The following 6th level character is a human, mobile, unarmored martial-type whose role is to get around the battlefield and straight up do damage with a sword. Any suggestions for a 7th level feat, or a train of feats from 7th to 11th levels?
STR 18, DEX 14, CON 12, INT 12, WIS 17, CHA 7
Monk 4 (Martial Artist)/Fighter 2 (Weapon Master)
Current Feats:
dodge
toughness
weapon focus nine-ring broadsword
combat reflexes
power attack
weapon specialization nine-ring broadsword
furious focus
Some ideas I currently have are nimble moves, acrobatic steps, iron will, improved sunder. Any advice is appreciated.
Thank you.
Iron Will is good, but your Monk levels and high Wisdom should allow you to push that off for much later.
Why did you take levels in Fighter, if I might ask? I can't think of any benefit you are really getting from them, considering the Martial Artist already has access to Fighter feats, lots of bonus feats, and all the proficiencies you may want (you can use a Temple Sword for much better effect than a 9 Ringer).
In any case, I'd recommend Mobility into Spring Attack so you don't get caught while moving around.
Another option would be Improved Critical and Greater Weapon Focus for extra damage.
I'd suggest buying boots of feather step instead of nimble moves or acrobatic steps.
Improved Critical, and Mobility-Spring attack would be my two picks.
Blind Fight, never know when it will come in handy.
Cornugon Smash.
That feat to grab 2 traits (Lots of great traits).
Improved critical and critical focus.
You already have Dodge, so Mobility isn't bad if you eat a lot of AoOs.
Improved Initiative
Save feats.
This character already has good DEX and the Combat Reflexes feat for 3 AoOs per round. Where's the reach weapon?
Anonymous Visitor 163 576 wrote: I'd suggest buying boots of feather step instead of nimble moves or acrobatic steps.
Improved Critical, and Mobility-Spring attack would be my two picks.
I agree.
You won't be able to get Improved Critical until you have BAB 8, but Mobility and Spring Attack are nice for characters that maneuver around the battlefield.
Disruptive is a very nice choice for a battlefield controller, especially if you have a reach weapon. Step Up is also useful.
There aren't that many reach weapons with the Monk quality, but there are a few:
Tri-point double-edged sword
Kyoketsu shoge (Exotic)
There's also the kusarigama and kyoketsu shoge, but these have confusing descriptions and might cause issues with a GM.
Thank you all for very useful advice. It gives me much to ponder. I am leaning towards the mobility, step up and spring attack angle as that fits nicely with the flavor of the character. However, there are lots of great suggestions.
I was originally thinking boots of speed for the feat slot but feather step slippers look good and are much cheaper and work all the time.
To answer a few of the questions came up:
I took levels in fighter for the following reasons in order of decreasing importance to me.
1. Flavor. The character is a fighter despite mechanically being mostly monk. I wanted to emphasize that to myself, as well as to be able to legitimately say that mechanically the character is a fighter.
2. I wanted more feats to get power attack and furious focus earlier than otherwise possible while still getting toughness for survivability at low levels. Having taken two levels of fighter, I am likely to take a third to take advantage of weapon training for the sword.
3. The attack bonus for the standard attack and the flurry of blows crosses at levels 5-8 monk. At level 9, the attack bonus for the standard attack is less than for the flurry. I wanted to delay that crossing to higher levels without taking a hit in BAB. With three levels of fighter, the character will be level 8 monk at 11th level. I am not sure whether the character will be played much beyond 11th or 12th level.
4. I wanted access to the fighter weapon proficiencies to be able to use just about any weapon proficiently if the need arose. For reach weapons, I preferred the naginata or horsechopper for the big crits (when they happen, but it is glorious when they do!). I just haven't taken any feats around reach weapons since the sword is still the main weapon when slogging is hard. I shied away from the kusarigama and kyoketsu shoge because I didn't like their flavor and I didn't want to burn a feat on exotic weapon proficiency. As for the temple sword, the main reason I didn't take it is for flavor. The temple sword screams out monk to me while the nine-ring is less so. The nine-ring fits the fighter flavor better for me. I also like the x3 critical modifier. I didn't take the seven-branched sword because I didn't want to burn a feat on exotic weapon proficiency and I wanted a one-handed weapon for those situations where using two hands is not possible. Monks are proficient with the tri-point double-edged sword, but this weapon does not have the monk quality. It would be a nice reach weapon though if the character didn't take a dip into fighter.
Pink Dragon wrote: I just haven't taken any feats around reach weapons Combat Reflexes is the pre-eminent feat for reach weapons. Power Attack is #2. You took both.
Extra rage, following the barbarian level you should be taking for seventh.
Okay, maybe not extra rage, but, I saw Martial Artist, and I said "Well, Immunity to Fatigue and the ability to be non-lawful are the only reasons to take that archetype (IMO); in other words, it's flat-out made to be multiclassed with barbarian"
thegreenteagamer wrote: Extra rage, following the barbarian level you should be taking for seventh.
Okay, maybe not extra rage, but, I saw Martial Artist, and I said "Well, Immunity to Fatigue and the ability to be non-lawful are the only reasons to take that archetype (IMO); in other words, it's flat-out made to be multiclassed with barbarian"
Bloodrager crossed my mind to get both the rage and the ability to use arcane wands. But I don't want to lose too many monk levels as I want to rely on exploit weakness to get past a lot of DR instead of carrying multiple weapon types. The character needs monk levels to keep the chances of success high. In addition, for this character, the flavor of the barbarian is not right, although I could perhaps define the rage as a cold analytical rage.
I like the feel of the martial artist archetype for this character rather than the more mystical Core monk or other archetypes. You are right though; the martial artist archetype is ideally suited for the barbarian/monk combination.
Rodinia wrote: Pink Dragon wrote: I just haven't taken any feats around reach weapons Combat Reflexes is the pre-eminent feat for reach weapons. Power Attack is #2. You took both. Yes. I hadn't considered that line of thought as I was thinking about the weapon related feats like weapon focus.
Extra attacks are worth a lot more than a +1 bonus. DEX14, Combat Reflexes, Power Attack, and a reach weapon combine to give you up to 3 extra 1.5 x STR power attacks. How many extra attacks you actually get depends on the situation, your tactics, and your group's tactics. This combat approach can give your martial character a nice damage nova at the beginning of fights, when it is most important. A character can even be effective in melee combat using only AoOs. At lower levels a semi-optimized reach fighter who makes no attacks on her own turn will typically inflict about as much damage as will a sword-and-board fighter using her own turn to attack.
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