This is my first time making a melee focused monk, so I'm not sure if I'm doing this right.
My goal is to make a melee focused dwarf monk for PFS play. I don't want to give up Flurry of Blows so one of the archetypes that seems to work is Martial Artist.
My stats (with racial bonus):
STR 16(+3) DEX 14(+2) CON 14(+2) INT 8(-1) WIS 16(+3) CHA 8(-1)
I took Dodge and Deflect Arrows as my monk bonus and starting feats. I got my AC and Touch AC to 16, not bad for first level I suppose.
Question 1)
What to do with the 150gp starting gold for a PFS play? Masterwork Nunchaku are 302gp, and nothing stands out that does more than the 1d6 damage from the unarmed strikes. Should I just hold onto as much gold as I can so I can get masterwork items sooner?
Question 2)
My plan was to get Crane Wing style to deflect a melee blow, which should go well with deflect arrow feat. But, can you do two styles at the same time?
Thanks.
Crane wing got nerfed so it's a deflection only if you're in total defense. In order to benefit from it, you have to sacrifice any chance at flurrying. So your GM is generous in allowing the RAI effects of Crane Riposte, you get the one AoO per round. If he's a strictly rules as written kinda guy, the same nerf also eviscerated Crane Riposte.
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I would drop cha to 6 and boost int to 10, the extra skill points are needed in PFS. I would also put your favored class bonus into skills.
As for the cash, buy two flasks each of alchemist fire and acid, and one flask of liquid ice. Having a source of elemental damage can be a life safer at low levels, especially against swarms.
If you are not a Master of Many Styles, you cannot have more than one style active at once. For a martial artist, I would recommend Mantis Style to capitalize on you stun DCs. Another thing to consider is to make irori your deity. This opens a dip into cleic in a few levels to take guided hand for allow you to use wisdom for your to hit. If you boost wisdom with items and your level up bonuses, this will help your Accuracy, AC, Exploit Weakness checks, and Stun DCs.
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You should almost Always apply Qinggong Archetype. Also, take a look at the Flowing Archetype. Both of those together are pretty rad if you choose to do so.
Anyways, to answer your questions:
1) Hold on to your gold, and otherwise buy the cheapo weapon(s) of your choice. I typically hold onto a kama and nunchaku purely for the benefits of Trip and Disarm special weapon tag on them.
2) You cannot do two styles at the same time, unless you are a Master of Many Styles Archetype. There is however, a feat that let's you switch styles faster or fuse them with more ease. I forget the name of it...
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i would swap dodge with combat reflexes. combat reflexes opens you up for quite a few powerful builds.
as for your starting gear, i wouldnt buy anything more then a pathfinders kit and a liquid ice.
monks should be planned to max level, that' includes feats and skills, monks are easy to make dysfunctional.
trip builds are very powerful in PFS, as most enemies are able to be tripped.
i wouldnt go with crane style, but choose snake style instead. crane was changed so it doesnt work as written.
You should almost Always apply Qinggong Archetype.
Well, Martial Artist doesn't get Ki, so it made Qinggong a bit pointless.
Crane wing got nerfed so it's a deflection only if you're in total defense. In order to benefit from it, you have to sacrifice any chance at flurrying. So your GM is generous in allowing the RAI effects of Crane Riposte, you get the one AoO per round. If he's a strictly rules as written kinda guy, the same nerf also eviscerated Crane Riposte.
Well, since it will be PFS, I assume it will be RAW. Glad to know it changed. I'll think of something else.
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I personally like the first 2 feats of dragon style as they are top notch for a Monk. The QingGong Archetype is awesome and should always be applied as it allows you access to Barkskin and Gasous Form taking you up a tier entirely.
I tend to take both Dragon styles and then later take Mantis style for the stunning fist DC increase. I like the Grapple maneuvers. Remember to focus on 2-3 things combat wise and don't spread yourself too thin you become bad at everything you do. I tend to focus on Grappling, Stunning fist DC, and Straight Damage. I don't deviate into anything else with my feats.
Don't worry about masterwork weapons yet use your first 150g to buy:
Alchemist Fire
Potion of Mage Armor
20 Cold Iron Shurikens (Piercing damage)
Temple Sword (Slashing damage)
Caltrops
Little things like water skin, sun rod, Back pack, cold weather outfit ext ext.
Your first 2 PP will be a Wand of Cure Light wounds.
I'd suggest going standard monk - you've got a great set of stats there.
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Sorry I couldn't expand on the OP questions earlier as I was on a phone. Now I have the free time I will give you my build to the last monk I built. Its rather simple, effective, and will do well in PFS as long as he isn't looked at as the only front liner. Sometimes in PFS Heavy armored melee types are hard to come by.
This is my first time making a melee focused monk, so I'm not sure if I'm doing this right.
My goal is to make a melee focused dwarf monk for PFS play. I don't want to give up Flurry of Blows so one of the archetypes that seems to work is Martial Artist.
My stats (with racial bonus):
STR 16(+3) DEX 14(+2) CON 14(+2) INT 8(-1) WIS 16(+3) CHA 8(-1)I took Dodge and Deflect Arrows as my monk bonus and starting feats. I got my AC and Touch AC to 16, not bad for first level I suppose.
Question 1)
What to do with the 150gp starting gold for a PFS play? Masterwork Nunchaku are 302gp, and nothing stands out that does more than the 1d6 damage from the unarmed strikes. Should I just hold onto as much gold as I can so I can get masterwork items sooner?Question 2)
My plan was to get Crane Wing style to deflect a melee blow, which should go well with deflect arrow feat. But, can you do two styles at the same time?
Firstly I went Dwarf as well it is a great race for Monk. Here is my Build that I know works combat wise cause I made him for a AP not PFS. Skills will vary for PFS.
Dwarf Qigong Monk
Str: 17 Dex: 14 Con: 14 Int: 8 Wis: 16 Cha: 5
Traits: Glory of Old (+1 to Hardy Racial)
Reactionary: +2 Initiative
Feats and Special Abilities:
1-Flurry of Blows
1-Stunning Fist
1-Unarmed Strike
1-Dodge (Retrain to Arcane Strike for more damage after 4 (sp) Barkskin qualifies you for Arcane strike....ain't that cheesy? haha Swift action Scaling damage yes please.)
1- Improved Grapple
2- Evasion
2- Combat Reflexes
3-Fast movement
3-Maneuver training
3- Still Mind
3- Feat - Dragon Style
4- Slow Fall/ Barkskin (Replace with Bark Skin from Qinggong Monk)
5- High Jump/ (replaceable but still useful. I suggest Ki Stand, Deny Death, or Scorching Ray)
5- Purity of Body
5- Feat- Dragon Ferocity
6- Bonus Feat- Improved Bull Rush or Improved Trip (Both are good for bonus feats. Bull Rush is good if you like being enlarged and want to push people around. Improved trip can work with Flurries and subbed out for attacks and works well with Combat reflexes. Problem is Flying/ multi-legged creatures can't be tripped. So pick your Poison Here.
7- Wholeness of Body/ Gaseous Form (replace Wholeness of Body)
7- Feat- Greater Grapple
9- Feat- Mantis Style (remember to have 3 points in heal by this level)
10- Bonus Feat- Medusa's Wrath
11-Diamond Body/ Restoration (replace Diamond Body for restoration and never pay for it again. Restoration can fix your poison problems if your ever effected due to your insanely good saves.)
11- Improved Critical, Elemental Fist, Greater Level 6 feat, Your choice!!!!
Now to answer your Questions:
Question 1: As stated Earlier when I had less time.
Don't worry about masterwork weapons yet use your first 150g to buy:
Alchemist Fire 20g (For swarms)
Potion of Mage Armor 50g
50 Cold Iron Shurikens 30g (Piercing damage to Break Piercing and Cold Iron DR and add a little Ranged. Can Flurry with Shurikens)
Temple Sword 35g (Slashing damage to Break DR can flurry with it)
5x Caltrops 5g140g spent 10g left
Little things like water skin, sun rod, Back pack, cold weather outfit ext ext.
Your first 2 PP will be a Wand of Cure Light wounds.
Question 2: Crane style was Nerfed to almost useless. It has been posted up on most sights and now in PFS most DMs have to use the errata ed crap version. I say avoid Crane style now. Fighting defensively is cool and all but Pathfinder Combat favors offense over defense. Get in their face and cause problems for them to overcome instead of weathering a beat down. BE THE BEATDOWN Secondly deflect arrows is not a style feat and can be used regardless what style your currently in. Secondly do not waste a feat on it when you can buy Gloves of arrow snatching for 4,000 gold. Yes ranged weapons hurt and when you come across them take cover or close the distance. Don't waste the feat. That is my personal opinion.
Gloves of Arrow Snaring
Amulet of Mighty Fist or Amulet of Forge/Frost Fist, Golem Bane Scarab
Boots of the Cat, Boots of Speed, Boots of Striding and Springing, Jaunt boots, Winged boots, Shoes of Lighting Leaping
Monk's Robes
Stalker's Mask, Maw of the Wyrm, Buffering Cap
Headband goes to Wisdom
Belt goes to +2 to as many stats as possible or + str as high as you can go. Style depends on player.
Shoulders go to Cloak of Resistance
Ring of Protection +1 or better
Armband of the Brawler, Longarm bracers, Bracelet of Second Chances, Bracers of Armor (I prefer a wand of mage armor for 2 PP)
Wayfinder + Clear Spindle Ioun Stone 4,400gp
Dusty Rose Prism- +1 Insight bonus to AC 5,000gp
Cracked Dusty rose Prism- +1 to Initiative 500gp
Cracked Tourmaline Sphere- +1 insight on saves against death effects 800gp
Welp that is my suggestions on a Dwarven monk.
I suggest str 17 and cut down on con. Chr can be to 7 for 4 extra points.
Strength does both to hit and damage. Need as much to hit as possible.
Get dragon style and dragon ferocity at first chance, 3rd and 5th level. Str x 1.5 is awesome with high strength.
Martial Artist is Ok but he loses out on Abundant Step and Dimensional Savant line of feats. It's really really really good. Losing out on all you Ki abilities hurts a lot. Fighter feats are good but lets face it, it's a pretty big sacrifice.
Go Human or Oni-Spawned Tiefling, for extra strength. To hit is everything to a monk, never power attack.
Dodge is great and combat reflexes at 2nd.
Improved Bull Rush.
Hungry Ghost is a pretty solid Archtype also.
Sansetsukon is probably the best monk weapon. 1d10 damage with 19/20 threat range, two hander. Can't get the strength bonus but it's still pretty sexy.
Become friends with a mage with Mage Armour, get a wand or use potions, it's really good for monks. A Pearl of Power is a cheap 1,000 gp's to bribe it to be cast on you by a difficult mage.
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To add to Mydrrin's Post about power attack.
To hit is everything to a monk, never power attack.
If you go Qinggong monk and get a (sp) ability that replaces a class ability you now qualify for Arcane Strike. It is a swift action to add additional damage to your attacks without loosing to Hit. It will also allow you to save some Ki and skip the "extra attack" unless absolutely needed.
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You've got a perfectly fine playable character there, roll with it a couple of games and decide if you like it or want to change something before you hit 2nd. You tend to get a lot of min-maxing advice here on the boards, which is totally unnecessary for pfs play. Dwarfs make excellent monks with super high saves. The monk class has a lot of options, so like thesidekick said, you want to plan out what feats you will take from 1-11.
You've got a perfectly fine playable character there, roll with it a couple of games and decide if you like it or want to change something before you hit 2nd. You tend to get a lot of min-maxing advice here on the boards, which is totally unnecessary for pfs play. Dwarfs make excellent monks with super high saves. The monk class has a lot of options, so like thesidekick said, you want to plan out what feats you will take from 1-11.
Why I suggest Str 17 with Human or something that will get you strength is because with Dragon Ferocity with 1.5xStr. 17 + 1 at 4th stat increase + 2 racial and +2 belt will get you +6 to hit, and 1d8+9 to damage at 4th level on one attack and on all attacks at 5th.
It just makes a much more playable character than the monk he was looking at with 16 Str. Focusing on a +1 nunchaku, this will get you +4 to hit and 1d6+6 damage (3 Str, +1 weapon, +2 Weapon Specialization). +2 hit is very important, the extra +3 damage with a one more for the dice increase is +4 more damage a hit.
Average 13.5 damage vs a 9.5 damage. +2 to hit will get you around a 10 to hit instead of a 12 for CR+1 creatures. 2 attacks will get you average of 13.5 damage a round vs 7.8 damage a round. 73% more damage.
Going with a cheaper to enchant nunchacu it won't scale damage as well as his fists. With Dragon Style and Ferocity with a good strength, it makes the punch and bash 'em monk better than one with a weapon.
He's asking on a forum like this for advice on what is better than what he might be doing.
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You've got a perfectly fine playable character there, roll with it a couple of games and decide if you like it or want to change something before you hit 2nd. You tend to get a lot of min-maxing advice here on the boards, which is totally unnecessary for pfs play. Dwarfs make excellent monks with super high saves. The monk class has a lot of options, so like thesidekick said, you want to plan out what feats you will take from 1-11.Why I suggest Str 17 with Human or something that will get you strength is because with Dragon Ferocity with 1.5xStr. 17 + 1 at 4th stat increase + 2 racial and +2 belt will get you +6 to hit, and 1d8+9 to damage at 4th level on one attack and on all attacks at 5th.
It just makes a much more playable character than the monk he was looking at with 16 Str. Focusing on a +1 nunchaku, this will get you +4 to hit and 1d6+6 damage (3 Str, +1 weapon, +2 Weapon Specialization). +2 hit is very important, the extra +3 damage with a one more for the dice increase is +4 more damage a hit.
Average 13.5 damage vs a 9.5 damage. +2 to hit will get you around a 10 to hit instead of a 12 for CR+1 creatures. 2 attacks will get you average of 13.5 damage a round vs 7.8 damage a round. 73% more damage.
Going with a cheaper to enchant nunchacu it won't scale damage as well as his fists. With Dragon Style and Ferocity with a good strength, it makes the punch and bash 'em monk better than one with a weapon.
He's asking on a forum like this for advice on what is better than what he might be doing.
Except it's not clearly "better" High STR human with Dragon Style will do more damage. He will also have a much lower AC, Saves, and Stunning Fist DCs.
Going Wisdom Based does slightly less damage, but gives a lot higher utility value and survivability, and better synergy with the chosen archetype. Especially since the chosen Archetype is one of the four most powerful monk builds.
This is my first time making a melee focused monk, so I'm not sure if I'm doing this right.
My goal is to make a melee focused dwarf monk for PFS play. I don't want to give up Flurry of Blows so one of the archetypes that seems to work is Martial Artist.
My stats (with racial bonus):
STR 16(+3) DEX 14(+2) CON 14(+2) INT 8(-1) WIS 16(+3) CHA 8(-1)I took Dodge and Deflect Arrows as my monk bonus and starting feats. I got my AC and Touch AC to 16, not bad for first level I suppose.
Question 1)
What to do with the 150gp starting gold for a PFS play? Masterwork Nunchaku are 302gp, and nothing stands out that does more than the 1d6 damage from the unarmed strikes. Should I just hold onto as much gold as I can so I can get masterwork items sooner?Question 2)
My plan was to get Crane Wing style to deflect a melee blow, which should go well with deflect arrow feat. But, can you do two styles at the same time?Thanks.
Sorry, didn't answer your 2nd question. With Master of Many Styles Archetype you can have more styles than one. It is really more for dipping class levels (it takes away style requirements) than for a serious monk, which is why a viable crane style was taken away (dipping monk with crane style was very powerful for any melee class - mostly because of the taking away the requirements for styles - getting crane wing at 9th level is Ok, at 2nd or 3rd not so). It takes away flurry of blows though so makes your number of attacks low and your attack bonus suck, so not not viable for a sock 'em, bash 'em monk.
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To add to Mydrrin's Post about power attack.
To hit is everything to a monk, never power attack.If you go Qinggong monk and get a (sp) ability that replaces a class ability you now qualify for Arcane Strike. It is a swift action to add additional damage to your attacks without loosing to Hit. It will also allow you to save some Ki and skip the "extra attack" unless absolutely needed.
This is a pretty outstanding find. I will try to fit this into my master monk builds :)
Is this giving it an untyped Bonus to the weapon you use it on? Or is there a type? Is this attack and damage, or just damage?|
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As a swift action, you can imbue your weapons with a fraction of your power. For 1 round, your weapons deal +1 damage and are treated as magic for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. For every five caster levels you possess, this bonus increases by +1, to a maximum of +5 at 20th level.
Says it counts as magic for the purpose of overcoming DR. And it works on just damage. But it doesn't lower your to hit which makes it nice. Since with Power attack your only getting 1 handed damage Arcane strike kind of keeps pace with it damage wise.
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To add to Mydrrin's Post about power attack.
To hit is everything to a monk, never power attack.If you go Qinggong monk and get a (sp) ability that replaces a class ability you now qualify for Arcane Strike. It is a swift action to add additional damage to your attacks without loosing to Hit. It will also allow you to save some Ki and skip the "extra attack" unless absolutely needed.This is a pretty outstanding find. I will try to fit this into my master monk builds :)
Is this giving it an untyped Bonus to the weapon you use it on? Or is there a type? Is this attack and damage, or just damage?
Arcane Strike is an untyped damage boost that scales with Caster Level (Monk level if you are using a Qinggong SLA to qualify) will make the attack count as magic for DR reduction. It doesn't add anything to hit.
EDIT: There are a lot of Ninjas on these boards....
You've got a perfectly fine playable character there, roll with it a couple of games and decide if you like it or want to change something before you hit 2nd. You tend to get a lot of min-maxing advice here on the boards, which is totally unnecessary for pfs play. Dwarfs make excellent monks with super high saves. The monk class has a lot of options, so like thesidekick said, you want to plan out what feats you will take from 1-11.Why I suggest Str 17 with Human or something that will get you strength is because with Dragon Ferocity with 1.5xStr. 17 + 1 at 4th stat increase + 2 racial and +2 belt will get you +6 to hit, and 1d8+9 to damage at 4th level on one attack and on all attacks at 5th.
It just makes a much more playable character than the monk he was looking at with 16 Str. Focusing on a +1 nunchaku, this will get you +4 to hit and 1d6+6 damage (3 Str, +1 weapon, +2 Weapon Specialization). +2 hit is very important, the extra +3 damage with a one more for the dice increase is +4 more damage a hit.
Average 13.5 damage vs a 9.5 damage. +2 to hit will get you around a 10 to hit instead of a 12 for CR+1 creatures. 2 attacks will get you average of 13.5 damage a round vs 7.8 damage a round. 73% more damage.
Going with a cheaper to enchant nunchacu it won't scale damage as well as his fists. With Dragon Style and Ferocity with a good strength, it makes the punch and bash 'em monk better than one with a weapon.
He's asking on a forum like this for advice on what is better than what he might be doing.
Except it's not clearly "better" High STR human with Dragon Style will do more damage. He will also have a much lower AC, Saves, and Stunning Fist DCs.
Going Wisdom Based does slightly less damage, but gives a lot higher utility value and survivability, and better synergy with the chosen archetype. Especially since the chosen Archetype is one of the four most powerful monk builds.
What? A lot lower AC and Saves? Show me how you come to this. Utility? To do what Int is the same.
Stat array from mine:
Str 19
Dex 14
Con 13
Int 8
Wis 14
Chr 7
Hers
STR 16(+3) DEX 14(+2) CON 14(+2) INT 8(-1) WIS 16(+3) CHA 8(-1)
So, AC gets a 1 AC hit. And a +1 wisdom save. Severely damaging to a monk right? They have the best saves and a good monk will be pumping his wisdom with items.
With Mage Armour at 4th level my toon would have 10 (base) + 4 (mage armour) + 2 (Wisdom) +2 (Dex) +1 (monk) +1 Dodge +2 (Barkskin Qi Ability) = 24 AC. Lets say the two handed fighter saved for his full plate he would have 21 if he took dodge. +10 to hit is probably average for a monster at CR5. So needs to roll a 14, or 15 for her character. Monks can have excellent AC, it's their to hit that is the problem.
Save DC for Stunning Fist is a joke, it really is great when it works, when it hits. It not only has to hit on a attack, the required save is usually on the baddies best save. So she will have about 40% chance of hitting and of stunning off the bat, then the saves 5-9 fort for CR5, at 4th level you will have 4 of them a day, save would be 15 DC (3 Wisdom + 2 level) so an average 7 fort save monster will need a 8 or better to save. 40% x 40% = 16% x 4 attacks to try on 64% a day you will get one in a day. It's worse for lower levels from the number of times a day that can be used and unless you pump wisdom and use feats it gets worse as you increase levels. Relying on Stunning Fist or focusing on it makes you not good at what she wants to make which is a punch 'em bash 'em monk.
As a swift action, you can imbue your weapons with a fraction of your power. For 1 round, your weapons deal +1 damage and are treated as magic for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. For every five caster levels you possess, this bonus increases by +1, to a maximum of +5 at 20th level.
Says it counts as magic for the purpose of overcoming DR. And it works on just damage. But it doesn't lower your to hit which makes it nice. Since with Power attack your only getting 1 handed damage Arcane strike kind of keeps pace with it damage wise.
Hmmm, never thought of this. Barkskin can be arcane with Summoner spell list. Does this count as "able to cast arcane spells"? I'm not certain. Anyone know any ruling on this?
Also, she wouldn't be able to get it if she keeps with the Martial Artist because she would have no Qi Abilities.
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So, AC gets a 1 AC hit. And a +1 wisdom save. Severely damaging to a monk right? They have the best saves and a good monk will be pumping his wisdom with items.
With Mage Armour at 4th level my toon would have 10 (base) + 4 (mage armour) + 2 (Wisdom) +2 (Dex) +1 (monk) +1 Dodge +2 (Barkskin Qi Ability) = 24 AC. Lets say the two handed fighter saved for his full plate he would have 21 if he took dodge. +10 to hit is probably average for a monster at CR5. So needs to roll a 14, or 15 for her character. Monks can have excellent AC, it's their to hit that is the problem.
Save DC for Stunning Fist is a joke, it really is great when it works, when it hits. It not only has to hit on a attack, the required save is usually on the baddies best save. So she will have about 40% chance of hitting and of stunning off the bat, then the saves 5-9 fort for CR5, at 4th level you will have 4 of them a day, save would be 15 DC (3 Wisdom + 2 level) so an average 7 fort save monster will need a 8 or better to save. 40% x 40% = 16% x 4 attacks to try on 64% a day you will get one in a day. It's worse for lower levels from the number of times a day that can be used and unless you pump wisdom and use feats it gets worse as you increase levels. Relying on Stunning Fist or focusing on it makes you not good at what she wants to make which is a punch 'em bash 'em monk.
Ok. lets break this down, and remember it's not only stats that you have changed, but also race. Your Wis is down two and con is down 1, fiving you a -1 to AC and -1 hp per level. You also no longer have the Dwarven +2 to spell and poison saves (easily 80% of all saves)or the ability to take Steel Soul. That is -3 to Fort and Will saves, the most important ones to make, which is a pretty big impact for a monk.
Your AC is ok, but you had to take Qinggong for Barkskin, waste a feat on dodge, and beg someone to cast Mage Armor on you. The OP wanted to play a Martial Artist, so Qingong isn't an option, that's why I suggested a dip in Cleric. Guided hand allow you to use wisdom to hit, which increases the stunning fist DC and accuracy needed to hit with it. Exploit Weakness is wisdom based, and provides a plus two to hit in addition to bypassing DR. Mantis Style also increases to hit with stunning fist attacks as well as DC.
By going with Wisdom to hit and dipping a level of clreic, a wisdom based martial artist is more SAD than your STR based build, able to do decent damage, will actually be more accurate, and have much better saves. It will do slightly less damage, but it has access to fighter only feats to help close that gap. It also has domain powers, cleric self buffs like Divine Power for another +2 to hit and damage with Fate's Favored, Enlarge Person as a domain spell, and access to clerical wands.
It is more inline with the OP original request, and is the only build other than a sensei that is able to reliably apply stunning fist.
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Hmmm, never thought of this. Barkskin can be arcane with Summoner spell list. Does this count as "able to cast arcane spells"? I'm not certain. Anyone know any ruling on this?
Also, she wouldn't be able to get it if she keeps with the Martial Artist because she would have no Ki Abilities.
First Anything that is a Spell like ability is Arcane unless otherwise specified by RAW rules in pathfinder. Using a spell like ability means your casting the spell.
Straight from the Qinggong monk Archetype:
Spells: These ki powers duplicate the effects of a spell, and are spell-like abilities. A qinggong monk’s class level is the caster level for these spell-like abilities, and she uses Wisdom to determine her concentration check bonus.
No if she went Martial artist no she wouldn't not get arcane strike unless she has a SLA from something else. But the build I offered in my earlier post is about a Qinggong Monk and not a martial arts build. I feel a good build Qinggong monk is easily a tier 4 class bumped up from a tier 5.
It just depends on the Original poster. Doesn't have to use my build at all I just suggested what I know works and they can take from those suggestions. Mainly my build gets the Monk: Barkskin, Gaseous Form, Restoration as Spell like abilities which push the Monk up another tier. Gaseous Form is amazing when you can escape grapples with it, Scout an entire dungeon out before your group, and helps get away from death situations. Restoration allows a monk to fix his problems for 2 ki points instead of the 100/1,000gp and allows you to do it instantly. The bark skin frees up the amulet slot for your Amulet of mighty fists and also adds a lot more Armor then you can buy with gold in PFS.
My build also included the Dragon style and ferocity for damage that every other build suggests. It also offers mantis style to up the stunning fist DC which can shut down casters very well. Grappling for controlling options as well. Basically I just offered a in your face monk to do damage with that has some utility to him that the Normal vanilla monk does not. Its hard to pull a monk out of Tier 5 without grabbing the Qinggong Archetype. But my build does crawl out of useless T5 into a competitive T4 class.
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he OP wanted to play a Martial Artist, so Qinggong isn't an option, that's why I suggested a dip in Cleric.
My goal is to make a melee focused dwarf monk for PFS play. I don't want to give up Flurry of Blows so one of the archetypes that seems to work is Martial Artist.
I thought OP wanted a melee monk who doesn't give up flurry of Blows. I didn't see Martial artist is set in stone. I offered my Qinggong monk that fits the melee monk who doesn't give up Flurry of Blows. I'm just not a fan of the Martial artist Archetype. I think lost of Ki pool actually makes the Monk weaker. The extra attack on flurries is amazing, the increased land speed is great situational ability, +4 dodge bonus is a great defensive ability. The ability to bypass DR is also a necessity for a monk but can be accomplished with a Adamantine Weapon of some sort.
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I didn't say it for a reason.
Reason being it's PFS bro.
You wont get past level 12. You don't need to keep track of Mulitclassing for the original posters first time Melee monk. Its PFS Bro I'm keeping it simple and not overwhelming them with outrageous theory crafting, number crunching, and focusing only on combat.
Secondly yes Ki is limited but again Its PFS bro. Hardly ever is my character near depletion of their resources.
I was just offering my Opinions and Keeping it simple for the OP to draw from my suggestions. That was a bit overboard on your defense of my opinion on an Archetype.
I just feel PFS does not call for that kind of Optimization and should probably be kept simple for a first go at a monk. If the OP wants to go Martial artist/cleric then by all means his opinion allowed him to choose that route. It will work well for PFS. So would a Qinggong monk or a Zen Archer. Heck its hard to go wrong in PFS. Because its PFS bro.
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Crane wing got nerfed so it's a deflection only if you're in total defense. In order to benefit from it, you have to sacrifice any chance at flurrying. So your GM is generous in allowing the RAI effects of Crane Riposte, you get the one AoO per round. If he's a strictly rules as written kinda guy, the same nerf also eviscerated Crane Riposte.
Crane Riposte FAQ. The GM cannot deny the AoO.