A qinggong monk can select a ki power (see below) for which she qualifies in place of the following monk class abilities: slow fall (4th), high jump (5th), wholeness of body (7th), diamond body (11th), abundant step (12th), diamond soul (13th), quivering palm (15th), timeless body (17th), tongue of the sun and moon (17th), empty body (19th), and perfect self (20th). This replaces the monk class ability the qinggong monk gives up for this ki power.Ki powers are abilities that draw on the power of a monk’s ki. The standard monk has several abilities that count as ki powers, such as wholeness of body, abundant step, and empty body. A qinggong monk can learn additional ki powers, which often replaces a non-ki monk ability such as purity of body. Ki powers are divided into three categories: feats, monk abilities, and spells.
I've been looking at this and the monk Ki powers, it seems like there's no reason for there to be 8th level Ki powers since it seems impossible to gain a power then.
however, it mentions purity of body, but that isn't a listed power to replace...
also, do you gain a Ki power every time that slow fall gets better?
bump?
No, the FAQ doesn't address it.
a) You're right, there's no reason for there to be an 8th level section. If your GM is kind, they may let you lose the Wholeness of Body at 7th in order to wait and gain an 8th level ability once you reach level 8.
b) Purity of Body cannot be replaced by RAW. However, given that it is explicitly mentioned as an example, you have a good RAI reason to think that is just an oversight. So, I hate to be cliche, but: Ask your GM.
c) No, Slow Fall is a single ability. If you replace it, you replace all instances of it.
To answer some of the questions Slow fall is one ability. The reason for the difficulty in getting the 8th level qigongg powers is archetypes are locked into a system and it worked poorly in that bracket.
If the character is for a home game introduce a "extra ki power" feat needing lvl 7 ish. It solves the problem without any ruled tinkering.
bump?
Let's answer the second question first. You would not get a new Ki power at every level Slow Fall improves. Slow fall is a single ability that gets better as you level up. So if you replace Slow Fall (which you should) at level 4 then those improvements at later levels are no longer available. Same with Evasion at level 2. If you replace it then you will not get Improved Evasion at level 9 since it's just an improvement on the ability you get a level 2. They're not separate powers, they simply get better as you level up.
Now as far as the 8th level powers go that's just the minimum level you need to be to take them. So at level 11 you could replace Diamond Body with any power in the Qinggong list that you meet the level requirements for.
Hope that answers your question.
it's just the bolded quote REALLY confuses me, it says "additional" as in more than described and mentions a power specifically listed as one you can't normally give up. it's just really weird.
the only reason I even surmised slow fall worked that way is because it's the only thing gained at lvl 8, so i thought that the logical assumption was wrong and they just didn't spell it out.