Ascetic + Jabbing Style Monk

[Rambear]

Hello lads n ladies,

I have been toying with a build which combines Ascetic style with another Style, using Martial Focus and Weapon style Mastery from Weapon Masters handbook.

However, I keep running into the fact that the second style comes online a little late (even orse if you pick an exotic Non-monk weapon like the Katana or Urumi).

This is the best I have managed to conjure up. I'd really appreciate it if you could poke holes in it or tell me I am awesome.

Human Monk 18/Unarmed Fighter 2 (Unchained)

Str: 18 (+ per level from levels 8,12, 16 and 20)
Dex: 14
Con: 14
Int: 10
Wis: 15 (+1 at level 4)
Cha: 8

1 Monk Flurry of Blows, Improved Unarmed strike, Stunning Fist, Weapon Focus: Temple Sword, Jabbing Style, Dodge (Bonus Feat)
2 Monk Evasion, Combat Reflexes (Bonus Feat)
3 Monk Fast Movement, Ki Pool, Ki Strike (Magic), Escetic Style
4 Monk Still Mind, Ki Power (Barkskin)
5 Monk Purity of Body, Flying Kick, Escetic Form
6 Monk Ki Power, Mobility, Mobility
7 Unarmed Fighter Martial Focus: Monk Fighter Weapon Group, Jabbing Master (Bonus)
8 Unarmed Fighter Weapon Style Master
9 Monk (8) Ki Strike (Cold iron/Silver), Dimensional Agility
10 Monk (9) Abundant Step (Ki Power)
11 Monk (9) Improved Evasion, Elbow Smash, Dimensional Assault
12 Monk (10) Style strike (Lawful), Ki Leech (Ki Power), Medusa's Wrath(Bonus Feat)
13 Monk (11) Flurry of Blows (Bonus Attack), Dimensional Dervish
14 Monk (12) Diamond Soul (Ki Power),
15 Monk (13) Tongue of the Sun and Moon, Legsweep. Ascetic Strike
16 Monk (14) Blood Crow Strike, Improved Critical (Bonus)
17 Monk (15) Style Strike (2/round), Jabbing Dancer?
18 Monk (16) Ki Strike (Adamantite), Ki Volley
19 Monk (17) Timeless Body, Power attack?
20 Monk (18) Diamond Resilience

Considerations/questions:

1) Does taking Jabbing Master with the 1st level Bonus Feat for Unarmed Fighter Work? I seem to recall it works for Master of Many styles
2) Is there any other way to get Ascetic Style + Jabbing Master at around 8-9th level without a dip?
3) Is getting Jabbing Style/Master worth postponing Medusa's Wrath for?
4) Is Jabbing Dancer Still worth it with Dimensional Agility Feat line? 3A) Is the Dimensional Feat Line still worth it considering I can use flying kick and move around with Jabbing Dancer.
5) Would it be feasible to replace the Dimensional Feat line with something like Combat Style Master and switching to Crane or Snake style when outside of my turn?
6) Is it worth considering other weapons (Urumi, Katana, Sansetsukon)?

Thoughts?

[Imbicatus]

You can't take jabbing master with Unarmed fighters bonus feat. Only the first feat in any style chain has the style tag and qualifies as a style feat. Jabbing master isn't a style feat. It's a combat feat that has a style feat as a prerequisite.

[Rambear]

Imbicatus wrote:

You can't take jabbing master with Unarmed fighters bonus feat. Only the first feat in any style chain has the style tag and qualifies as a style feat. Jabbing master isn't a style feat. It's a combat feat that has a style feat as a prerequisite.

Guess we are looking at the tag (Combat, Style), instead of the table then :). Wondering how that works with MoMS, but this isn't the place for that discussion (which I assume has taken place before).

Do you have any suggestions how to make this work before level 11 (level 9 maybe, considering you need Monk 8th for Jabbing Master)?

[Chess Pwn]

MoMS is the same now. At lv1 you get a free Style feat no pre-reqs. But you can't get free access to feats in their chain

[toastedamphibian]

I don't think Ascetic Strike does anything for a monk.

If your looking at a 2 level dip, conider a 3 level dip. Weapon Master can get you weapon training (unarmed strike) which will work nicely with the ascetic line and remove the need for martial focus. Alternatively, free style figter gets an ability to have 2 stances at 3rd, negating the need for 2 feats. Martial Flexibility will let you grab jab mastery 4 times a day.

Some +1 Trained weapon held in a free hand can have jabbing master put on it, so you only need up to dancer.

[NoTongue]

toastedamphibian wrote:

I don't think Ascetic Strike does anything for a monk.

Better early damage, better criticals, better materials, cheaper to enchant and it frees up a magic item slot, better power attack.

[Bladelock]

How can you get Ascetic Style with a katana?

[Moonheart]

toastedamphibian wrote:

I don't think Ascetic Strike does anything for a monk.

Huh? I think it's a truly important part of the style, imdo.

Ascetic Style allows you to do anything you can do with your fists, but adding some weapons qualities on top of it... try to think what it means for a few minutes:

- you can extend any of your unarmed attacks powers to 10ft range with a reach weapon, or even more with a ranged weapon
- you can use any "on hit" effect normaly only possible with a weapon with your flurry of blows... like Flurry of Vorpal Hits, Flurry of Hamatula Strike, and much more
- you can bypass almost all DR without spending a single ki point, just using a weapon with the right material
- you can keep your unarmed damage with a 2h weapon, enjoying the strength bonus, the power attack bonus, and so on
- you add grappling, trip, distracting or whatever to your "unarmed" moves

However, if you don't take Ascetic Strike to do this, you'll have to sacrifice your unarmed damage in the process, which, after a few levels, becomes much better than any weapon.

With Ascetic Strike, all those nice little tricks becomes almost "free of charge"

[Wicky1976]

Bladelock wrote:

How can you get Ascetic Style with a katana?

crusaders flurry ?