Hey Everyone,
So I'm pretty much finished with my Zen Archer and just wanted some over all thoughts about it on a couple fronts.
1. How my first level choices look overall.
2. How I can better myself against the undead.
Starting Level: 1
Ability Scores: (in common order str, dex, con, int, wis, cha) (24d6 dice pool with 4d6 assigned to each roll, we rerolled ones)
16-19-16-14-19-10
Race: Vanara
Alignment: L/N (at least until I feel Zen Archer no longer aids me in my task and I may start to lean more N/G)
Feats: Perfect Strike (B), Precise Shot, and Tree Hanger.
Traits + Drawbacks:
- Rich Parents Start with 900gp
- Doubt: You lack confidence in your abilities or confidence in the universe at large. Whenever you fail a skill or ability check, you take a —4 penalty on that type of skill or ability check for the next hour.
Trap Finder: (+1 to disable device, makes it class skill, and I can disable traps like a rogue)
Wisdom in the Flesh (Irori) [Disable Device]: Your hours of meditation on inner perfection and the nature of strength and speed allow you to focus your thoughts to achieve things your body might not normally be able to do on its own. Select any Strength-, Constitution-, or Dexterity-based skill. You may make checks with that skill using your Wisdom modifier instead of the skill's normal ability score. That skill is always a class skill for you.
Languages: common, vanaran, goblin, sylvan
Items: 3x Sacks and a backpack masterwork
Sack 1 hold my hammock, Spare quiver of arrows, the other two spare sacks, hooded lantern, 2x pints of oil, 6 days of trail rations.
Masterwork backpack : in this is my canteen with water, it holds my 10ft pole strapped to it, master work thieves tools, chalk x10, flint+steel, 1x torch.
All money is spent.
Weapons:
MW Composite Longbow Mighty 3
Temple Sword (exotic counts as monk weapon according to ultimate equipment)
Clothes
Monk outfit, nothing else.
Current load is almost 40 lbs just a bit under half of my total light load.
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Now, as far as the undead aspect, this is from the GM. He has shown us the Player's Guide for this setting and after reading it screams Undead.
(I don't want to know if this is true or not)
Since we are supposed to be locals, I think it is a fair assumption to make. Now, typically archers or rather piecing weapons, take the biggest hit in damage against most undead.
If I wanted to be able to excel at dealing with Undead but not let it consume my characters every waking moment, what would you suggest?
Blunt Arrows deal bludgeoning damange (Skeletons)
If you see a zombie... Just run? :P
Don't worry too much about DR. Clustered shots will take care of it.
Dammit I forgot all about that.
/facepalm
Mr. Dodo mentioned blunt arrows. There are also a bunch of trick arrows in the Elves of Golarion book. Durable arrows are my favorite (because they make it cost effective to get special materials on your arrow heads), but for undead, see if your GM will let you get Raining Arrows (hollow arrow shafts filled with holy water).
Also, weapon blanches work wonderfully on arrows. Ghost Salt weapon blanch is expensive, but well worth it when you need to hit incorporeal critters.
My two standard recommendations for Zen Archers:
1) Pick up Improved Precise Shot as your level 6 bonus feat. You can ignore cover bonuses and most concealment.
2) Get Adaptive on your bow as soon as you can afford it. (It takes +1 plus an extra 1,000 gp.) Until you can, you'll want to carry a non-composite longbow as a backup. (If you get strength drained or fatigued or something, you'll take a -2 attack penalty from a composite bow.)
Mr. Dodo mentioned blunt arrows. There are also a bunch of trick arrows in the Elves of Golarion book. Durable arrows are my favorite (because they make it cost effective to get special materials on your arrow heads), but for undead, see if your GM will let you get Raining Arrows (hollow arrow shafts filled with holy water).
Also, weapon blanches work wonderfully on arrows. Ghost Salt weapon blanch is expensive, but well worth it when you need to hit incorporeal critters.
My two standard recommendations for Zen Archers:
1) Pick up Improved Precise Shot as your level 6 bonus feat. You can ignore cover bonuses and most concealment.2) Get Adaptive on your bow as soon as you can afford it. (It takes +1 plus an extra 1,000 gp.) Until you can, you'll want to carry a non-composite longbow as a backup. (If you get strength drained or fatigued or something, you'll take a -2 attack penalty from a composite bow.)
Thanks, great stuff.
all arrows should be durable cold iron arrows, except for your durable blunt cold iron arrows.
You can get adamantine blanch, or real adamantine arrows depending on how spendy you feel. Ghost salt blanch is also good.
If you invest in a proper array of arrows clustered shots becomes extremely optional, and if you have more money than feats available then swarmbane/golembane scarabs can eliminate the need for the feat almost entirely.
You're a monk though, so you may find yourself with a lot of extra feats.
If it matters, my dm has ruled I can take clustered shot at level 7 in stead of 8, and I can hang from anything I want to as long as it supports my weight with tree hanger. :D
As a Zen Archer you still get unarmed strikes, which means that while holding your bow if you come up against undead then you can use unarmed strikes. If you do all 20 levels in Zen Archer, your unarmed strikes continue to get better and better and bypass almost all DR.
Ditch the Exotic Temple Sword. It's my understanding that you don't gain proficiency with it just because its a Monk weapon. It having the quality of Monk Weapon just means it can be used in Flurry of Blows. But being a Zen Archer you can't Flurry with anything but your bow.
Grab a combo of Silvered/Cold-Iron brass knuckles to wear on one hand always. Also carry a club & some slashing weapon.
Tree Hanger feat is nice for theme/flavor but it screams out to me problematic for an archer hanging upside down with a quiver full of arrows and a sack with more arrows...
The following feat seems better suited if you're worried about your CMD.
Defensive Combat Training (Combat)Benefit: You treat your total Hit Dice as your base attack bonus when calculating your Combat Maneuver Defense (see Combat).
To be honest, I only wanted it because my DM won't let me hang by my tail normally. And I would like to use that nice climb skill to get up to high places and stay protected and fire from above. Or be able to attach ropes to places and check for traps on ceilings and such.
Thanks for pointing out the temple sword, it isn't needed if I can fight in melee with hands.
That's a sweet 30g back in my pocket, time to go to the shopping mall. lol
Ditch the Exotic Temple Sword. It's my understanding that you don't gain proficiency with it just because its a Monk weapon. It having the quality of Monk Weapon just means it can be used in Flurry of Blows. But being a Zen Archer you can't Flurry with anything but your bow.
Monks are normally proficient in Temple Sword, and Zen Archer doesn't replace it, so no feat necessary. Temple Sword isn't a bad backup melee weapon--it's as good as a long sword--but it might not suit your character's flavor. You will probably rarely use it, but you never know--sometimes you just have to cut things.
Grab a combo of Silvered/Cold-Iron brass knuckles to wear on one hand always. Also carry a club & some slashing weapon.
Check with your GM: there's an argument whether brass knuckles let you do your monk unarmed strike damage or only always do 1d3. (This is due to a change in the wording between Ultimate Equipment and Advanced Player's Guide.)
If the GM says "brass knuckles don't do monk's unarmed strike damage", I prefer to use the cestus instead: 1d4, Bludgeoning or Piercing, crits on a 19-20. Big difference is that the cestus never does a monk's unarmed strike damage, which is why I suggest you ask first. (At higher levels, your unarmed strikes count for silver and cold iron, so it becomes less of an issue.)
Tree Hanger feat is nice for theme/flavor but it screams out to me problematic for an archer hanging upside down with a quiver full of arrows and a sack with more arrows...
Although I'd let you do it with an Efficient Quiver...it would make me giggle, too. :-)
The following feat seems better suited if you're worried about your CMD.
Defensive Combat Training (Combat)Benefit: You treat your total Hit Dice as your base attack bonus when calculating your Combat Maneuver Defense (see Combat).
This is good advice. Zen Archer trades out the "maneuver training" class feature at level 3, so this would be a good way to replace it.
Alright, fair enough on the upside down quiver.
i will swap out that feat.