Student of perfection Ki power level?

[Conde]

Here is the text from the prestige class from Archives of Nethys:

Ki Powers (Su): At 2nd level and every 2 levels thereafter, a student of perfection can select one ki power chosen from the unchained monk (Pathfinder RPG Pathfinder Unchained 16) options listed directly below or from the new ki powers detailed afterward. This ki power must be open to all students of perfection or appropriate to his chosen school. If a ki power from Pathfinder Unchained is followed by a level in parentheses, use that as the minimum character level (instead of the level given in Pathfinder Unchained). All other prerequisites must be met. Unless otherwise noted, a student of perfection cannot select an individual ki power more than once.

As you can see, it says nothing about Student of Perfection and monk level stacking for the purpose of qualifying for the Ki powers.

AND, "if a ki power from Pathfinder(?) Unchained is followed by a level in parentheses, use that as the minimum character level"

So it seems to not stack with monk for qualification, meaning that potentially that at level 2 you might have to take a level 2 ki power from the unmonk list but you could take elemental burst (10th) at level 10 assuming you took your first level of student of perfection at the earliest possible level, being 6th.

Meaning you could do 20d6 of damage at level 10...

Is there an errata? A FAQ somwhere I am not able to find? Do I read the feature wrong?
I am kind of confused by this to be honest. I think I see how it is supposed to work but by reading this paragraph again and again I am not sure and I cannot find much online.

[Azothath]

[PFS legal with caution] Student of Perfection PrC
The caution is that it is a PrC for UnchMonk only. The PrC requires Perfect Style feat which sets entry level after UnchMonk 5 with feats & skill ranks(see PrC), so level 6 would be 1st in the PrC.

Monk Ki pool @4th = [Monk/2]+WIS. Gateways at 4, 7, 10, 16th.
Ki Powers n/a (see Feats). At 20th Ki Sage offers two Ki Powers.

UnchMonk Ki Pool @3rd = [Monk/2]+WIS. Gateways at 3, 7, 10, 16th.
Ki Powers @ 4th = [(UnchMonk-2)/2], each Ki Pwr only once.

[Conde]

Is Student of Perfection available to UMonk only? It is implied that is works with Umonk but there is technically nothing preventing you from taking it as a chained monk, right?

I am not playing in PFS, but maybe I am misunderstanding your post and Student of Perfection is not allowed for a monk even outside of PFS.

[happykj]

Alignment: Any lawful.
Feats: Improved Unarmed Strike, Perfect Style†.
Skills: 5 ranks in Acrobatics, Climb, Escape Artist, Stealth, or Swim; 5 ranks in Craft, Knowledge (any), Perception, Perform, or Sense Motive.
Special: Must be a member of one of the Houses of Perfection.

Perfect Style Prerequisites: Wis 13; base attack bonus +5 or monk level 5th.

I think it doesn't limit which classes can take the perfect style and the prestige class, though I not familiar with PFS

[I grok do u]

Limitation to unchained is for PFS only, but note the save progression and BAB matches unmonk rather than cmonk.

For the original question, as I read it, you use your character level for the prerequisite level in parentheses. So, yes, you can potentially get a 20d6 30ft cone at level 10.

You still must have elemental fury first, and based on PrC requirements. The earliest entry (as noted above) is level 6, so you can get elemental fury at SoP 2 (character level 7), another ki power at SoP 4 (character level 9), and elemental burst at SoP 6 (character level 11).
If you postpone entry by 1 level (character level 7), SoP 4 will correspond to character level 10 so you can take elemental fury and elemental burst at SoP 2 and 4 respectively to get elemental burst by character level 10.

It is not explicitly RAW, but I would suggest the restriction of element type tied to associated House of Perfection element.

[Azothath]

Conde wrote:

Is Student of Perfection available to UMonk only? It is implied that is works with Umonk but there is technically nothing preventing you from taking it as a chained monk, right?

I am not playing in PFS, but maybe I am misunderstanding your post and Student of Perfection is not allowed for a monk even outside of PFS.

on PFS:

PFS was the Paizo sponsored and controlled organized play format that tried to run close to what was published(RAW). Many folks in PFS at first said "we don't make rules" like a razmiran chant but it was clear they were just fooling themselves. Essentially PFS Org Play trusted participants then Paizo staff reviewed RAW and 1) ruled parts legal or not, 2) issued FAQs/Clarifications to legal rules so as much as possible could be run and participants would know how to run it. PFS was forced to issue their own rules as the FAQ team was incredibly slow (years).

People discount PFS as they want to take advantage of the problems. If you think RAW is perfect, you are fooling yourself or trying to pull a fast one as well read GMs realize it has problems.
So no, it's not RAW in the sense of a published RPG/AP/PPC product, but it is what Org Play Paizo Staff thought made sense.
I've found your average GM is going to agree with most PFS rulings that are not tied to their format of leveling per 3 adventures and having to buy all magic. It is a good "centric GM interpretation" and "sanity check".
= = = end of spoiler = = =

With the PFS ruling it's clear that Student of Perfection PrC is for UnchMonk only. What your Home Game GM will do is up to him.
The entry feat (Perfect Style feat) is more open.
The House of Perfection Ki Pool is minimal and used to power the Perfect Style's effects, not your monk ki pool. so a different set of keys
Still, you have to be 5th level to take Perfect Style feat then start the PrC at 6th, so this 2nd level stuff using the PrC is simply wrong. Some GMs will let you start the PrC at 5th, but having 5 ranks in a skill(from a class) and a feat at 5th as entry requirements should push the PrC to 6th.

The Adventurer's Guide is a mish-mash of AP and campaign stuff that was brought into the RPG product line (some thought it should have stayed in the Campaign line) created and published after PF Unch. PF Unch was brought about from "lessons learned" in PFS. I remember a scenario in PFS introducing these rules as PFS play was used to feature new rules and push product. Some people thought the UnchMonk replaced the Monk in RAW but nobody wanted to admit that so I think this is just an assumption that made it into print.

[Belafon]

Conde wrote:

If a ki power from Pathfinder Unchained is followed by a level in parentheses, use that as the minimum character level (instead of the level given in Pathfinder Unchained).

This is a puzzler. RAW, it is what it is. Character level. And there's no good argument for diving into RAI. Usually when we need to consider RAI it is because one or more RAW readings "breaks" the game. Either it can't work with the rest of the rules, contradicts itself, or is grossly out of scale. The only one this could possibly be is somewhat out of scale. Diamond Soul at character level 6, elemental burst at 10 (normally 12 and 18 for a pure unchained monk).

But it's not grossly out of scale. You are giving up things to take the prestige class. Style Strikes, mainly.

If I was the developer and someone turned this in I'd probably send a note back to the author: Are you sure you didn't mean to write

Quote:

If a ki power from Pathfinder Unchained is followed by a level in parentheses, use that as the minimum character Student of Perfection level (instead of the level given in Pathfinder Unchained).

But if they said "no, I meant character" then I'd probably OK it. Probably change the language a bit to "total character level" just to head off the discussion we are having.

So... I'd say use it as is (character level).