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I decided to shelf my Monk/Cleric idea, and try something else. Decided to give an Urban Barbarian/Martial Artist Monk a try.
STR 17 (15 + 2)
DEX 14
CON 14
INT 12
WIS 16 (14 + 2)
CHA 5 (7 - 2)
Traits: Berserker of the Society, Dangerously Curious
01: Barbarian 1 [Urban] [Controlled Rage] Extra Rage
02: Monk 1 [Martial Artist] [Dodge] [Improved Unarmed Strike] [Stunning Fist]
03: Monk 2 [Evasion] [Combat Reflexes] Weapon Focus: Sansetsukon
04: Monk 3 STR 18
05: Monk 4 [Exploit Weakness] [Martial Arts Master] Weapon Specialization: Sansetsukon
06: Monk 5 [Extreme Endurance: Fatigue]
07: Monk 6 [Improved Trip] Vicious Stomp
08: Monk 7 STR 19
09: Monk 8 Greater Weapon Focus: Sansetsukon
10: Monk 9 [Improved Evasion]
11: Monk 10 [Extreme Endurance: Exhaustion] [Medusa's Wrath] Improved Critical: Sansetsukon
12: Monk 11 STR 20
At levels 2 to 4, he flurries with the Sansetsukon (chosen more for the fact that I think it's a cool weapon, and the stats are pretty decent among monk weapons). Use potions of mage armour to help bump up AC.
At level 5, he gets Weapon Specialization with the Sansetsukon, as well as Exploit Weakness. By this point, while raging, he's +3 to hit / +4 to damage when flurrying. 60%-65% of the time, Exploit Weakness will be active, for another +2 to hit and gets to ignore all DR. Get a cracked purple prism ioun stone, a wand of shield, and UMD it into the Ioun Stone for on-demand +4 AC. Probably can get Bracers of Armour +1 or +2, Amulet of Natural Armour +1, and Ring of Protection +1 by this level.
At level 6, he's immune to fatigue. While he doesn't rage cycle, what this does allow is to allocate the bonus from his rage from round to round. At the start of every turn, he can choose to stop STR raging, and go for DEX raging for +2 to AC and Reflex. Also, if the GM rules that you can't Exploit Weakness while raging (stating that it requires patience or concentration), you can now stop raging at the start of your turn, use Exploit Weakness, and then rage again, which should only use up one round of rage. If there's enough rounds of rage at the end of the day, he can also STR rage, flurry, and then at the end of the turn stop raging and then DEX rage, using up 2 rounds of rage per round.
By level 6-7, depending upon fame, can get a +1 Furious Sansetsukon for an even higher bonus to hit and damage. Also gets Vicious Stomp & Improved Trip for tripping a creature when applicable. And if successful, can Stunning Fist-stomp to the face for a possible prone plus stunned target.
For out of combat, he gets Diplomacy, Intimidate, and Sense Motive as class skills (can always aid whoever the party face is, and if no one has a better bonus, can fill in this void). Knowledge (Local, Religion) are class skills, as well as Linguistics, which can be handy. And can even throw a point into Knowledge (Nobility, History) if they ever come up. And thanks to Dangerously Curious, UMD is a class skill, and he can UMD utility scrolls from whatever utility scroll/wand collection he has.
Questions:
1) I thought about getting Accelerated Drinker instead of Berserker of the Society (can't get both as they're both combat traits), to buff for +8 AC on the first round (and can save on buying Bracers of Armour when the bonus will be higher than from a potion), but I'm not sure how many rounds of rage will be enough for PFS. Anyone have any thoughts about how many rounds will be adequate?
2) Could possibly give up a trait to take Adopted (Enlightened Warrior) so that he can take any other monk archetype that retains the Ki pool. Is another flurry attack by spending a Ki point better than possibly getting an extra +2 to hit and damage, ignore DR, and becoming immune to fatigue (and thus having the freedom to STR rage or DEX rage on a round-by-round basis)?
3) Anything I'm missing that could be improved upon?
Funny I've been working on almost the same build over the weekend. Gotta say I like your stat array. I'd just really like an 18 in strength straight of the bat...
Str 18 (10 +2) Dex 14 (5) Con 14 (5) Int 12 (2) Wis 14 (2 +2) Cha 5(-4)
Crane Style Meshes well with Sansetsukon's blocking ability and your inability to wear armor however the penalty to hit might be too much to stomach at least early on.
Also you missed the tielfling feat that gives you 2 point natural armor no questions asked.
I feel like Flowing Monk (via Enlightend Warrior cheese) is probably superior to the Martial artist. While your loosing a feat Flowing monks first level ability would be rather awesome in tandem with vicious stomp and your not loosing anything by giving up on Stunning Fist. It also opens up the improved trip and greater trip feats earlier.
As to Mage Armor I'd screw UMD (Especially with a 5 charisma) and just rely on party members to activate a wand for me.
Here's what I'd go for mixing Barbarian and Flowing Monk up to level 7 where stuff get's pretty retarded due to two AoO on a trip. Picking up 1 more level of barb for the Rage power that grants extra AoO would prolly be in order.
Traits
Adopted
Rager of the Society
1 Urban Barbarian (Combat Reflexes)
2 Monk (Imp Trip)
3 Monk (Vicious Stomp)
4 Monk
5 Monk Ki Pool/Qigong:Barkskin/Extra Rage
6 Monk Qigong:???
7 Monk Greater Trip
If you don't mind a level dip and a trait, you can mage armor yourself all day by mid level.
Take the trait that raises your caster level for a specific class (Sorcerer), then take a single level dip in sorcerer for Empyreal Sorcerer, you use your Wisdom, not your Charisam, to cast. This will also give you a very limited healing ability, as well as 2 spells (mage armor obviously, and one other utility spell) as well as unlimited 0 level spells per day. That means you'd get basically 4 casts per day of Mage Armor at 3 hours a pop (once you're at least 3rd character level), or 12 hours of mage armor all by yourself. Additionally, you can use wands all day long for sorcerer spells (including mage armor wands) in case you run out of casts for the day.
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Only downside to Flowing Monk is it does not alleviate meeting the prerequisites for Greater Trip: you still need an INT 13 and Combat Expertise. Only archetype I can think of off the top of my head that gives Greater Trip is Maneuver Master, but it's not one I really wanted to go for.
The Tiefling feat, Armour of the Pit, is awesome. I'd totally take it, except I am rather feat starved. Hence my alternative: Scaled Skin alternate racial trait. I give up 2 resistances, but get +1 natural armour. I'd rather just take Armour of the Pit, but *sigh* can't seem to fit it in there.
UMD is useful for PFS, because from scenario to scenario you don't know who your other party members will be. If I get lucky to have someone cast Shield into my Ioun Stone, great. If not, then I have to do it.
All that being said, I do like the style of Flowing Monk. A lot of nice abilities. I used it in an idea for a Monk/Inquisitor build (Infiltrator Inquisitor with Conversion Inquisition + Antagonize). Might consider Flowing Monk Enlightened Warrior cheese for this build (only hesitation is I wasn't really going for a trip build, more of a decent to high AC, high bonus to hit, Punch you in the face kind of build, but may think on it).
As far as Empyreal Sorcerer with the trait that increases caster level, that trait isn't allowed in PFS. So I'd have 4 Mage Armours per day lasting a total of 4 hours, unless I want to take more levels of Sorcerer. Not sure if Sorcerer is worthwhile in that instance. A few ranks into UMD (even if I have a horrible Charisma) plus spending prestige points for free wands (such as shield) just seems like a more attractive idea.
Thanks for the ideas. Flurries McRager appreciates it! (I just love that name....)
Ouch totally misread the flowing monk bonus feats kind of makes my above build a bit pointless.
If you want a decent to good AC you should definetly consider Crane Style (with Sansetsukon and 3 ranks of Acrobatics it adds +5 to AC for -2 to attack).
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Yeah, Crane Style is pretty cool, and unlike the later feats, you can use it with a two-handed weapon. Even if I use the Shield spell, it can be -2 attack for +4 AC, which is still decent. Only thing I'm not 100% sure on is if you can fight defensively while raging. While I'd love to do it, I'm sure a lot of GMs won't allow it.
Still, something to consider if I'm able to rage and fight defensively. If so, I can always drop Vicious Stomp for Crane Style, and change Combat Reflexes for Improved Grapple.
EDIT: Hmm, after looking through some old threads, it seems other people feel that fighting defensively while raging should be allowed. I'm still on the fence, but may need to consider Crane Style a little more now.
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If you want to do Crane Style, you might want to swap the level of Urban Barb for Unarmed Fighter. As you said, a lot of GMs won't let you fight defensively while raging, and Unarmed fighter give you a free style feat while retaining Sansetsukon proficiency. You also have the freedom to choose a different monk archetype than Martial Artist, although Martial Artist is pretty good.
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Regardless of what I do, I think the level of Barbarian will remain. +2 to hit and damage for an entire PFS scenario is too good to pass up. Especially the Urban Barbarian, since there's almost no real downside to it as far as I can see.
Well, except for maybe not being able to fight defensively while raging, but after Monk level 5, I can always stop raging and fight defensively if I really need it.
By RAW there's absolutly no reason why you shouldn't be allowed to Rage and fight defensively. From a flavor perspective I can understand the concerns about normal rage but Urban Barbarian gets a focused rage. Just describe it as a moment of intense focus.
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Only downside to Flowing Monk is it does not alleviate meeting the prerequisites for Greater Trip: you still need an INT 13 and Combat Expertise. Only archetype I can think of off the top of my head that gives Greater Trip is Maneuver Master, but it's not one I really wanted to go for.
The Tiefling feat, Armour of the Pit, is awesome. I'd totally take it, except I am rather feat starved. Hence my alternative: Scaled Skin alternate racial trait. I give up 2 resistances, but get +1 natural armour. I'd rather just take Armour of the Pit, but *sigh* can't seem to fit it in there.
UMD is useful for PFS, because from scenario to scenario you don't know who your other party members will be. If I get lucky to have someone cast Shield into my Ioun Stone, great. If not, then I have to do it.
All that being said, I do like the style of Flowing Monk. A lot of nice abilities. I used it in an idea for a Monk/Inquisitor build (Infiltrator Inquisitor with Conversion Inquisition + Antagonize). Might consider Flowing Monk Enlightened Warrior cheese for this build (only hesitation is I wasn't really going for a trip build, more of a decent to high AC, high bonus to hit, Punch you in the face kind of build, but may think on it).
As far as Empyreal Sorcerer with the trait that increases caster level, that trait isn't allowed in PFS. So I'd have 4 Mage Armours per day lasting a total of 4 hours, unless I want to take more levels of Sorcerer. Not sure if Sorcerer is worthwhile in that instance. A few ranks into UMD (even if I have a horrible Charisma) plus spending prestige points for free wands (such as shield) just seems like a more attractive idea.
Thanks for the ideas. Flurries McRager appreciates it! (I just love that name....)
Magical Knack is now allowed in PFS. Mike Brock added it to Additional Resources recently.
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Magical Knack is now allowed in PFS. Mike Brock added it to Additional Resources recently.
Well, pinch my toes and call me a jelly donut. I stand corrected.
By RAW there's absolutly no reason why you shouldn't be allowed to Rage and fight defensively. From a flavor perspective I can understand the concerns about normal rage but Urban Barbarian gets a focused rage. Just describe it as a moment of intense focus.
Yeah, I can see both sides on it. Just don't know how any given PFS judge would see it. So I probably should expect table variation.
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It's Weird that I came across this I've been working on a this build myself
Human (Duel Talent alternate racial traits)
STR 16 (14 + 2)
DEX 14
CON 16 (14 + 2)
INT 10
WIS 14
CHA 10
Traits: Anatomist, Obervant (perception)
01: Barbarian 1 [Urban] [Controlled Rage] Extra Rage
02: Monk 1 [Martial Artist] [Dodge] [Improved Unarmed Strike] [Stunning Fist]
03: Monk 2 [Evasion] [Combat Reflexes] Power Attack
04: Monk 3 STR 17
05: Monk 4 [Exploit Weakness] [Martial Arts Master] Weapon Focus: Temple Sword
06: Monk 5 [Extreme Endurance: Fatigue]
07: Monk 6 [Improved Grapple] Weapon Specialization: Temple Sword
08: Monk 7 STR 18
09: Monk 8 Extra Rage
10: Monk 9 [Improved Evasion]
11: Monk 10 [Extreme Endurance: Exhaustion] [Spring Attack] Improved Critical: Temple Sword
12: Monk 11 STR 19
