I've been curious about this for awhile, but have never bothered to seek an answer since it never came up. However, with a particular Monk player on the rise, it may actually come to the surface.
What happens if a Monk selects an archetype that replaces Stunning Fist (say, Windstep Master getting Hurricane Punch instead), and then later selects Stunning Fist as a feat upon leveling (say, by becoming a 9th level Unchained Monk)?
How many uses per day would this character have?
For simplicity, we're assuming a 9th-level Dwarven Unchained Monk. Would it be twice per day per the feat's entry? Or would it be 9 times per day per the "special" entry?
its written explicitly in the feat how many times. Read the "special" line directly from the pfsrd. Even if a monk doesnt get t for free, they still use the second sentence:
Prerequisites: Dex 13, Wis 13, Improved Unarmed Strike, base attack bonus +8.
Benefit: You must declare that you are using this feat before you make your attack roll (thus, a failed attack roll ruins the attempt). Stunning Fist forces a foe damaged by your unarmed attack to make a Fortitude saving throw (DC 10 + 1/2 your character level + your Wis modifier), in addition to dealing damage normally. A defender who fails this saving throw is stunned for 1 round (until just before your next turn). A stunned character drops everything held, can’t take actions, loses any Dexterity bonus to AC, and takes a –2 penalty to AC. You may attempt a stunning attack once per day for every four levels you have attained (but see Special), and no more than once per round. Constructs, oozes, plants, undead, incorporeal creatures, and creatures immune to critical hits cannot be stunned.
Special: A monk receives Stunning Fist as a bonus feat at 1st level, even if he does not meet the prerequisites. A monk may attempt a stunning attack a number of times per day equal to his monk level, plus one more time per day for every four levels he has in classes other than monk.
9 times per day. Even though he doesn't receive it at first level, he still has the feat and is a monk. See Punishing Kick, Touch of Serenity, and Elemental Fist for similar examples. They each have a line about <insert archetype> receives the feat for free, then goes on to describe uses per day for a "monk". The normal syntax if it was limited to the archetype is to refer to the archetype name as the class.
However, do note that he never receives the standard monk's Stunning Fist class feature, so Stunning Fist will only ever inflict the stunned condition (though stunned is a pretty great condition).
I thought as much. Thank you!
However, do note that he never receives the standard monk's Stunning Fist class feature, so Stunning Fist will only ever inflict the stunned condition (though stunned is a pretty great condition).
I've always been skeptic of this particular ability as well. "Stunned" is one of the best conditions you can afflict on an opponent, so why would a monk want to trade down, other than getting around immunities? Yes, it gets better as the monk grows in levels, but nine times out of ten the monk will probably choose Stunned over the rest of the conditions.
Apart from fatigued (meh), the others last longer, so there's that.
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so why would a monk want to trade down, other than getting around immunities?
To use Medusa's Wrath for several turns instead of just once per stunning fist.