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I am GMing at a convention next week for pfs and should get 2 racial Boons for Oread race. I have decided to use one for my monk but haven't decided on the other. Since it is pfs, I have only built for levels 1 to 13.
Oread Monk of the 4 Winds
Str 18 (16 + 2)
Dex 14
Con 14
Int 9
Wis 16 (14 + 2)
Con 5 (7 - 2)
Ability score increases
lvl 4 & lvl 8 - strength
Lvl 12 - intelligence
Feats
Lvl 1 weapon focus: unarmed strike
Monk bonus: Dodge
Archtype: elemental fist (electricity)
Lvl 2 monk bonus: scorpion style
Lvl 3: toughness
Lvl 5: djinni style
Lvl 6 monk bonus: gorgon's fist
Lvl 7: lightning reflexes
Lvl 9: eldritch claws
Lvl 10 monk bonus: Medusa's wrath
Lvl 11: djinni spirit
Lvl 13: power attack
Items looking to purchase and upgrade as I go
Bodywrap of mighty strikes
Bracers of armor
Headband of inspired wisdom
Belt of giant strength
Amulet of mighty fist
Cloak of resistance
Ring of protection
Once I get higher in levels and have enough free gold I will sell the belt of giant strength +4 for a belt of physical might +4 (Str and dex)
Any info on adjusting this build or what to build with the 2nd boon is appreciated
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I must have forgotten that. I will just switch it and toughness. And take wf as a 3rd lvl feat.
This pc is for pfs so I will have to sell the belt of strength to buy the belt of physical might. They are 2 separate belts so I can't just upgrade from one to the other like I could upgrade a +2 belt of giant strength to a +4 belt of giant strength. It would be like upgrading a +2 half plate to a +3 full plate.
Nope, you can. Check it out
Character build advuce should go in the Advice forum though. Flagged for transfer.
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I had placed it in a society forum since it was about a pfs build.
I know that an item can have an enhancement upgrade to it. This is what is done with upgrading a belt of any kind from a +2 to a +4. But one can't upgrade one belt to a different belt. I can upgrade a belt of physical might +2 to physical might +4 but I cannot upgrade a belt of physical might +2 to a belt of physical superiority +2/+4.
Yes they are both belts but they are separate belts so I cannot upgrade the "enhancement" bonus on one to somehow get the other.
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I can upgrade a belt of physical might +2 to physical might +4 but I cannot upgrade a belt of physical might +2 to a belt of physical superiority +2/+4.
You can't get a belt of physical superiority +2/+4 . It's not a standard item. Implanted ioun stones can help if you want increases to two stats, but one more than another.
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I meant belt of physical superiority +2 or +4. My bad. Once you have the pfs fame for the cost or it appears on the chronicle sheet, you can buy it.
I was using it for example in the discussion on upgrading the enhancement bonus on belts. That you can upgrade a belt of ____ +2 to a +4 and then to a +6. But if I have a belt of giant strength +2, I cannot do an enhancement upgrade of the strength belt to a belt of physical might +2 or one that is +4. I would have to sell the belt of giant strength and buy the belt of physical might if I want to include dex or con to the bonuses gained from the belt.
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I take back what I said earlier about just having one thing to say:
If you're going to be an Oread Monk, it would behoove you to at least be aware of and look at the Oread-exclusive Monk Archetype. If you don't have the Advanced Race Guide, be sure to get it - as a matter of fact, I'm not certain since you have a Boon, but you may not be able to play an Oread at all if you don't have your own copy of at least one of the sourcebooks it's presented in (it's also in Bestiary 2, but the Advanced Race Guide will offer your character so much more). As a single-class Monk, you'll want to at least opt for the Crystalline Form or Stone In The Blood alternate racial abilities, since they replace the Earthy Affinity ability that is useless to such a character. Also consider the Treacherous Earth ability, especially if you don't choose to be a Student of the Stone - high-level Monks (who aren't of Archetypes that sacrifice this ability, and most don't) are the fastest PCs in the game (rivaled only by Cavaliers, but they need their Mounts), and the ability to suddenly create difficult terrain can be an especially mean trick to pull on enemies who are already hard-pressed to outrun you.
As for your second Oread Boon, there is a bustling Boon Trading Thread where I'm sure there are plenty of people with plenty of cool (or at least adequate) things to offer you for it (it's how I got my wonderful Wayang Boon).
That said, if you want to keep it, a few classes I can recommend for the race are:
Shaitan Binder (Oread-exclusive Summoner Archetype) - replace the Earth Affinity ability with something else, not necessarily but most likely Earth Insight. Note that Oread Summoners can elect to use their Favored Class bonus to increase their Eidolon's natural armor. True, Summoner magic is based on the ability that Oreads take a penalty to, but not only is the Archetype is not only unique to them, it looks pretty good, though it's hardly welcome, a Summoner can make do with a relatively low Charisma to begin with (I'd suggest 13-15, penalty included; I've developed a policy of, "if a race has a penalty to an ability score, never put more than 10 points in it, and if it has a bonus to it, never put fewer than 2 points in it" - What I'm suggesting to you in this case is an exception, since raising it to 15 would mean 13 points, which in this unusual case I'd call in the realm of worth it).
Cleric - an Oread's aptitude for the life of the cloth is much like a Dwarf's; the default Earth Affinity ability actually shows its value here, provided you take the Earth Domain. Alternatively, you could replace it with the Fertile Soil ability, which offers the same benefits to a Cleric with the Plant Domain. Since Clerics are perfectly adept at summoning monsters, the Earth Insight is also a good choice, certainly if you want to be a Cleric of something other than Earth or Plant.
Inquisitor - again, an Oread's ability modifiers lend themselves pretty well to this class; Since Inquisitors can get the granted abilities of a Domain but not its spells, the Earth Affinity/Fertile Soil abilities are still good, they just don't offer as much as they do to a Cleric or Druid. Again, there's not a thing wrong with Crystalline Form or Stone in the Blood if you'd prefer them (in fact, since acid splash is on the Inquisitor spell list, that's a little extra perk you could eke out of Stone In The Blood - some may call it "HAX," but it really isn't, given the ability's limitations).
Druid - This is actually a very good choice for Oreads, especially since not only do their ability bonuses serve them as well as they serve Clerics and Inquisitors, but their Charisma penalty isn't anywhere near as bothersome for Druids as for those two. Remember that Pathfinder allows Druids to take an Animal Companion OR certain Domains, of which Earth and Plant are of course two options, so Earth Affinity/Fertile Soil are again welcome powers, as is Earth Insight, especially since they can spontaneously cast summon nature's ally.
Rogue - This one may come as a surprise, but think about it: A) one of the cool things about Rogues is that they can find a way to do well with almost any tableau of ability scores, including one that emphasizes Strength and Wisdom and neglects Charisma; B) while slow speed is unwelcome for most Rogues (particularly without the attack roll, armor class, and Stealth bonuses that come with being Small), it can be mitigated with the Ki Pool Rogue Talent, especially if you have an exceptionally high Wisdom (and don't forget you'll be able to take Extra Ki afterwards if you want more than what your Wisdom bonus gives you); C) take the Stony Step, and when you advance far enough, the Oread Burrower and Oread Earth Glider feats (you might also need Echoes of Stone and Murmurs of Earth, or something comparable, to pull this off well), and an Oread Rogue can become...kind of like the guy at the 0.37-mark here; D) acid resistance, magic stone, and Darkvision are all welcome things for a Rogue to have, and Oreads have several other options that could be of great use to a Rogue: Crystalline Form, Stone In The Blood (assuming they don't multiclass or something, an Oread Rogue definitely wants to replace Earth Affinity with one of those), Ferrous Growth (quite the Rogue-friendly ability: Suddenly need a tool you don't have? Is it/can it be made of iron or steel? Is there some nonmagical metal lying around/have you been some unworked ingots around for just such an occasion? Presto!), Granite Skin (armor class is a Rogue's very good friend), Mountain-Born (a suite of minor bonuses that could be useful to anyone, but Rogues especially), and Treacherous Earth (this one's debatable for a Rogue, but it could have its uses, especially if you take the Nimble Moves, Acrobatic Steps, and/or Stony Step feats).
Fighter - A no-brainer for anyone with a Strength bonus; Wisdom isn't as important, but a superior Will save and bonus to Perception and Survival (the latter of which they get as a class skill now) is welcome, and of course a Charisma penalty sits just fine with most Fighters. Darkvision, of course, is especially great for Fighters for a number of reasons, and they have many alternate abilities that Fighters will find of great value (again, you want one of the non-magical alternatives to Earth Affinity). The only drawback is their slow speed, and the fact that most Fighters wear medium or heavy armor - HOWEVER, you could take the Dwarf Blooded feat to solve that problem. Do that (and/or take some or all of the 3 feats I mentioned for Rogues), and you'd also be able to have some mean fun with the Treacherous Earth ability.
Barbarian - This might be an even better choice than Fighter for an Oread. As mentioned, Oreads are slow for a medium-size race, and would be made slower my most of the armor a Fighter normally wears (unless thy take the feat above). Barbarians, on the other hand, seldom wear armor heavier than medium, and so long as they aren't overly encumbered, they enjoy a +10 bonus to movement speed (except for the Archetypes that don't, which are many). Oread ability modifiers suit them as well as they suit Fighters. An Oread Barbarian with acid resistance, Stone In The Blood, and the Elemental Kin Archetype will react to encountering a river of acid almost the way a Halfling Rogue reacts to finding a storeroom full of pipeweed. Also worth considering is the Treacherous Earth ability - it's no guarantee, but an Oread Barbarian could, in particular, manage to put this ability to good use as a way to foil fleeing or mobility-loving adversaries.
Gunslinger - First of all, it's unclear if rocks enchanted by magic stone can be used as gun bullets as well as sling bullets; it's not inconceivable, so if this possibility interests you, ask around; replace Earth Affinity yada yada yada; an Oread's Wisdom bonus is the obvious draw here, and their Strength bonus, while not as important for Gunslingers as for most warriors, will still be welcome should they need to resort to melee; still, they prefer to fight at range, and that means their slow speed won't bother them as much; an Oread Gunslinger could make good use of Treacherous Earth as a defense/trap; Ferrous Growth, while potentially useful for nearly anyone, an Oread Gunslinger might have even more use for it if they could use it to create ammunition and other firearm paraphernalia - looking at the rules, I'm not sure whether they could or not, so that's something else to ask around about. While there's not a thing wrong with acid resistance, Granite Skin is a worthwhile choice for Gunslingers since they both are going to have very good Reflex saves (meaning exceptional protection from most things that do acid damage) and normally wear only light armor and no shields unless they spend feat slots to acquire them (or are the Gun Tank Archetype).
Ranger: Another very good choice for an Oread - their Wisdom bonus will see abundant benefit (important Ranger class skills, shoring up their weak Will save, and of course their magic), and now that Pathfinder offers Combat Styles that favor Strength over Dexterity (most notably but not limited to Two-Handed Weapon Style and Weapon and Shield Style), the Oread's Strength bonus is all the more advantageous. Nix Earth Affinity for the non-magical options or Earth Insight (which a Ranger can benefit from, but only after quite some time to a very limited extent). Granite Skin is an appealing alternative to acid resistance for the same reason as it is for Gunslingers, though to a lesser extent. Ferrous Growth, Mountain-Born, and Treacherous Earth can all also be a good fit for Rangers.
Cavalier/Samurai: Not the most perfect fit, but they definitely have their advantages; as far as I can tell, the central differences between Cavalier and Samurai work equally well for an Oread; Again, an Oread's Strength bonus is a boon to almost any warrior class, and while Wisdom is a common choice for a Cavalier's "dump stat," a high Wisdom can also serve a Cavalier fine. The main problem, of course, is their Charisma penalty, which blunts the otherwise-fine social skill potential cultivated by many Cavaliers, and what's more, many Cavalier/Samurai Orders have one or more cool abilities that hinge on Charisma - but there are also plenty of exceptions that can dodge this, namely the Orders of the Warrior, Ronin/Knight Errant, Dragon, Penitent, Seal, Shield, Staff, and Tome. Of particular note out of these are the Order of the Dragon, which grants two very useful Wisdom-based class skills, and the Order of the Tome, which can (for Tome Knights who take the divine fork rather than arcane in the dichotomy their Order presents them with) allow Cavaliers to take further advantage of a high Wisdom score by using divine scrolls. As with all classes that don't benefit from it, replace Earth Affinity with something else - Crystalline Form is probably an exceptionally good in the case of most Cavaliers/Samurai, since with only a few exceptions (like certain Archetypes), the bulk of their armor class is going to come from their beloved heavy armor, which, short of some exotic enchantment I'm not sure is even out there, will offer not a single iota of protection from ray attacks (Stone In The Blood offers what it offers, of course, and Earth Insight will be of some use to Tome Knights, but we're talking about quite a bit of delayed gratification). For the same reason that Crystalline Form is such a good idea (that and: "Why settle for a knight in shining armor when I could be a shining knight in armor?"), I'd suggest an Oread Cavalier/Samurai keep their standard acid resistance as opposed to Granite Skin - your armor class will doubtless be high enough, but other knights will find themselves envying your ability to shrug off something that's nearly always delivered via touch attack. Treacherous Earth is a good choice for Cavaliers/Samurai for reasons similar to its appeal to Monks and Barbarians - it's a great way for any character with speed advantage to exploit it at their enemies' further expense. This brings us to the final appeal the Cavalier/Samurai classes hold to Oreads, which is that their Mount allows them to overcome their speed disadvantage - and of course, while it's a well-known disadvantage that Medium-sized knights will find themselves unable to bring their Large Mounts into many dungeons, an Oread knight will be able to compensate for that in a way with their dungeon-friendly racial feats (true, these don't directly compensate for the amazing fighting power a knight enjoys while mounted, but the point is that even when they don't have that, an Oread Cavalier/Samurai can still do other things that might make the rest of the party's eyes go a bit wide).
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I will go to my closet, open the door and bow to you in humble thanks to your uttermost willingness to help a lot. I should be getting 3 racial boon sheets for what I have been told is the oread race. If I did get 3 Boons for just the oread race, 1 definitely will be traded (I do want an ifrit boon for my sorcerer). I might use the 2nd oread boon for another pc but depending on what is offered, I would be willing to trade.
Since I do have several characters to play and level before getting to this monk, I should have time to get the advanced race guide. I will also review the racial traits as well.
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But if I have a belt of giant strength +2, I cannot do an enhancement upgrade of the strength belt to a belt of physical might +2
This is incorrect; you can do exactly that. Citation.
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Ok. I am backing and yielding. I was informed by several GMs when I started playing that since the belts are named differently and gave different bonuses (one belt gave a bonus to one ability while another gave to more than one) you could not simply "pay the difference" like for an enhancement bonus. Until mike or any other Paizo man in charge is quoted otherwise, I can roll with this.
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Treacherous earth ability combined with combat reflexes on a melee pc is flat out mean. Only once per day but would be BROKEN if multiple uses with it being "at will."
Take this with combat reflexes and the cleave tree on, say, a barbarian. One way to be really mean is to carry scrolls of the arcane spell that let's you soak up to like 50 points of an energy (acid, cold, etc) and right before you charge in have the arcane person caster cast it on you. You charge into a highly populated area full of say 5 or 6 bad guys and hit one. Let them surround you to when the arcane caster fire balls the area on its turn, you can soak up fire energy because of the scroll when they take damage. Your next turn, at will the ability and start cleaving with a possible extra 16 fire damage per hit or just unload all fire onto the first hit. The bad guys that get scared and move can't 5 foot step away and will start bringing in free swings. If you have a high dex (at higher level it can be as high if not higher than str) you can get in a good 3 or 4 if enough bad guys move. Plus if you have power attack and furious focus with your 2 handed weapon. Granted this is once per day but this could be a greatly planned aoe melee/arcane over-kill.