So I am just coming back after taking a little Pathfinder break. I have decided that I want to try my hand at making a theme I like work, so as to shake off the build-fu rust.
Build Theme: A character that eschews the crutches of external power and seeks enlightenment via perfection of self. A Ki using martial artist.
Build Must haves:
A.) No weapons
B.) No armor
C.) No magic items (We will be using an intrinsic bonus system similar but tweaked to the one published in the Mythic Hero's Handbook)
D.) At least 80% of the damage of a Two Hand Full BaB Weapon User
E.) At least 15 + level AC.
F.) At least 60% chance to resist attacks against any save with DC's equal to those of an at level wizard who started with an 18 int and is using their highest level spell.
G.) Not a Caster. (Refluffing some buff spells as Ki use is fine, I just do not want to play a primary caster whose main focus is spells or a ranged character like a blast based Kinetisist.)
H.) Has ways to address common threats such as Incorporeal foes, Flying foes, ETC...
Build Nice things to have but not absolutely necessary.
1.) 90+% of the damage of a Two Hand Full BaB Weapon User
2.) 20 + level AC
3.) At least 75% chance to resist attacks against any save with DC's equal to those of an at level wizard who started with an 18 int and is using their highest level spell.
4.) Wis Based
5.) More than 4 Skill points per level (All classes except int based primary casters are 4+Int in our game)
6.) Some narrative power besides "Punch Good"
7.) Human
Feel free to offer any and all advice I am off to ruminate on this. Thanks!
Pulling off A, B, and C in combination with G is going to be a tough one. You are simply relying on feats and class abilities at that point to pick up the slack. H is going to be absolutely BRUTAL without relying on C and G.
If you want D (damage), you will need to get a class ability that adds your level to damage, like a Cavalier's Challenge, Paladin's Smite, etc. Taking levels in those classes is a bit restrictive as you won't get the Ki powers you are looking for easily.
Hmmm ... Irorian Paladin could be a possible choice. Dipping 4 levels will net you a Ki Pool, unarmed damage, a challenge ability, divine grace, and Charisma to AC (up to +4 for the four levels, and can wear light armor). Also, full BAB for those 4 levels. Might be able to pull off something fancy if you stack levels of Unchained Monk onto that chassis.
Slap on three levels of Chevalier (prestige class to get smite evil) and then Champion of Irori, you can realistically keep up the progression of your smite/personal trial, and get more uses per day, amoung other things, and you wont' need any feats to qualify for the Prestige classes.
So, Irorian Paladin 4 / Unchained Monk 4 / Chevalier 3 / Champion of Irori 10. Maybe that will help you on your way.
EDIT: If you think you have enough free feats floating around, you might consider using the VMC (variant multicass) option for the Cavalier. That will net you another challenge, and you can take Chain Challenge feat. There are some good order abilities that might help you out.
Human Unchained Monk With either Crane Style or Snake Style (Sense Motive build). Worship Irori and build up that perfecting one's self.
I recommend Dwarf however for the Glory of Old and Steel Soul options. OR Half Orc with Fate's Favored + Sacred Tattoo for +2 to all saves out the gate. But you can go Human and Grab Carefully Hidden and Iron Will to shore up the will save further if you're dead set on a human. But the other 2 races have a lot going for them and the combos end up being better than the 1 feat you get for being human.
I agree with Louise you're describing an unchained monk although for Damage I'd look into going Jabbing style.
Snake style can be amazing in dex builds maxing AC.
Your going dex based your damage is a bit slow until you can get the agile enhancement, if you're using mythic then obviously mythic weapon finesse solves all of your problems.
I agree with Louise you're describing an unchained monk although for Damage I'd look into going Jabbing style.
Snake style can be amazing in dex builds maxing AC.Your going dex based your damage is a bit slow until you can get the agile enhancement, if you're using mythic then obviously mythic weapon finesse solves all of your problems.
Yes, Jabbing style is great. I can't believe it slipped my mind. Good mention there.
I guess I was focusing on his huge mentioning of Defensive abilities the Offensive ones like jabbing and dragon style slipped by me.
Well I did a Kasatha Dex unchained monk trying to build for a hands are weapons themes which used combat style master (or whatever it's called) to switch between snake style and jabbing style. Hence it occurs to me easily.
Well I did a Kasatha Dex unchained monk trying to build for a hands are weapons themes which used combat style master (or whatever it's called) to switch between snake style and jabbing style. Hence it occurs to me easily.
I tend to play Casty type characters more than martial. I'm currently running a Brawler to break my caster class stride. I have been MFing Styles just to play with them. I liked Snake more than Crane style myself. Easier to understand for me.
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I like the phantom blade with a dip in unchained monk. You get access to mage armour and shield to cover ac. Your attacks enchant automatically. Wis based casting. Dex based melee would have three strong saves. Fort and will are good saves and ref will be convered by high dex.
I would consider reflavouring the phantom Blade as a fragment of your soul from which you draw power.
You can add a dip of celestial bloodline bloodrager to most of the above (mine and others) build so you have holy fists.
I tend to play Casty type characters more than martial. I'm currently running a Brawler to break my caster class stride. I have been MFing Styles just to play with them. I liked Snake more than Crane style myself. Easier to understand for me.Well I did a Kasatha Dex unchained monk trying to build for a hands are weapons themes which used combat style master (or whatever it's called) to switch between snake style and jabbing style. Hence it occurs to me easily.
I too tend to make casties, my character folder sits at 20 character 3 of which are full martials.
I too prefer snake, crane feels underwhelming to me, and being a Kasatha with extra hands made it confusing.
So, I went and crunched some numbers for my suggestion of Iroran Paladin 4 / Unchained Monk 4 / Chevalier 3 / Champion of Irori 9. See spoiler below:
B) No weapons
C) No magic items (build assumes effectively +6 stat boosts, mainly Dex, Wis, Cha, which I think you can duplicate with your custom system)
D) Damage depends on feat choices (aside from Weapon Finesse and/or Fey foundling, you have 8 character feats and two monk feats as your disposal)
E) 15 + Level AC: Base is 30 AC (touch) before anything else. You can pump it up to 45 within a matter of moments thanks to smite/personal trial/valiant stand.
F) 60% chance to make save: Base saves are +22/+23/+21, not including racial or feat based bonuses. Personal trial adds +6 to those numbers. Cloak of resistance will help further.
G) Not a caster: Unless you pick a quiggong power, you get a sprinkling of 1st level paladin spells.
H) Incorporeal/flying foes: Smite evil can help with damage reduction. You can use your paladin spells to help. BUt make some good feat choices and you can do this.
I) WIS based: You can be wisdom based, in fact, you do use wisdom, and charisma, and can have your ki pool run off of either.
J) Skills: Only your paladin levels gets 2+Int mod skills. The rest is 4+Int mod.
K) Not just "Punch Good": That's up to you really, but you've got the flavor of paladin, monk, chevalier, and champ of irori going for you.
L) Human: You can be human if you want. I built the character half-elf as it gets two favored classes and +1 ki pool and +2 to Lay on Hands seemed beneficial, plus the other abilities half-elf get, but you can get that every skill/feat if you want.
Things you didn't list but you get anyway:
Lay on Hands: Swift action heal yourself and remove fatigue (with a mercy)
Immunity to fear
Immune to forced rerolls
Immune to diseases
Immune to poisons
Charisma to saves
Evasion
Fast Movement
Stunning Fist (+fatigue/sickened/staggered)
Still Mind (+2 vs enchaments and illusions)
Stubborn Mind (reroll failed save vs enchantments)
Smite Evil/Chaos
Personal Trial (effectively smite vs anything)
Controlled Charge (no ac penalty for charging)
Boosts to knowledge checks
Shield the weak (forgo our saving throw to give adjacent allies +4 ref, imp cover and imp evasion vs a burst, line, cone, or spread effect that allows for a save)
Sweeping Smite (smite, but with cleave/greater cleave)
Could go Kinetic Knight, they give up all ranged capabilities for free Kinetic Blade, and despite the name gauntlets and dwarven boulder helms are viable forms. There's a monk version, too, with monkish abilities, but kinetic fist is only really good when you have natural attacks.
Unarmored Kinetic Knight is a bad idea, since you don't get your elemental defense unless you're wearing armor. A regular kineticist, who wants to stay at range, is a lot better here but you're still in trouble with the whole "no magic items" thing since you're so dependent on your stats.
Unchained Monk crossed with Irori Cleric can use Guided Hand for WIS-based unarmed attacks and Ki Channel to replenish their Ki Pool; they also blend for excellent saves. As Unchained Monk has no inherent attack bonus, picking up Divine Favor and maybe even Heroism is a nice help. With Fate's Favored, 4 levels of Cleric will grant +3/+3 while losing 1BAB.
Crossing Unchained Monk and Irori Warpriest will have similar benefits as mentioned above, but would probably want to skew more Warpriest and less Monk.
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There is the Warlord Fighter archetype from the worldscape comic- it gets unarmored AC bonus to charisma at 3rd, and "dodge" as a bonus feat at first.
So, you can get Weapon Focus & Weapon Spec for damage.