I need some suggestions for what feats my PFS Monk should take. Here is my current stats.
Level 6 Monk (Zen Archer) (Qinggong)
Race: Human
Str 14
Dex 14
Con 14
Int 7
Wis 20 (22)
Chr 7HP 57
Fort +8, Ref +8, Will +12
Feats: Toughness, Improved Initiative, Improved Unarmed Strike, Perfect Strike, Precise Shot, Improved Precise Shot, Point Blank Shot, Point Blank Master, Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization, Deadly Aim, Monkey Style
Skills: Acrobatics +21 (+35 to Jump), Climb +10, Perception +15, Sense Motive +10
Items of note: Cloak of Protection +1, Ring of Protection +1, Headband of inspired wisdom +2, Wand of Mage Armor lvl 1, +1 Adaptive Greenwood Composite Longbow of +2 Str. Handy Haversack
Initiative +8
Ki Pool 9
AC 10 +7 (Monk) +1 (Deflection) +2 (Dex) With potential of +4 (Mage Armor) +3 (Barkskin)
Full attack with bow counting Deadly Aim but not PBS +10/+10/+5 1D8 +9 Also ignore partial cover or concealment so no more -4 for shooting past allies.
For levels 7 - 9 I plan to go Fighter (Weapon Master) so that I can pick up early Weapon Training and use Dueling Gloves for the extra +3 to hit and damage. That means I have to pick 2 Combat feats from Fighter and my 2 regular feats for 7th and 9th level.
At level 8 I get a BaB of +6 and a second bonus combat feat so Clustered Shots seems obvious. But that still leaves me 3 feats to pick.
Any suggestions?
Clustered shots, hammer the gap, reckless aim, big game hunter are ones worth a look...
Clustered shots is good, but Reckless Aim might be problematic for PFS (no PVP).
I'm not a big fan of Hammer the Gap. First, you can only get a total damage of {# of attacks}-1. Second, if any attack misses, you reset the count to 0. If you have about a 70% chance to hit, you need at least 3 shots at full BAB to consistently get 2 extra damage a round.
Running a few calculations:
Your current level 6 attack sequence (flurry) is +10/+10/+5 for 1D8 +9, which averages about 20.79 damage per round against AC 20 (average monster AC for CR 7).
At 7th level, your flurry sequence would be +11/+11/+6 for 1d8+9, which averages about 23.02 damage per round against AC 20 or 20.79 damage per round against AC 21 (average AC for CR 8).
How often do you use your ki pool for the extra attack? If you usually use your ki points for something else, you'll average more damage per round if you pick up Rapid Shot and Manyshot at level 7.
Your 7th level attack sequence with Rapid Shot/Manyshot would be +9(+9)/+9++4 (using Monk's BAB of 4 instead of Monk level), for 1d8+9. You'll average about 25.71 damage per round against AC 20 or 22.80 against AC 21.
The extra arrow from Manyshot more than makes up for the -2 penalty you take for not flurrying. (This is not the case if you always use your ki pool for additional attacks.) The other piece is that Rapid Shot lets you qualify for Snap Shot and Improved Snap Shot.
Now, if you don't care about threatening with your bow and you always use ki points to get an extra attack, you might be better off taking Extra Ki, and then pick up Dodge to boost your AC.
If you have any SLAs via Qingong you might want to look into Arcane Strike. It competes for your swift action for extra attack, but is a decent damage adder when low on Ki points.
Gwen you seem to be suggesting I take 2 feats that come close to duplicating an ability I already have in order to get 2 extra damage per round on average. I like damage as much as the next person but I have to believe that there are better things I can do with those feats. Plus Manyshot requires a BAB of +6 so I would have to waste one of the 2 feats I pick up at level 7 on Rapid Shot then take Manyshot at level 8 instead of Clustered Shots. Also I will probably go back to Zen Archer for levels 10 and 11 and get that 4th attack anyway.
As for my Ki I use 1 or 2 for Barkskin and the rest for extra attacks.
Gwen you seem to be suggesting I take 2 feats that come close to duplicating an ability I already have in order to get 2 extra damage per round on average. I like damage as much as the next person but I have to believe that there are better things I can do with those feats. Plus Manyshot requires a BAB of +6 so I would have to waste one of the 2 feats I pick up at level 7 on Rapid Shot then take Manyshot at level 8 instead of Clustered Shots. Also I will probably go back to Zen Archer for levels 10 and 11 and get that 4th attack anyway.
As for my Ki I use 1 or 2 for Barkskin and the rest for extra attacks.
That was one suggestion out of several, and that post was probably too long to make that as clear as it should have been.
The shortened version:
If you care about DPR, statistically, you'll do more damage with Rapid Shot/Manyshot because the 4th attack from Zen Archer a second iterative attack, so you're doing +10/+10/+5/+5 instead of +10(+10)/+10/+5. (Manyshot is one of the main reasons fighter archers do more damage than Zen Archers--weapon training is the other big one.)
If you want to do AoOs with your bow, you'll need to pick up Rapid Shot to open up the Snap Shot line. If you have to get Rapid Shot for this anyway, you might consider getting Manyshot too, so it's not a completely wasted feat.
If you always use Ki for extra attacks, you're probably better off spending any non-committed feats on something like Extra Ki.
If you're concerned about AC, you might want to spend your 7th level fighter feat on Dodge. This also opens up Crane Style and Mobility/Shot on the Run, if that interests you at all.
Using DPR to compare choices is easy because it's completely quantifiable. I can tell you, precisely, what the difference is between feat A and feat B in terms of your average damage output. But as you said, that difference might not be enough to drive your decision, and you might not care about DPR at all. For me, it's another piece of information, not the only thing that matters.
I realize now where some of the confusion lies. This is PFS character. Barring a specific module I may never get to play I will retire before 12th level. I'll never be able to get Greater Snap Shot. I won't have a BAB of +6 until 8th level at which point I'll have 1 Fighter feat and 3 options in Manyshot, Clustered Shot, and Snap Shot. Since I now have Improved Precise Shot I no longer need to be in the front line as often so threatening adjacent targets doesn't seem very important.
Oh. And my Dex is only 14 so Manyshot is not an option for me anyway unless I burn a stat bump and 4K gold to get it.
I lack play experience. So I'm not sure what I will or will not need ay higher levels beyond AC and decent saves which I'm not ignoring.
More DPR is nice but so far at least most combats end within 2 rounds. That might change later on of course.
I'm considering Reckless Aim from Blood of Fiends.
Benefit: When you shoot or throw ranged weapons at an opponent engaged in melee, you can choose to take a –1 penalty to your AC and gain a +2 competence bonus on your attack roll. However, when you roll a natural 1 on a ranged attack roll made with this bonus, you automatically hit a random adjacent creature that threatens your intended target.
It is PFS legal but considering the no PvP rule I'm not sure how it will be judged.
@Mog & Gom: 6 ranks in Acrobatics, Wisdom of the Flesh to use Wisdom instead of Dex +6 Monkey Style adds my Wisdom bonus +6 (There is debate over the legality of this and I may lose it) Trained +3 =21 Monk adds level to jump check +6 Every 10 feet of movement adds +4 to jump check for +8. Total +21 (+35 to Jump)