I am currently in the process of creating a flowing monk char. I'm not terribly concerned with optimizing his damage output, but I also don't want to be useless.
The general idea is to be good at flowing monk redirection/defense/tripping, and I've got a little fluff to fit with that mechanical theme.
Here's what I have so far:
Rejected by society because of an Orc father, Davlamin spent a large portion of his youth meditating on the bank of a nearby river. He grew to appreciate the ordered flow of water - how it smoothed over the chaos in its path and the chaos in his mind. Davlamin learned to flow like the river, allowing the anger of others to pass around him. He carries smooth stones from the river basin which remind him how force can turn the chaotic into ordered uniformity.
Half-Orc LN Flowing Monk lvl 1
Str 16
Dex 14
Con 10
Int 10
Wis 14
Cha 10
Rock Climber
Improved Trip
Combat Reflexes
Weapons: Unarmed, Stones (river pebbles used as range weapons, identical to shurikens statistically except for B instead of P)
Firstly, is what I've got currently reasonable?
Secondly, which style feats and feats in general work best with this build?
I'm thinking Snake Style, Crane Style, or Wolf Style, but I'm not sure which one. Also, I'm open to any kind of suggestions.
Thanks!
Your AC and CON are very low, you won't be very survivable. I'd drop CHA and raise CON at the very least. I'd also consider dropping STR down to 10 or 12, raising Dex, and go finesse based. It will make you more survivable, and you will still be able to easily trip and debuff.
My concern with going the finesse route is that (as per my understanding) it cripples throwing attacks. I like the concept of throwing stones around combat, and then being somewhat defensible when someone gets close.
I know it would be mechanically better to drop cha for some more survivability, and I might do that. I was afraid of rping a low cha monk, but, the more I think about it, it would be kinda fun to try to say some wise monk stuff but not be able to phrase it very well.
I still don't really like rping unlikable chars, and I'm not crazy about stat breaks that have 7 dumps for 18 in a primary purely for mechanical reasons. These seem like really extreme unlikely individuals.
I'm a big believer in playing an interesting char rather than a powerful char, but I understand that there are different and perfectly legitimate philosophies on character creation.
Much as I like the idea of Snake Style thematically, I would recommend against it - you would have a total of 5 abilities that require an immediate action. Of the three listed I would probably go with Crane Style: it keeps the whole elusive/defensive vibe, and Crane Riposte has some synergy with Unbalancing Encounter.
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I agree with you about not wanting to dump stats for maximum advantage, but with a 15 point buy monk it's very hard to avoid at least one below-average stat while still being able to do a good job at what you're supposed to do.
Do you know what your group's standards are? If the whole party is built for lower power and faces similarly modest challenges then you'll be fine. If you're running around with a physically-stacked barbarian and an Int 20 wizard it's more important to get that extra little bit of survivability.
For your style, I agree with Gnoll Coward that while Snake is great generally it will strain your swift/immediate actions too much. I wouldn't rule out Wolf, though - it looks it would synergize well with focus on trips and AoO. I don't know what to think about Crane, it's changed so many times.
Crane's pretty good right now.
But 15 pt buy Monk is a suicidal idea.
A small update:
I've decided to kick Improved Trip as trip builds seem to not do very well in the long run. Current feats are Combat Reflexes and Crane Style, and I plan to take Power Attack as soon as possible.
I'm using a reach weapon and combined with unarmed attacks, I threaten all squares within 10ft.
A bit of change in philosophy that I've had about flowing monk is to do with what part of the combat maneuver to focus on.
Flowing Monk's redirection provides opportunities to attempt more combat maneuvers, but, more importantly succeeding these combat maneuvers give lots of potential for AoOs. Crane style feats and a reach weapon give additional AoOs, but not additional combat maneuver checks.
So, I'm thinking the focus of this build should be to get as many AoOs as possible, and then to deal good damage on those AoOs when they happen.
In my mind, if i miss a couple trips, provoke a similar number of AoOs, and actually deal decent damage on those AoOs, the build is successful.
Thoughts?
just realized I'll be provoking AoOs when I attempt a combat maneuver with redirection.
hmm....
You could go defense based monk pick up the panther style tree and be a triping fool. Pick up a kusarigama as your weapon and you can trip at a reach.
EDIT: also ki throw... It's the best feat ever.