Hello Everyone!
I wanted to make a hypothetical monk tree that use kamas/shortswords/other ki melee weapons (Ninja spy does not count). Since the only way a new tree is introduced into the game is with an archetype, I ended up making a whole new archetype: Hedonist. Would love to hear your thoughts!
Some flavor: A hedonist is someone who doesn't believe in a higher power. So, a hedonist monk finds peace knowing that their life has no inherent meaning. A hedonist is willing to take the life of anyone, and they view it as giving mercy to their victims. A hedonist does not try to protect themselves, or any allies. They do not attempt to constrain or shackle enemies, as that only worsens the futility of their opponent's actions. They only bring quick ends to those who want it (or try to fight them).
Changes:
- always chooses path of inevitable dominion
- alignment is always lawful neutral
- loses elemental stances, replaced with primordial stances
- may not use light attacks under any circumstance
- no longer gain martial feat at level 1. Instead gain one at level 12
- cannot believe in a deity. Therefore cannot benefit from favored weapons, no matter what classes or enhancements are chosen
Gained:
- Tree: Hedonist
- Tree: Henshin Mystic (Hedonist)
Trees Lost:
- Shintao
- Henshin Mystic (Monk)
Primordial Ki attacks and Stances
Hedonist Past Life: +1 to hit and an additional +1 to hit while sneak attacking
Other changes to go along with this archetype
Writer's Notes:
That's it! Would love to hear what you think about all the ideas I put forth.
I wanted to make a hypothetical monk tree that use kamas/shortswords/other ki melee weapons (Ninja spy does not count). Since the only way a new tree is introduced into the game is with an archetype, I ended up making a whole new archetype: Hedonist. Would love to hear your thoughts!
Some flavor: A hedonist is someone who doesn't believe in a higher power. So, a hedonist monk finds peace knowing that their life has no inherent meaning. A hedonist is willing to take the life of anyone, and they view it as giving mercy to their victims. A hedonist does not try to protect themselves, or any allies. They do not attempt to constrain or shackle enemies, as that only worsens the futility of their opponent's actions. They only bring quick ends to those who want it (or try to fight them).
Changes:
- always chooses path of inevitable dominion
- alignment is always lawful neutral
- loses elemental stances, replaced with primordial stances
- may not use light attacks under any circumstance
- no longer gain martial feat at level 1. Instead gain one at level 12
- cannot believe in a deity. Therefore cannot benefit from favored weapons, no matter what classes or enhancements are chosen
Gained:
- Tree: Hedonist
- Tree: Henshin Mystic (Hedonist)
Trees Lost:
- Shintao
- Henshin Mystic (Monk)
Primordial Ki attacks and Stances
- Instead of the 'elemental' ki attacks, stances (sun, ocean, mountain, and wind), and finishers, hedonists gain access to the primordial ki attacks, stances, and finishers.
- The elements
- The primordial stances have 3 tiers: Lesser, Master, and Grandmaster. These are auto granted at hedonist level 9 and 18. As long as you have one level in hedonist, you may spend a feat to take these feats at the according character level (just like adept/master/grandmaster of forms for regular monk)
- Rot stance (negative dmg): +2/4/6 Sneak attack die, -3 AC
- Poison stance (poison dmg): +5/10/15 doublestrike, +3/6/9 doubleshot, -3 saves
- Ice stance (cold dmg): +2/4/6 imbue die, -1 hp per character level (up to 20)
- Power stance (force dmg): +7/14/21 MP, +4/8/12 RP, -7 resistance to all elements
- New finishers
- rot-rot-rot: Attack: Target takes 2 negative levels
- poison-poison-poison: Attack. Enemy takes 1d4 poison damage per monk level every 2 seconds for 10 seconds. Fortitude save reduces damage by half
- ice-ice-ice: Attack: Target deals 10% less physical damage
- force-force-force: Attack: +1 crit range and multiplier, and knock down target. Fortitude save negates, Periodic reflex saves to get back up
- rot-dark-rot: Attack: Target is fatigued and sickened. Fortitude save negates
- poison-dark-poison: Paralyze all enemies in a small cone in front of you for 4 seconds. Fortitude save negatves
- ice-dark-ice: Put all enemies in a small cone in front of you to sleep. No save
- force-dark-force: Attack: +1 crit multiplier, stun for 6 seconds. Fortitude save negates
- Largely the same tree, with some changes to reflect the new primordial stances:
- swap elemental attacks (t2) with primordial attacks (detailed in hedonist tree)
- swap elemental weakness attacks (tiers 1-4) with equivalent attacks that increase negative, poison, cold, and force damage vulnerability
- replace t5 attack multiselector "Balance in Dawn" with "Balance in Nonexistence"
- There is nothing... : Void Ki Melee Attack: +20% damage. Enemies hit lose 3-5 constitution (Cost: 15 ki, Cooldown: 6 seconds)
Hedonist Past Life: +1 to hit and an additional +1 to hit while sneak attacking
Other changes to go along with this archetype
- Ninja Spy Cleanup
- Add Feat: Prescient Curve:
- Requirements: +8 BAB, Swords to Plowshares. Inspired by the practical use of kamas and sickles, you swing horizontally. If you are wielding a kama or sickle in one hand, and nothing in the off hand, or kamas or sickles in both hands, you may now strikethrough with kamas and sickles, and you gain +80% strikethrough
- This is considered a martial feat
Writer's Notes:
- Not totally sold on prescient curve giving strikethrough for kamas/sickles. Maybe give doublestrike instead? At the very least there needs to be something for kamas/sickles
- I tried to make the new finishers only slightly better (on average) than the regular monk finishers. If this were actually put into the game, this would be a good time to give the monk finishers some extra oomph, since a lot of them are pretty bad
- With all of the changes, feats, and trees, the numbers are not what's important, it is the concepts. Some numbers may be way overtuned, but I didn't put too much thought into the numbers. Those can be changed easily, however the concepts cannot be changed very easily.
That's it! Would love to hear what you think about all the ideas I put forth.
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