I'm going to be starting Agents of Edgewatch soon and I've decided to do a Monk, my GM is allowing us the free Archetype all player resources plus age of ashes player resources and edgewatch (I don't know if my GM will buy Extinction Curse from fantasy grounds just for the player stuff in it). My thought on play style was a combat maneuver monk but I'm stuck on how to go about making my non magical controller there's the obvious I could either go Gorilla Stance and eventually Clinging Shadows Initiate for the grapple or go the Wolf stance and Wolf drag feat combo, I also had the idea of going Mountain stance and going the Mauler archetype and fighting with a Bo staff but I don't know if I can use the Bo staff with with all my other monk stuffs if I don't take the Monastic Weaponry feat which I could do and still go Mauler. As you can see I don't no were to start if someone has a combat maneuver build or thoughts or advice on one please help.
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I know very little of about Monks but I will say this: there was a long argument in another thread about Mountain Stance. It requires you to stand on the ground...
Some people (including myself) said that the ground was dirt, stone, grass, etc. But not the deck of a ship, a tree branch, etc. Other people said that 'the ground' meant any surface you were standing on. I suggest you either talk to your judge, or search the forums/FAQs on this before you start to use it.
Mauler archetype seems to be doubling up, so it feels a bit redundant. You are going to need Monastic Weaponry in order to fully use the Bo Staff, and that also gives you proficiency with the weapon. So you gain nothing from the Mauler Dedication feat itself.
Knockdown is good. Flurry of Maneuvers is better. Knockdown would let you use two actions with your bo staff to strike once and (if you hit) make a trip attack. Flurry of Maneuvers would let you do the same thing, but with only one action. Also you could still make the trip attack if you miss with the strike.
Power Attack is good, but not great.
Some of the later feats look good. But they are also still competing with the Monk class feats - which are also really good. Such as Tangled Forest Stance and Wolf Drag. Tangled Forest Stance and a Bo Staff interact really well. The Tangled Forest Stance doesn't prevent using other attacks, though it does grant a new one. And the movement preventing ability of the stance only requires that the enemies be in your reach, not that they are in the reach of the lashing branch attacks. Your GM may push back on that last one.
So I would recommend using the Monk class alone to build the bullying maneuver character. Save your free archetype feats for an additional facet of the character rather than doubling down.
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I'd go Stick-y Monk with Staff Acrobat if I was concerned about control. A Bo Staff plus Tangled Forest stance, throwing Trips left and right will let nobody move past you. Add Stunning Fist and Stand Still and you can lock down enemies ridiculously well in a decently large area.
Lizardfolk with bite, dragonstance, clinging shadows stance, shadowdancer, throw, wholeness of body, try to sneak heaven seeker in there for heaven's thunder.
Good at multiple damage types, grappling, frighten locking, sneak attack, teleport, d10 or d8 damage options, throw enemies into hazards or just reposition them how ever you want, aoe enfeeble, darkness, +level to damage even on grapples if your GM let's you take heaven's thunder, self heal, shadow buddy for extra damage and flanking, resist 5 to all but force and ghost touch at 18 and fortune on reflex saves while in shadows.
Hope to play this sometime, fun options for cc while keeping good damage dice, lots of fun tricks.
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Note that because Heaven's Thunder is a known broken mess that never should have slipped past editing in that state, you probably shouldn't expect anyone to actually let you use it as written.
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Note that because Heaven's Thunder is a known broken mess that never should have slipped past editing in that state, you probably shouldn't expect anyone to actually let you use it as written.
It actually broke during development and editors don't review mechanics for balance, they address grammar, punctuation, legibility, and formatting. Editors take a lot of heat for things that frankly aren't their responsibility. Designers are responsible for mechanics. Developers are responsible for story, world lore, and mechanics to a narrower degree (though depending on the design team's workload at the time that degree may widen as needed for adventure and world-building products to continue their way through publication).
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Designer
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I'm going to be starting Agents of Edgewatch soon and I've decided to do a Monk, my GM is allowing us the free Archetype all player resources plus age of ashes player resources and edgewatch (I don't know if my GM will buy Extinction Curse from fantasy grounds just for the player stuff in it). My thought on play style was a combat maneuver monk but I'm stuck on how to go about making my non magical controller there's the obvious I could either go Gorilla Stance and eventually Clinging Shadows Initiate for the grapple or go the Wolf stance and Wolf drag feat combo, I also had the idea of going Mountain stance and going the Mauler archetype and fighting with a Bo staff but I don't know if I can use the Bo staff with with all my other monk stuffs if I don't take the Monastic Weaponry feat which I could do and still go Mauler. As you can see I don't no were to start if someone has a combat maneuver build or thoughts or advice on one please help.
There's a ton of builds in the 101 Monk Builds thread that might be worth checking out to see how other people are building characters. This one even incorporates mauler so might be something that inspires some thoughts for your build. I could have sworn there was another mauler build in there that focused on the bo staff, but I'm not finding it on a quick perusal.
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Note that because Heaven's Thunder is a known broken mess that never should have slipped past editing in that state, you probably shouldn't expect anyone to actually let you use it as written.It actually broke during development and editors don't review mechanics for balance, they address grammar, punctuation, legibility, and formatting. Editors take a lot of heat for things that frankly aren't their responsibility. Designers are responsible for mechanics. Developers are responsible for story, world lore, and mechanics to a narrower degree (though depending on the design team's workload at the time that degree may widen as needed for adventure and world-building products to continue their way through publication).
Fair. What I was trying to express was a general "never should have made it past the people that were supposed to look at it", not trying to pin it on a specific person with a specific job title.
Thank you for all your replies I went with a Human Gorilla Stance Monk but was killed then went a Human Wizard who then was killed (I didn't choose my spells well and wasn't carrying a crossbow) I don't know how to do the spoiler thing so I can say what killed them so I went vague, Now I'm wondering how well a Warpriest of Erastil with the free Archetype for Archer dedication would work? Would it be better to go Cloistered Cleric of Erastil with the free archer dedication? and what Ancestry Elf does jump out so does Versatile Heritage Human(but I did 2 humans already and they died so that could be the common denominator) is there any other Ancestry that might go well. My edge watch group consists of a Human Champion(I think Redeemer) with the Marshal dedication, A 1/2 orc Rogue Thief W/ Acrobat dedication, and a ratfolk Forensic Medicine Investigator w/ Medic dedication. If you can think of a class and free archetype that might work better then my cleric archer idea fell free to share. Oh and I'm not to worried about taking a agent of edgewatch background any more with this being my 3rd character in book 1 and no Ancestries from the Ancestry Guide we don't have it yet nothing from the other adventure paths except age of ashes no PFS stuff. My other thought was maybe a Bard cause the player of the 1/2 orc rogue loves em and won't shut up about it :-).
That sounds like a very deadly campaign and as though a player should pick up stabilize as a cantrip.
A spellcaster is a good idea with that group as nobody covers that niche rn. Even with the archetypes.
Since the investigator covers intelligence a charisma primary or wisdom caster would fit particularly well depending on whether you already have people invested in either.
So oracle/bard/sorcerer or druid/cleric. Warpriest got a bad rep due to their proficiencies being worse in the long run but a bow is a decent 3rd action as long as you didn't do a spell attack roll that turn.
Beastmaster would also work well with that group and is fantastic with free archetype.
A Halfling Bard Maestro muse with Archer tell 10th then at 12th dipping into eldritch archer He would be using a crossbow cause his attacks aint going to be great why take double or triple shot feats form Archer. If I went the Warpriest Archer his attack will be better at lower level which is a plus right now if it hold to the 2 character deaths per level(which would mean this character who ever it is wont see 3rd):-), I'm kinda in the frame of mind tho and em leaning towards saying screw it for doing a edgewatch friendly build (i.e. has a means to do Nonlethal with out the -2 to att(which isnt hard just get a nightstick) the reason I went wizard was for there Nonlethal Spell metamagic instead of Sorcerer which I love. I can always subscribe to the method of if one is alive to question thats good and just go straight blaster caster like I heard kobold Flames Oracle Dragon Disciple hits that role. Well I'm just running of on every idea train here so I'll close this off.
Thank You for the help and advice
I'd talk about this with the GM it should be easy enough to at the very least categorize bludgeoning and electricity damage as nonlethal for a spellcaster.
I was listening to a podcast play Agents of Edgewatch and the GM included an item that made any damage automatically nonlethal vs nonmonster enemies.
If you love the sorcerer then that's all the more reason to find a way to make it work that doesn't involve spending a feat and extra actions constantly in fear of murdering someone you shouldn't.
And if you feel dejected about your characters having died that is totally valid and you should bring that up with the other players and GM imo.