Pretty soon I'll be passing off my current DM mantle to another member of the group and rejoining the campaign as a player. As such, I'm starting to figure out what exactly it is that I'll be playing.
The Unchained Monk actually looks pretty fun, especially with Ascetic Style to keep all the fun unarmed stuff while still getting to use a weapon. This is a primarily urban campaign, so Street Style seems like a solid bet, too.
A few notes on character creation:
- I'm expecting to come in at level 12 or 13 with standard wealth by level for whichever one.
- We play a bit loose with weapon proficiency. If a character uses a weapon or type of armor long enough, they gain proficiency as a story-type thing. As a result, I don't really need to actually take the Exotic Weapon Proficiency feat for the Urumi.
- We use a stat array of [18, 16, 14, 12, 12, 10].
- In general, all Paizo published material should be allowed. Third party content can be used with DM approval.
So, here's what I'm thinking.
Human with Str 18+2, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 12, Wis 16, Cha 10. All ability score increases from level will go to Strength. This is a pretty feat intensive build, so I think keeping the feat and skills is more worthwhile than Dual Talent.
Class progression will be Unchained Monk 6 / Weapon Master Fighter 3 / Unchained Monk X. The 3 level fighter dip doesn't seem to hurt too much and lets me get all of the feats needed to pull the build together much more quickly. Notably, by taking the Weapon Master archetype, I get Weapon Training 1, removing the need to take Martial Focus to qualify for Weapon Style Mastery as well as allowing the use of Dueling Gloves for the additional +2 to attack and damage.
Here is the feat and class feature progression. (I think the spreadsheet format is a lot more readable than trying to format it here on the forum.)
Favored class bonuses will go toward the Human bonus of +1/4 Ki to make up for the lost ki progression from multiclassing. I think Wisdom in the Flesh with Stealth and Honored Fist of the Society are my best bets for traits.
For magic items, I'm obviously going to want a keen urumi with as high of an enhancement bonus as I can reasonably afford. In terms of wondrous items, I'll want monk's robes, dueling gloves, a necklace of ki serenity, and the best belt of strength and headband of wisdom that I can reasonably afford. Is there anything else I should be going for?
Any other comments or suggestions? Any really good third party material that I should ask for approval to use?
I just checked out the Perfect Scholar archetype from Inner Sea Intrigue. Losing Still Mind kind of hurts and Eye of the Sun and Moon is definitely weaker than Tongue otS&M, but I think this is a really solid upgrade for an urban campaign. I went ahead and updated the spreadsheet to reflect that.
Still hoping for some sort of feedback. There's bound to be something here I've missed or could improve.
I did consider trying to push the Fighter levels sooner, but I don't think it works out. Improved Bull Rush is a prerequisite for Street Style, and I need both Ascetic Style and Street Style before I can take Weapon Style Mastery. On the plus side, I'll be starting at a high enough level that it doesn't actually make a difference.
The fourth level of Fighter is also something I've been pondering. Taking the Advanced Weapon Training feat doesn't count against the once per 5 Fighter levels max if a Weapon Master takes it as a bonus feat, so with some retraining, I could actually take it up to 3 times. I'd need to figure out how to free up those feats at an early enough level to make a difference, but I think the Training weapon enchantment on a pair of gauntlets might be enough to do that.
So, where are my biggest gains with Advanced Weapon Training? Warrior Spirit definitely looks good, but it's going to be capped at +3 and I worry about having time for the action to activate it. Versatile Training (with Intimidate and Acrobatics?) also looks like a decent choice, since I have full BAB; a feat for two extra skill points per level seems solid. Anything else worth trying to fit in?