Is it worth it? Living Monolith

[Crimson Wolf]

Okay so deciding to make a new forum series by adding a new is it worth it each bit of days, today's being the Living Monolith!

Okay so in the book Osirion, Land of the Pharaohs they add a few new prestige classes, one being the Living Monolith! Firstly I notice about this guy is it starts off with a +1 BAB and increases by one per level which is something that is sorta nice to see but adds no second attacks, nor does it add good reflex or will saves. Second is that Ka Stone, now that seems fresh and unique, letting it head slot item that doesn't truly take up the head slot while allowing you to enlarge person on yourself a number of times a day as your first ability you gain with a added bonus of saves vs death effects. Good for a first ability? Bad? You also as your levels progress gain a small amount of DR 1/adamantine and 10% critical immunity every three levels giving in total DR 3/adamantine and 30%critical immunity. Is it nifty? Yes! Is it truly cost effective for a whole new class? That is up in the air to me.


You also have stoneblood, immunie to blood loss and continuous ability damage from blood loss (like an arm chopped off constantly damaging you). You also automatically stabilize when brought to negative hit points. Seems to help you become a bit more tanky in ways but so far with all that is gained, other than enlarge you don't have much in terms of "power" i.e some dice rolling damage! Now as you progress you Ka Stone slowly gets stronger (though eating up your gold in the process!) and your Enlarge gains other abilities as well which I guess can help on the terms of damage. And also start gaining more immunities,disease and su disease (so if you want to have a affliction you better get it before now!), at the end aging (yes, you become immortal!) and energy drain/death effects. Not to mention you can summon a Sphinx and turn into a statue.


So the question at the end is, is this class really worth it? Is it more a situation are you the parties tank? In terms of powers it seems to rely only oh physical combat and zero magic attacks, so to me this is a horribad idea for anyone delving into magic. But time for everyone's opinions and thoughts on the matter, do y'all think it is worth it or is it a bad idea?

[caimbuel]

Most PRC's in pathfinder are lack luster at best. They have fluff and flavor if you play on their world, but compared to just staying in your main class they generally are somewhat sub-par. The "Special: Must have a handcrafted stone scarab worth at least 1,000 gp created and bound to his forehead in a sacred ritual with at least one sphinx or living monolith present." is very story dependant. Combat wise it is dependant on the base class. Paladin/ranger/barbarian are all no IMO, the abilities they get latter in their respective careers are better IMO. For a fighter it may be worth it, if you know there is a level cap to the campaign, but then you are still loosing a lot for situational abilities.

YMMV

[Crimson Wolf]

Very good points on it, staying to your class can very much so help stack more and more abilities or feat gaining. I wonder though if someone was going a pure tank/defense if this class would be worth it? You do get DR along with immunities to all disease, bleeding, and death effects. Maybe in a campaign against things like necromancers, barbed devils, plague ridden creatures, and spirits it could be. Possibly even against things like that in a campaign you could roleplay it as a vengeful spirit or a specific God granting you said powers to avenge the tainted and desecrated dead.


Of course in my first post it is missing a extremely vital thing, a damaging ability and or feat progression. Sure the increase in size can be a major boon but, that is the ONLY boon it gains towards putting out damage, other than that a summoned sphinx which sure might be good for a bit but in the endgame would possibly be more a distraction than a good attacker. Though with their attacks having a +17 on her attack a sphinx might be somewhat helpful but 21 AC she is as good as dead after a few hits with only 102 average health (unless you roll all the dice for health or your GM allows max for your summoned).

[grarrrg]

Living Monolith was reprinted/updated in People of the Sands (2013)
It is largely the same class, the main differences are the Bab and the Ka/Ib Stone.
You have to choose which stone to implant in your head.
Choosing the Ib Stone gives you 9/10 casting, and while you retain the "Swift Enlarge Person" ability, you lose the later bonuses (Swift Righteous Might, and the Healing).
Choosing the Ka Stone gives you Toughness as a bonus feat, and you get to treat your class Bab as Full when using Ka>Enlarge powers.
Also, the caster-level for the spell-abilities is now equal to your Character level (which is slightly better than the previous 5+Monolith level).


The Ka option is almost a straight upgrade. Only losing on a point or two of Bab for Pre-req purposes, but gaining Toughness feat.
Ib option seems nice, but there is really nothing else in the class to benefit a caster.


My opinion is the same as it was before: A potentially awesome 1 or 2 level dip for a Melee character. Being able to Swift>Enlarge yourself is solid. And gaining auto-stabilize and bleed-immunity is pretty nice. The DR and Crit Immunity at 3rd are fairly pitiful amounts.
As a Caster PrC it is fairly worthless.

[Praklor]

"Worth" it is such a vague concept. I have a reincarnated druid playing in Osiron who is obsessed with no dying. The abilities given to the LM are perfect for him, flavor-wise. I will be moderately invincible, and possibly a BBEG at some point, provided I am not zapped to something like the negative energy plane without a way back. As has been pointed out elsewhere, most of the Pathfinder PRCs are underpowered, but often add great flavor.