Hello hello,
It’s been a little while, and I think it’s time to bring out an old favourite of mine.
Monks are an interesting class to multiclass with, thanks to their eclectic mish-mash of combat-practical abilities, excellent saves and unique flavour. Many were the times that people like myself wished they could make a really angry monk that kicked a whole lot of ass, and this character does just that.
Combat style feats are excellent already, and this character benefits a lot from a couple of different ones. Functionally, this character plays like a monk, even though they have a far greater number of barbarian levels. Rage powers are exceptional, and can help round out the character nicely, dovetailing surprisingly nicely with the fighting style and abilities of the monk side.
Check it out, and enjoy!
Archetypes:
- Savage Barbarian
- Martial Artist Monk
Here’s where things get interesting.
First of all, go with the savage barbarian archetype; it dovetails beautifully with multiclassing into monk, and takes what would have been a completely useless archetype and makes it quite practical. When it comes to Monk, you’ve only got one option: martial artist. You need to be non-lawful to be a barbarian, and every other type of monk demands a lawful alignment. You miss out on a ki pool, but exploit weakness will be useful at lower levels. Unfortunately, it will start getting a little less practical at higher levels as it becomes steadily more difficult to meet the DC of the wisdom check, but at that point you can always choose to use it for a bonus to AC.
Race:
- Human
- Dwarf
Generally, I would recommend going human so you can take Dual-Talent and give yourself a nice boost to both Strength and Wisdom, but Dwarf gives you great bonuses to saving throws, though your attack and damage will be lower. I’m going to continue on the assumption that human is selected; if you decide you want to go with Dwarf, you’ll probably have to re-evaluate your ability scores to lean more heavily on Strength.
Ability Scores: (+2 Str, +2 Wis)
Epic Fantasy:
- Str: 16 -> 18 (10)
- Dex: 14 (5)
- Con: 14 (5)
- Int: 9 (-1)
- Wis: 16 -> 18 (10)
- Cha: 7 (-4)
High Fantasy:
- Str: 16 -> 18 (10)
- Dex: 14 (5)
- Con: 13 (3)
- Int: 7 (-4)
- Wis: 16 -> 18 (10)
- Cha: 7 (-4)
Standard Fantasy:
- Str: 16 -> 18 (10)
- Dex: 14 (5)
- Con: 13 (3)
- Int: 7 (-4)
- Wis: 14 -> 16 (5)
- Cha: 7 (-4)
Low Fantasy:
- Str: 14 -> 16 (5)
- Dex: 14 (5)
- Con: 13 (3)
- Int: 7 (-4)
- Wis: 14 -> 16 (5)
- Cha: 7 (-4)
I’m not going to lie to you, this character is a tricky one to balance the stats for. Strength is of primary importance, and should be kept as high as possible, but additionally this character cares a lot about wisdom and dexterity, and more-so than most monks about constitution thanks to the barbarian levels. Dexterity, combined with a good wisdom, helps to keep your AC and saves respectable, and constitution adds to your rounds of Rage per day, which can be important.
Dwarves will have less of a problem with number of rage rounds per day thanks to their favored class bonus and constitution boost, which is a nice perk; I still don’t think it justifies the lower Strength score though, seeing as this character wants to focus on being an offensive powerhouse.
Alternate Racial Traits:
- Dual-Talent – +2 Str, +2 Wis (Human)
You really want the Dual-Talent alternate racial trait here; this character is very ability score-hungry. On a dwarf, go with whatever you want, but for the love of the gods don’t replace your bonus to saves against spells with spell resistance. It is not worth it.
Skills:
- Acrobatics
Acrobatics is necessary to meet the prerequisites for Dragon Style, which is exceptionally important to this build. Go with whatever else you like. Taking sense motive opens up the possibility of taking the snake style line of feats, but that generally isn’t as tempting as some of the other combat styles are. Stealth and perception are never bad choices, if you’re having trouble deciding.
Progression:
- B1: Power Attack
- M1: Dodge*
- M2: Dragon Style, Deflect Arrows*
- M3: +1 Str
- M4: Dragon Ferocity
- M5:
- M6: Weapon Focus – Unarmed, Combat Reflexes*
- B2: Superstition**, +1 Str
- B3: Weapon Specialization – Unarmed
- B4: Reckless Abandon**
- B5: Extra Rage
- B6: Ghost Rager / No Escape**, +1 Str
- B7: Improved Natural Armor
- B8: Increased Damage Reduction**
- B9: Ability Focus – Stunning Fist
- B10: Eater of Magic**, +1 Str
- B11: Elemental Fist
- B12: Come and Get Me**
- B13: Improved Critical – Unarmed
- B14: Clear Mind**, +1 Str
* Bonus Feat
** Rage Power
Level 5 in martial artist monk is phenomenal for this character, since the extreme endurance ability dovetails so swimmingly with rage. Going up to level 6 in monk gives you a better exploit weakness, +1 to all saves, a bonus feat and increased movement speed. The downside is the slower barbarian rage progression and slower access to rage powers. If you prefer to be a little more barbarian-y, feel free to drop level 6 monk for another barbarian level. The extra rage feat would be a godsend at lower levels, but it’s practically impossible to make room for it. If your DM lets you take an antihero feat in place of hero points, that could be a good use for it. Either that, or take weapon focus – unarmed there and throw in extra rage at level 7.
Taking the beast totem line of rage powers is a tempting option, as it gives you access to pounce eventually, but the lesser beast totem and (normally stellar) beast totem powers are largely wasted on you (since you already have natural armor and they don’t stack), and you wouldn’t get the capstone until level 16, which is too late to matter in many campaigns.
You might ask why this doesn’t include the monastic legacy feat since this is a perfect character for it, but regrettably, since you don’t get the still mind class feature as a martial artist monk, you don’t meet the prerequisites. You can’t always have your cake and eat it too, I suppose.
The feats from level 11 onward are all quite flexible, as none of them are strictly essential. Improved critical is there because it’s pretty much your last available option for increasing your damage, but it isn’t especially useful, since unarmed attacks only have a 20 x 2 critical. Elemental fist is quite useful against targets without energy resistance, but since many enemies will have resistances at that level, it loses some of its luster. Ability focus – stunning fist is there to improve upon your already impressive stunning fist attack, as the pain points ability of the martial artist has already made you better at this than conventional monks. You could always just take improved natural armor for every feat from level 13 onward, if your DM doesn’t put the kibosh on that. Other decent feat options include punishing kick, toughness, hammer the gap, extra rage, and extra rage power.
Your rage powers are mainly used to improve your defensive capabilities, though reckless abandon and come and get me add a little offensive punch when needed.
Traits:
- Quain Martial Artist
- Berserker of the Society
If you can get away with it, Quain martial artist is the best trait possible for this build. Your DM may decide to bar it though, given that it’s from a fairly obscure book. Berserker of the society is another great one, if you’re allowed to use pathfinder society traits.
Favored Class Bonus:
- +1/3 to the bonus from the Superstition Rage Power (Human)
- +1 to number of rounds of Rage per day (Dwarf)
How It Works:
It gets angry, it enters stances, and it punches things. A DM could make the argument that you can’t enter dragon style while you’re raging, as (s)he might deem that it requires patience and concentration, but since the stances don’t say as such, you should be able to persuade them. If not, you might be better off going with a single-class barbarian or monk. There is some amount of debate as to how power attack interacts with dragon style, as technically speaking, your first unarmed attack each round while dragon style is active is a primary natural attack that deals 1.5 x your strength in damage, which in theory satisfies the requirement for hand-and-a-half power attack damage (ie. +3 damage per -1 attack). You’ll have to leave this one in the hands of your DM, as I have heard arguments both in favour and opposed, and (as far as I know) there is no official word on this.
Your attack and damage are truly monstrous on this character while you’re raging. Make sure you get an amulet of might fists with the furious property on it, to make the most of your time while flying off the handle. If possible, beg and plead with your party caster to take craft wondrous items, so you don’t have to break the bank on it. In terms of gear, you’ll enjoy bracers of armor (or a mage armor buff from a friendly caster, if you can justify taking it on a barbarian with the superstition rage power), the aforementioned amulet, rings of protection, various ioun stones, belts of strength, headbands of wisdom, cloaks of resistance and anything else that increases your attack, damage or AC. Unfortunately, the amulet of mighty fists prevents you from wearing an amulet of natural armor, but a Naga-Scale Bindi or other similar items can give you a boost without one. Make sure you grab items to increase your mobility, like a quick-runner’s shirt and jaunt boots, so you’ll have an easier time setting yourself up for full attacks.
Overall, your AC will be good, but not stellar. Your saves will be almost insurmountable between the monks bonuses and the superstition rage power though.
Oh, and if you didn’t notice, this guy’s fast. Really, really fast.
Closing Statement:
I have to say, there’s something supremely satisfying about beating monsters to death with your bare fists, possibly while completely naked.
I didn’t put any crunch-numbers up here, but I’ve played this character at level 13 or 14 in a quick one-shot delve once, and he was easily doing between 25 and 35 damage a hit with all his gear on, while hitting quite reliably.
If you were looking for a unique take on either a barbarian or monk, or wanted to play a particularly brutal and savage Chuck Norris, you’ve come to the right place.
Go forth, and knock some heads! (Or, more likely, render them into a fine puree.)
My love for you is like a truck,
Uni
Renaissance Gamer 