As the title would suggest, I'm looking at making a zen archer monk. I know these builds can get out of hand, and I want the potential to be a powerhouse. Any advice on making this character useful to full potential?
Also, looking for a few fun ways to give him a few disadvantages to give the GM ways to disable me if he doesn't want me pelting everything that moves. I play PFS...so having drawbacks can be fun.
OK...GO!
Oni Spawn Tiefling; +2 Str, +2Wis, Alter Self SLA.
Take the Arcane Strike feat. You qualify due to your SLA. Take Precise Shot as your first Monk Bonus feat.
Putting weaknesses on you cheezasaurus rex is heresy!
This is disgusting, and I love it.
Well, it's a pretty hard class to mess up, which is part of why it's often considered in the op department. My Zen archer at level 11 in pfs rocks between a 37 and a 44 ac, has a low save of 13 and a high of 19 (my will none the less), and that's before +5 vs spells and spell like abilities for being a dwarf. I have three times been the on. party member to make a save vs a save or be out of the battle for a long period of time, and have solod twice a cr 3 levels above my class level.
That being said, I'm not as offensively great as a gunslinger or other archers. I usually do about 100dps, where a ranger or fighter archer is at roughly 150 from what I've seen. Of course I can tank bbegs in the face (and do because I think it's hilarious) and they can't so much, and I nearly always make my saves so there's that advantage. It's always fun when the dice rolls a 3 and it's a 27 will save still:)
More than other archers you have a lot of flexibility. Flurry replaces many shot and rapid shot you get a lot of feats as bonus feats or straight replacements. So you can kind of do what you want. I wouldn't min/max too hard (I did) as it's pretty unnecessary, and you said you don't want to enrage your gms too much:)
The advice i will give us is at level 1 take precise shot and at level 6 take improved precise. At level 9 you want clustered shots, and use qi gong monk to pick up barkskin. Pick up boots of haste so you can use your ki for defense or running if you want. Carry an extra bow. Otherwise you get most everything else you have to have from the class itself, everything else is just gravy.