Hey folks. My group that plays via discord is planning on playing Rise of the Runelords after we finish the current 5E campaign we're on. We had some people out on monday, so we had sort of a mini-Session 0 As the group's PF1 expert (but not GMing this time!) I'm thinking about playing an elven Perfect Scholar monk. Makes it easier to not separate IC/OOC knowledge when my character is the "I have 150 years of experience and all the Knowledges" guy (I've never actually played the back half of RotR, though I do have a general idea, giants, Karzoug, Xin-Shalast, etc). There's also a Warpriest of Sarenrae who plans to be Dex-based and use Dervish Dance, and a Venerable Human Necromancer, who is a very experienced player and yes he knows what a bad idea playing a venerable character is. We were joking about how his character is working on becoming a lich before he runs out of time. 2-3 more whose players weren't there monday.
I'm also planning on Dex-based melee. It'll be slow starting I know, but hopefully in early levels we won't run into much with DR and I'll be able to make up damage with Flurry and stuff until I can get a +1 Agile AMF. Probably grab a high crit range weapon like a waveblade to help out until my unarmed damage starts increasing. And something ranged, maybe a sling, because I'm a monk and don't have a ton of cash. But I definitely intend to lean into the "learned elven scholar" side of things.
Here's the build rules we're operating under:
Roll for stats, 4d6 drop the lowest, roll 3 sets. If you don't like any of them, take the heroic array (18, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8)
Use Archives of Nethys. If you want an unchained, just run it by me. Any pantheon.
Common races preferred. If you want uncommon, that's fine, just run it by me first.
Standard traits: take two, or three and a drawback. No "Campaign" traits unless it's Rise of the Runelords. Not more than one from them same category.
Anything that says "Thassilon" or "Runeforged" or anything like that, it's probably a hard "no," but run it by me.
I recommend building with the intention of being "big damn heroes," but not required.
You will have spare time at various points if you want to take crafting feats.
No Elephant in the Room, ABP, Background Skills, anything like that.
The set I rolled and am keeping is as follows:
18, 15, 14, 13, 12, 10
Here's what I have so far:
Elf unchained monk (monk of the mantis, perfect scholar) 1 (Pathfinder Campaign Setting: Inner Sea Intrigue 44, Pathfinder Player Companion: Dirty Tactics Toolbox 11, Pathfinder Unchained 14)
LN Medium humanoid (elf)
Init +5; Senses low-light vision; Perception +8
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Defense
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AC 18, touch 18, flat-footed 12 (+5 Dex, +1 dodge, +2 Wis)
hp 10 (1d10)
Fort +2, Ref +7, Will +3; +2 vs. enchantments
Immune sleep
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Offense
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Speed 30 ft.
Melee unarmed strike +2/+2 (1d6+2)
Special Attacks flurry of blows (unchained), stunning fist (1/day, DC 12)
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Statistics
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Str 13, Dex 20, Con 10, Int 16, Wis 15, Cha 10
Base Atk +1; CMB +2; CMD 20
Feats Breadth Of Experience[APG], Dodge, Improved Unarmed Strike, Stunning Fist
Traits indomitable faith, quain martial artist, scholar of the ancients
Skills Acrobatics +9, Diplomacy +0 (-5 to improve other creatures' attitudes towards you), Escape Artist +9, Intimidate +0 (-5 to improve other creatures' attitudes towards you), Knowledge (arcana) +10, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +5, Knowledge (engineering) +5, Knowledge (geography) +5, Knowledge (history) +6, Knowledge (local) +9, Knowledge (nature) +9, Knowledge (nobility) +5, Knowledge (planes) +9, Knowledge (religion) +9, Perception +8; Racial Modifiers +2 Perception, +2 Spellcraft to identify magic item properties
Languages Celestial, Common, Draconic, Elven, Sylvan, Thassilonian
SQ condescending, elven magic
Other Gear 40 gp
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Special Abilities
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Condescending -5 to Diplomacy and Intimidate checks to improve others' attitudes toward you.
Elven Immunities - Sleep You are immune to magic sleep effects.
Elven Magic +2 to spellcraft checks to determine the properties of a magic item.
Flurry of Blows (Unchained) (Ex) As full-rd action, gain extra attacks with unarmed strike/monk weapons.
Improved Unarmed Strike Unarmed strikes don't cause attacks of opportunity, and can be lethal.
Low-Light Vision See twice as far as a human in dim light, distinguishing color and detail.
Stunning Fist (1/day, DC 12) You can stun an opponent with an unarmed attack.
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I'm aware that those stats aren't ideal, I'm probably putting more into INT than I should, not enough into CON. But that's part of the idea. He knows all the things, but has also spent most of his time in a library, so he's still got elf CON. So, what are some more feats I should take (beyond Weapon Finesse, obviously). I know Kirin Style is widely considered subpar, but given the massive bonuses I'll be getting to knowledges, it might be worth it for me. Probably Accomplished Sneak Attacker, eventually. Equipment? Ki Powers? Style Strikes? More ways to make an INT-heavy melee build viable? Possibly a dip into Investigator (especially Cryptid Scholar, given my high WIS and desire to use Knowledges)? If I don't go Kirin Style, my normal default is probably launching my AC into the stratosphere with Crane style, but are there other, better options?
It looks like you already have a very clear idea of what you want to do. I'm not sure what useable information we could give you. And I'm assuming you don't want alternatives to what you already have, like other classes that can do similar things with an intelligence base.
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A few general comments:
a) 5-6 x 32pt+ build characters in an AP balanced around 4 x 15pt build characters seems a little silly...
b) With only about half the characters built, you are presumably already focusing on the same skills as another character (the necromancer), which might lead to "stepping on each other's toes" issues...
c) Your party is starting with two 'terrible at first level' melee characters: You don't have Weapon Finesse and the Warpriest can't actually use Weapon Finesse with a Scimitar (but has to take it by level 3 as a prereq for getting 'dex to atk/dmg' from Dervish Dance), so both of you will have issues hitting and won't do much damage when you do actually land a blow. This should get better as you level up, but first level might be very annoying...
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only 10 con on a frontline melee combatant? Ouch.
Having played a monk(ish) frontline(ish) character starting with 10 con all the way to level 12 in PFS, I can say it’s much easier than you might think. Particularly when you’ve got a wizard buddy who can throw mage armor your way. If another party member has barkskin, *chef’s kiss*. It’s easy to become close to unhittable.
It’s only when you start encountering the high level AoE spells that do a ton of damage on even on a successful save and aren’t evadable (horrid wilting, etc. that the low Con becomes a problem. I would suggest a Con boost ioun stone at a minimum by level 9 or 10.
If u are interested in a couple of level dips to boost damage there are 2 that I can think of. Elementalist Shifter lets you add 1d6 energy damage to all melee attacks as a swift action. Elemental Ascetic Kineticist gets Kinetic Fist at 0 burn at first level to add 1d6 to all Unarmed Strikes. If you take 2 levels in the Kineticist your levels stack with monk for AC bonus and you can take Elemental Whispers to gain an unkillable familiar. Good familiar choices can add +1 natural armor, +4 initiative, or +2 to save of your choice.