[PF] help with monks

[arixe]

ok i have a monk hes the martial artist variant in the Ultimate combat book. i wondering if theres any thing i can do to maximize his usefulness. hes got a +6 wis head band and a monks robe already. so anything that lets him keep his 2d8 unarmed strike damage would be nice.

[doko239]

Brass Knuckles (APG) are great for monks; an enchantable monk weapon that uses your unarmed strike damage. Enchanting two of them is measurably cheaper than an Amulet of Mighty Fists, and keeps your amulet slot open for an Amulet of Natural Armor or some such.

[Waker]

What level is your character? Have you already started playing the game? What role exactly do you want to fill in your party and what are the other party members playing?

[deuxhero]

Word of caution, people are entirely serious when they say the best Monk is not a Monk. Outside of Zen Archer (which is still best a multiclassed character), Monk really blows as your "main" class

[Waker]

While I'll agree that Monk is far from an amazing class, I think the Flowing Monk or Master of Many Forms can be quite competent.

[Prime32]

Guided (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/magic-weapons/magic-weapons-non-core/weapon-property---guided) on brass knuckles or an amulet of mighty fists is great for monks, letting you ignore Strength and focus more on Wis+Con.

[deuxhero]

Though Guided is 3.5 material from Paizo, not PF.

[arixe]

well im a lvl 11 martial artist i picked that variant because of the alignment freedom it gets im tring to have this guy be a wall and help deal damage with a 44 armor class using exploit weakness and combat experties i think i got the wall thing handled. my party members are a rouge fighter ,a bard, a wizard, and a witch. thanks for the brass knuckles idea i was gonna go with hand wraps that would take up my glove slot but this works better. any more ideas how to make my guy well rounded. magic items or other gear

[doko239]

It's cheesy and probably suboptimal, but if you were to level-dip into a Cleric of Calistria, then take Weapon Focus: Whip, Crusader's Flurry, Improved Trip, and Greater Trip, then dual-wield whips, you could become a 15-ft radius tripmonkey.

[arixe]

i might make that his nemisis haha but thanks for the idea

[Waker]

Your goal is to deal damage and "be a wall" with a Martial Artist Monk?
Well, you've got 6 feats standard and 4 bonus monk feats.
Monk feats to consider:
1 level feats:Combat Reflexes is a good choice. The other feats are less useful, but I suppose Deflect Arrows is fine.
6 level feats: Improved Disarm is very useful against humanoids/giants. There is some ambiguity with the "armed" unarmed attacks in relation to disarm. Under the combat rules, monks are considered armed even without weapons, while under the disarm rules it states that attempting to disarm someone while you yourself are unarmed imposes a -4 penalty. Check with your DM for his interpretation.
Improved Trip is also a good combat control feat. Normally trip attempts can't be made against targets more than one size larger than you, but that can be overcome if you also take the Ki Throw feat.
Pin Down is great for preventing the enemy from running away or trying to getting into a flanking position. If you hit with it, you simply stop movement, no save. Pin Down or Spellbreaker are really the only fighter only feats that you might care about.
The Snake Style is a great style that allows you to use your Sense Motive in place of your AC, attacking and even allowing you up to two AoOs against an opponent who misses you with an attack.

[arixe]

thanks for the help with feats ill defently make note of those. with that manuver master thing on monks they should really stock up on as many manuvers as they can get because they can replace any of their flurry attack with a manuver so ultimatly i can disarm trip and then pummel them into the dirt

[Crasical]

Brass Knuckles (APG) are great for monks; an enchantable monk weapon that uses your unarmed strike damage. Enchanting two of them is measurably cheaper than an Amulet of Mighty Fists, and keeps your amulet slot open for an Amulet of Natural Armor or some such.

Word of warning, It's been pseudo-errata'd that Brass Knuckles no longer are allowed to use the monk's Unarmed Strike damage. I personally feel this is dumb and unecessarily penalizes monks, but as always, talk to your DM.


Word of caution, people are entirely serious when they say the best Monk is not a Monk. Outside of Zen Archer (which is still best a multiclassed character), Monk really blows as your "main" class

What would you recommend as an alternative unarmed combatant then, especially in straight pathfinder?

[Hiro Protagonest]

What would you recommend as an alternative unarmed combatant then, especially in straight pathfinder?

TWF ranger with a quarterstaff and a monk dip gets decent unarmed strike and good skill with a weapon associated with martial artists. Plus, spells like Water Walk.

There's also PF psionics. Tash isn't an option, but psychic warrior is still pretty good at it, especially with a monk dip.