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Except that by dropping the Belt to +4 (and thus losing a whole +1 to hit and damage) you can buy the following items:
Ring of Protection +2
Pearl of Power (1st level)
Dusty Rose Prism Ioun Stone
Jingasa of the Fortunate Soldier
And have 1k left over while adding +8 AC if anyone in your party has Mage Armor. Spend a single Ki Power on Barksin and that becomes +13 (and Light Steps and Wind Jump are completely redundant, so you can pretty easily ditch one and free up two Ki Powers).
So...you can have almost literally this entire build with AC 29.
That being the case, why wouldn't you?
Maybe not worth the UMD investment, but a wand of mage armour and a wand of shield would boost your AC to 24, which is perfectly respectable. AC is one of those things that is perfectly fine to invest in in small amounts so as to reduce iterative damage.
You're right, that +1/+3 isn't minor. But when you compare it against the possible +13 AC?
It allows you to stay in that extra fight, as well as survive surprise pouncing dragons or something (barbarian, force hook charge, etc).
There's no reason to dump all of your resources into AC, but there's even less reason to completely ignore it.
16 AC at 12th level will have you getting hit, every time. A 12th level wizard with 10 Strength and a quarterstaff has a 50% chance of hitting you with it. That's not fun.
And some attacks aren't just hit point damage, remember. There's poison, and negative levels, and paralysis, and so many more riders that you don't want touching you.
Edit (replying to your edit): you're right. Flight is different than ignoring difficult terrain. But Dragon Style already allows you to charge through difficult terrain, right? And doesn't flying automatically make you bypass difficult terrain? I think you're underestimating how useful Barkskin actually is. At 10 minutes/level, it's lasting you 2 hours at 12th level. For one Ki point that you apply as-needed. Also, one attack isn't going to make or break your character, you'll be fine if you spent that point on Barkskin. Seeing as how it's frequently one of the first powers picked up. It's a very popular choice for a reason.
TLDR: monks don't neglect Armor Class. It'll only get you killed.
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I don't know... It sounds great against a single opponent. But if your Monk gets ganged up on, it's potentially trouble.
The High attack for a CR 12 is +21. Boosting AC from 16 to 29 means going from getting hit 95% of the time to getting hit 65% of the time. That's literally 6 times the number of misses, to use your phrasing.
Say you're being attacked by 2 CR 12 creatures. Now you're looking at 110 damage in round 1 if they get a full attack. Even if you take out one of the creatures in two rounds, you're still looking at another 55 damage in round 2, which is enough to put you to -17, or 1 HP from dead. Without a way to self heal or without DR, I don't see this character lasting too long. Knocking off 30% of that damage means you're still awake for round 3.
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Maybe not worth the UMD investment, but a wand of mage armour and a wand of shield would boost your AC to 24, which is perfectly respectable. AC is one of those things that is perfectly fine to invest in in small amounts so as to reduce iterative damage.
This is true. My variant build could max out UMD, grab a Wand of Shield (they have the spare cash) and have AC 33. Indeed, they could drop the Ring to +1 and upgrade the Headband to +2 Int & Wis and get a 32 with no skill changes (since the Headband gives UMD). If wiling to drop 1 point of Will Save you could grab Clever Wordplay and make that a +16 UMD.
Against many enemies, you'll find that +1 to be the difference between 95% and 90% accuracy. Which while it sounds like nothing, is literally twice the misses. Furthermore, at this strength, lowering it actually takes 2 off my 'basically two-handing' attacks, 3 off the first. Thats 19 damage off my strongest flurry, admittedly assuming all attacks hits. More if I get a crit. When that can amount to 10% or more of a same-CR creature's health, it can be the difference between 'guaranteed two rounds' and 'maybe drop it in two.' Or, 'reduce the mook to a fine red mist in or round' or not. It seems minor. It really isn't.
Firstly, With AC 29 and average CR 12 foes (with high nto-hit, mind, the AC is better with low to-hit numbers), you're getting hit 65% of the time, rather than 95%, and that matters at least as much as the change in offense (you get missed 7 times as often). Especially on Crits. You're getting Crits confirmed way less often...and have a Jingasa to counter one per day. That's gonna vastly increase survivability.
If you go with my above suggestion on how to get a 32, you'll be getting hit only 50% of the time, and thus only a little more than half as much. If you manage the 33, only 45% of the time and less than half what you're getting hit now (10-11 times the number of misses).
Offense is better than defense point-for-point, but not trading in +1 to hit and +2 damage (which is what it averages to, just about) for +13-17 AC? That's just bad planning.
And finally, if not willing to ditch the belt, you should at least buy the Pearl of Power. You can scare up 500 gp (ditching the Sleeves, for example) and that's a +4. Add on Barksin (which, again, you should get because your Ki Powers right now are seriously redundant), and that's a 25. Not nearly as good, but at least it's something.
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My example, and Deadmanwalking's, are skewed in favor of making your numbers look better. We used the high attack for a CR 12. The low attack is +15, which still hits your build 95% of the time, but only hits an AC 29 35% of the time.
A CR 8 creature's high attack hits you 95% of the time, for an average damage of 35. When all it takes is the BBEG and a couple of his minions to concentrate on you for a round, that's a potential problem. That's all I'm saying. It's pretty easy to find yourself stuck in a flank for a round when you're a melee character.
If you're in a group where you know the other characters, and someone is sitting back ready to heal, or there's a tank drawing the attacks, it's not a problem. If you're in an actual PFS scenario, and it's a 4 character party with no healer with you as the only frontliner, sooner or later you're going to find yourself facing off against more than one opponent.
I've run across PFS melee characters that have tanked AC, and they're usually Barbarians with upwards of 250-300 hitpoints by level 12 and DR, or they're converting some damage to nonlethal. All it takes is one bad setup where you lose initiative, and you'll find yourself surrounded by 3 or 4 minions and down 2/3s of your hit points before you get to act. You'll drop one of them on your turn (100 HPs for CR8). A melee character that can't last 2 rounds as the target isn't going to keep the opponents off the casters, either.
It's such a minimal investment relative to what you lose in damage. You have a party to help you deal damage, too. If you don't drop the BBEG in two rounds by yourself, but you take him 75% of the way there, you've got the rest of your party to help do that damage.
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You know there's an ioun stone that will boost your attack for 4k right. Though it doesn't add damage as well it's a much cheaper boost to hit than either the belt or amulet. And with the extra change, you could not only afford some AC items, but some consumables like a potion of heroism, which will likely make a much bigger difference than the potion of blood rage you currently have purchased.
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I really do understand what you're trying to say. When stated as 'You're not trading +1 to hit and +2 to damage for +13 AC!?' I sound stubborn and silly. But from my perspective, the question is closer to 'will you trade the guarantee that mooks will explode and anything else will fall in two turns at most, for +13-16 AC.' And the answer is no. I believe in consistency. More importantly, I believe in making myself a bigger threat than the casters. I believe that a turn spent full attacking my wizard should be taken as a sign of disrespect. I'm here, I'm easy to hit, and I'm going to ruin you if you don't kill me. Now, on the other hand, if I'm difficult to hit? If the mooks barely have the chance to hit me? I'm not a juicy target. All those hired hands now surge their next big target, the squishies. Aggro in pathfinder can be managed by suppressing enemies with combat maneuvers or making them respect you as the biggest, baddest threat that needs to be taken down.
Well, let's examine consistency, shall we?
For simplicity, these all use the Hasted + Leg Sweep Routine:
Your DPR vs. CR 12 foes is 157.9 or so by my calculations.
My build's DPR vs. CR 12 foes is 140 or so by the same calculations.
So that's a difference, I'll not deny. It's less than 20 points of difference, and neither will kill a CR 12 foe on average, but it's a difference.
But CR 12 creatures aren't mooks. They're not the whole encounter, but the whole encounter is 4 of them at most (and that's an Epic Encounter, plus you have other people in your party).
Let's examine mooks. So...CR 10.
CR 10, both hit 95% of the time.
So your build's DPR is 169.75.
Mine is 159.78.
That's much closer (within 10 points) and both will kill one and a bit a turn. So basically the exact same situation.
Now let's examine something a bit heftier. A CR 14.
Your build is 129.1 and will definitely not kill the enemy in one round...but will in two.
My build, meanwhile is 120.63...and will result in exactly the same situation once again.
In short, your reliability as a meaningful thing is a statistical artifact of the default CR 12 AC being within a very precise range. Within that range, you do indeed do better...but it's a range of about 27-28. and, in play, AC varies way more widely than that. It's also only a meaningful difference if they have right around 145-160 HP. So...yeah, that range is super narrow.
You still so slightly better (to the tune of 10 points more damage on average) outside the range, but that's not worth it at all as compared to only taking half the amount of damage.
EDIT:
Seriously nija'd. That'll teach me to do math. :)
That last one is actually the biggest point to sway me. I would probably still build my way for reasons stated, but I'll admit if I'm not the only damage guy, we should be good in the same number of turns. Relatively. An action spent cleaning up where I failed would still be a worse scenario IMO. Really shouldn't reduce the belt, though. Can limit the reduction to a flat -1 to hit and damage by reducing the amulet, which is the same price. DR piercing comes innate with monk features, after all.
You're totally right. The Amulet's a much better choice. Don't know how I missed that.
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Also, it's probably worth noting that with that AC you're likely going to need more than one wand of CLWs, unless you have a dedicated healbot following you around. Though a stoneskin would likely be worth the investment, even if you have to get it in scroll form and UMD it. DR 10/adamantine would go a long way to making this character survivable.
I´m playing an UC monk at the moment and can confirm, with such a low AC you just don´t survive, because nearly everything hits you.
The 18 Con and Toughness don´t change that, you won´t even survive so long being in melee probably to get toughness that late.
Here´s what i recommend:
Ki Powers: High Jump, Wind Jump, Furious Defense, Sudden Speed.
Good alternatives are Insightfull Wisdom (you are your own ally), wholeness of body and at level 12 diamond soul.
Bonus Feats:
Dodge + Mobility go a very long way when using dragon style and charging.
Especially with Furious defense, dodge boni stack.
At some point, many foes will be large and large, having reach and getting a lot of AoO´s. You want to avoid that.
Combat maneuvers:
I would heavily recommend taking improved and greater trip + vicious stomp as early as possible when you want to go that route. The later the level, the more untrippable things you encounter and the less likely that´s to succeed.
Game Advice:
This also looks like a highly theoretical exercise to me. Think about considering the following:
-Even at level 12, a +6 stat bonus from an item is very unusual and i think actually not really possible. WBL has recommended limits, being around ~25% of your WBL for a group like armor, etc. Different GMs handle this differently, but when you go and spend 50% or more on a single item, you can count on skewering game balance. In PFS, this is reflected by the Fame score limitations for a reason.
-The only other build with such a low AC is the barbarian, who has a higher hit dice and gets lots of temporary hit points. They also have other rage tricks and feats helping them. Monks don´t.
-There´s also a lot of assumptions about what other melee characters in a group would do. Experience tells, the barbarian tries to pounce or charge, the fighter...no data, but the rogue getting into flanking position? Please! You expect someone with a lot less hp and a medium AC to go through enemy lines, get even more surrounded? That´s a very good way to draw that players ire. The rogue is also a real good damage dealer when you set up that flank, especially with the UC rogue, where iterative attacks have the chance to hit. That´s brutal.
Monks are very mobile for a reason, you can get there. Go.
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I´m playing an UC monk at the moment and can confirm, with such a low AC you just don´t survive, because nearly everything hits you.
The 18 Con and Toughness don´t change that, you won´t even survive so long being in melee probably to get toughness that late.
Yeah, that's the core issue.
Here´s what i recommend:
Ki Powers: High Jump, Wind Jump, Furious Defense, Sudden Speed.
Good alternatives are Insightfull Wisdom (you are your own ally), wholeness of body and at level 12 diamond soul.
You left out Barkskin. Which is amazing.
Wouldn't miss chances (which almost acts like +5 AC when 20% miss) be better, not that expensive for a wand of Blur.
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Have you played this character? Sure some encounters at CR 15 you might live through but Giants will kill you. I don't see this character surviving RotRL.
I tried the low AC thing with an Invulnerable Rage going for high DR. I took a beating every encounter and my hit points were higher than yours. My AC was 22 and rage plus reckless abandon dropped it to 16. Had breath of life used on me more the few times. By the end I had to stop using reckless abandon focus on my AC
So, IMA work up a two handed ascetic user with dragon style and see what that looks like when I get home.
Very true, although like I said, taking full attacks by two creatures near your level is something most damage-dealers would be pretty unhappy with. Frankly, I think the fact that I have a fair chance to take out a creature when facing two monsters meant to provide a whole party a challenge by themselves is a testament to the strength of my build. In practice? I wouldn't be worried. If its clear I'm going to die, I have the movement speed and insane acrobatics to get away faster than most can chase me down, without provoking more attacks. The unchained monk doesn't just have unrivaled damage. He also dictates his position on the battlefield, and who he fights and when better than most anyone. Now, if surrounded on all sides by relatively high-damage enemies who he can't break the lines on by punching his way through? Sure, he's in real trouble. But at that point, so is anyone but the most defensively min-maxed fighter. Plus, y'know... I have a whole party backing me up, supposedly.I don't know... It sounds great against a single opponent. But if your Monk gets ganged up on, it's potentially trouble.
The High attack for a CR 12 is +21. Boosting AC from 16 to 29 means going from getting hit 95% of the time to getting hit 65% of the time. That's literally 6 times the number of misses, to use your phrasing.
Say you're being attacked by 2 CR 12 creatures. Now you're looking at 110 damage in round 1 if they get a full attack. Even if you take out one of the creatures in two rounds, you're still looking at another 55 damage in round 2, which is enough to put you to -17, or 1 HP from dead. Without a way to self heal or without DR, I don't see this character lasting too long. Knocking off 30% of that damage means you're still awake for round 3.
See this isn't really true. fighting 2 enemies is supposed to put a moderate drain on the resources. Not really a big challenge. Even an epic encounter is meant to be won by the players and is in their advantage.
Plus, as a martial you're supposed to be doing tons of damage, any well made melee emphasized character could drop a CR = LV enemy in 1-2 rounds. I have a lv12 investigator that does 27+1d8 to hit for 2d8+31 damage, this is against non-prone and non-flanked enemies. I kill things in 2 rounds, same as you, but I have ac of 36. I also have a 20 ft reach un-enlarged and lunge so that means I don't need to move to do full attacks onto enemies, and often make a good amount of AoO, and I have dr 10/slashing and dr 5/piercing with 100hp. And this isn't even taking advantage of beast shape which could get me pounce and lots of attacks.
Having played through Giantslayer i can say that a low AC with foes like giants can get you killed in one round.
Crit is lethal for sure, but should the iteratives hit, it´s just about the same. Too much damage on there.
The bloodrager was down there every fight, my rogue mainly survived because i invested everything possible in AC and was a vexing dodger who got some nice boni on AC. And made use of some feats and traits pushing AC further. Was 36 + boni vs giants, + 4 vs AoO´s, + sneak attack dice vs the one climbed in the end.
If you can use Wands, perhaps. Though it's 4500 gp for the Wand...that's not a super small amount as compared to the +4 AC of the Shield spell at 750 gp.Wouldn't miss chances (which almost acts like +5 AC when 20% miss) be better, not that expensive for a wand of Blur.
Sure, but a Nat 20 beats shield/etc, but nothing but trueseeing and true strike spell beats concealment.
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Sure, but a Nat 20 beats shield/etc, but nothing but trueseeing and true strike spell beats concealment.If you can use Wands, perhaps. Though it's 4500 gp for the Wand...that's not a super small amount as compared to the +4 AC of the Shield spell at 750 gp.Wouldn't miss chances (which almost acts like +5 AC when 20% miss) be better, not that expensive for a wand of Blur.
That's only relevant if your AC is such that a roll of 20 wouldn't otherwise hit. Obviously not the case here.
I am going to say...sohei with pummeling style.
Once the mobility issue is taken care of, I greatly prefer original monk with sohei archetype when it comes favoring attack over defense.
It gets weapon training 2 at this level (ie- +2/+2), and it can grab brawling armor and gloves of dueling (two +2/+2s, which brings you up to +6/+6).
With pummeling charge, you should generally get a lot of full attacks, so the fact that you have fake full BAB is less of an issue. And even if you were forced to make a move action... your attack bonus would still be better.
You do miss out on dragon style, but you get clustershot for your unarmed strikes, basically, so it is not that much of a loss.
I'll admit that I haven't done the math with your total wealth though, so I am not entirely sure if you can afford the added buff items. But as others have mentioned...you could likely lower a couple of items to cover that. With a core monk base, you could certainly go with a lower cloak of resistance since you don't have as bad a will save. So you could easily have enough for those two items, and still have change for basic rings and such.
Overall...I find that sohei can get respectable unarmed attack, although it is obviously possible to get much, much better AC with a well optimized unarmored monk such as the unmonk. So if you are abandoning AC anyway...
A barbarian going IUS with the right rage powers, euqipment and feats like TWF+ can also do a lot of unarmed damage.
and I can't even begin to quantify the loss of pounce.That's why the build has Pummeling Charge. Pummeling Charge IS pounce.
Yep. It is the beauty of pummeling style, and one of the main reasons why I am kind of 'meh' about unmonk- you get both cluster shot and pounce for your flurry with this one style. Even as an unmonk, it would still be good to grab the first feat of that style, since it solves all DR issues you may have. With that style, as well as the existence of brawler... I view unmonk as vaguely redundant.
I could see switching pummeling style out for outslug style. That isn't pounce (or y'know, cluster shot for unarmed strikes), but it is designed so that you can full attack 10' further away tha usual, since it makes lunge free and makes your 5' steps into 10' steps. So you still get quite a few full attacks (I mean...you can full attack everything in a 45' wide circle), and it has various tactical advantages (VERY easy flanking, ability to get attacks off on giants without risking AoOs, etc.).
Overall, not as great for the initial rush down, but it can maintain control of a fairly wide area once the opposing sides close in on eachother.
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and I can't even begin to quantify the loss of pounce.That's why the build has Pummeling Charge. Pummeling Charge IS pounce.Yep. It is the beauty of pummeling style, and one of the main reasons why I am kind of 'meh' about unmonk- you get both cluster shot and pounce for your flurry with this one style. Even as an unmonk, it would still be good to grab the first feat of that style, since it solves all DR issues you may have. With that style, as well as the existence of brawler... I view unmonk as vaguely redundant.
I could see switching pummeling style out for outslug style. That isn't pounce (or y'know, cluster shot for unarmed strikes), but it is designed so that you can full attack 10' further away tha usual, since it makes lunge free and makes your 5' steps into 10' steps. So you still get quite a few full attacks (I mean...you can full attack everything in a 45' wide circle), and it has various tactical advantages (VERY easy flanking, ability to get attacks off on giants without risking AoOs, etc.).
Overall, not as great for the initial rush down, but it can maintain control of a fairly wide area once the opposing sides close in on eachother.
You can also use weapon style mastery to have them both on a non-moms. Unarmed strike is in the close weapon group, after all.
Two full attacks from a cr 10 gug and you are dead.
A big problem with the build is the assumption that you're always going to outsmack the competition. That just simply isn't true. Some enemies like barbarians and dragons will have far more stopping power than you on a full attack and some enemies like swashbucklers and crane wing monks will be too evasive to guarantee the damage (meaning that even though they likely have a lower potential damage output they can still win via war of attrition). Anything with roll with it is going to completely negate the strategy and anything that actually utilizes the feat will absolutely destroy the monk.
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Personally, I'd be more concerned about getting killed by mooks. As an example, last adventure I played, played as a druid, technically level 13, but AC hasn't changed in a level, and had 1 less HP than your monk at level 12. So at one point, I open a door, lose initiative (with a +10 bonus), get peppered by 5 erinyes for 15 arrows. Because of AC 34 (while flat footed), Resist Energy and Wild shape (earth elemental) one attack hits because of natural 20, couldn't confirm because of immunity to critical attacks. So I took 10 damage from 5 full attacks from the mook devils. If your character were in the same position, he would likely take 182 damage before acting, plus if one of the high base attack bonus attacks were a critical like it was for me, there would have been another 95% chance of taking another 21 damage. So let's say 203 damage, well beyond the range of a breath of life to bring you back. So this is just a case of losing initiative to group of CR=APL+1 (technically not quite APL+1, since it would require a sixth erinyes to bump it up to that level). That would be embarrassing. This is supposed to be an average fight. And at level 12, a lot of groups can take on APL+2 or +3 without a problem.
Of course, you could just say that you wouldn't be the person to take point on an adventure, so you wouldn't be opening the door. But then I'd just congratulate you on creating a martial character who can't open doors because it's just too dangerous.
This isn't quite PFS level. But I personally don't play PFS so this is more along the lines of what I would use.
1: Power Attack
1: Weapon Focus (Nine Ring Broadsword)
Bonus: Combat Reflexes
Bonus2: Dodge
3: Ascetic Style
Ki Power4: bark skin
5: Ascetic Form
Style Strike: Flying Kick
6: Mobility
Ki Power6: Empty Body
7: Martial focus
Ki Power8: Abundant Step
9: Dragon Style
Style Strike: Hammer Blow
Ki Power10: ki leech
Bonus 10: Medusa's Wrath
11: Weapon Style Mastery
Ki Power 12: Diamond Soul
13: Dragon Ferocity
Essentially, by level 13 you're looking at double strength on all your sword attacks, plenty of mobility, plenty of defense, and potential devastation for your enemies as you start looking at things like Dazing or Stunning Assault.
Ascetic Dragon would actually be much more exploitable on a TWF character, where the Monk Unarmed Strike property combined with Dragon Style/Ferocity would mean TWF with 1.5xSTR and regular Power Attack on both weapons. It's useful on a Monk, but it's also kind of a long way to go for an extra .5. On a TWF Barbarian where you get to play 2-handed Rage off both hands... hmm.
Something important to consider in AC vs. Durability
AC is forever, hit points are not. You will have to regain health somehow. At 12th level I guess a party member can fix you up pretty easily but if you get attacked and lose a lot of health, there isn't much you can do by yourself. There is the ki power wholeness of body, but still. It helps out the medic if you don't have to keep getting patched up.
Ascetic Dragon would actually be much more exploitable on a TWF character, where the Monk Unarmed Strike property combined with Dragon Style/Ferocity would mean TWF with 1.5xSTR and regular Power Attack on both weapons. It's useful on a Monk, but it's also kind of a long way to go for an extra .5. On a TWF Barbarian where you get to play 2-handed Rage off both hands... hmm.
Ascetic dragon is basically a 11 feat chain with a minimum of +6 bab to finish.
Imp. Unarmed Strike->Weapon Focus->Power Attack->Ascetic Style->Ascetic Form->Martial Focus->Dragon Style->Stunning Fist->Melee Style Mastery->Dragon Ferocity.
On a barbarian you can drop ascetic form to lighten the load slightly but you're still looking at level 17 to see things to fruition before two weapon fighting.
Ascetic Dragon would actually be much more exploitable on a TWF character, where the Monk Unarmed Strike property combined with Dragon Style/Ferocity would mean TWF with 1.5xSTR and regular Power Attack on both weapons. It's useful on a Monk, but it's also kind of a long way to go for an extra .5. On a TWF Barbarian where you get to play 2-handed Rage off both hands... hmm.Ascetic dragon is basically a 11 feat chain with a minimum of +6 bab to finish.
Imp. Unarmed Strike->Weapon Focus->Power Attack->Ascetic Style->Ascetic Form->Martial Focus->Dragon Style->Stunning Fist->Melee Style Mastery->Dragon Ferocity.
On a barbarian you can drop ascetic form to lighten the load slightly but you're still looking at level 17 to see things to fruition before two weapon fighting.
So does that mean that this path is "a fighter thing?"
Not that such a place is bad anymore- fighters have really stepped up with AWT. But still... it does seem..limited in scope if that is the only way this path can work in a practical manner.
Side note- couldn't you replace IUS with dirty fighting? That at least seems like it has some use to most builds, since you can full off maneuvers while flanking.
Ascetic Dragon would actually be much more exploitable on a TWF character, where the Monk Unarmed Strike property combined with Dragon Style/Ferocity would mean TWF with 1.5xSTR and regular Power Attack on both weapons. It's useful on a Monk, but it's also kind of a long way to go for an extra .5. On a TWF Barbarian where you get to play 2-handed Rage off both hands... hmm.Ascetic dragon is basically a 11 feat chain with a minimum of +6 bab to finish.
Imp. Unarmed Strike->Weapon Focus->Power Attack->Ascetic Style->Ascetic Form->Martial Focus->Dragon Style->Stunning Fist->Melee Style Mastery->Dragon Ferocity.
On a barbarian you can drop ascetic form to lighten the load slightly but you're still looking at level 17 to see things to fruition before two weapon fighting.
So does that mean that this path is "a fighter thing?"
Not that such a place is bad anymore- fighters have really stepped up with AWT. But still... it does seem..limited in scope if that is the only way this path can work in a practical manner.
Side note- couldn't you replace IUS with dirty fighting? That at least seems like it has some use to most builds, since you can full off maneuvers while flanking.
You can use dirty fighting.
As for a "fighter thing"?
No.
Ascetic Dragon itself isn't enough for an 11 feat investment.
Part of what makes it a really good monk path is the many ways monks can use unarmed strikes even without feats. They get two of the feats for free, can use style strikes, stunning fists, and can get things like Medusa's Wrath which synergizes well into things like Dazing assault.
Brawlers can make it work, perhaps do something even better.
Ascetic dragon is basically a 11 feat chain with a minimum of +6 bab to finish.
Imp. Unarmed Strike->Weapon Focus->Power Attack->Ascetic Style->Ascetic Form->Martial Focus->Dragon Style->Stunning Fist->Melee Style Mastery->Dragon Ferocity.
On a barbarian you can drop ascetic form to lighten the load slightly but you're still looking at level 17 to see things to fruition before two weapon fighting.
That would be where mild multiclassing would come in, since you can shorten that list by 5 feats with just a level of Master of Many Styles. Also, Ascetic Form wouldn't be necessary unless going for something like using the Greater Brawler Rage Power to do pseudo-TWF.