Hey all!
So, I play society. However, I usually play the damaging CN type. I want to switch it up, and decided I was going to play the "walk the earth", help everyone and reach enlightenment type. I was thinking of taking all the vows, and possibly the Lotus monk archtype. However, I haven't played much in the way of this type of characters so I'm looking for useful advice and tricks to make this.
Thanks!
Go with the Unchained Monk!
If you go normal, I'd go Sensei and focus on Stunning Fist with Mantis Style and Crushing Blow.
Hmm. Haven't looked at the unchained mink yet
Vows are bad, bad, bad, baaaaaaad. Trappiest trap that ever trapped.
If you want to focus on supporting your allies, Sensei/Ki Mystic/Qinggong is a very strong build to do so. The Unchained Monk is effectively just a brawler with a few Su abilities, it has no capability to do anything other than damage. The Sensei, on the other hand, does pretty much 0 damage but is a far greater asset to the team.
I can safely say from experience that if you do end up taking vows, you DEFINITELY don't want to take Vow of Peace- it should really just be called "Vow of Boring", because what ends up happening is that you aren't able to be as proactive as you might like to be. For me, having to wait not because I want to but because I HAVE to is incredibly frustrating. It's not a tactics issue either, you just have to wait for X conditions to be met to be an aggressive force. It also means things like "even if you win initiative/get a surprise round, you can't harm anyone that turn- you have to wait until they strike first". IMO Initiative is way too important to essentially give your turns to the enemy (That is, unless you're more support-oriented like with the sensei).
If you're hurting for ki that badly, it'd probably be better just to get the extra ki feat or play a race that gets 1/4th ki/level as a FCB.
As far as Unchained vs Core Monk, it all comes down to what you want your role in combat to be. Unchained is a good frontliner while the Core Monk has a ton of utility outside of combat- even more so for Sensei and Qinggong Monks- though with notably less damage and durability.
Roleplay wise, it's important to understand why your character is going from place to place and helping people when otherwise they could spend their time meditating or perfecting their martial art. Kwai Chang Caine from "Kung Fu", for example, had a strong sense of social responsibility in addition to his training as a Shaolin Priest: even though he was a wanted man, he would often interject himself into dangerous situations to defend those who couldn't defend themselves. That's pretty significant when you consider his philosophical background totally allows for an isolated lifestyle and a general "none of my business" attitude.
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I'm not sure what you mean by 'reach enlightenment' - but it's not hard to go nonlethal with unarmed strikes.
As to monk builds - unchained isn't bad - though as others have said, it feels more like a monkish Brawler archetype.
There are several good archetypes (core monk is bad) -
Sensei is solid - though it plays more like a Bard than a monk. Somewhat better combat than a bard, and much higher defenses (especially saves) but not nearly as good at skills and no spellcasting.
Drunken Master is fun for infinite ki - especially if you jack up your Con and grab Swift Drinker. Once you hit level 4 you get an extra swing every other round with ki.
Sohei is the best in melee combat and makes it so that you don't need to worry about Wisdom much since they can flurry in light armor. (DPR is probably a bit better than Unchained past the first couple of levels due to Weapon Training - especially once you grab the Gloves of Dueling.)
Zen Archer is nuts for a ranged character - being probably one of the three best archers in the game. (competing with figher & ranger for the top spot)
And in every case you should combo the archetype with Qinggong. (the stealth monk buff)
Finding “Enlightenment” is more of a role playing thing than a game mechanic. What are you looking for in a character? The unchained monk is probably better at combat than the original monk, but is not compatible with any archetypes. It can however take Quinggong powers instead of normal Ki powers.
About the only vow that I would consider is a vow of truth. If you dump CHA like most monks do this could be the reason for the low CHA. Your character could be brutally honest with absolutely no tact. If this character was not for PFS then the vow of poverty could work if the GM lets you use the automatic bonus progression with no magic item rules.
Sohei is the best in melee combat and makes it so that you don't need to worry about Wisdom much since they can flurry in light armor. (DPR is probably a bit better than Unchained past the first couple of levels due to Weapon Training - especially once you grab the Gloves of Dueling.)
And if you go unarmed, you can grab brawling armor for ANOTHER +2 to attack and damage (And you count as magic, if that ever becomes a problem). The price of a +1 brawling armor one half of a +2 weapon, and it gives +2 to attack and +1 to AC- overall, a much better deal.
From my understanding (a bit limited), a lot of the advantages of the unchained monk when compared to sohei can be countered with 'I have pummeling style though' and 'I have full martial proficiency though'.
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Sohei is the best in melee combat and makes it so that you don't need to worry about Wisdom much since they can flurry in light armor. (DPR is probably a bit better than Unchained past the first couple of levels due to Weapon Training - especially once you grab the Gloves of Dueling.)And if you go unarmed, you can grab brawling armor for ANOTHER +2 to attack and damage (And you count as magic, if that ever becomes a problem). The price of a +1 brawling armor one half of a +2 weapon, and it gives +2 to attack and +1 to AC- overall, a much better deal.
True - but they also don't get the improved dice damage on their unarmed strikes. I mostly just think of Sohei using weapons, but Brawling is pretty sweet.
As to a DPR advantage for unchained - they do get 1.5x strenth with weapons - though without armor Str based unchained monks will have a bad AC. (And still probably not enough to make up the difference.)
Sohei is the best in melee combat and makes it so that you don't need to worry about Wisdom much since they can flurry in light armor. (DPR is probably a bit better than Unchained past the first couple of levels due to Weapon Training - especially once you grab the Gloves of Dueling.)And if you go unarmed, you can grab brawling armor for ANOTHER +2 to attack and damage (And you count as magic, if that ever becomes a problem). The price of a +1 brawling armor one half of a +2 weapon, and it gives +2 to attack and +1 to AC- overall, a much better deal.True - but they also don't get the improved dice damage on their unarmed strikes. I mostly just think of Sohei using weapons, but Brawling is pretty sweet.
As to a DPR advantage for unchained - they do get 1.5x strenth with weapons - though without armor Str based unchained monks will have a bad AC. (And still probably not enough to make up the difference.)
Well, with the potential +7 to damage from various sources, that evens out with the damage dice.
And after that, the sohei can just go around enjoying the extra +7 to attack that other monks do not get.
Well, +3 to attack over an Unchained Monk.
And after that, the sohei can just go around enjoying the extra +7 to attack that other monks do not get.
As far as I understand it, it is +5 with flurry on an unarmed build with all the tricks and gadgets (+3 weapon training +2 gloves +2 armor -2 flurry). And with pummeling style, that flurry comes up all the more often.
+3 with weapon builds.
Still fairly good. It seems better to compare it with other pure martial classes when it flurries (since those usually have a further attack booster on top of full BAB) and at least on par with inquisitors, bards, and unchained monks when it is not flurrying