Hi All,
I recently got Occult Adventures and I'm extremely excited by the Esoteric Magus Archetype. I've always wanted a Monk/Magus hybrid that just worked right out of the box without having to "get good" when they hit a certain level or use weapons other than the Unarmed Strike.
Now, I really like all of the replacement class features but I have absolutely no idea what Ki Arcana is supposed to do.
I can't use it for any normal Monk/Ninja related stuff because unless I multiclass I don't actually have the abilities to spend the Ki points on them.
I suppose there's the Chakra stuff in the book but a lot of that seems like garbage unless you invest a ton of feats into it and even then I don't think it would be worthwhile.
The best I can think to do with it is to double dip on Extra Arcana and Extra Ki to get 4 bonus points at the expense of 2 feats instead of 2 bonus points for 1 feat which also doesn't seem worthwhile.
Am I missing something with this class feature or is it almost entirely worthless without being Ninja 2/Magus, UC Monk 3/Magus, Ki Mystic 3/Magus, or Monk 4/Magus?
Any help would be appreciated as I'm at a total loss for the actual application of this alternate class feature.
Please let me know if there are any questions.
Thank you,
TreDawg
I've been trying to figure this out as well. There are some feats that you could take with this feature. The ones I've found so far are...
Ki Stand
Deny Death
Gliding Steps
Ki Throw
Improved Ki Throw
Binding Throw
Spinning Throw
I have no idea whether any of them are worth taking.
I've had a couple of ideas on this, but I'm not sure that all of them will work. Let me know what you think:
1. Monk Vows! "A monk can take a vow at any level, but it does not add to his ki pool until he gains a ki pool as a class feature..." and since Ki Arcana specifies that, "an esoteric’s arcane pool
is also considered a ki pool for the purposes of meeting
feat and ability requirements..." I think you can get access to a few extra arcane pool points by taking a one level monk dip.
2. If you are taking a dip for monk anyways, flurry of blows might not stack with Spell Combat but it can be used to burn through charges of spells like Frostbite. If you go (UC)Monk 3/Magus+ then you can spend some of those arcane pool points for another extra attack during a flurry.
3. I looked at "Ki Leech" as a candidate for Spell Blending, but as Ki Arcana only states that it is considered a ki pool for the purposes of meeting feat and ability requirements, I'm not sure it would work. If it did, it could help make a viable Pool Strike build.
Thanks guys.
I didn't consider Monk Vows as I remember them being really restrictive but I'll have another look at them.
I was thinking about dipping Monk, definitely the Unchained one, because it would be really good with blowing through charges on Chill Touch, Frostbite, and Elemental Touch.