So here's my Strength Monk Build

[A Ninja Errant]

I'm not sure if this is the right place to put this, mods please feel free to move it if it's wrong. I figured classes is the closest, because I'm trying to push the limits of the Monk class, as well as multiclassing and archetypes.

I'm going to try to do this with no retraining, because that feels like cheating to me.

Please feel free to point out the stuff I've screwed up, I'm sure there's at least a few things. Probably quite a few really. Comments and suggestions are also welcome. The concept is a heavily armored weapon using Monk.

level 1:

Tessta
Level 1 CG Female Human Monk Farmhand
Str 18
Dex 10
Con 16
Int 12
Wis 12
Cha 10
HP: 21
Resonance: 1
Movement: 25(-5) ACP: -4, Clumsy
Ancestry Feats: Natural Ambition
General Feats: Assurance (Athletics)
Class Feats: Ki Strike (SP Pool: 1), Monastic Weaponry
Skills: Trained in Acrobatics, Athletics, Religion, Farming Lore, and Medicine
Saves: Expert in all three
Proficiencies: Expert in Unarmored, Trained in Unarmed and all monk weapons, Trained in Perception
AC: Splint Mail +5, Proficiency -1, Dex +0, Shield +1: 15
TAC: Splint Mail +2, Proficiency -1, Dex +0, Shield +1: 12
Attacks:
Unarmed +5 1d6+4 B Agile, Finesse, Nonlethal, Unarmed
Shuriken +1 1d4+4 P Agile, Monk, Thrown
Light Shield Spike +3 1d4 P Agile
Temple Sword +5 1d8+4 S Monk, Trip

Basically, for a 10 dex monk to survive, might as well just give up on fast movement and styles, suck up the -2 to AC, and go all in on some armor. Her AC is still a weak point, but she's also got excellent offense, because she can Shield Block and still Flurry with her temple sword, followed up with an Agile shield bash at a mere -4.

Here's where the build starts to work. With her level 2 Monk feat, she can pick up the Fighter Dedication feat, and she should be able to find herself a suit of Plate. Unfortunately, the fighter dedication doesn't add Shield Proficiency, which means it becomes a liability. She doesn't lose out on offense though, since now she can just use her off-hand for punching. She also picks up Assurance in Acrobatics, because the Assurance auto 10 also discounts ACP.

level 2:

Tessta
Level 2 CG Female Human Monk Farmhand
Str 18
Dex 10
Con 16
Int 12
Wis 12
Cha 10
HP: 34
Resonance: 2
Movement: 25 (-10) ACP: -5, Clumsy
Ancestry Feats: Natural Ambition
General Feats: Assurance (Athletics)
Skill Feats: Assurance (Acrobatics)
Class Feats: Ki Strike (SP Pool: 1), Monastic Weaponry, Fighter Dedication
Skills: Trained in Acrobatics, Athletics, Religion, Farming Lore, and Medicine
Saves: Expert in all three
Proficiencies: Expert in Unarmored, Trained in Unarmed and all monk weapons, Trained in Perception, Trained in all Armor, and Simple and Martial Weapons
AC: Full Plate +6, Proficiency +2, Dex +0: 18
TAC: Full Plate +2, Proficiency +2, Dex +0: 14
Attacks:
Unarmed +6 1d6+4 B Agile, Finesse, Nonlethal, Unarmed
Shuriken +1 1d4+4 P Agile, Monk, Thrown
Temple Sword +6 1d8+4 S Monk, Trip

Third level gets her a Skill increase, which I'll put in Acrobatics, meaning she now can take an auto 15 in Acrobatics, despite her -2 skill modifier after ACP. She also gains Magic Strikes, which will be nice for a while. A 10 foot movement boost that she'll never get to use, and a General Feat. I'll take Fleet, to help make up for her abysmal movement rate.

Fourth level sees her taking Basic Maneuver, and grabbing the Fighter's Double Slice. She also picks up Steady Balance as a Skill Feat.

Fifth level she grabs a skill increase to Expert in athletics as well, which goes nicely with the Athletics Assurance feat Farmhand gave her. Stat boosts go to everything except Dex and Int.

level 5:

Tessta
Level 5 CG Female Human Monk Farmhand
Str 19
Dex 10
Con 18
Int 12
Wis 14
Cha 12
HP: 78
Resonance: 6
Movement: 30 (-10) ACP: -4, clumsy
Ancestry Feats: Natural Ambition, General Training
General Feats: Assurance (Athletics), Alertness
Skill Feats: Assurance (Acrobatics), Steady Balance
Class Feats: Ki Strike (SP Pool: 2), Monastic Weaponry, Fighter Dedication, Basic Maneuver (Double Slice)
Skills: Trained in Religion, Farming Lore, and Medicine, Expert in Acrobatics and Athletics
Saves: Expert in all three
Proficiencies: Expert in Unarmored, Expert in Unarmed and all monk weapons, Expert in Perception, Trained in all Armor, and Simple and Martial Weapons
AC: +1 Expert Full Plate +7, Proficiency +5, Dex +0: 22
TAC: +1 Expert Full Plate +3, Proficiency +5, Dex +0: 18
Attacks:
Unarmed +11 1d6+4 B Agile, Finesse, Nonlethal, Unarmed
Shuriken +6 1d4+4 P Agile, Monk, Thrown
Expert Temple Sword +11 1d8+4 S Monk, Trip
Magic Gear: +1 Rune of Heavy Armor Potency, Expert Handwraps of Mighty Fists, Everburning Torch

Sixth level gets her more movement she can't use, a Monk Feat, which will complete her Fighter dedication by grabbing Opportunist, and a skill feat, which will go into Powerful Leap.

Seventh nets her a Skill Increase to Master in Acrobatics, The Toughness General Feat, and an improvement of Reflexes to Master.

Eighth level is when things start to get crazy. She's now able to pick up the Gray Maiden Dedication, which gets her master of fortitude, plus some nice extras, like Gray Maiden Plate. She also picks up the Kip Up Skill Feat.

level 8:

Tessta
Level 8 CG Female Human Monk Farmhand
Str 19
Dex 10
Con 18
Int 12
Wis 14
Cha 12
HP: 128
Resonance: 9
Movement: 30 (-10) ACP: -3, clumsy
Ancestry Feats: Natural Ambition, General Training
General Feats: Assurance (Athletics), Alertness
Skill Feats: Assurance (Acrobatics), Steady Balance, Kip Up
Class Feats: Ki Strike (SP Pool: 2), Monastic Weaponry, Fighter Dedication, Basic Maneuver (Double Slice), Opportunist, Gray Maiden Dedication
Skills: Trained in Religion, Farming Lore, and Medicine, Expert in Athletics, Master in Acrobatics
Saves: Expert in Will, Master in Fortitude and Reflex
Proficiencies: Expert in Unarmored, Expert in Unarmed and all monk weapons, Expert in Perception, Trained in all Armor, and Simple and Martial Weapons
AC: +1 Master Gray Maiden Plate +8, Proficiency +8, Dex +0: 26
TAC: +1 Master Gray Maiden Plate +4, Proficiency +8, Dex +0: 22
Attacks:
Unarmed +14 2d6+4 B Agile, Finesse, Nonlethal, Unarmed
Shuriken +9 1d4+4 P Agile, Monk, Thrown
Expert Temple Sword +14 2d8+4 S Monk, Trip, Shifting
Magic Gear: 1x 7: Master Armor
2x 6: +1 Weapon Potency Rune (4), Expert Temple Sword (3)
1x 5: Rune of Shifting
2x 4: +1 Rune of Heavy Armor Potency, +1 Handwraps of Mighty Fists Everburning Torch

Ninth nets her yet more movement she can't use, a skill boost to Master for Athletics, a nice boost to Flurry of Blows, and a largely useless at this point Ancestry Feat, which I'll blow on Clever Improviser I guess.

Tenth gets her more ability boosts, arrayed same as at level 5, Maiden Armor Expertise as her Monk Feat, meaning she can finally use shields again, and the Wall Jump skill feat, just because it seems fun.

level 10:

Tessta
Level 10 CG Female Human Monk Farmhand
Str 20
Dex 10
Con 19
Int 12
Wis 16
Cha 14
HP: 158
Resonance: 12
Movement: 30 (-10) ACP: -3, clumsy
Ancestry Feats: Natural Ambition, General Training, Clever Improvisor
General Feats: Assurance (Athletics), Alertness
Skill Feats: Assurance (Acrobatics), Steady Balance, Kip Up, Wall Jump
Class Feats: Ki Strike (SP Pool: 2), Monastic Weaponry, Fighter Dedication, Basic Maneuver (Double Slice), Opportunist, Gray Maiden Dedication, Maiden Armor Expertise
Skills: Trained in Religion, Farming Lore, and Medicine, Master in Acrobatics and Athletics
Saves: Expert in Will, Master in Fortitude and Reflex
Proficiencies: Expert in Unarmored, Expert in Unarmed and all monk weapons, Expert in Perception, Trained in all Armor, and Simple and Martial Weapons, Expert in Gray Maiden Plate and Shields
AC: +2 Master Gray Maiden Plate +9, Proficiency +11, Dex +0, Shield +1: 30(31)
TAC: +2 Master Gray Maiden Plate +5, Proficiency +11, Dex +0, Shield +1: 26(27)
Attacks:
Unarmed +16 1d6+5 B Agile, Finesse, Nonlethal, Unarmed
Shuriken +11 1d4+5 P Agile, Monk, Thrown
+2 Master Temple Sword +18 3d8+5 S Monk, Trip
+2 Expert Light Shield Spikes +17 3d4+5 P Agile
Magic Gear:
1x 9: Master Temple Sword
2x 8: +2 Rune of Heavy Armor Potency, +2 Weapon Potency Rune
1x 7: Master Armor
2x 6: Doubling Rings (Standard)
Everburning Torch, Expert Light Shield, Expert Shield Spikes

Eleventh gets her the ability to turn all her Fortitude and Reflex save successes into critical successes. She already had that for Fort from Gray Maiden, but still nifty. She gets a skill increase, but Acrobatics and Athletics are stalled til 15th, so I'll put that in Religion. It's about time she learned something thinky. For her General Feat I'll give her One-handed Climber, since she uses a shield now.

Twelfth gets her more speed, the Underwater Marauder skill feat, since why not have a character in full heavy duty plate able to fight effortlessly underwater? :P I'll also take Dancing Leaf as her Monk feat. There's strictly better feats available, but it seems fun.

Thirteenth gets her another General Feat, thanks to Human ancestry being tapped on useful feat, and she'll put that in Powerful Leap, which seriously confuses how her jumps actually work.

jumping?:

So on a standard Leap action, no check needed, she can jump up to 20 feet horizontally. Which is her speed, and you can't jump further than your speed, so she never needs to roll a long jump check again, I think?
For a high jump, she can get 10 feet of vertical clearance, again without a roll. However, she can only increase that if she gets a critical success on the roll, which would only add 3 feet. Overall, feels kind of unsatisfying actually, compared to the jumps monks could pull off in PF1. I don't know if I would actually take this feat combo in real play, Abundant Step is significantly better really.

She also gains unarmored and monk weapon proficiency to master finally, and a skill increase, which will go to Medicine.

Fourteenth gets her a Monk feat, which will go to Maiden Armor Mastery. And a Skill Feat, which will go into Robust Recovery.

Fifteenth gets the same spread of Ability boosts, a skill increase, so she can go Legendary in acrobatics, another general feat, might as well take Legendary Contortionist. It's garbage, but might as well at this point. Another save increase, Reflex to Legendary.

level 15:

Tessta
Level 15 CG Female Human Monk Farmhand
Str 21(23)
Dex 10
Con 20
Int 12
Wis 18
Cha 16
HP: 248
Resonance: 18
Movement: 30 (-5) ACP: -3, clumsy
Ancestry Feats: Natural Ambition, General Training x2, Clever Improvisor
General Feats: Assurance (Athletics), Alertness, One-handed Climber, Powerful Leap, Legendary Contortionist
Skill Feats: Assurance (Acrobatics), Steady Balance, Kip Up, Wall Jump, Underwater Marauder, Robust Recovery
Class Feats: Ki Strike (SP Pool: 2), Monastic Weaponry, Fighter Dedication, Basic Maneuver (Double Slice), Opportunist, Gray Maiden Dedication, Maiden Armor Expertise, Dancing Leaf, Maiden Armor Mastery
Skills: Trained in Farming Lore, Master in Athletics, Expert in Religion and Medicine, Legendary in Acrobatics
Saves: Expert in Will, Master in Fortitude, Legendary in Reflex
Proficiencies: Master in Unarmored, Master in Unarmed and all monk weapons, Expert in Perception, Trained in all Armor, and Simple and Martial Weapons, Master in Gray Maiden Plate and Shields
AC: +3 Master Gray Maiden Plate +10, Proficiency +17, Dex +0, Shield +1: 37(38)
TAC: +3 Master Gray Maiden Plate +6, Proficiency +17, Dex +0, Shield +1: 33(34)
Attacks:
Unarmed +25 4d6+6 B Agile, Finesse, Nonlethal, Unarmed
Shuriken +17 4d4+6 P Agile, Monk, Thrown
Master Temple Sword +25 4d8+6 S Monk, Trip
+3 Master Light Shield Spikes +23 4d4+6 P Agile
Magic Gear:
1x 14: Belt of Giant Strength
2x 13: Rune of Keen (Shield Spikes), Master Light Adamantine Shield (10)
1x 12: +3 Rune of Weapon Potency (Shield Spikes)
2x 11: +3 Rune of Heavy Armor Potency, Doubling Rings (Greater)
Everburning Torch, Master Temple Sword, Master Shield Spikes, Master Armor, Rune of Shifting (Shield Spikes), Master Handwraps.

Incidentally, there's no entry in the Sturdy Shield magic item description for a Master Light Steel Shield, or any Legendary Light Shields. Is that intentional? Why? Makes no sense.

Sixteenth: Shattering Strike, Quick Climb

Seventeenth: Adamantine Strikes (Does Monastic Weaponry let you use this with melee monk weapons? By RAW it does, I think. If so, that's pretty rocking), Skill Increase Athletics to Legendary, Ancestry Feat once again gets traded for general feat: Diehard. Graceful Legend gives another unarmored proficiency she doesn't need.

Eighteenth: More movement, Maiden Armor Legend, Legendary Climber

Nineteenth: Quick Swim as a general feat (there's not enough general feats at all), raise Religion to Master, Perfected Form is pretty sweet, once again assuming it counts for Monk weapons.

Twentieth: Boost Int instead of Wisdom, Dex instead of Con. No need to get an odd number on our last boost. Enduring Quickness feat is nice. Legendary Swimmer for final skill feat. (the gated skill feats suck. I was expecting a lot from legendary skill feats, swim at my normal land speed? not what I would call legendary, sorry. In PF1 it was pretty easy to get that at level 1 or 2, depending on your race. Hardly seems like a worthwhile 15th level feat.

level 20:

Tessta
Level 20 CG Female Human Monk Farmhand
Str 22(24)
Dex 12
Con 20
Int 14
Wis 18
Cha 18
HP: 328
Resonance: 24
Movement: 30 (-5) ACP: -1, clumsy
Ancestry Feats: Natural Ambition, General Training x3, Clever Improvisor
General Feats: Assurance (Athletics), Alertness, One-handed Climber, Powerful Leap, Legendary Contortionist, Diehard,
Skill Feats: Assurance (Acrobatics), Steady Balance, Kip Up, Wall Jump, Underwater Marauder, Robust Recovery, Quick Climb, Legendary Swimmer
Class Feats: Ki Strike (SP Pool: 2), Monastic Weaponry, Fighter Dedication, Basic Maneuver (Double Slice), Opportunist, Gray Maiden Dedication, Maiden Armor Expertise, Dancing Leaf, Maiden Armor Mastery, Shattering Strike, Enduring Quickness
Skills: Trained in Farming Lore, Master in Religion, Expert in Medicine, Legendary in Acrobatics and Athletics
Saves: Expert in Will, Master in Fortitude, Legendary in Reflex
Proficiencies: Legendary in Unarmored, Legendary in Unarmed and all monk weapons, Expert in Perception, Trained in all Armor, and Simple and Martial Weapons, Legendary in Gray Maiden Plate and Shields
AC: +5 Legendary Gray Maiden Plate +12, Proficiency +23, Dex +0, Shield +1: 45(46)
TAC: +5 Legendary Gray Maiden Plate +8, Proficiency +23, Dex +0, Shield +1: 41(42)
Attacks:
Unarmed +32 5d6+7 B Agile, Finesse, Nonlethal, Unarmed
Shuriken +23 5d4+7 P Agile, Monk, Thrown
Legend Temple Sword +33 5d8+7 S Monk, Trip
+4 Legend Light Shield Spikes +30 5d4+7 P Agile
Magic Gear:
1x 19: +5 Legendary Gray Maiden Plate
2x 18: Headband of Inspired Wisdom, Rune of Greater Fortification
1x 17: Rune of Speed
2x 16: Belt of Giant Strength, +4 Legendary Light Shield Spikes
Legendary Temple Sword, Rune of Keen (Shield Spikes), Doubling Rings (Greater), Everburning Torch, Rune of Shifting (Shield Spikes), Master Handwraps. Master Light Adamantine Shield

This build should have relatively high damage(not highest, would probably have to go 2-handed Fighter or Barbarian for that.) Assuming she hits every attack for average damage, she can manage to put out 69 (Flurry) followed by 29.5+19.5 = 49 (Double Slice (at -5/4 to hit), and 29.5 (at -10 to hit) So, a total of 147.5 DPR. Of course that assumes no misses, but it also assumes no crits. It also assumes she's not using her shield that round. With the shield activation action, her actions go to: Shield, Flurry for 69, Attack twice with Temple Sword at -5/-10 for another potential, but less likely, 59. Which is 128 DPR, but again, the odds of landing that last one are probably less than great. She could up her DPR by switching to an Agile offhand weapon with a better damage die, but the main point was to see where I could get her defense wise, while still having excellent Str damage.

So how does this stack up against other builds all of you have put together? I gather from Deadmanwalking that 45-47 is the theoretical maximum for a Paladin, and 46 is where an unarmored max dex Monk would max out unless using crane style. She could get to 47 if she switches to a heavy shield. I kept her with light for the agile property, but I'm not sure it wouldn't be better to go heavy for extra point of AC and the bigger damage die. So the AC is pretty comparable to best in class , but do you think the damage output and other abilities are up to par after blowing most of her feats on multiclass/archetype? It also sucks that she can't use any of the styles, because they all require unarmored.
By the by, does anyone know if anything specifies that shields count as armor for purposes of monk abilities? It isn't relevant for this build, but I could see it potentially coming up. If you just take shield proficiency as a general feat, then it would be useful AC wise up until you get to Master Unarmored at level 13 (still beneficial for the Shield Reaction though), and only a hindrance to AC after you get Legendary at 17.