Pathfinder 1E Interesting Kung-Fu styles in PF?

[RangerWickett]

A friend is talking about starting up a martial arts campaign, and so I was wondering if people have suggestions for interesting kung fu fighting styles you can pull off in PF.

Obviously the unchained monk gives you the classic "grab, trip, throw" and "flying kick" style stuff. What about grapplers, or iron gut folks who just ignore getting hit, or Green Destiny-wielding Crouching Tiger swordswomen, or Ryu and Ken shooting ki blasts, or a Big Trouble in Little China sorcerer who shoots lightning from his hands?

What builds do you know that might be fun to play for a short campaign? Low level.

 

[Eman Resu]

those are all possible with unchained monk,

-tripper: flying kick to leg sweep to greater trip to vicious stomp - great combo

-ki leech aka hungry ghost style, pick a god who has a good crit weapon, that weapon is now a monk weapon for you, elven curve blade, rapier, dont matter just something with big crit potential (I forgot this feat name) keen or imp crit and this ki leech gets NICE!

-spin kick to medusa's wrath - great combo, you might get dizzy from all the spinning!


-imp grappling....if you want to you could but if you really want to grapple go be a brawler!

-crouching tiger hidden dragon: well you can run up walls and like vertical surfaces with the spider?? ki power I think??

 

[Robot Hyena Ghost]

I'm always puzzling about how to incorporate new martial arts styles into d20 monk classes in a way that feels organic. Obviously PF has a baked-in archetype for drunken boxing kung fu, but other possibilities include the Flowing Monk archetype for a graceful Crouching Tiger feel, Kata Master for a high-flying, intimidating wushu monk, Iron Mountain for a heavily-rooted style emulating the low center of gravity styles of southern China (think Earthbending), or even the Empty Hand archetype if you're going for a funny Jackie Chan-style character who fights with whatever's on hand. Monks have always felt very theater-of-the-mind-reliant, to me, in the sense that there's no way to incorporate martial arts at a really technical level without getting super crunchy. Easier to just describe your cool moves!