I enjoy throwing builds together in Hero Lab just to see what they look like. Lately I've been trying to prove to myself that a Weapon Finesse-based monk can be viable. My reasoning is that it makes you less MAD since Strength can be left at 10 and improves your defenses. However, I'm concerned that I may have focused too much on defense at the expense of offense. Below is what the build looks like at sixth level.
Tengu Monk (Qinggong Monk) 6
LN Medium humanoid (tengu)
Init +5; Senses low-light vision; Perception +14
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Defense
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AC 22, touch 20, flat-footed 16 (+2 armor, +5 Dex, +1 dodge, +4 untyped)
hp 51 (6d8+18)
Fort +7, Ref +10, Will +8; +2 vs. enchantment spells and effects
Defensive Abilities evasion; Immune disease
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Offense
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Speed 50 ft.
Melee bite +9 (1d3+7) and
. . masterwork cold iron kama +10 (1d6) and
. . unarmed strike +9 (1d8+5)
Special Attacks flurry of blows, ki strike, magic, stunning fist (6/day, DC 16)
Spell-Like Abilities
. . —barkskin (self only, 1 ki)
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Statistics
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Str 10, Dex 20, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 16, Cha 7
Base Atk +4; CMB +6 (+8 trip); CMD 24 (26 vs. trip)
Feats Combat Reflexes, Crane Style, Crane Wing, Dodge, Improved Trip, Improved Unarmed Strike, Stunning Fist, Weapon Finesse
Traits bullied, vagabond child (urban)
Skills Acrobatics +14 (+22 jump), Climb +4, Disable Device +15, Escape Artist +9, Knowledge (history) +5, Knowledge (religion) +5, Linguistics +7, Perception +14, Sense Motive +12, Stealth +7; Racial Modifiers +4 Linguistics, +2 Perception, +2 Stealth
Languages Common, Ignan, Tengu, Terran, Thassilonian, Tien, Vudrani
SQ ac bonus, fast movement, ki defense, ki pool, maneuver training, purity of body, stunning fist (stun), unarmed strike
Other Gear Masterwork Cold Iron Kama, Agile Amulet of mighty fists, Belt of incredible dexterity +2, Bracers of armor +2, Thieves' tools, 3666 GP
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Special Abilities
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AC Bonus +4 The Monk adds his Wisdom bonus to AC and CMD, more at higher levels.
Barkskin (self only, 1 Ki) (Sp) Self Only. Costs 1 ki point to activate.
Bullied +1 to hit with unarmed AoEs.
Combat Reflexes (6 AoO/round) Can make extra attacks of opportunity/rd, and even when flat-footed.
Crane Style Penalty when fighting defensively reduced to -2 and dodge bonus increases by 1.
Crane Wing May deflect one attack per round while fighting defensively or using total defense
Evasion (Ex) If you succeed at a Reflex save for half damage, you take none instead.
Fast Movement (+20') The Monk adds 10 or more feet to his base speed.
Flurry of Blows +4/+4/-1 (Ex) Make Flurry of Blows attack as a full rd action.
Immunity to Disease You are immune to diseases.
Improved Trip You don't provoke attacks of opportunity when tripping.
Improved Unarmed Strike Unarmed strikes don't cause attacks of opportunity, and can be lethal.
Ki Defense (Su) A monk can spend 1 point from his ki pool to give himself a +4 dodge bonus to AC for 1 round.
Ki Pool (Su) You have a ki pool equal to 1/2 your monk level + your Wisdom modifier.
Ki Strike, Magic (Su) If you have ki remaining, unarmed strikes count as magic to overcome DR.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in low light, distinguishing color and detail.
Maneuver Training (Ex) CMB = other BABs + Monk level
Power Attack Costs 1 ki point to activate.
You can make exceptionally deadly melee attacks by sacrificing accuracy for strength.
Benefit: You can choose to take a –1 penalty on all melee attack rolls and combat maneuver checks to gain a +2 bon
Purity of Body (Ex) At 5th level, a monk gains immunity to all diseases, including supernatural and magical diseases.
Stunning Fist (6/day) (DC 16) You can stun an opponent with an unarmed attack.
Stunning Fist (Stun, Fatigue) (Ex) At 1st level, the monk gains Stunning Fist as a bonus feat, even if he does not meet the prerequisites. At 4th level, and every 4 levels thereafter, the monk gains the ability to apply a new condition to the target of his Stunning Fist. This conditio
Unarmed Strike (1d8) The Monk does lethal damage with his unarmed strikes.
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Explanations:
- Tengu was chosen because you get bonuses in your two most important stats (namely Dexterity and Wisdom). Also, I already have a bunch of humans in PFS and wanted to try the other races.
- The kama serves as the primary weapon for the first few levels, since it helps get through DR and provides a bonus on attack rolls. Once you can afford an Agile AoMF, unarmed strikes will start to take precedence. After picking up Improved Trip at 6th level, however, the kama can be used for trip maneuvers (adding DEX to CMB).
- Disable Device was picked up as a class skill to have something to do out of combat.
- Who doesn't love knowing lots of languages? Tengu learn two languages with every rank in Linguistics, so I put some ranks in it. Whether it will still be useful with Charisma as a dump stat is anyone's guess.
- I don't have any in the statblock here, but 50 gold gets you a potion of magic fang (+1 enhancement bonus on attack and damage rolls with unarmed strikes for one minute) if a temporary bonus is desired.
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Only AC22 at level 6 is low. You will need to find a way of improving it to the high 20 to low 30. Or you defense build will be for nothing. You can down a potion of mage armor for 4 points that still only gets you to 26. You will need a ring of protection +1 and amulet of natural armor +1 to make AC 28. Even then that's a bit on the low side for a defense base character. My level 7 Cleric/Monk has a buffed AC31. That is ok still not maxed out. There are a few things I need to get yet. I will be looking at the low 40 by the time I hit level 10.
Your saves are good overall tracking to be much higher. Adding a cloak of resistance will help this along. Giving you a good sold base there.
Only AC22 at level 6 is low. You will need to find a way of improving it to the high 20 to low 30. Or you defense build will be for nothing. You can down a potion of mage armor for 4 points that still only gets you to 26. You will need a ring of protection +1 and amulet of natural armor +1 to make AC 28. Even then that's a bit on the low side for a defense base character. My level 7 Cleric/Monk has a buffed AC31. That is ok still not maxed out. There are a few things I need to get yet. I will be looking at the low 40 by the time I hit level 10.
Your saves are good overall tracking to be much higher. Adding a cloak of resistance will help this along. Giving you a good sold base there.
If I'm fighting defensively with crane style and use my barkskin ki power, my AC goes up to 28 just from that. Add mage armor and it gets to 30. A ring of protection would get it even higher. More importantly, how is my offense doing? Is 1d8+5 good enough?
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It's sometimes cool to be weaker on something or to actually have a weak spot. The best way however would be to grab weapons and enchant them or simply use corresponding weapon when needed for DR.
If I noticed right, Agile weapon enhancement can only be placed on melee weapons. Not sure you can place it on Amulet of Mighty Fists. Altho Agile enhancement is very good, I would go for flaming enhancement for example. Adding additional dice to your small attacks. Energy damage has better chance of bypassing other forms of protection, altho not so much at higher levels.
There is numerous other magical items that might help you out, you just have to search them.
Oils of Magic Fang are also good to have in early levels as are regular potions of Cat's Grace.
Your trip chance is also fairly low. If you wish to focus on trip, Weapon Focus (unarmed) would also raise it by +1 with unarmed trip attacks. There is feat also Agile Maneuvers that grabs your Dex instead of Str for combat maneuvers.
Hope this helps a bit
Malag
It's sometimes cool to be weaker on something or to actually have a weak spot. The best way however would be to grab weapons and enchant them or simply use corresponding weapon when needed for DR.
If I noticed right, Agile weapon enhancement can only be placed on melee weapons. Not sure you can place it on Amulet of Mighty Fists. Altho Agile enhancement is very good, I would go for flaming enhancement for example. Adding additional dice to your small attacks. Energy damage has better chance of bypassing other forms of protection, altho not so much at higher levels.
There is numerous other magical items that might help you out, you just have to search them.
Oils of Magic Fang are also good to have in early levels as are regular potions of Cat's Grace.
Your trip chance is also fairly low. If you wish to focus on trip, Weapon Focus (unarmed) would also raise it by +1 with unarmed trip attacks. There is feat also Agile Maneuvers that grabs your Dex instead of Str for combat maneuvers.
Hope this helps a bit
Malag
As far as the Agile AoMF goes, the description for the Agile ability says it can be put on melee weapons usable with Weapon Finesse. Well, unarmed strikes can be used with Weapon Finesse, and the description for the AoMF says any weapon ability that works with unarmed strikes can be put on the amulet, so it works out.
Also, according to this FAQ, if you're using a weapon (in my case a kama) to do the maneuver and you have Weapon Finesse, you can use your DEX mod. That would put my trip CMB around +13 or so.