Monk
Peace in the Desert Getting lost in Sibayad is almost certain death, but sometimes as the water runs dry and consciousness starts to fade, a kindly man appears and carries travelers to the ruins of a fortress. Those sandy halls are sparsely appointed, but they're cool in the heat and there's water handy. Man or monster, saint or murderer, they all get the same treatment. He gives them food and understanding with a gentle smile, and makes conversation to ease troubled hearts.
But woe betide those who make trouble in that place. They'll find themselves handily tossed out like an apple core, and if they return to seek vengeance, they'll find him effortlessly elusive and effortlessly deadly. With a tap of a finger here or a toe there, bodies break down and crumble into heaps of useless flesh. If still they swear vengeance it will be denied them; with but a touch their soul enters the fugue.
Overview:
What is perfection? Is it something that can be made? Is it something that is?
Monks believe perfection can only come from within. To obtain spiritual actualization, they push their bodies and souls to the absolute limits of discipline and skill.
Through the martial arts they practice dedication and determination. Through meditation and reflection they practice control and mindfulness. Every step they take, they try to take it better than the last, in an endless pursuit of perfecting their body, mind, and soul.
Proficient monks become masters of hand-to-hand combat and certain weapons, become immune to poison and disease and even a great deal of hostile magic, move as swift as the wind, are as difficult to move as the earth, are as difficult to stop as fire, and as hard to hold as water, and as mysterious as the dark side of the moon.
They can catch arrows bare-handed, knock an opponent senseless with one strike, and master monks can even kill with a touch. The most powerful monks transcend mortality to an extent.
Key Mechanics at Level 20
- BAB: 15/10/5
- UABAB 15/12/9/6/3
- HP: 160+20x Constitution
- Saves: +12 Fort, +12 Reflex, +12 Will
- Skills: 80 + 20x Intelligence: Concentration, craft armor, craft trap, craft weapon, discipline, heal, hide, listen, lore, move silently, parry, persuade, tumble
Key Mechanics:
Bonus Feats
As they level, Monks receive Evasion, Improved Evasion, Improved Unarmed Strike, Knockdown, Improved Knockdown, Uncanny Dodge, Blinding Speed, and Epic Dodge for free.
Martial Arts - Monks receive their Wisdom bonus to armor class when not wearing armor, attack more frequently when unarmed or wielding monk weapons, and gain bonus armor class as they level.
Flurry of Blows - Monks can take a small attack penalty to attack an additional time using their highest attack bonus for the round.
Stunning Fist - Once per rest per monk level, monks can attempt to stun a target with an unarmed attack. The fortitude save to resist this stun is based on the monk's level and wisdom modifier.
Deflect Arrows - Monks can avoid the first ranged weapon attack made against them each round with a successful DC 20 reflex save.
Monk Speed - Every 3 levels, monks gain 10% movement speed, to a maximum of 50% at level 15. On Arelith, characters can't move faster than this, even if hasted.
Still Mind, Purity of Body, Diamond Body - Monks receive bonuses to will saves, and become immune to poison and non-magical disease.
Wholeness of Body - Monks can recover hit points equal to their Wisdom modifier times their Monk level every ten minutes. This also removes a number of negative effects.
Ki Strike - Monk unarmed attacks become magical for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction, increasing up to +5 at level 20. Additionally, as they level up they receive bonus attack and damage when unarmed or using a monk weapon.
Diamond Soul - Monks have permanent spell resistance that improves as they gain more monk levels.
Quivering Palm - Once per day, a monk can attempt to slay a target with a touch. The fortitude DC is based on class level and Wisdom modifier.
Empty Body - For one round per monk level, enemies have a 50% chance to miss the monk when attacking them. This is on a five minute cooldown.
Perfect Self - At level 20, monks become transcendant, gaining glowing eyes that reflect their alignment. They also reduce all non-magic physical damage taken by 20.
Tongue of the Sun and Moon: Monks gain a bonus to understanding languages they don't understand based on their monk level. At high enough levels this allows them to automatically understand all languages with perfect accuracy. This does not allow them to speak those languages.
Weapon Focus: Monks gain Weapon Focus in monk weapons for free every four levels. This includes clubs, kama, quarterstaves, and katanas.
They also gain Exotic Weapon Proficiency when they gain weapon focus in Katana, and at level 28 they gain proficiency in all weapons.
At level 26, they gain epic weapon focus in all of these weapons and Unarmed, and at level 28 they also gain Improved Critical in all of these weapons. This does NOT grant monks weapon focus in Unarmed.
Weapon Specialization: At high levels, monks can gain weapon specialization in a weapon they have weapon focus in, and later Epic Weapon Specialization in a weapon they have epic weapon focus in. These can be two different weapons.