Welcome to Guidance, Private Sanctuary’s source for tips and techniques for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, written by Everyman Gamer Alexander Augunas. Today, we’re going to be talking about challenging the Zen Archer.

Welcome to my second article in the “Challenging the Player” series. In my first article, I offered tips and advice for challenging the magus class. Instead of a full class, however, this time I’m going to be offering tips and advice for countering a class that doesn’t really get much respect from the players. That class is the monk. The zen archer monk.

How the Zen Archer Works

Understanding the zen archer archetype boils down to the flurry of blows class feature, which his something that most veteran GMs are at least somewhat familiar with.

Flurry of Blows

Alright, so the standard monk’s flurry of blows functions like Two-Weapon Fighting. The monk gains an extra attack at a –2 penalty, then a second extra attack at a –5 penalty, and finally a third extra attack at a –10 penalty. The zen archer can essentially perform a flurry of blows using a bow, which allows him additional attacks with the aforementioned penalties. Now, unlike a standard fighter a zen archer can’t add Manyshot or Rapid shot to his flurry of blows, If one were to say that flurry of blows essentially is a built-in Rapid Shot and Manyshot, they wouldn’t be entirely correct because unlike flurry of blows, Rapid Shot and Manyshot are essentially made at the monk’s full attack bonus –2, while flurry of blows has more serious penalties associated with it.

Ki Pool

One of the standard ki abilities is the power to spend ki points for an extra attack. In this way, a zen archer monk can get three extra attacks from flurry of blows, plus one extra attack from her ki pool. So far, she’s sitting at a total of eight attacks at 20th level (four standard, plus one from ki and three from flurry). This is already two attacks more than what a standard archer can dish out, and three of those attacks are made at the monk’s full BAB –2, just like a standard archer using Manyshot and Rapid Shot. So while flurry of blows may be weaker than both Rapid Shot and Manyshot, the ki pool evens up the score, and then pushes the zen archer over.

Ki Arrows

Starting at 5th level, a zen archer can begin spending ki points to have her arrows deal her unarmed strike damage until the end of her next turn. If you are using a shortbow, this is a one-die improvement immediately. If you are using a longbow, then this doesn’t affect you at all until 12th level, when your damage dice become 2d6s.

Strengths & Weaknesses

Before we get in how to counter the zen archer, let’s talk about her strengths and her weaknesses.

• Strengths: The zen archer is capable of putting out more arrows per round than any other archer in the game. Between her standard progression, haste, flurry of blows, and the ki pool extra attack, you’re looking at a total of nine attacks per round by 17th level. Additionally, the zen archer is a very strong switch-hitter because the archetypes doesn’t trade much of the zen archer’s ability to use her unarmed strikes. Her only real weakness is that she cannot perform a flurry of blows with her unarmed strikes. She does, however, gain maneuver training, which means that she can use her monk level as her base attack bonus. This becomes especially powerful if the zen archer picks up dirty tricks that allow her to hamper her opponent’s ability to move and pursue her (entangled comes to mind). Finally, she can afford to this because WOWZERS this archetype gets a lot of bonus feats. Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization, Improved Precise Shot, plus the standard monk list refitted to serve an archer. With no prerequisites attacked. This makes it very easy to pick up all of the archery feats you need while still grabbing some switch-hitting feats. Distance is also a strength for the zen archer, as she is likely using a long-distance longbow or shortbow. As she levels up, the zen archer begins to ignore many of the usual weaknesses of bows, such as provoking while adjacent to a creature.
• Weaknesses: The zen archer’s full destructive potential is reliant on a full-round action, so it doesn’t move very far or fast. The AC bonus is nice, but as a dodge bonus the zen archer is very susceptible to being caught flat-footed, plus high-bonus attacks will easily strike him.

Challenging the Zen Archer

• High AC: Zen archers have a lot of attacks, but many of those attacks take iterative penalties. Foes with high AC are able to overcome many of the zen archer’s later attacks.
• High CMD: If the zen archer chooses to specialize in a combat maneuver, foes with a high CMD offer a great challenge to them.
• Wind Effects: Powerful wind wrecks zen archers, so spells like wind wall are extremely effective.
• Damage Reduction: Most good zen archers are going to take Clustered Shots, which severely limits damage reduction. Still, at low-levels, this is a good feat to take. Because the zen archer can make her arrows magical, protection from arrows is not a good protection spell at higher levels. Stoneskin is much more effective, but as mentioned Clustered Shots still ignores it rather handedly.
• Incorporeal: Incorporeal creatures shave a flat 50% off of the damage of magical attacks, making them very potent against a zen archer. You don’t want to rely on this, however, as it will just prompt your zen archer to counter you by buying lots of ghost touch arrows.
• Swarms: Most swarms are going to be flat-out immune to weapon damage, especially ones composed of smaller creatures. Be advised that a zen archer with a swarmbane clasp laughs at your swarm’s feeble attempts at survival and slaughters it.
• Break Line of Sight: Even a zen archer can’t attack what he can’t see. At high levels, a zen archer can ignore concealment and total concealment, but line of sight is something that is almost impossible to overcome. As a GM, you can build zones like this using spells like wall of stone or wall of iron. Effects that can’t be easily seen through.
• Reach: A zen archer cannot threaten beyond her natural reach, so one of the best ways to fight a zen archer is to trap him instead of the threatened area of another creature. Sure, it won’t be able to make attacks of opportunity against the zen archer after a certain point, but you’ll be constantly putting pressure on that zen archer by either forcing him to move to avoid your death-bites or by actually making attacks against his soft, low-AC body.
• Disarming: Even with maneuver training, a monk’s CMD isn’t great. Many creatures are able to knock that pesky bow right out of the zen archer’s hands, if they can bridge the gap. All archers are very reliant on their weapons, after all. The force hand spells are excellent at doing this.

So, what’s the ultimate way to challenge a zen archer? Find a way to force a zen archer into tight quarters while fighting a monster that can constantly strike at him. Force the zen archer to constantly move in order to survive. Do not let it sit in one place. Find ways to drop area affects on the zen archer like cloudkill or other things that he is not going to want to stand in. Zen archers do have the save bonuses of a monk, but one bad roll and even they can die. Take advantage of your player’s psychology and make sure that standing still is not an option.

And that’s my advice for how to challenge the zen archer. What do you think? How do you challenge zen archer players (or regular archers) in your campaign? If you have played a zen archer, what did you think was the most challenging type of encounters for you to face? Do you allow zen archers in your campaigns? Why or why not? Leave me your questions, comments, and answers below, and come back next week for more advice in the GM’s Guide!

Alexander “Alex” Augunas has been playing roleplaying games since 2007, which isn’t nearly as long as 90% of his colleagues. Alexander is an active freelancer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game and is best known as the author of the Pact Magic Unbound series by Radiance House. Alex is the owner of Everyman Gaming, LLC and is often stylized as the Everyman Gamer in honor of Guidance’s original home. Alex’s favorite color is blue, his favorite Pathfinder Race/Class combination is kitsune zen archer.