Small Monk and Style feats?

[KainPen]

Me and my group have been playing pathfinder for about year now, and we have not gotten a chance to really look at the style feats. One the players always plays like a fighter no matter what he class he has. Well he is playing a small monk because the way his ability scores came up. Was really decent for MAD style character. So we suggested a monk since he did not want to use weapons or deal with buying armor anymore. (A lot of his stuff got sunder or destroyed in the last game I GMed it kind of turned him off one buying equipment. only tomes that raise ability scores)
they where
STR 16
Dex 18
Con 18
INT 12
WIS 16
CHA 4 (lol we rolled dice 4d6 drop lowest)

I suggested a Martial Artist Monk to this player since it is more like a fighter where he can just run up hit things and do damage and he can be any aliment which fits his play style better. Well in a recent game we ran in to Harrowing Deck of Many things and he happen to draw the card that swaps ability scores and add 2 to them. Well the player has been getting his butt kicked and almost died 3 or 4 times in the last few games, because he has not been upgrading gear in the hopes of buying book tomes which are just not cost effective long term. So he deiced to swap the dex and con to get more hp and more ac so he may get killed less. he did not realize wisdom and str would have been better choices for him. with wisdom raise the effects of monk ability and AC and str for his hit and damage.

So now his Scores are
STR 16
Dex 22
Con 22
INT 12
WIS 16
CHA 4

I Suggested he take weapon finesse now that his scores are this way to raise his attack roll and get amulet of mighty fist with Agile on it.
His Current feats are
Monk Bonus
Combat Reflexes
Dodge
Mobility

Regular feats are
Toughness
Power Attack
Weapon Focus unarmed strike

Racial Bonus Improved Initiative

Any suggestion of Style feats maybe he should pick up or other feats to help optimize him best as possible as the DM for this game tends to make his own monsters and they tend to be optimized and make the game a lot harder then it should be (The Player is not looking to multiclass.)

[MrSin]

KainPen wrote:

only tomes that raise ability scores

Are you saying only tomes increase your stats at all? Like, no headbands of wisdom and the like? Because with a MAD class like monk that can really suck. For everyone it does really.

KainPen wrote:

I suggested a Martial Artist Monk to this player since it is more like a fighter where he can just run up hit things and do damage and he can be any aliment which fits his play style better.

Why not just trash the alignment requirements altogether? The game doesn't explode if you use a houserule or two to make everyone happy.

KainPen wrote:

Any suggestion of Style feats maybe he should pick up or other feats to help optimize him best as possible as the DM for this game tends to make his own monsters and they tend to be optimized and make the game a lot harder then it should be (The Player is not looking to multiclass.)

Well, he can only use one style at a time without being a MOMS. Crane can make you feel invulnerable, dragon greatly improves unarmed strikes, and snake/panther can both retaliate loads and loads of times(but I think they work best with MoMS myself). Does depend on what he wants to do.

[KainPen]

MrSin wrote:

Are you saying only tomes increase your stats at all? Like, no headbands of wisdom and the like? Because with a MAD class like monk that can really suck. For everyone it does really.

No all other things are fine, he was just did not want to spend money on stuff that can be lost or destroyed, stop working in anti magic area so he was only going to buy books. Which is not cost effective cause odd are you will be dead before you can ever buy a book. He is seeing the error in thinking that way already as he is the only one that has almost died that many times. Despite having the 2nd most HP in the party and the best saves.

MrSin wrote:

Why not just trash the alignment requirements altogether? The game doesn't explode if you use a houserule or two to make everyone happy.

Not my call I am not the DM this time. DM is using Aliment which works for me as I am going hell-knight. That archetype was the best thing to fit this players play style and his alignment choices he wants Chaotic Neutral.

MrSin wrote:

Well, he can only use one style at a time without being a MOMS. Crane can make you feel invulnerable, dragon greatly improves unarmed strikes, and snake/panther can both retaliate loads and loads of times(but I think they work best with MoMS myself). Does depend on what he wants to do.

well with his dex and and combat reflex maybe panther or snake would be good for him. He looking to just hit and do damage and he is the party scout since he the fastest has the best perception and has the hell of a stealth check. So any kind combat maneuvers are lost on him.

[KainPen]

Anyone else have any feat suggestions?

[Xorran]

If he's a Martial Artist archetype, make sure to remind him to use his Exploit weakness for an dodge bonus equal to half his level against opponents. Helps out tons. If he can get 1 more int, Combat expertise for more AC will help out, and Crane Style, will give him lots of AC boosts while fighting defensively. Since you said he's the one taking the most damage, start in on a defensive style build, those will help out a lot.
Retraining his Ability score bump to Int, and retraining his Power Attack to Combat Expertise, (you didn't say what level he is) but say he's level 6, fighting defensively with Combat Expertise, against a single opponent, with Crane style, will boost his AC by 9 points (dodge bonus) and give him the ability to deflect one attack per round. Seems like a pretty decent trade off, if he's the one getting close to death all the time.

[KainPen]

ok I will bring up that suggestion to him. He is starting using exploit weakness defensively now. It has stoped some damage but not a lot.

[Kazumetsa Raijin]

KainPen wrote:

Me and my group have been playing pathfinder for about year now, and we have not gotten a chance to really look at the style feats. One the players always plays like a fighter no matter what he class he has. Well he is playing a small monk because the way his ability scores came up. Was really decent for MAD style character. So we suggested a monk since he did not want to use weapons or deal with buying armor anymore. (A lot of his stuff got sunder or destroyed in the last game I GMed it kind of turned him off one buying equipment. only tomes that raise ability scores)

they where
STR 16
Dex 18
Con 18
INT 12
WIS 16
CHA 4 (lol we rolled dice 4d6 drop lowest)

I suggested a Martial Artist Monk to this player since it is more like a fighter where he can just run up hit things and do damage and he can be any aliment which fits his play style better. Well in a recent game we ran in to Harrowing Deck of Many things and he happen to draw the card that swaps ability scores and add 2 to them. Well the player has been getting his butt kicked and almost died 3 or 4 times in the last few games, because he has not been upgrading gear in the hopes of buying book tomes which are just not cost effective long term. So he deiced to swap the dex and con to get more hp and more ac so he may get killed less. he did not realize wisdom and str would have been better choices for him. with wisdom raise the effects of monk ability and AC and str for his hit and damage.

So now his Scores are
STR 16
Dex 22
Con 22
INT 12
WIS 16
CHA 4

I Suggested he take weapon finesse now that his scores are this way to raise his attack roll and get amulet of mighty fist with Agile on it.
His Current feats are
Monk Bonus
Combat Reflexes
Dodge
Mobility

Regular feats are
Toughness
Power Attack
Weapon Focus unarmed strike

Racial Bonus Improved Initiative

Any suggestion of Style feats maybe he should pick up or other feats to help optimize him best as possible as the DM for this game tends to make his own monsters...

If he tends to be in the melee fray of things, Snake Style and it's other associated parts is a hands down winner. IF he wants to be more defensive than offensive, Crane Style and it's other associated parts.

Read up on those two, they're both probably the best out of the Style feats. Dragon is nice too if he plans on charging often, especially if he somehow gets the Barbarians Beast Totem or Druids Pounce ability.

The rest of them are Meh.