If I'm building a Monk of Many Styles (or trying to take a 1 level dip in it), is the following an appropriate 1st level feat selection based on the rules as described:
.
.
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Improved Unarmed Strike
(free feat granted by Monk class)
Stunning Fist
(free feat granted by Monk class)
Snake Style
(feat granted to all 1st level characters)
Snake Fang
(Monk bonus feat granted by Master of Many Styles, pre-requisites removed)
Skill Focus: Sense Motive
(racial feat - Human, Focused Study)
The problem I think I'm seeing is that even with Monk of Many Styles, I can't take Snake Fang until I've taken Snake Style, and if I'm using the MoMS bonus feat to take Snake Fang then I can't take Snake Style without meeting its pre-requisites, which include three ranks in Sense Motive.
Is that right?
If so, I could take Snake Style free of pre-requisites at 1st level as the Monk's bonus feat and then a 2nd level of Monk (with its second bonus feat) would allow me to take Snake Fang without having to meet its pre-requisites?
If I then go Fighter the rest of the way, I could take another style feat I qualify for later on and still fuse the styles, correct?
I'm asking cuz my head is about to explode.
At 1st level, 2nd level, and every four levels thereafter, a master of many styles may select a bonus style feat or the Elemental Fist feat
This part means that you may select a style feat such as snake style or grab the elemental fist feat without paying any attention to their requirements. It does not let you grab someting like snake fang without having it's requirements, that'll come later... sort of.
He does not have to meet the prerequisites of that feat, except the Elemental Fist feat.
This means that the only prerequisite you must meet is the Elemental Fist feat. So, for example, if you want to take djinn style you must have grabbed the elemental fist feat first. It does NOT mean you have to meet any of the prerequisites for elemental fist.
Alternatively, a master of many styles may choose a feat in that style’s feat path (such as Earth Child Topple) as one of these bonus feats if he already has the appropriate style feat (such as Earth Child Style). The master of many styles does not need to meet any other prerequisite of the feat in the style’s feat path
Finally this means that a master of many styles may ignore any of the prerequisites of a feat in a styles path provided that he has learned the appropriate style first.
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So at 1st level you could take the snake style as a bonus feat and at 2nd level you could grab snake fang as a bonus feat, but you could not take them both at 1st level since you only have one bonus feat.
Alternitively you could start with your other class, grab two levels placing 2 points in sense motive, and then level dip grabbing snake style as your normal feat and snake fang as your bonus feat. That way you can avoid taking more then a 1 level dip in MoMS if that's what you want.
So at 1st level you could take the snake style as a bonus feat and at 2nd level you could grab snake fang as a bonus feat, but you could not take them both at 1st level since you only have one bonus feat.
I think some people take the following sentence out of context: "The master of many styles does not need to meet any other prerequisite of the feat in the style's feat path."
They believe that means any time a MoMS chooses a feat in that style's feat path they can ignore all prerequisites (except for having the actual style feat).
They would use that to take Snake Style as their 1st-level MoMS bonus feat, then take Snake Fang as their 1st-level character feat, ignoring the prerequisites other than Snake Style.
It's the same kind of thinking that causes people to feel Rangers can choose feats listed in their combat style without meeting the prerequisites even when the feat is being granted from something else. ("He can choose feats from his selected combat style, even if he does not have the normal prerequisites.")
I don't think the intent is for either of those to work that way, but the only evidence in the RAW is context.
@Revel - Okay, so I was on the right track then... I had originally built my Brawler taking one level of MoMS and had gone through the full progression of Snake Style without realizing exactly how the archetype worked.
I don't think taking two levels of MoMS will be a problem as Evasion is a worthwhile class feature to have. Still not sure yet though exactly how I want to arrange my feats... exactly when to take what, what should have priority.
Thanks for the quick response.
As an aside, I hate it that you have to have a weapon with the Agile enhancement to be able to add Dexterity to your damage. My old group used to have a houserule that 'Finesse' was a weapon quality possessed by all light weapons, ranged weapons and some others (like rapiers and whips) which automatically meant you used Dexterity rather than Strength for both attack and damage when wielding those weapons. Worked great.