
| Matthew Gilman | 
 
	
 
                
                
              
            
            So in a new campaign, we have a player at our table who is building a 6th level character with 5 levels in Brawler, and a 1 level dip in the Master of Many Styles monk archetype. He was interested in using the Unchained Monk as the base for the archetype - a move which we thought was perfectly legal in the RAW since the archetype doesn't replace any class features which the Unchained Monk does not have (although Flurry has been simplified). We have since found the bit in the Advanced Class Guide that explicitly says that the Unchained Monk is not allowed to be used with any previously published archetypes (unlike other Unchained classes).
From what we can tell, it's not an unreasonable house rule to allow the use of the MoMS with the UC Monk in this build. If the character were to be strictly progressing as a MoMS, the offensive bonuses of the UC Monk might be too much to allow. As it stands, the player is only taking a 1 level dip at 3rd level (in order to take Dragon Style as the 3rd level feat and Dragon Ferocity as the MoMS bonus feat), and the only trade-off is that the character will have significantly weaker saves, and would keep the BaB progression that they would otherwise have as a 6th level Brawler. The BaB progression of the character is obviously important since the character will qualify for more combat feats at lower levels (especially relevant because of Martial Flexibility). While that's a lot more attractive than being at a slightly lower BaB and significantly higher saves, it doesn't seem broken or unreasonable to us.
TL;DR - The RAW are against mixing MoMS and UC Monk, but as a 1 lvl dip in a Brawler build it seems reasonable. Is there any compelling reason why it's broken/ought not be allowed?

| chaoseffect | 
 
	
 
                
                
              
            
            So your player is essentially asking if he can get his style bonus feat but change the +2 to will saves from a normal 1 monk dip to the +1 BAB level 1 in Unchained Monk would provide? Sure why not. I really see zero issue with what you are proposing from any sort of balance perspective. Really I'd value the +2 to Will more highly than the extra 1 BAB, but I'm sure he has his reasons.

|  Imbicatus | 
 
	
 
                
                
              
            
            It's reasonable house rule as a dip, although, my preferred house rule is to ban the MoMS in it's entirety and give every monk the ability to have two styles active at once. I also give every monk the ability to pick an entry level style feat as a bonus feat at 1 or 2, a mid level at 6, and a style cap at 10.
MoMS is a horrible archetype because it is too weak as a single class and too strong as a dip. The early unlocks of style feats are too powerful, and the reason for the horrible crane wing nerf.

| Rub-Eta | 
I'm not sure how MoMS look, but I've noticed some archtypes from the core monk still being adaptable for unchained monk (same abilities at the same levels gets switched).
And I see no reson as to not let them use it, just like I wouldn't restrict an unchained barbarian to select core rage powers that doesn't overlap with excisiting (spell sunder comes to mind).
And as it's just a 1 level dip, not too much will have to be house ruled if some abilities meshes wierd.
I'm a bit in the dark as to why they included the exclusions in the book.

| chbgraphicarts | 
 
	
 
                
                
              
            
            I generally go with the "Archetypes can't stack if they replace the same abilities" even if the abilities in question are much, much later.
That being said, I have played around with the idea of letting 2 Archetypes overlap if they aren't going to cause a gnarly problem in the scope of the campaign we're running.
Case in point - several Archetypes of the Paladin would be completely legal to overlap EXCEPT that they alter the lv20 capstone ability. Same with the Ranger.
Especially with short 6-8 week campaigns which are NEVER going to get to lv20, what's the big deal? If the Capstone is never going to be a factor in the game in the slightest, why shouldn't the players be allowed to mix Archetypes, so long as they don't try to replace the same abilities at levels which are relevant to the game?
So... yeah, it sounds fine - let 'im do it.
 
	
 
     
     
    