Rush a full Style Chain - What to do best at Level 4?

[Nazrelle]

Hello guys!
I'd like to have an advice for a level 4 character:

What would you create with the following:
- 20 Point buy
- Only Core Races
- Take a least one complete Style Chain with Unarmed Fighter 1/Master of Many Styles Monk 2

For me I'm thinking about taking the second Fighter level and pair Dervish Dance with Crane Style stuff. But the deeper I go into that later, the more useless the class features of Monk and Fighter become, cause they are not for Dervish Dancing.

Thanks in advance!

[Atarlost]

If you want to rush Crane style you don't need unarmed fighter. You can have it filled at level 2 with nothing but MoMS.

Human. Stat bonus to dex.

L1: MoMS 1. Human bonus feat: weapon finesse; 1 HD feat: Crane Style (prereq BAB 2 or monk level 1st); Monk bonus feat: Crane Wing
L2: MoMS 2. Monk bonus feat Crane Riposte
L3: Anything full BAB. 3 HD feat: Dervish Dance.

You can take any fighter archetype you think will suit dervish dancing or you can take a couple levels of ranger in the two handed style for no prereq power attack before moving on to something else. Or you can go into paladin. Or you can change your alignment and go into urban barbarian. Or, for that matter, you can grab MoMS 3 for still mind and then take a couple paladin levels and go into Champion of Irori. Or use MoMS 3 to qualify for monastic legacy and take the TWF feats and enjoy your dex to damage and scaling unarmed strike damage.

[Nazrelle]

I think you are forgetting about the Dodge feat. But your right, I can take the 2 levels of Monk, and grab Dodge + Crane Style with standard feats.

And instead of Power Attack I'll just go for Piranha Strike. Weapon Finesse will be taken anyhow.

And how exacly do I get the DEX to Unarmed Strike Damage? Couldn't follow you there :D

[Atarlost]

Piranha strike isn't compatible with dervish dance. It applies to light weapons, not finessable weapons.

[Nazrelle]

Atarlost wrote:

Piranha strike isn't compatible with dervish dance. It applies to light weapons, not finessable weapons.

Well, dammit...

Suddenly I like your idea with Power Attack via Ranger! :D

[StreamOfTheSky]

You might want to consider rushing one full style (Crane is the best full style) and the THIRD style feat of another. My favorite is Full Crane + Snake Fang (Snake Sidewind is teh suck), though that's for an unarmed build.

Tiger Pounce can be handy if you plan to power attack, even more so if you use combat maneuvers like trip.

Quote:

Tiger Pounce (Combat)

Your unarmed strikes are as precise as they are powerful, but they leave you open and you can pursue foes with blinding speed.

Prerequisites: Improved Unarmed Strike, Power Attack, Tiger Claws, Tiger Style, base attack bonus +9 or monk level 8th.

Benefit: While using the Tiger Style feat, you can apply the penalty from Power Attack to your AC instead of attack rolls. Additionally, once per round as a swift action, you can move up to half your speed closer to a target you hit with an unarmed strike or made a successful combat maneuver against on this turn or your last turn.

I mean, it's more useful if you just throw in some unarmed strikes, but it's still pretty nice for a weapon wielding character. Downsides include Tiger Style itself completely sucking and requiring BAB +3, so you'd have to hold off on the 2nd Monk level for awhile. And I suppose if you're using one of your two MoMS feats on Tiger Pounce, you can't have Crane Wing and Riposte super early. But, I mean...part of the benefit of a MoMS dip is combining two styles together.

[Illeist]

To the OP: you can get Dex to unarmed damage with an Agile Amulet of the Mighty Fist.

Also, it's worth noting the only the first feat in any style chain is a [style] feat. The rest are just combat feats, and you can't ignore their prereqs with UF and MoMS bonus feats.

[StreamOfTheSky]

Yes you can with MoMS, that's the whole point...

The text is literally meaningless if it only applies to the 1st feat in the chain.

Quote:

Bonus Feat: 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. He does not have to meet the prerequisites of that feat, except the Elemental Fist feat. 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. This ability replaces a monk's standard bonus feats.

Please explain what the bolded text is actually doing then, Illeist.

They even bother to call the other feats "a feat in that style's feat path" rather than style feats, because (shocker) the writer actually realized those weren't [style] feats.