Lann's "Ki Strike: Cold Iron and Silver" is the most bugged thing I ever seen.

[Czan The Araner]

Sometimes it works and dmg isn't reduced sometimes it doesn't work and it is reduced. Like wtf, in one full attack (3 attack) first was reduced second was full dmg and the third was reduced like wtf.

[forkofspite]

Like other monks, the various ki strikes only apply on unarmed strikes. The ki arrows ability of zen archers converts the base arrow damage to the base unarmed strike damage, but it does not do anything else.

As for the reduced - normal - reduced damages, there are numerous potential explanations. One of them is certainly a bug, but it's not one I've observed (and I estimate that over 80% of my combats have involved at least one zen archer.) Without additional information, it's difficult to know if you've encountered a bug.

One potential non-bug explanation:
If your Lann has the clustered shot feat, perhaps the first two arrows were against one opponent, but the third was against a new target?

[Czan The Araner]

Then why the ♥♥♥♥ does Zen archer even have this ability, it's useless. But thanks for explanation.

[forkofspite]

It's consistent with the tabletop ability, but other parts of the class that would make it slightly more useful were not carried over.

As for usefulness in this game, there might be some reasons why you might want to switch Lann to unarmed strikes (although I don't know if the ki strike abilities are relevant in those instances.)

Also, not a programmer, but looks like to get rid of it, the developers would have had to create another version of the ability rather than just removing the existing ability. It's packaged with the extra attack and maybe with the ki pool itself. I might be wrong about that, though - don't have the class progression in front of me now.

[hilburnashua]

In the tabletop it could be useful when someone gets a Zen Archer into melee before they get Point Blank Master. If the opponent has reach or if they have Following Step the monk won't be able to shoot without provoking an AOO (or more) so it might be a good time to switch to some knees to the gogglies.

[Czan The Araner]

Yeah, but you get it in 4th(? I could be wrong) lvl which is pretty quick compared to 7th lvl resistance penetration which at the time it's useless since you already have Point Black Master and Ki Arrows

[hilburnashua]

Originally posted by Czan The Araner:

Yeah, but you get it in 4th(? I could be wrong) lvl which is pretty quick compared to 7th lvl resistance penetration which at the time it's useless since you already have Point Black Master and Ki Arrows

Ah, yeah. I forgot they get point blank master so early.