point, the gates to the city had been pounded in, and the Pitax Horde and the Pitax Regiment were in among the streets. The Bombardiers still fought from the walls, while the Knights (now remounted) and the Militia engaged the enemy in the streets. The monks held the castle and were fighting an almost separate action against the Catspaw Marauders at this stage.
Using the main streets, the Knights launched charges that swept back the Pitax Regiment, which by now had taken massive damage. Thanks to strategically placed symbols of healing from Ragnar the casualties taken by the defenders were so far minimal.
Then the PC monk did what monks are meant to do: she got in behind enemy lines (abundent step) and engaged the leader of the Pitax Regiment, Villemar Koth (he had put his brother in charge of the Pitax Horde). In true barbarian fashion, the Koth demanded single combat, and the fight commenced: sadly for Koth, two natural rolls of a '1' on his saves against stunning fist did not go well, and the monk wore him down over several rounds. This was not a good thing, as the Pitax Regiment needed a morale check to keep fighting from their leader, and he was dead. As a result the Pitax Regiment retreated from the city, and the siege equipment was left behind.
This development did not deter the Pitax Horde, who raged and inflicted very serious casualties on the militia. The Militia were fighting for (and in) their homes, and they were putting up a very vigorous fight. The Catspaw Marauders got the rough end of the monks when their leader returned, and were driven away from the castle despite all their dirty tricks. At this stage everything turned on the Pitax Horde, who managed a critical morale save which served only to keep them in the fight until they were wiped out.
After five days of bloody fighting, the Pitax forces were in retreat having encountered unaccustomed resistance. While the Yolonian forces were relatively small, they proved highly effective at harrying the enemy and making the most of their defensive terrain and military engineering. The ace-in-the-hole were their militias, born of the legal requirement that every citizen own and know how to use a weapon.
The PCs now have three relatively undamaged armies in Fort Drelev, with three more marching to join them. Only the Castleton Guard, their largest army, has been retired due to casualties. Of the Pitax armies, they have on Pitax Regiment in retreat, badly mauled, along with one undamaged wyvern flight and one undamaged troll army.
War of the River Kings - Continued
The remnants of Pitax's army retreated across the plain, and the PC's received word of the "Weapon of Mass Destruction" that Irrevoti was planning on making at Whiterose Abbey via their spymaster. The Drunken Monk recalled some information on Whiterose (well, he would) and the dwarf cleric's bard cohort was able to research a lot more. The one thing they didn't know was exactly where Whiterose was. This was not an issue, as the cleric could cast air walk - the four party members (the four players present) were:
Drunken Monk Leessin (undine, Marshal)
Scout Rogue John Marsdon (halfling, Spymaster)
Cleric Ragnar Hammerhand (dwarf, Councillor)
Ranger Ilyana (human, Enforcer)
Littleton - the party flew following the Pitax River (but avoiding Pitax itself) and encountered the destroyed town of Littleton. The Wyvern flight had already been deployed to the front line, but the party found from that location how the wyverns had been "paid" for their services. They were not best pleased by this.
Ilora Nuski - continuing their flight, they spotted Ilora's encampment from above, landed and investigated. They made friendly contact with her, established who they were, and made common cause against King Irrevoti. Ilora explained that she could get them into Pitax if they wanted, and warned them about the Pitax soldiers - and Geatane - that she had seen riding north toward Whiterose.
Whiterose Abbey - the party approached Whiterose on the ground, having spotted it from high above. Hiding up in a ravine, the monk, rogue, and ranger were all fairly stealthy and moved ahead to scout the environment. They established that the ruined guest-house was untouched, and that the winery itself was also ruined, but that someone had passed through the tunnel a long time previously.
Realising there may be a "basement entrance" they opted to make their entry that way, and called up the cleric with their mounts/animal companions. They were spotted by the lookout in the bell tower, but because they did not come directly to the abbey the occupants do not know exactly where the party is...
Meanwhile, the party discovered the grotto and the pool, and set about investigating. Needless to say this was when the gardener made his presence known - amusingly, when the cleric looked into the pool the gardener posed as his reflection before using his hideous visage as his opening shot. The party scrambled into formation as the gardener rose to attack, all made their save vs his horrific appearance as the monk and rogue joined the cleric at the water's edge, with the ranger watching from the tunnel entrance.
The gardener opened with his black tentacles at the three on the shore, snaring the rogue and cleric, and blasted the ranger's wolf with his quickened magic missiles. The cleric cast consecrate to weaken the ghost, and then the ranger let fly...I'd forgotten he had a quiver full of undead bane arrows, but he hadn't. Two critical hits and two normal hits later, and even at 50% damage, the gardener was in a bad way. The monk launched a flying attack at the ghost that hovered over the water, and missed, but used his new Spider Step feat to hit the wall and run up it and across the ceiling to drop back onto the ground where he had started. Not effective, but it looked cool.
The gardener then rushed the ranger, and used his corrupting touch. The cleric channelled, damaging the ghost further, while the rogue broke free of the tentacles. The ranger just stepped back five feet and got a third critical hit with his first shot (yes, I watched these rolls) and the ghost was ended.
Further investigations discovered the hidden casket-room, with the bed, metamagic rod, and water clock. The water clock puzzled the party for a while, they worked out there was something chaotic in the water in it, but that it wasn't magical. Eventually they tried emptying it into a barrel to see what was unusual about the water...and of course, discovered Evindra, somewhat confused and shaken, but otherwise unhurt. Again they befriended her, and she told them about a sword she had been guarding that was really important.
The party decided to go pay a visit on the Pitax soldiers in the Abbey, via the well: the party used a life-bubble to hide in the portable hole, while the monk climbed up the inside of the well...
Analysis:
A flying, incorporeal spell-caster proved a challenge the monk wasn't well equipped to combat; this fight fell to the cleric and the ranger - the latter with undead-bane arrows, and favoured enemy undead...and a lot of uncharacteristic luck! You can't fight everything, and this enemy was for other characters to fight - which is as it should be. If the monk could fight everything there would be an over-power problem.
Whiterose Abbey - Continued
The the monk, with the party hiding in the portable hole, emerged from the well near the ruined cells and promptly botched her stealth check by sticking her foot in a bucket. Her Stealth is not particularly high in the first place, and the dice didn't like her. This meant that the watcher in the tower heard the commotion and alerted the assassins.
Once inside the cell-block, the monk opened the hole and the rest of the party emerged. Present today were the monk, magus, cleric, rogue, and ranger. After securing the cells, the party advanced to the abbey itself, using the side entrance. In the lead, the ranger peeped through the curtain to look into the main body of the abbey...
...and was spotted and shot by the three archers waiting. Two of these were assassins from the earlier attempt, joined with Geatane's band. Then the mayhem started...
Ripping the curtain aside, the ranger let fly a mass of arrows at Geatane, seriously injuring him. The rest of the party rushed up as the Pitax Wardens broke their cover and attacked in mass. The magus cast haste, the cleric cast prayer, the halfling nearly destroyed one of the other archers. The monk swung into the rafters to engage the assassins there, while the Pitax Heralds used bardic song to buff, and sound bursts to attack.
The ranger was absolutely deadly, killing Geatane on the second round and dealing a lot of injuries to others. The magus cleared the battlefield by letting loose a brace of fireballs (one quickened with his rod), which killed all the remaining Pitax Wardens and all but one of the heralds.
The Rushlight archer died, and only the Rushlight Assassin and one invisible herald were left. The cleric hit them with a cold ice strike, killing the herald, and after a glitterdust from the magus he surrendered. The party learned the whole of the plot against them by Irevotti, or as much of it as the assassin knew.
Analysis: The monk proved much less pivotal in this fight. If she'd been able to get in against the wardens she could have done a lot, but in the end that's what area effect spells are for. The monk was best-suited to take the fight into the rafters, but with the ranger's archery this proved unnecessary. This is OK, there are times when any PC role might be less necessary by circumstance.
The party is level 12?
Just levelled to 13.
There is an archetype (the Sensei) and a feat (Guided Hand) to allow wisdom on attack rolls, but both are suboptimal choices for the main martial guy. Maybe make it a 4th level Qinggong ability? At least then he's making a choice about it. But you handle it however you like, cause Monk needs more love anyways.
With you there, Derek.
Guided Hand only works if you dip Cleric to get channel energy, and you have to get Channel Smite as a prerequisite as well. The sensei is basically a "bard-lite" and pays for it with flurry of blows, without which he's pretty much ineffective compared to the bard.
That's the whole point of my changes, to give the monk a few tweaks that allow him to function on a par with the other martial classes. I'll sumarise, if you haven't had a chance to read through (and it's a lot of changes to read through):
- Ki-strike gives an actual enhancement bonus, not just DR-bypass. +1 at 4th level, +2 at 7th level, +3 at 10th level, +4 at 13th level, and +5 at 16th level. The AoMF is still needed to supply weapon properties if you want them, but is no longer essential.
- Unarmed Strike can ignore 1 point of DR (of any type save epic) for every level the monk possesses (gives the monk a "special" feature that makes him useful - he can't always hurt a lot, but he can always do hurt)
- The monk uses Wisdom to hit with monk weapons and unarmed strikes. I've seriously toyed with wisdom to damage as well at higher levels.
- The monk is proficient with all monk weapons. No-brainer there, as most "monk" type weapons really are not worth the proficiency feat even if you are a monk, but can be nice if you carry them for options.
- The monk can spend a ki-point for an extra attack in any round in which he makes an attack. He doesn't have to be flurrying, he can make a single attack - on a charge, say - and get an extra one.
- The monk can pay a ki-point to move 20 feet as a swift action rather than an extra 20 feet. This makes darting around the battlefield easier as the monk can move a short distance and still flurry.
The play test has gone very well so far. The monk hasn't outshone the party barbarian or ranger, but he has been able to step up to the plate with them and acquit himself with honour.