Which Monk path should I follow?

[Korva Thrune]

Hi, my name is Korva.

Korva Thrune:

Full Name: Korva Thrune

Race: Human
Classes/Levels: Monk 1
Gender: Female
Size: Medium
Age: 19
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Deity: Asmodaeus
Location: Cheliax
Languages: Common
Occupation: Sisters of the Golden Erinyes (Lemure)

Strength 14
Dexterity 14
Constitution 12
Intelligence 10
Wisdom 18
Charisma 8

I'm about to begin my career as a monk, but find myself somewhat torn between the Quingon monk and the Hungry Ghost. While the Quingong has a lot of really neat tricks, I do think that the Hungry Ghost path seems a bit more practical. Indeed I find the idea of sucking the life out of my victims to be quite appealing, but my biggest hang up is Punishing Kick.

Punishing kick for Stunning fist is a very poor trade. The ability to stun someone causing then to not only lose their action but to also drop whatever they are holding (weapons, for example) is just much better than being able to knock someone down. So my question is, is it worth losing Stunning Fist for the wonderful increased resource renewal that the Hungry Ghost monk's abilities offer?

[prototype00]

Both archetypes stack and their interaction is quite synergistic, so I don't see the decision here.

For Hungry Ghost, just think about it as trading away stunning fist for the ability to suck the life-force of your foes later.

prototype00

[Korva Thrune]

prototype00 wrote:

Both archetypes stack and their interaction is quite synergistic, so I don't see the decision here.

For Hungry Ghost, just think about it as trading away stunning fist for the ability to suck the life-force of your foes later.

prototype00

Do I miss understand you? It seems like you're saying I could just take both. Can't you only have one archetype?

[Imbicatus]

And you can add stunning fist back with a feat at later levels.

However, Since you are a member of the Sisters of the Golden Erinyes, You should really look into the Hamatulatsu Master archetype found in Inner Sea Combat.

It's very thematic for your background.

[Imbicatus]

Korva Thrune wrote:

prototype00 wrote:

Both archetypes stack and their interaction is quite synergistic, so I don't see the decision here.

For Hungry Ghost, just think about it as trading away stunning fist for the ability to suck the life-force of your foes later.

prototype00

Do I miss understand you? It seems like you're saying I could just take both. Can't you only have one archetype?

You can have multiple archetypes if they do not replace the same items. See the FAQ discussing this.

[prototype00]

A character can take more than one archetype and garner additional alternate class features, but none of the alternate class features can replace or alter the same class feature from the base class as another alternate class feature. For example, a fighter could not be both an armor master and a brawler, since both archetypes replace the weapon training 1 class feature with something different.

prototype00

[Arachnofiend]

Worth mentioning is that Punishing Kick works on everything, unlike the highly limited Stunning Fist. It isn't a trip so it even works on stuff you normally couldn't knock prone.

I'm actually using it in conjunction with a Wolf Savage build that is untested and is beefed up by a lot of homebrew.

[Korva Thrune]

Cool, thank you for all the information guys. It looks like I won't get everything I want out of Quingon but I'll be able to get the good stuff (like blood crow strike).

[Mydrrin]

I usually go strength based, with dragon style. To hit is so important to a monk. Hungry Ghost is powerful at later levels, it's not very strong until 8th or so when healing and ki points start to rock. Depending on what level you finish up at the Dimensional Savant line of feats gets you crazy strong.