So I'm making a monk for our next campaign. We start at level 12 so I got a good amount to work with. I'm making a Monk of Four Winds and taking all 3 feats of Efreeti Style.
I usually prefer characters theme over the effectiveness. Thereofre I made him the guy who probably could kick your ass, but prefers not doing that. Therefore he has vows of truth and peace. He will only use Elemental Fists as a last resort against an opponent so far from redemption the only solution is to completely annihilate him/her.
First off, few questions about vow of peace:
1) Can I attack opponents who have not attacked me, but have attacked my friends or companion, or are attacking innocents?
2) Can I do the first attack on opponents that are not going to go down without violence no matter what (such as sentient undead, evil outsiders or straight up monsters who just eat people)
3) Even though the vow says I must use Fight Defensively or full defense for the first 2 rounds, can I still forgo these by using non-harming means of combat like disarm, grapple or sunder?
Due to being unable to use my full power of offence, I also went for combat feats so I can grapple or disarm opponents. One question I have is about disarm: The description says if I do the disarm without the use of a weapon, I can pick up the dropped item. Does this include if I do it unarmed, but as a monk I'm considered armed even with only my fists. Do I need to take the -4 to be able to pick up the weapon? Being able to take away enemy weapons would be massively useful.
