Hytheter
2013-12-25, 07:46 AM
So a recent thread alerted me to the existence of the Hydraulic Maneuver (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/arg-feats/hydraulic-maneuver-undine) feat. It struck me as a really cool, if not powerful ability and I started thinking about ways to put it to good use.
The current result of this train of thought is a Monk. Specifically a... Qinggong Maneuver Master of the Four Winds. Hydraulic Push can be taken in place of High Jump at Level 5 with Qinggoing, and the Elemental Fist from Four Wings allows me to go with the very thematic Marid Style.
Though it may go against the spirit of the feats, I don't see any RAW reason why Hydraulic Push shouldn't work with the Improved/Greater Maneuver feats, or the Maneuver Masters various abilities (aside from Flurry of Maneuvers). So that's what I'm building around.
The First 6 levels look like this:
Abilities: Focusing on Dex and Wis, then Con. Int is at least 13 probably. edit: nevermind, I don't really need Combat Expertise after all
Race: Undine (+2 Dex, +2 Wis, -2 Str - very nice for a Strength dumping monk)
Class: Monk (Qinggong Monk, Maneuver Master, Monk of the Four Winds)
Level 1
Monk's Unarmed Strike, Flurry of Maneuvers, Feats: Elemental Fist (Monk), Improved Trip (Monk), Weapon Finesse
Level 2
Feat: Improved Disarm (Monk)
Level 3
Feat: Marid Style
Level 4
Reliable Maneuver
Level 5
Meditative Maneuver, Hydraulic Push, Feat: Hydraulic Maneuver
Level 6
Feat: Greater Bull Rush (Monk)
Level 7
Get Ki Power for Wholeness of Body, Feat: ???
Level 8
---
Level 9
Feat: Marid Spirit
Level 10
Feat: Greater Trip (Monk)
Level 11
Feat: ???
Level 12
---
Level 13
Ki Leech in place of Diamond Soul, Feat: ???
Level 14
Feat: Greater Dirty Trick (Monk)
Level 5 is where he really gets into his thematic niche. He can hydraulic push as long as he has ki points to spare, plus once for his racial power. He can also do some nice watery Elemental Fists from 10' away thanks to Marid Style, which can later be used to Freeze people and gets an extra D6 damage every few levels.
I'm dropping STR in favour of an Amulet of Mighty fists with Agile. Aside from Bull Rushes (edit: And Dirty Tricks) with my person, I can use either Wis (with Hydraulic Push) or Dex (with Weapon Finesse, according to an FAQ) for all maneuvers I'll be using. Also, Meditative Maneuver lets me add Wis on top of that with 1 type of menuever per round so long as I have spare swift actions.
Since I'm dumping STR, I won't be using Bull Rushes and Dirty Tricks outside of Hydraulic Push. This makes attacks of opportunity a non-issue for those maneuvers, so I've skipped the Improved feats for their much better Greater versions. In contrast, Greater Disarm strikes me as mediocre so I'm only using Improved Disarm to avoid the AoOs. I love Monk Bonus feats ignoring prerequisites. :)
I'm not sure what I'll fill the gaps in with. Extra Ki seems like an easy choice, though Ki Leech may obselete it. Combat Reflexes and Vicious stomp could create some delicious tripping goodness. Lunge could help me increase the already decent range of my Elemental Fists. Beyond that I'm out of ideas.
So what do you think? Are there any better feats I should look at? And what about Ki Powers? Gaseous Form is currently my top contender for the Level 7 power, but idk. I also get a couple more at the tail end at 17th and 19th levels, by which point I have access to almost all relevant options. Any ideas?
It really frustrates me how feat trees work. Specifically, I hate that feats need not only the previous feet in the tree, but also the prerequisites of that feat. Maneuver Master's bonus feats let me get the Improved Feats without prerequisites, but if you want the Greater feats you either need to use another Bonus Feat or go back and get the prerequisites. If it weren't for that I wouldn't take Combat Expertise at all! I'd just take the Improved Feats as Monk Bonus feats and then take the Greater feats regularly, but nooo....
The current result of this train of thought is a Monk. Specifically a... Qinggong Maneuver Master of the Four Winds. Hydraulic Push can be taken in place of High Jump at Level 5 with Qinggoing, and the Elemental Fist from Four Wings allows me to go with the very thematic Marid Style.
Though it may go against the spirit of the feats, I don't see any RAW reason why Hydraulic Push shouldn't work with the Improved/Greater Maneuver feats, or the Maneuver Masters various abilities (aside from Flurry of Maneuvers). So that's what I'm building around.
The First 6 levels look like this:
Abilities: Focusing on Dex and Wis, then Con. Int is at least 13 probably. edit: nevermind, I don't really need Combat Expertise after all
Race: Undine (+2 Dex, +2 Wis, -2 Str - very nice for a Strength dumping monk)
Class: Monk (Qinggong Monk, Maneuver Master, Monk of the Four Winds)
Level 1
Monk's Unarmed Strike, Flurry of Maneuvers, Feats: Elemental Fist (Monk), Improved Trip (Monk), Weapon Finesse
Level 2
Feat: Improved Disarm (Monk)
Level 3
Feat: Marid Style
Level 4
Reliable Maneuver
Level 5
Meditative Maneuver, Hydraulic Push, Feat: Hydraulic Maneuver
Level 6
Feat: Greater Bull Rush (Monk)
Level 7
Get Ki Power for Wholeness of Body, Feat: ???
Level 8
---
Level 9
Feat: Marid Spirit
Level 10
Feat: Greater Trip (Monk)
Level 11
Feat: ???
Level 12
---
Level 13
Ki Leech in place of Diamond Soul, Feat: ???
Level 14
Feat: Greater Dirty Trick (Monk)
Level 5 is where he really gets into his thematic niche. He can hydraulic push as long as he has ki points to spare, plus once for his racial power. He can also do some nice watery Elemental Fists from 10' away thanks to Marid Style, which can later be used to Freeze people and gets an extra D6 damage every few levels.
I'm dropping STR in favour of an Amulet of Mighty fists with Agile. Aside from Bull Rushes (edit: And Dirty Tricks) with my person, I can use either Wis (with Hydraulic Push) or Dex (with Weapon Finesse, according to an FAQ) for all maneuvers I'll be using. Also, Meditative Maneuver lets me add Wis on top of that with 1 type of menuever per round so long as I have spare swift actions.
Since I'm dumping STR, I won't be using Bull Rushes and Dirty Tricks outside of Hydraulic Push. This makes attacks of opportunity a non-issue for those maneuvers, so I've skipped the Improved feats for their much better Greater versions. In contrast, Greater Disarm strikes me as mediocre so I'm only using Improved Disarm to avoid the AoOs. I love Monk Bonus feats ignoring prerequisites. :)
I'm not sure what I'll fill the gaps in with. Extra Ki seems like an easy choice, though Ki Leech may obselete it. Combat Reflexes and Vicious stomp could create some delicious tripping goodness. Lunge could help me increase the already decent range of my Elemental Fists. Beyond that I'm out of ideas.
So what do you think? Are there any better feats I should look at? And what about Ki Powers? Gaseous Form is currently my top contender for the Level 7 power, but idk. I also get a couple more at the tail end at 17th and 19th levels, by which point I have access to almost all relevant options. Any ideas?
It really frustrates me how feat trees work. Specifically, I hate that feats need not only the previous feet in the tree, but also the prerequisites of that feat. Maneuver Master's bonus feats let me get the Improved Feats without prerequisites, but if you want the Greater feats you either need to use another Bonus Feat or go back and get the prerequisites. If it weren't for that I wouldn't take Combat Expertise at all! I'd just take the Improved Feats as Monk Bonus feats and then take the Greater feats regularly, but nooo....