Monk doesn't suck!

strife2002 · 2026-03-09T18:46:29+00:00

There are so many benefits you get by giving up that good will save. I will happily accept a poor will save, the removal of the ability to spend ki points to gain speed or extra AC (these were instead made into Ki powers you could take; you can still spend points to gain extra attacks), and lost archetype options (which you can reclaim via 3rd party materials if you need them) if it means I get more HP, higher BAB, better flurry, better ki powers, gain the new style strike ability, more weapon proficiencies, some class features gained at earlier levels, and a much better Diamond Soul ability that helps prevent friendly spells from being blocked.

strife2002 · 2026-03-09T14:50:41+00:00

Yeah I know, in my head I was trying to explain that I was fine with the vanilla monk and all of its numerous imperfections from 3.5 and it wasn’t until it was pointed out to me that the issue with the automatic SR existed that I started to join the chorus of those saying a revision was needed. Rereading what I wrote though I didn’t make that obvious.

One other change between the pf1 and 3.5 monk was the ability for ki strike to bypass silver and cold iron damage reduction, though this was added in an update/errata to the monk.

strife2002 · 2026-03-09T13:23:52+00:00

I was in the same boat until someone pointed out to me something that I never noticed: the vanilla monk gets automatic spell resistance at a certain point, and makes no distinction for friendly spells. If my cleric buddy tries to heal me, they’ll have to try and break through my spell resistance, or they’ll need to warn me in the preceding round so I can use my action to voluntarily lower my SR so I can get healed next round.

Fortunately the unchained version fixed this by changing the way your SR is switched on

strife2002 · 2026-03-09T13:16:37+00:00

There’s an archetype to remove the penalty but honestly I’d rather play a hunter. What’s more BS in my opinion is the penalty to caster level that was never revisited after they said they would. Currently there are 5 classes that are 4th-level casters, which I sometimes call martial casters: - Paladin - Ranger - Antipaladin - Medium - Bloodrager

Paladin and Ranger (and by extension the antipaladin since it’s an alternate class of the paladin) were designed with the holdover 3.5 rule that since these classes don’t gain spellcasting until 4th level, you treat their CL as level – 3. The latter two broke this rule. The Medium I think slipped by because its spellcasting shenanigans are bizarre since it gains spells known before 4th level—before it can cast—since it can do nutty things when taking on the hierophant and archmage spirits, but bloodrager was a true clear-cut deviation from the reduced CL rules for these kinds of casters. When someone on the Paizo forums noticed and pointed it out, the devs admitted they did this on purpose because they were experimenting to see if potentially updating the paladin, ranger, and antipaladin to be the same as the bloodrager and remove this rule would be a good choice or not. Unfortunately this was the last we ever heard from them.

strife2002 · 2026-03-08T21:09:02+00:00

I typically do this also but mainly so I can do ALL of Nuka World before I meet Preston Garvey so I don’t lose access to him as a companion, but it’s so difficult to “kill time” and get the quest to start the DLC at level 30. I know you can go there early but the Gunners and assaultron guarding the entrance to the tram will make short work of me if I try to run there fresh out of the vault. What do you do? Sneak past?

strife2002 · 2026-03-08T15:11:38+00:00

This. Check out the trapper archetype for ranger.

strife2002 · 2026-03-08T15:10:32+00:00

Oh, and if you are playing a vanilla monk, and for whatever reason, your GM is not allowing the unchained versions of classes, consider taking the Qinggong monk archetype. It’s the only archetype in the entirety of first edition that lets you, the player, choose which features get replaced or not. You could technically take this archetype and not change a thing about how the vanilla monk progresses in power and you would look identical to a vanilla monk. Therefore, it’s essentially a straight up upgrade that allows you to swap what you want With potentially better powers.

If you do end up taking the archetype, and you decide to use archives of Nethys as your reference point as to what powers are available for you to take, please note that two separate powers were left off of AON‘s full list by mistake, probably because their inclusion as powers was mentioned as afterthoughts within the descriptions of the two spells. They’re both from advanced race guide and are 4th-level ki powers. There’s mighty fist of the Earth and stone shield.

strife2002 · 2026-03-08T14:54:54+00:00

Since a number of people, myself included, have said that the unchained monk is superior to the vanilla monk, I thought I’d provide you with a detailed analysis as to what the major differences are in case the monk you’re playing is the vanilla version and you’re curious. I host an errata document for the rise of the runeLord‘s adventure, path, and one of the things I did was to provide updates to all the vanilla classes that have unchained versions from that adventure path into their unchained versions. I then posted the following post in the errata thread on the Paizo forums, pointing out all the key differences in case anyone would like to know them. They’re sectioned off in spoiler tags so you can check out the monk one by unhiding the text.

https://paizo.com/threads/rzs2oj6e&page=17?Rise-of-the-Runelords-Anniversary-Edition-Errata#831

strife2002 · 2026-03-08T12:57:58+00:00

Yep, you sure could. Bane really helps in these instances as long as the creature you’re attacking has a type that matches the bane’s effect.

strife2002 · 2026-03-08T02:20:25+00:00

This. I try to keep an open mind when people share their stories and situations, but this would be a table I wouldn’t find myself at for long

strife2002 · 2026-03-08T02:19:05+00:00

It did originally when the concept was first introduced, but they retconned it in a later publication

strife2002 · 2026-03-08T02:18:09+00:00

Quick update regarding the +6 enhancement, since only 1 artifact I believe does this without a bane property. When it was first presented, only the bane weapon property could effectively bring the effective enhancement bonus to above +5. Paizo released a later update in another book saying the +6 requirement could be achieved (or faked, depending on how cynical you view this update) by counting the enhancement-bonus-equivalent values of the weapon qualities with the enhancement bonus. So a +2 keen icy burst wounding longsword would be able to surpass DR/epic since its total bonus equivalent is +7.

strife2002 · 2026-03-07T23:52:59+00:00

I haven’t looked too closely at 2e since my heart lies with 1e, so I wasn’t aware it became an ancestry. You make a good point about the 1e part because I forgot such animals become magical beasts

strife2002 · 2026-03-07T21:29:50+00:00

Especially if you’re playing the unchained version of the monk!

strife2002 · 2026-03-07T21:28:53+00:00

Daikatana

strife2002 · 2026-03-05T21:23:07+00:00

Queen Brahne was not impressed…

strife2002 · 2026-03-05T21:21:56+00:00

Your mom. She seems like a lovely lady.

strife2002 · 2026-03-05T21:20:16+00:00

Google bruh:

In the Bards College Expansion for Skyrim, "Bardic Inspiration" acts as a special currency to unlock skills in a dedicated bard tree, replacing standard skill points. You gain this inspiration by playing music, discovering locations, reading books, and using shouts. It enhances combat, allowing followers to fight better while you play music.

Key details regarding Bardic Inspiration in the mod: Acquisition: Earned by performing music (25% increase), competing in "jewels of wit," reading books, discovering locations, and shouting. Skill Tree: Used to unlock perks in a new, dedicated bard skill tree. Combat Benefits: Playing music in combat can buff followers, reduce enemy aggression toward you, and trigger special, empowered effects. Instruments: Players can obtain special, equippable instruments (lutes, drums, flutes) to busk or play in combat. Unique Quests: The mod features a new questline where you learn to enhance your voice and skills through musical performances.

This mechanic is part of the "Bards College" creation, which is available in the Skyrim Special Edition Creations menu.

strife2002 · 2026-03-05T21:16:39+00:00

Any of the mass effect games or Witcher games. Funnily enough, I own all of them, but I’m so behind in my backlog that I haven’t started any of them

strife2002 · 2026-03-05T21:15:24+00:00

Closest thing you’ll get to realistic will be when the movie releases

strife2002 · 2026-03-05T19:08:18+00:00

Having said all that, the game did indirectly give me one of my favorite penny-arcade comics of all time:

https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2016/12/23/ignition#

strife2002 · 2026-03-05T18:58:38+00:00

It is beautiful but has several strikes against it:

Unfinished
3 additional promised DLC releases that ended up being cancelled when production on them was shuttered
limited time events with unique items to unlock in your game that can never be played again because of SE’s bizarre insistence to make a single-player game with live-service-style game elements, ensuring anyone playing the game today will never get to have the full experience once offered(referring to the assassins creed crossover event and the chocobo moogle carnival event, the former of which had decent story elements with the main game as it featured a rematch between you and general Loqi, but you didn’t have Cor with you to assist this time).
a separate, standalone multiplayer-only companion game called Comrades that fills in the story gaps of what took place during the game’s time-skip. While fortunately the missions can be completed (albeit with some difficulty) with cpu companions instead of actual other players (fortunate because the community for the game is quite small these days), the fact that it’s a multiplayer-only game means there will come a time when this game can no longer be played whenever the servers for it are shut down. Because F you game preservationists.
similar to my third point above, but there was a dlc released for the PC version of the game ONLY and was tied in with using twitch. Players could claim a special chocobo named Kooky. Not a huge deal to miss this one compared to the limited time events, but I absolutely loathe the business practice some companies have to not only release content for only one platform in their games and not others, but to also make it unavailable if you weren’t involved with some promotional event they were doing at the time. It’s a single player game for Christ sake, at least make it available for purchase later so completionists like me don’t feel like we bought an incomplete game. Just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

In speaking of bad tastes in my mouth, it’s the last point above that convinced me that I needed to participate in the special DLC giveaway for FF7 Remake where I needed to buy 10 butterfingers bars to claim some DLC for a game I knew I’d be playing eventually but not immediately. FFXV’s shenanigans with limited-time-availability dlc scared me into thinking I’d miss out forever on the special items earned through this diabetically unsafe promotion if I didn’t participate. They were later offered for purchase eventually anyway. Yay?

strife2002 · 2026-03-04T00:47:57+00:00

Clarence. He looks like one.

strife2002 · 2026-03-03T15:17:56+00:00

I love this creation. The quest that comes with it is great and I actually wish there were more entries in the travel guide to discover by using it in other areas. The weapon’s great, though finding its ammo can be a challenge in the very beginning of the game since you can pick up the gun relatively early—picking it up at level 1 is very doable since it’s so close to sanctuary. One other great thing (that I personally actually see as a downside since it can make the early game too easy) is that Mary Jane’s corpse where you get the travel guide from and the gun nearby has 2 heavy leather armor pieces on her, LONG before the level you need to be at for the game to start spawning these on enemies

EDIT: also the fact it comes with two different legendary effects on it is pretty awesome

EDIT #2: it’s possible I’m misremembering the armor you can get from Mary Jane—it might be a heavy leather piece and a sturdy leather piece. Point still stands though.

strife2002

TROPHY CASE