Need help creating...a kicking monk

[j_spencer93]

Ok i have a player who asked me to create him a kicking monk. Seriously, he wants a monk focused on kicked. We use several 3rd party materials and pathfinder feats so that expanded his feats slightly, and he is taking some monk PRC fro from the quinessential monk books but other then that what is their to help this character (i love monks actually but i even see them as underpower however this one looks....terrible)

flying kick
circle kick
roundabout kick
snap kick
punishing kick (PF)
vicious stomp (PF)
iron legs (3rd party)
knee strikes (PF)
Elephant stomp (PF)
power attack (needed for prerequisites)

[emeraldstreak]

So? Kicks are unarmed attacks.

[Extra Anchovies]

1. Play the unarmed swordsage variant. It's halfway between what the monk should've been and what the ninja should've been. TWF with unarmed strikes if you really want to.
2. Take Snap Kick, and possibly Flying Kick. There's also probably at least one or two kick-related feats that I'm missing. TWF with unarmed strikes if you really want to pile on lots of kicks.
3. Call yourself a monk. Kick anyone who questions you.

[j_spencer93]

Ya, i seriously think this all sounds pretty dumb in my opinion but it is what he wanted.
He has some third party feat called iron legs that makes all unarmed kicks down with the legs do unarmed damage + str mod x2. and he is wanting to stack up more kicking feats. Also his class grants his kicks a natural +1 to crit threat range twice.
Groan. He specifically wants things that reference kicks for the most part.

[Red Fel]

So? Kicks are unarmed attacks.

Pretty much this. He would not function substantially differently from any other Monk, save that there aren't, to my recollection, any foot-wielded Monk Weapons. But if you're relying solely on unarmed strikes, he functions exactly like any other Monk you might like; you'd simply announce that he kicks instead of using punches, elbows, or headbutts.

It's a fluff issue, not a crunch issue.

[Extra Anchovies]

Hey, I think being the Footmaster would be a pretty cool character shtick. "I can beat you with both hands tied behind my back" and all. Also, a good number of those feats combo well together (flying kick being the sole exception). With the various free-movement things that Swordsage maneuvers can grant (sudden leap, shadow blink, etc.), this could be legitimately viable. Wouldn't be the strongest character in the party, but would survive, be able to contribute meaningfully to a fight, and would look really cool while doing it. I kind of want to try this myself now.

[j_spencer93]

Ok I know unarmed strikes can be any part of the body. Got that. Was simply asking if i missed any feats and if their were any items out there that would help.
And i think he plans to find a way to charge and full attack in this build.

[j_spencer93]

Forgot their are sandals that allows you to do a flying kick although its wording is confusing. Things like that are what he wants.

[Gwendol]

Haha, love the concept!

Can't you give the guy a boot blade to pull out when things really get hairy?

[emeraldstreak]

It'll help to post the build-in-progress.

[Extra Anchovies]

Haha, love the concept!

Can't you give the guy a boot blade to pull out when things really get hairy?

Might not be worth burning the feat on, since they aren't monk weapons. Besides, I feel like the laws of dramatic storytelling mandate that if this kicking monk ever meets an evil opposite, they'll be a bard and/or rogue who uses boot blades.

[Gwendol]

"I'm not really left-footed!" ;-)

[Ruethgar]

I would just like to mention that Barbarians and Swordsages do this concept better, but you've pretty much found all the good feats thatI am aware of for kicking(though as a barbarian you would want Superior Unarmed Strike and as a Monk you would want Simple Weapon Proficiency Unarmed).

[animewatcha]

Where was that master of many monks build that was at level 6 made use of panther and a couple of others to ( upon tripping a foe and causing them to be sickened ) gave them a -6 to hit amongst other things. Since you are using 3rd party and a bit of 3.0, what about Half-mino/ogre ?

[j_spencer93]

thanks guys, and would post the build if it was even 1/2 complete. Maybe later today. I forgot about pathfinder monk style feats so there is a way to add some more flavor. Also, i know other classes do it better. I understand that, but the player specifically wants a kicking monk as in the class. A headache i know.
Edit: Also he wants human. To me almost any race would be better with others being fantastically better but he wants human.

[animewatcha]

Give him a necklace of natural weapons throwing / returning or whatever combo that results in flying kung-fu movie sterf.

[j_spencer93]

Wow some of pathfinders maneuvers are pretty cool unarmed attacks + their is some kick related ones he will love the fluff of. Some maybe go that way also

[Andry]

This thread reminds me of this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBfTk6Unddk.

[StreamOfTheSky]

I have a Capoeirista based version of Battle Dancer, if you're open to homebrew... It gets bonus damage on kicks if set up properly, and later on gets a kicking riposte-like counter, along with monk unarmed damage and full BAB.


Wow some of pathfinders maneuvers are pretty cool unarmed attacks + their is some kick related ones he will love the fluff of. Some maybe go that way also

If you use any feats or whatever from PF, just make sure you don't import any of the horrible system-level rules changes. Like the nerfs to tripping and tumbling. Or the splitting of the combat maneuver feats (and needing BAB +6 to get what you could at level 1 in 3E). Or monks not being allowed to take improved natural attack. Or so forth....

Using PF material is like opening a pandora's box if you're a martial (expecially if you're a rogue or monk). You might see something really cool, but once you open up the box...all sorts of horrors come flying out. Just warning you. Overall, PF was not a good thing for monks.

[j_spencer93]

At the moment i am using only cherry picked feats from pathfinder in our game, but most i have found that do not involve ki are decent. Have a player that loves the headbutt feat.
Also i would love to see that. I do not mind homebrew as long as it is fair.

[StreamOfTheSky]

Also i would love to see that. I do not mind homebrew as long as it is fair.

http://torchofspirit.proboards.com/post/462

It's sort of a monk/bard/rogue hybrid. Unarmed frontliner, but not the best class to be the party tank. Gets bardic performance buffs for the party, but w/o spellcasting/splat support, it's not as good as bard's. Momentum Kick follow SA progression, but is not precision damage, which is both good (works on anything; no annoying rules about concealment, etc...) and bad (doesn't work w/ staggering strike and such).

I still haven't playtested it. I already suspect I need to do more to make feinting viable (i've outright houseruled Imp. Feint to not require Int 13 or Expertise and given it a +4 bonus like other "Improved" feats in my own game, but if I'm making a class around it, I'm forced to fix it in-class for it to be usable). Around level 9 when the character can haste himself and pounce and get the damage bonus on every attack, it might get out of hand, but besides that it's firmly stuck in tier 4 territory at best. It should feel sort of glass cannon-ish...not horrible defense, but definitely better offense. And much better suited vs. a single foe than many, since you can only evade one attack a round.

I'll be using it on NPCs in my game soon enough at least, to get some idea how well it works in play.

[j_spencer93]

Thanks. Havent got the chance to review it yet