Monk stance Rework suggestions

[doubledge]

As everyone knows, monk stances are currently under-performing. Now, they COULD crank all of the stat bonuses up to something obscene, but then they're just another bunch of random numbers, and lack any sort of "togetherness" feeling. The overall goal is to make each stance good at something. Also, I think all ki stances should be given some sort of ki generator: to enable different styles.

Grandmaster, IMO, should also give some sort of huge boon, to justify sinking 18 monk levels, or however many feats it takes to reach that point.

Underlined are my suggested changes. All bonuses are to be changed to "stance bonus", so that they stack with everything.


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Fire stance: Aggression, hitting hard.
I think that right now, fire stance is the weakest stance. The only thing upgrading this form does is add more ki on crit, which is barely enough to justify using it. For an offensive stance, it's only use right now is just ki genenration. This is dumb. It should be a dps stance, when you want to beat something to death, with massive mauling punches.

Sun stance I:
+2 strength, -2 wisdom. +1 ki on hit, +2 ki on crit. +2 melee and ranged power.

Sun stance II:
+2 strength, -2 wisdom. +1 ki on hit, +3 ki on crit. +3 melee and ranged power.

Sun stance III:
+3 strength, -2 wisdom. +1 ki on hit, +4 ki on crit. +4 melee and ranged power. +1 crit multiplier on rolls of 19-20.

Sun stance IV:
+4 strength, -2 wisdom. +1 ki on hit, +5 ki on crit. +5 melee and ranged power. +1 crit multiplier on rolls of 19-20. +1 threat range.


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Air stance: Attacking fast, hitting many times, flurry. Staying at a range, being a flipping ninja.
This stance already is pretty strong, but it excludes ranged combat entirely. This imo should be the default stance of shuriken monks, but right now they receive no benefit besides the flat dex. It also right now lacks a ki generator, but since I think it's the assassin stance, giving it an on-kill ki bonus would be ideal.

Another note: Right now, speed items do the same thing monk stances do. You could either buff the monk stances higher, which would overload earlygame, or you could split the bonuses into enhancement and stance. I recommend stance. The stance description also says something about mobility.

Wind stance I:
+2 dexterity, -2 constitution. +3 ki on kill. +2.5 stance bonus to melee and ranged alacrity, +5 enhancement bonus to melee and ranged alacrity, +2.5 bonus to doubleshot and doublestrike.

Wind stance II:
+2 dexterity, -2 constitution. +4 ki on kill. +5 stance bonus to melee and ranged alacrity, + 5 enhancement bonus to melee and ranged alacrity, +5 bonus to doubleshot and doublestrike.

Wind stance III:
+3 dexterity, -2 constitution. +5 ki on kill. +7.5 stance bonus to melee and ranged alacrity, +5 enhancement bonus to melee and ranged alacrity, +7.5 doubleshot and doublestrike. If you possess the deflect arrows feat, it now triggers once every 4 seconds, rather than 6.

Wind stance IV:
+4 dexterity, -2 constitution. +6 ki on kill, +10 stance bonus to melee and ranged alacrity, +5 enhancement bonus to melee and ranged alacrity, +10 doubleshot and doublestrike. If you possess the deflect arrows feat, it now triggers once every 2 seconds, rather than 6. +10 stance bonus to striding.


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Earth stance: Tanking.
Let's look at the facts. Right now, earth stance is by far the strongest stance, because not only does it grant prr, but it also has critical multiplier. Rather than having flat prr, i'm hoping to do something novel with the idea instead. Monks do not wear heavy armor. With grandmaster earth stance, they shall be heavy armor.

Earth stance I:
+2 constitution, -2 dexterity. On being hit or missed, gain 1 ki. +5% bonus to AC, +50% bonus to all threat generation. +2 DR/-.
(Notice the lack of PRR or mobility penalty. This shall be soon fixed in tier 2 earth stance.)

Earth stance II:
+2 constitution, -2 dexterity. On being hit or missed, gain 1 ki. +10% bonus to AC, +100% bonus to all threat generation. +4 DR/-. You gain PRR equal to your BAB.

Earth stance III:
+3 constitution, -2 dexterity. On being hit or missed, gain 1 ki. +15% bonus to AC, +150% bonus to all threat generation. +6 DR/-. You gain PRR equal to your BAB * 1.5, +10 healing amplification.

Earth stance IV:
+4 constitution, -2 dexterity. On being hit or missed, gain 1 ki. +20% bonus to AC, +200% bonus to all threat generation. +8 DR/-. You gain PRR equal to double your BAB. +20 healing amplification. You are immune to most knockdowns, paralyzes, and stuns.


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Water stance: Saves, dodging, magic.
Water stance is sort of an anomaly: It's mostly used right now just to passively gain ki when afk. As is, the saves are nice, the dodge is great, but it's really really lacklustre. However, it's a wisdom stance, and with the right tweaking, it'd be an interesting stance for light monks and henshins (when they get fixed), along with anyone who uses finishing moves. The master and grandmaster buff I have planned would make touch of death really quite scary.

Water stance I:
+2 wisdom, -2 strength. +1% dodge, +1% dodge cap, +2 to all saves, +5 universal spell power, +1 dcs for all finishing moves. Every 12 seconds, gain 1 ki, up to your concentration score.

Water stance II:+2 wisdom, -2 strength. +2% dodge, +2% dodge cap, +3 to all saves, +10 universal spellpower, +2 dcs for all finishing moves. Every 6 seconds, gain 1 ki, up to your concentration score.

Water stance III:
+3 wisdom, -2 strength. +3% dodge, +3% dodge cap, +4 to all saves, +20 universal spellpower, +3 dcs for all finishing moves. +1 ki regeneration, your elemental ki attacks now apply 5% vulnerability against their target versus the element of the strike. This lasts for 6 seconds, and stacks up to 5 times. Stacks fade one at a time, and reapplying the debuff resets the duration. Ki attacks now do an additional 1d4 damage of their element on attack. This scales with spellpower.
(Every single hit from a ki attack adds 5% vulnerability to the element of the strike. This includes the tier 2 attacks like "eagle claw", or the henshin words of vulnerability. Void strike and GMOF abilities add force vulnerability.)

Water stance IV:
+4 wisdom, -2 strength. +4% dodge, +4% dodge cap, +5 to all saves, +30 universal spellpower, +4 dcs for all finishing moves. +2 ki regeneration, your elemental ki attacks now apply 5% vulnerability against their target versus the element of the strike. This lasts for 6 seconds, and stacks up to 10 times. Stacks fade one at a time, and reapplying the debuff resets the duration. Ki attacks now do an additional 1d6 damage of their element on attack. This scales with spellpower.