I have a great idea for a tiefling monk. I just need some advice on how to make it all come together.
Backstory:
The monk in question, Grushon (gr-ew-sh-on), is a devil blooded tiefling. Grushon is unable to feel happiness. He can feel other emotions, such as pain, pleasure, disappointment, fear etc. But even these emotions are muted. Grushon had a rough upbringing by a single parent and had to work for everything he had. Grushon followed the rules and worked hard to achieve the money and glory he craved. He felt it was his right to bully and subjugate others, the way they did to him, as long as he had the legitimate authority and respect to do so(E.G. Lawful Evil). While he was never rich, he did get the money and carnal pleasures that he wanted. But something was missing. He still never felt that happiness others seemed to be able to feel, and the money, food and sex was never felt intensely enough to sate his cravings. After thinking on it, he decided to change his ways. He abandoned his wealth and vowed to never to seek money or pleasure ever again. He decided that he would travel and help people to the best of his abilities. While he would never have his heart truly in it, hopefully, if he helped enough people and did enough good, he would eventually feel happiness.
Mechanics:
Grushon is a monk. He will be LN. While disciplined and wise, his goal is to attain happiness for himself. He helps people not because he wants to or he likes to, but because he thinks it might make him feel.
I wanted him to have a couple vows from the ultimate magic. I was thinking celibacy and poverty. While I can take celibacy without and any huge setbacks, poverty is proving to be difficult. Poverty is hard enough, but when combined with celibacy, healing becomes a huge problem. He can only accept potions when others give them to him, and he can't be touched by healing spells. If I'm going to take both vows, I need some way to make the most of his ki as early as possible. Monks don't get to use ki until 4th level. Not worth it. Is there some archetype that would make it so I can use ki earlier, or an archetypes that would make the vows work for me?
Wholeness of body solves this problem, but I don't get it until 7th level...
Also, I've never really made a monk in pathfinder before, so I would like some help in making an effective one. Should I go STR based or DEX based? Should I take an archtype that eschews flurry of blow for something else? etc.
His stat bonuses from being devil-blooded are +2 CON, +2 WIS, -2 CHA.
(from Blood of Fiends)
Any ideas?
No bites?...
...bump
Also, I've never really made a monk in pathfinder before, so I would like some help in making an effective one. Should I go STR based or DEX based? Should I take an archtype that eschews flurry of blow for something else? etc.
In general, monks have a rough time and can be hard to build. Dex build you can nab an amulet of mighty fist with agile on it at later levels, but not if you have vow of poverty. Vows usually take away far more than they give, though they are a cool idea for roleplay, mechanically they're punishing(And they take away still mind to do it!)
I should ask what you see this guy doing. Is he punching people in the face or smashing them in a flurry with a particular weapon. Do you want to do certain maneuvers? Have you considered styles?(Crane wing kicks butt as far as I'm concerned). Also, do you know what type of campaign your DM is running? How well monks do can very between games because of how well maneuvers work on certain foes.
Also, have you considered using another class but being disciplined like a monk? Or is there a particular feature of the monk class you seek?
I really like the idea of a monk. Although I can't really see this character doing flurry of blows.
His background kind of generalizes him as a thug, so I would think strength, maybe even power attack. Maybe I can focus more on hit points than AC. I also want him to be decent at combat maneuvers. I could try a combat maneuver-y archetype and go toughness and power attack feat tree.
I guess that sounds ok. I was mostly hoping for advice from people who have a lot of experience building monks.
I didn't know that I had to give up still mind to have a vow, but still mind really isn't that good anyways. However, having to give up that ability AND having the negative aspect of the vow kind of sucks.
Is there some errata that makes the vows give more ki points? In the ultimate magic poverty is 1/2 each level, but I was told now it's 1 for each level. Where can I find that errata? Does it make celibate better too?
According to the PRD Ultimate Magic, Vow of Poverty gives 1 ki point per level, and Celibacy gives 1 point per 5 levels.
If you're looking for more to do with your Ki points, Qinggong Monk, also found in Ultimate Magic, gives you all sorts of abilities to use your Ki for.
Master of Many Styles, found in Ultimate Combat, gives up Flurry for the ability to fuse styles together and use different style feats at the same time. While this wouldn't make up for the items you don't get from poverty, it opens your monk up to a whole array of options. Furthermore, the Qinggong Monk Archetype can technically work with any other Monk archetype so you could take both, thereby gaining a bunch of special abilities (Qinggong) and different fun things to do in melee (MoMS).
There are plenty of guides on here for what Style Feats are the best to take if you're unsure of that, and you can take Qinggong abilities that best compliment how you want to fight.
Hope this helps! :D
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Personally, I wouldn't take any vows. They all take away from RP and a couple of them take away from combat potential a smidgen too much, and breaking them is quite punishing.
You'll hate yourself from taking the Poverty vow - Good luck getting an AoMF or anything else aside from that. The Celibacy vow is Very easy to break and you don't want to break vows. Steer away from those friend.
Instead, just RP a monk with strong Convictions. You won't need the Ki that bad, trust me. You can always take the Extra Ki feat(2 extra ki per feat taken), and it stacks. Also a Ring of Ki Mastery stores 2 points. You also gain Ki equal to your Wis mod + Half your Monk Levels. Wisdom and Dex enhancements are a must ;)
Here is a sample build of a Qinggong/Brother of the Seal Monk:
(20 point buy after racial mods of +2 Dex, +2 Wis, -2 Cha)
Str: 12
Dex: 18
Con: 12
Int: 10
Wis: 18
Cha: 5
FEATS
LvL 1 Weapon Finesse
LvL 2
LvL 3 Weapon Focus(You want all the +attack you can get)
LvL 4
LvL 5 Snake Style
LvL 6
LvL 7 Snake Sidewind
LvL 8
LvL 9 Snake Fang
LvL 10
LvL 11 Vicious Stomp
LvL 12
LvL 13 Dimensional Agility
LvL 14
LvL 15 Dimensional Assault
LvL 16
LvL 17 Dimensional Dervish
LvL 18
LvL 19 Dimensional Savant
LvL 20
LvL 1 Stunning Fist, Flurry of Blows, Improved Unarmed Strike
LvL 2 Evasion
LvL 3 Fast Movement, Maneuver Training, Still Mind
LvL 4 Ki Pool(Magic), Bark Skin
LvL 5 Purity of Body, Truestrike
LvL 6 Slow Fall 30
LvL 7 Unarmed Combat, Water Splitting Stone
LvL 8 Gatekeeper, Trapfinding
LvL 9 Runefinding
LvL 10 Awesome Blow
LvL 11 Unsealing
LvL 12 Domino Strike
LvL 13 Hands of Stone
LvL 14 Ki Pool(Cold Iron/Silver), Power Attack
LvL 15 Slow Fall 40
LvL 16 Improved Evasion
LvL 17 Ki Pool(Lawlful) Slow Fall 50
LvL 18 Diamond Body
LvL 19 Slow Fall 60, Abundant Step
LvL 20 Ki Leech
Bonus Feats: Dodge(1), Combat Reflexes(2), Improved Disarm or Trip(6), Medusa's Wrath(10)
I'd highly recommend this build if you want to stay all Monk(prestige) for the game. This is an Improved Unarmed Strike damage build. With all of your static gains, and 6d8 Enlarged IUS damage(at lvl 15 with Monk's Robe), you'll keep up with the pack and you are guaranteed to have a very high survival throughout anything. You can shape it RP-wise how you wish. It's pretty flexible. I'm not sure if Ki Leech is worth it that late in the game. I would keep a kama and/or sai on you just for the bonuses to trip/disarm, as you can still use the rest of your body to attack afterwards. The nice thing about going partially Prestige, is that it differs from straight monk in that it avoids the useless qinggong options later and further clunkiness with those options(ie lots of swift actions, and only being able to take one swift ability per turn, same for standards and moves).
I've playtested this build up to level 5 so far and he's doing absolutely outstanding. The only issue is really keeping up with or doing decent damage. My static damage is a +1 because I don't have an AoMF with Agile on it yet nor do I have anything else really adding to it. Monks are very late bloomers. Don't listen to the people on the forums who can't build a monk correctly ;p The most important thing, Monks are controllers of the field, not damage dealing fighters. If you focus purely on damage, your build will fail in combat. Focus on keeping up with damage, controlling via disarm/trip/stun/etc, and surviving the fight most importantly.
This build is based on Flurrying, stunning, tripping, keeping up in damage, and of course surviving nearly anything. With the flurrying, the dimensional options help a ton; Abundant step is put to seriously good use. Also if you get a ring of Ki Mastery, you can knock down the cost of Abundant Step even further. You can flurry from anywhere at that point, and at twice the speed, starting with a stun, then a trip(if applicable), and disarm or whatever for everything else and just pummel something to damn near death - While flanking with Yourself :) Don't forget Stunning Fist evolves in it's effects(like permanent blind, 7+ rounds of paralysis, etc) with levels. Keeping a high wisdom means keeping a high DC for it too.
If you don't like it, that's fine. I just like spreading the joy of my builds. :) This certainly isn't min/max either.
Yes I know most campaigns end up with characters at level 15 by the end, but I still post 20Builds. It's not like it can't be altered to still be awesome :)
Let me know what you think and/or if you have any questions or concerns/constructive criticism.
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Now that I think about it, perhaps it is better if you want all Qinggong Monk first, THEN Brother of the Seal. Getting Abundant Step that late looks rather painful now that I think about it.
Edit: Also, you may want to throw this into a spreadsheet on Excel. That's what I put it together in. Lines up nicely.