The Snake Bandit

[Shinken]

One of my players mentioned he wanted to play a Rogue/Flowing Monk in our next far away game and I thought it was an awful idea, until I noticed several synergies between both classes and Snake Style. Now I want to introduce an NPC using this combo, to see how it works in practice.
Of course, Ninja is just plain better, so I'm going to use Ninja for my NPC(s), even though I'm sure the player is going to want to use Rogue.

Synergies:

Flowing monk can use reposition or trip when he is attacked. If you don't take the Improved feats, this means they get an attack of opportunity on you. If they miss you, this triggers Snake Fang. Snake Fang triggers Unbalancing Counter. If it succeeds (it's a Reflex save, even), they are flat-footed until the end of your next turn.
If they are flat-footed, you can sneak attack them. You're not going to get a lot of extra damage from this, but you are going to get the Offensive Defense talent. Each successful sneak attack increases your Armor Class. This leads to Snake Fang triggering more often which leads to Unbalancing Counter triggering more often.
Snake Style and Elusive Target are panic buttons for you to avoid attacks that would otherwise hit you. Elusive Target can even evade critical hits.
When Rediredction is upgraded at level 4, opponents are going to be heavily debuffed.


I'm thinking Monk 5/Ninja 4, not sure if any race helps with this (maybe undine? Dex/Wis, hydraulic push... I don't know). Suggestions?

[Keneth]

I actually just came in here to see if the name was a euphemism. :smalltongue:

[Waker]

The idea is amusing, since I do rather like the Flowing Monk archetype, but I would point out the danger of such a tactic. Between Monk and Ninja, you'll have rather low HP and AC, so you will be very vulnerable to getting wailed on when attempting to go toe-to-toe in the manner that you described. To help limit the likelihood of eating dirt, I would recommend taking the Shadow Clone Ninja trick. You might also want to consider the Redirect Force trick, while it would require you to get hurt, it would prove quite valuable in ensuring that your maneuvers are successful.

[klarg1]

I'm a fan of the Monk + Ninja combo. Flowing monk is a good way to go, if you want to make use of unbalancing counter, and get lots of sneak attacks. (Make sure you have a high wisdom to keep your save DC's high)

Provoking AOOs to trigger Snake Style risky. Keep in mind that Redirection, Elusive Target and Snake Style all use an immediate action, so you can't use more than one of them in the same round. If you don't have the improved feats, you may wind up getting smacked around pretty badly by the AOOs.

Do you plan to have a source of reach? A reach weapon combines spectacularly with redirection, especially after the level 4 upgrade. There are several reach + trip monk weapons in Ultimate Combat, although the Meteor hammer is also fun, since it has a built in pull ability.

For feats, Ki throw may be a good choice, depending on the opponents you expect to face.