Quote from MamasToast >>

Quote from Wes_B >>

Quote from MamasToast >>

Loxodon of course.... As a loxodon you get natural armor based on con... So you get to focus entirely on wisdom and con. Imagine this serene elephant man quietly meditating while 2 floating arms beat him his enemies to death.

 Well, your playing a monk, so you also need to focus on DEX, right?

 

I don't see why you would? It'll mostly be your deflect missile ability that suffers... But aside from that you should be fine.

 I mean. Unarmed Strike and Flurry of Blows both use DEX, and the Arms of the Astral Self can use DEX, WIS, OR STR, whichever is better, so I chose to use DEX so I am not completely useless when I run out of Ki, plus, having high acrobatics is really useful for most monks, maybe not a tank monk though...idk just my preference for my more balanced monk build, I don't know how well this would transfer over to a tank build :|

Quote from Wes_B >

 I mean. Unarmed Strike and Flurry of Blows both use DEX, and the Arms of the Astral Self can use DEX, WIS, OR STR, whichever is better, so I chose to use DEX so I am not completely useless when I run out of Ki, plus, having high acrobatics is really useful for most monks, maybe not a tank monk though...idk just my preference for my more balanced monk build, I don't know how well this would transfer over to a tank build :|

 

 
Thats of course perfectly viable.. but me for the entire point of the astral self monk is that you use wisdom as your primary stat.. Otherwise I see no reason to take the subclass... So anything that promotes not focusing on dex enhances what makes the astral self monk interesting.

Quote from MamasToast >>

Quote from Wes_B >

 I mean. Unarmed Strike and Flurry of Blows both use DEX, and the Arms of the Astral Self can use DEX, WIS, OR STR, whichever is better, so I chose to use DEX so I am not completely useless when I run out of Ki, plus, having high acrobatics is really useful for most monks, maybe not a tank monk though...idk just my preference for my more balanced monk build, I don't know how well this would transfer over to a tank build :|

 

 
Thats of course perfectly viable.. but me for the entire point of the astral self monk is that you use wisdom as your primary stat.. Otherwise I see no reason to take the subclass... So anything that promotes not focusing on dex enhances what makes the astral self monk interesting.

 ah, that makes sense, wish I knew that before making my character 😐

Don't worry about it too much... Focusing on dex will have you be just as functional as any other monk.. you're simply not leaning into the subclass as much as I would have.

well he was the first characer I ever made, so I really didnt think it through as much as I should have lol

I know the feeling :)

am I seriously the first person to think of a pixie astral monk? the arms last for 10 minutes it makes it so your pixie can do things.

Quote from Brandelgast_Fergandil >>

am I seriously the first person to think of a pixie astral monk? the arms last for 10 minutes it makes it so your pixie can do things.

 The arms can only be used for punches, they don't function like regular arms, and cannot interact with objects aside from punching them.

Quote from Great_Axeblade >>

Quote from Brandelgast_Fergandil >>

am I seriously the first person to think of a pixie astral monk? the arms last for 10 minutes it makes it so your pixie can do things.

 The arms can only be used for punches, they don't function like regular arms, and cannot interact with objects aside from punching them.

 They must be capable of interacting with other objects somehow beyond attacks, because when the astral arms are activated you gain the option to make Strength checks and Saving Throws using the arms... so at the very least you can use them to grapple an opponent. I suppose it's up to the DM whether that means that the Astral Arms themselves are doing the grapple or if your own arms are empowered as well while the astral arms are active... but either way, the option to use them to make Strength checks implies that they're not just for attacking.

I mean if you can shove and grapple then you can unlatch a door or throw something, that's what I'm getting at. I was considering a displacer beast sensei that used his arms to make tea. or a naga.

Quote from TransmorpherDDS >>

Quote from Great_Axeblade >>

Quote from Brandelgast_Fergandil >>

am I seriously the first person to think of a pixie astral monk? the arms last for 10 minutes it makes it so your pixie can do things.

 The arms can only be used for punches, they don't function like regular arms, and cannot interact with objects aside from punching them.

 They must be capable of interacting with other objects somehow beyond attacks, because when the astral arms are activated you gain the option to make Strength checks and Saving Throws using the arms... so at the very least you can use them to grapple an opponent. I suppose it's up to the DM whether that means that the Astral Arms themselves are doing the grapple or if your own arms are empowered as well while the astral arms are active... but either way, the option to use them to make Strength checks implies that they're not just for attacking.

 Hmmm... you right, I forgot about that part, but I do think the 10-foot range of punches wouldn't apply to grapples though.

Also, I figured the description of "spectral" implied something like this,

I had the impression that spectral in this case was more flavor than anything, letting you know that it was see-through and whatnot. like Dragon Aspect in Skyrim

Quote from Brandelgast_Fergandil >>

I had the impression that spectral in this case was more flavor than anything, letting you know that it was see-through and whatnot. like Dragon Aspect in Skyrim

 Since the arms specify the only attack as punches, if they could interact with objects, shouldn't they be able to hold weapons? Since they can't hold weapons, I assume they can't hold anything.

Idk that's just my logic on this.

The feature only says that while the arms are active you can use wisdom instead of strength 

While the spectral arms are present, you gain the following benefits:

• You can use your Wisdom modifier in place of your Strength modifier when making Strength checks and Strength saving throws.
• You can use the spectral arms to make unarmed strikes.
• When you make an unarmed strike with the arms on your turn, your reach for it is 5 feet greater than normal.
• The unarmed strikes you make with the arms can use your Wisdom modifier in place of your Strength or Dexterity modifier for the attack and damage rolls, and their damage type is force.

it says nothing about the arms needing to be used for STR checks/saving throws. The only thing the feature says they can do is unarmed strikes. It would be up to the DM to decide if they can interact with anything else. Typically the rules say only what they can do not what you can’t. And they can be vague and open to DM discretion. 
Edit: And STR checks/saving throws don’t necessarily involve your arms and unarmed attacks don’t either. You get to use wisdom for unarmed strikes whether you punch, kick, headbutt, etc. 

disregard the crossed out part. It does say the unarmed strikes have to be with the arms to use Wisdom 

Quote from ThriKreenWarrior >>

The feature only says that while the arms are active you can use wisdom instead of strength 

 

 

While the spectral arms are present, you gain the following benefits:

• You can use your Wisdom modifier in place of your Strength modifier when making Strength checks and Strength saving throws.
• You can use the spectral arms to make unarmed strikes.
• When you make an unarmed strike with the arms on your turn, your reach for it is 5 feet greater than normal.
• The unarmed strikes you make with the arms can use your Wisdom modifier in place of your Strength or Dexterity modifier for the attack and damage rolls, and their damage type is force.

it says nothing about the arms needing to be used for STR checks/saving throws. The only thing the feature says they can do is unarmed strikes. It would be up to the DM to decide if they. An interact with anything else. Typically the rules say only what they can do not what you can’t. And they can be vague and open to DM discretion. 
Edit: And STR checks/saving throws don’t necessarily involve your arms and unarmed attacks don’t either. It you get to use wisdom for unarmed strikes wether you punch, kick, headbutt, etc. 

 Ok, its time to ask one of the devs on twitter about this, this is getting too complicated for me, you're probably right anyhow :P

I edited my post above as I was wrong about not having to use the arms to use wisdom for attacks. It specifically says when you use the arms. So if you don’t use the arms but use your real arms, or you use a weapon you can use Dex as normal. 

Quote from Great_Axeblade >>

Quote from ThriKreenWarrior >>

The feature only says that while the arms are active you can use wisdom instead of strength 

 

 

While the spectral arms are present, you gain the following benefits:

• You can use your Wisdom modifier in place of your Strength modifier when making Strength checks and Strength saving throws.
• You can use the spectral arms to make unarmed strikes.
• When you make an unarmed strike with the arms on your turn, your reach for it is 5 feet greater than normal.
• The unarmed strikes you make with the arms can use your Wisdom modifier in place of your Strength or Dexterity modifier for the attack and damage rolls, and their damage type is force.

it says nothing about the arms needing to be used for STR checks/saving throws. The only thing the feature says they can do is unarmed strikes. It would be up to the DM to decide if they. An interact with anything else. Typically the rules say only what they can do not what you can’t. And they can be vague and open to DM discretion. 
Edit: And STR checks/saving throws don’t necessarily involve your arms and unarmed attacks don’t either. It you get to use wisdom for unarmed strikes wether you punch, kick, headbutt, etc. 

 Ok, its time to ask one of the devs on twitter about this, this is getting too complicated for me, you're probably right anyhow :P

 I want to point out that it says when the arms are present you gain the benefit of use wis for str checks/saves. that implies the same mechanism at work as the wis for unarmed strikes. str checks to pull a rope use wis when you use your astral arms. they can grab stuff.

I like the idea of a simic hybrid simply for the fact that then you can have 3 pairs of arms. I don't even think it would be that good, just pretty funny