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I've got a PFS Unchained Monk/Warpriest whip using build, which is kind of a puzzle carefully put together. I have no idea what to take with my Warpriest 3rd level bonus feat. I did have that slotted as Weapon Specialization, taking a Fighter level before I got the feat to qualify as Fighter 4, but there's apparently a lot of disagreement about whether or not actual Fighter levels and Warpriest levels stack for qualifying for feats. Enough disagreement that I don't want to try doing that for PFS.
The character is currently 2nd level, about to hit 3rd, but once I start playing him again, I expect he'll get to 4th fairly quickly. 4th level is when I'll get my 3rd level WP bonus feat.
Here's the basic build.
LN Human (Vudran) Unchained Monk 1 / Warpriest 9 / Lore Warden 1
Worships Matravash
STR 10 DEX 21 (17 +2racial, +1 4th, +1 8th) CON 14 INT 7 WIS 16 CHA 7
Favored Class Bonus for WP levels 3-8 goes to 1/6 Bonus Feat
L1 UMonk 1: Weapon Finesse, B) Combat Reflexes, B) Stunning Fist, B) Improved Unarmed Strike, H) Phalanx Formation, Flurry of Blows
L2 WP 1: B) EWP (Whip), B) Weapon Focus (Whip), Sacred Weapon (1d6), Law and Travel Blessings
L3 WP 2: Whip Mastery, Fervor
L4 WP 3: B) ??????????????????????????? Need help here.
L5 WP 4: Crusader's Flurry, Channel Energy, Sacred Weapon +1
L6 LW 1: B) Improved Whip Mastery, Knowledge Skills as Class Skills
L7 WP 5: Martial Focus (Flails-Includes Whip), Fervor 2D6, Sacred Weapon (1d8)
L8 WP 6: B) Difficult Swings
L9 WP 7: Lunge, Sacred Armor +1
L10 WP 8: FCB) Weapon Specialization (Whip), Fervor 3D6, Sacred Weapon +2
L11 WP 9: Improved Critical (Whip), B) Greater Weapon Focus (Whip)
Skills: Focused on Perception and Sense Motive with his whopping 2 skill points/level. Will probably throw a point into Acrobatics at some point.
The character is locked in at 5XP and has been played at 2nd level. So stat array can't change and levels 1 and 2 have been committed to.
My main goal with the build was to make a whip user with Crusader's Flurry. I didn't want to go dedicated trip build, because I already have a character that uses trip. The second priority is getting to Difficult Swings, which turns all of the terrain adjacent to me into difficult terrain whenever I full attack. Meaning enemies can't 5-foot step to get next to me and attack, and instead have to provoke.
Choices I've considered:
Wolf Style: This would have been great, but for PFS it's only legal for Skinwalker characters.
Slashing Grace: While this would give me DEX to damage sooner than Agile, it doesn't work with Flurry.
So I'm looking for a Combat feat that either combines well with other aspects of the character, or that improves damage output, since I can't take Power Attack or Piranha Strike.
Another option is to delay Whip Mastery until 4th level, which would allow me to take something other than a Combat feat at 3rd. I don't know if I want to put off using a whip for yet another level, though. He's basically been using Unarmed Strike for 2 levels, since his Whip doesn't do lethal yet.
Finally, if there's a better Fighter Archetype to dip than Lore Warden, I'm open to changing that. It's mostly there for the bonus feat and BAB to let me get to Difficult Swings faster. Most Fighter Archetypes don't get anything interesting at 1st level, and if they do, they usually swap their 1st level bonus feat for it. Lore Warden, even the new one, at least gets some extra class skills and skill points. Though I don't really have any skill points to continue to put into them, or the INT to make use of them.
I am not an expert in whip builds, but a couple things come to mind about your build concept.
Sacred Weapon (Su): At 1st level, weapons wielded by a warpriest are charged with the power of his faith. In addition to the favored weapon of his deity, the warpriest can designate a weapon as a sacred weapon by selecting that weapon with the Weapon Focus feat; if he has multiple Weapon Focus feats, this ability applies to all of them. Whenever the warpriest hits with his sacred weapon, the weapon damage is based on his level and not the weapon type. The damage for Medium warpriests is given on the table above; see the table below for Small and Large warpriests. The warpriest can decide to use the weapon's base damage instead of the sacred weapon damage—this decision must be declared before the attack roll is made. (If the weapon's base damage exceeds the sacred weapon damage, its damage is unchanged.) This increase in damage does not affect any other aspect of the weapon, and doesn't apply to alchemical items, bombs, or other weapons that deal only energy damage.
Whip: A whip deals no damage to any creature with an armor bonus of +1 or higher or a natural armor bonus of +3 or higher. (I'm not sure how the war priest's change to damage effects this.) The whip is treated as a melee weapon with 15-foot reach, though you don't threaten the area into which you can make an attack. (I'm pretty sure this still applies) In addition, unlike most other weapons with reach, you can use it against foes anywhere within your reach (including adjacent foes). Using a whip provokes an attack of opportunity, (I'm pretty sure this also still applies.) just as if you had used a ranged weapon.
You can use the Weapon Finesse feat to apply your Dexterity modifier instead of your Strength modifier to attack rolls with a whip sized for you, even though it isn't a light weapon.
Assuming the things I have pointed out are acceptable, I would consider a defensive feat.
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Fromper - Enforcer is indeed a great feat. I have an Enforcer Brawler character that is a lot of fun. It doesn't work here for the reason you mentioned.
Matt2VK - The Brawler class? I had originally planned to dip a level of Brawler instead of Fighter. The problem is that I need the true bonus feat, not Martial Flexibility. Improved Whip Mastery is something I want all the time. If I took the Brawler level at 4th level instead of 6th, then I could use the 3rd level Warpriest bonus feat on Improved Whip Mastery at 5th. But then I won't qualify for Crusader's Flurry at 5th, because I won't have Channel Energy yet, and I end up needing to do some retraining at 6th level to pick that up. Like I said, the build is a bit of a puzzle, right now fitting together to get me Crusader's Flurry as quickly as I can and threatening 10 feet with a whip next quickest.
I also though about a 2nd level of UMonk, which would get me Evasion. It doesn't give me the right Bonus Feat, though, since I'm limited to the Monk list. Unless I push Crusader's Flurry to 6th.
Toughness and Iron Will aren't Combat Feats, so I can't take them directly with the Warpriest bonus feat. Iron Will is something I've thought about taking for the character. I'll be boosting his Wisdom later via headband, and Warpriests have good Will saves, so I'm hoping I end up ok.
Maybe the solution is to go Brawler or a second level of Monk at 4th and push Cruader's Flurry a level. I'll think about that one. It would mean threatening 10 feet with the whip sooner, but flurrying later. Martial Flexibility is incredibly powerful. Or if I went Monk, Evasion is really nice to have.
I was just hoping there was a feat out there somewhere that would combine well with the whip that I was missing. Or that would combine well with Warpriest. There are so many new books, and I can't keep up with all the new feats/options.
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Wyvern Fury Style looks interesting. It would let me include the whip in a flurry at 4th. Ultimately not so great, because I'd have Crusader's Flurry at 5th anyway. But if i commit to the rest of the style chain, it could be interesting. Not sure if it's ultimately worth three feats for what the full chain would give me.
Blind-Fight. I rarely see a PC take this, but often note complaints regarding miss chances (a fairly common defense) or general invisibility/darkness tactics.
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Blind-Fight. I rarely see a PC take this, but often note complaints regarding miss chances (a fairly common defense) or general invisibility/darkness tactics.
I was going to recommend that as well, Blind-Fight comes with many benefits-
Rerolling miss chance & ignoring the penalties of being caught in Darkness; at later levels, expect a lot of baddies to be throwing out Deeper/Darkness as their opening volley. Likewise, if you get caught with the Blindness spell, just laugh it off.|
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Blind-fight is a solid option. Especially since I'm human and have no special vision. I tend to prefer feats that are always useful, instead of situational ones, but it's a good suggestion that I'll think about.
I realized I could use the bonus feat for Phalanx Formation and retrain my 1st level Human bonus feat to anything. I'd taken Phalanx Formation there when the planned build was slightly different (when I thought I could stack fighter levels and Warpriest levels to qualify for Weapon Specialization with the 3rd level bonus feat). So that opens up the feat options to any feat I qualify for at 4th level.
Toughness as was suggested earlier is another good fallback option. It would offset the lost hitpoints from putting my FCB into a bonus feat. Essentially trading an early feat for a later, bonus feat, which I can use to take a fighter only feat like Weapon Specialization. Not the most thrilling choice, but it's worth considering.
I wish there were more good Warpriest feats. I'm always sad they didn't add an Extra Fervor feat or let Extra Channel work for Fervor. That would be an obvious choice if it existed.
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I may have figured it out. Weapon Trick (One-Handed Weapon) gives me access to:
Stylish Riposte (Combat Reflexes, base attack bonus +4): When your AC exceeds the result of a foe’s melee attack against you by 5 or more, that foe provokes an attack of opportunity from you. Once you make such an attack of opportunity against a foe, you can’t again use this trick against the foe that day.
Anything that creates more AoOs is a good thing for this build, as I'm likely to never use all 6+ that I could get at 4th level in one round. I can't remember where things ended up with Warpriests and BAB for their bonus feats. I know they use their level as BAB to qualify. I don't remember if they get to count it that way for the effect of the feat. This seems to be in a grey area, where the _4 BAB is not exactly a prerequisite of taking the feat, but it is a prereq of using part of the feat.
At any rate, I could take it at 4th and just not use it until 5th, or ask the GM ahead of time how they rule it works.
Looking over the other One-Handed Weapon tricks, I'm unlikely to use any of them. Maybe I could see using Free Hand Maneuver to Disarm on occasion. Mindful Dodge is nice, especially when combined with Stylish Riposte. I would have to work Dodge into the build somewhere. I could do that by taking a 2nd level of UMonk instead of the Fighter level. That pushes everything else back, though. Or I could take Dodge where I'm taking Lunge and push Lunge to 11th, dropping Improved Critical off the build. I'm not sure that's worth it, given Mindful Dodge makes you staggered for a round after using it.
EDIT: So leaving Dodge out for now, that makes the build:
LN Human (Vudran) Unchained Monk 1 / Warpriest 9 / Lore Warden 1
Worships Matravash
STR 10 DEX 21 (17 +2racial, +1 4th, +1 8th) CON 14 INT 7 WIS 16 CHA 7
Favored Class Bonus for WP levels 3-8 goes to 1/6 Bonus Feat
L1 UMonk 1: Weapon Finesse, B) Combat Reflexes, B) Stunning Fist, B) Improved Unarmed Strike, H) Phalanx Formation, Flurry of Blows
L2 WP 1: B) EWP (Whip), B) Weapon Focus (Whip), Sacred Weapon (1d6), Law and Travel Blessings
L3 WP 2: Whip Mastery, Fervor
L4 WP 3: B) Weapon Trick (One-Handed Weapons)
L5 WP 4: Crusader's Flurry, Channel Energy, Sacred Weapon +1
L6 LW 1: B) Improved Whip Mastery, Knowledge Skills as Class Skills
L7 WP 5: Martial Focus (Flails-Includes Whip), Fervor 2D6, Sacred Weapon (1d8)
L8 WP 6: B) Difficult Swings
L9 WP 7: Lunge, Sacred Armor +1
L10 WP 8: FCB) Weapon Specialization (Whip), Fervor 3D6, Sacred Weapon +2
L11 WP 9: Improved Critical (Whip), B) Greater Weapon Focus (Whip)
Skills: Focused on Perception and Sense Motive with his whopping 2 skill points/level. Will probably throw a point into Acrobatics at some point.