Fauchard Lore Warden Flowing Monk Level Dip?

[Majestic8705]

Hey folks,

So my partner and I have finally gotten around to making a Pathfinder group and I have more or less decided on rolling up a Fighter who uses a Fauchard as their primary weapon. I will not be taking Polearm Master, because it has become apparent to me, that wearing a spiked gauntlet more or less has the same effect as the Steadfast Pike ability (i.e. the ability to threaten adjacent).

Anywho, the archetype I'm likely going for is the Lore Warden (I apologize the link is to the d20SRD, but I couldn't find the bloody thing on the PRD) because free Combat Expertise at level 2, plus the bonus skills, their bonuses to combat maneuvers, plus a bunch of nifty other stuff. All for just giving up medium/heavy armor.

Now, as we all know, reach fighters have to do the '5 foot' dance to keep enemies in range of the reach weapon, meaning at the least the feat Nimble Moves is essential.

So I looked for something that somehow grants Nimble Moves and stumbled upon the Flowing Monk archetype, which gets it as a bonus feat in lieu of some of the other monk feats. But they also get that kinda cool reposition ability, and at second level they also get that unbalancing counter.

So here's my dilemma...is it worth dipping two levels into monk to grab that stuff? If so, when would I do it? My main concern is that the 'bonus' abilities I'd get from the monk would lose their usefulness rather quickly as their DC is dependent on my monk level. So far, my tentative build looks something like this:

1st Level Fighter WF Fauchard, Power Attack
2nd Level Monk Nimble Moves
3rd Level Monk Dodge
4th Level Fighter Combat Expertise, Improved Trip

blah blah blah...

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated :)

[DrSwordopolis]

I looked longingly at Flowing Monk as a dip on my brawler, for much the same reason as you, and came to the conclusion that it's not worth it. In my case, I was only really interested in the first level ability, Redirection, as the second level ability's DC is absurdly low unless you're going monk-only. It seemed perfect for what I was looking for, until I realized that Redirection only is usable once per day per monk level.

I don't think Redirection twice per day and your attacks of opportunity making targets flat-footed 5% of the time is more useful than the two levels of fighter you'd be taking instead.

[kinevon]

Talk with your GM on the spiked gauntlet thing, as it may not be usable if you have the fauchard ready to attack, no free hand. Spiked armor, or IUS, might be a better choice.

On the other hand, that Monk dip probably gives you IUS, so you always threaten adjacent, even when wielding a two-handed weapon.

As another alternative, consider a Cleric dip, going for Travel Domain, and maybe Liberation Domain, as well. Travel gives you 10' extra base movement, and the ability, for 3 + Wis Mod rounds per day, of ignoring difficult terrain. Liberation gives the ability, for a number of rounds equal to your Cleric level, of ignoring magical impediments to movement, like black tentacles. You also get a few spell slots, and the ability to use wands of any Cleric spells, and scrolls of any Cleric spells you have enough Wisdom for. And maybe a channel or two.

[Bran Towerfall]

2 level dip in maneuver master then lore warden rest of way

adding maneuvers to full round actions before your bab reaches 6 is awesome. get imp trip earlier or dirty trick all at range

[Bran Towerfall]

and you have imp unarmed for when those bad guys close in on you