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Monk's Ki Pool vs. Damage Reduction

Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2013 7:31 pm
by Jonkga
Ken,

When leveling up Jheru, I discovered something I had been missing. His Ki Pool ability makes his unarmed attacks more potent vs. damage reduction. Overall, I knew this, but I had missed some. At 4th level, his fists count as magic, and now at 10th level, his fists count as lawful, as I was expecting. And, these are what the monk table shows. However, in the description of the Ki Pool ability, it also adds that at 7th level, his fist count as cold iron and silvered vs. damage reduction.

See here: http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/monk

So, I'm not sure if this is errata or what exactly, but it seems that this will certainly help vs. some of the demonic targets we are facing. It's not a total fix, as I'm still attacking with fists versus what can be pretty horrible creatures (as Thyur discovered last session), but it will certainly help.

I included this on Jheru's stat block in the Roll Call thread for reference as well.

Re: Monk's Ki Pool vs. Damage Reduction

Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 10:01 am
by EvilGenius
Dude, being able to bypass DR in a variety of situations, plus your already awesome unarmed damage is pretty sweet! We'll just call you DemonBane from now on. :D

Re: Monk's Ki Pool vs. Damage Reduction

Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 12:29 pm
by NukeHavoc
Strangely Paizo's PRD doesn't include that:

http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/classes/monk.html
Ki Pool (Su): At 4th level, a monk gains a pool of ki points, supernatural energy he can use to accomplish amazing feats. The number of points in a monk's ki pool is equal to 1/2 his monk level + his Wisdom modifier. As long as he has at least 1 point in his ki pool, he can make a ki strike. At 4th level, ki strike allows his unarmed attacks to be treated as magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. Ki strike improves with the character's monk level. At 10th level, his unarmed attacks are also treated as lawful weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. At 16th level, his unarmed attacks are treated as adamantine weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction and bypassing hardness.

By spending 1 point from his ki pool, a monk can make one additional attack at his highest attack bonus when making a flurry of blows attack. In addition, he can spend 1 point to increase his speed by 20 feet for 1 round. Finally, a monk can spend 1 point from his ki pool to give himself a +4 dodge bonus to AC for 1 round. Each of these powers is activated as a swift action. A monk gains additional powers that consume points from his ki pool as he gains levels.

The ki pool is replenished each morning after 8 hours of rest or meditation; these hours do not need to be consecutive.
I wonder if this is a varient monk ability from Advanced Players Guide or Ultimate Combat that was accidentally included in the non-Pathfinder SRD site (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/monk). A quick Google search didn't turn up any discussion this, but I bet it's in one of those books.

Re: Monk's Ki Pool vs. Damage Reduction

Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 12:43 pm
by EvilGenius
I don't think it's a variant ability, as it's listed that way in the SRD (which probably suggests that it was errata which has been added into the SRD). http://www.d20pfsrd.com/

From the SRD:
Ki Pool (Su)
At 4th level, a monk gains a pool of ki points, supernatural energy he can use to accomplish amazing feats. The number of points in a monk's ki pool is equal to 1/2 his monk level + his Wisdom modifier. As long as he has at least 1 point in his ki pool, he can make a ki strike.

•At 4th level, ki strike allows his unarmed attacks to be treated as magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. Ki strike improves with the character's monk level.
•At 7th level, his unarmed attacks are also treated as cold iron and silver weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

•At 10th level, his unarmed attacks are also treated as lawful weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
•At 16th level, his unarmed attacks are treated as adamantine weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction and bypassing hardness.

Re: Monk's Ki Pool vs. Damage Reduction

Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 12:50 pm
by Jonkga
Yeah, Bob, but I don't think it was there from the start. My guess is it did get added later, but I'm not sure when or how.

Re: Monk's Ki Pool vs. Damage Reduction

Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 12:53 pm
by NukeHavoc
It may be errata, but if so it's not in Paizo's official PRD http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/classes/monk.html

I don't really care how it got there -- I think it makes sense and we should simply house rule it in. If someone cares enough to find how this got added, have at it.

Re: Monk's Ki Pool vs. Damage Reduction

Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2013 1:19 pm
by Jonkga
This may help, and seems to be paizo official:

http://paizo.com/paizo/blog/v5748dyo5le ... ing-Around