Yagura:SRD:Monk

Monk

Fantasy literature's view of the "martial artist" has about as much to do with a real martial artist as its view of salamanders has to do with real salamanders. But let's face the facts: Monks are totally sweet. They flip out and kill people with their hands. A Monk does not practice any "real" martial art, we call those people "Fighters" – a Monk practices an entirely magical martial art that only works in areas where badgers can talk and winged horses can fly.

Every Monk follows a different martial path that involves jumping super high and having glowing things coming off of their hands when they perform their super moves. Some monks use weapons, but most just use their hands and feet to devastating effect. Some Monks shout the names of their techniques in battle to demoralize their opponents, others stay aloof and silent during even the toughest of challenges.

Making a Monk

Monks are a combat class. They're meant to be good in combat and have a high Base Attack Bonus.

Abilities: You have a choice to crank either Dexterity or Wisdom; they'll both do the same thing for you. Aside from that, the Monk is a normal combat class.

Races: Because the martial paths of a Monk embrace all manners of comportment, from Stoic Lawfulness to Boisterous Chaos, almost every sapient race has those who take up the monk's path. With its lack of emphasis on ranged weaponry, few of the slower races turn towards these magical combat styles, and halflings and dwarves rarely become monks. The discipline emphasizes physical strength as much as it emphasizes perceptiveness and inner strength, so orcs are as likely to become monks as kuo-toa are.

Starting Gold: 2d4×10 gp (50 gp).

Starting Age: As Monk.

Table: The Monk Hit Die: d8

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special	Armor Bonus
		Fort	Ref	Will
1st	+1	+2	+2	+2	Armored in Life, Fatal Strike, Willow Step, Fighting Style	+4
2nd	+2	+3	+3	+3	Rain of Flowers, Abundant Leap	+5
3rd	+3	+3	+3	+3	Fighting Style	+5
4th	+4	+4	+4	+4	Diamond Soul	+6
5th	+5	+4	+4	+4	Fighting Style	+6
6th	+6/+1	+5	+5	+5	Walk of a Thousand Steps	+7
7th	+7/+2	+5	+5	+5	Fighting Style	+7
8th	+8/+3	+6	+6	+6	Immaculate Diamond Soul	+8
9th	+9/+4	+6	+6	+6	Master Fighting Style	+8
10th	+10/+5	+7	+7	+7	Leap of the Clouds	+9
11th	+11/+6/+6	+7	+7	+7	Master Fighting Style	+9
12th	+12/+7/+7	+8	+8	+8	Master of the Four Winds	+10
13th	+13/+8/+8	+8	+8	+8	Master Fighting Style	+10
14th	+14/+9/+9	+9	+9	+9	Master of the Four Seasons	+11
15th	+15/+10/+10	+9	+9	+9	Grand Master Fighting Style	+11
16th	+16/+11/+11/+11	+10	+10	+10	Master of Diamond Soul	+12
17th	+17/+12/+12/+12	+10	+10	+10	Grand Master Fighting Style	+12
18th	+18/+13/+13/+13	+11	+11	+11	Perfect Mastery	+13
19th	+19/+14/+14/+14	+11	+11	+11	Grand Master Fighting Style	+13
20th	+20/+15/+15/+15	+12	+12	+12	Grand Master of Flowers	+14
Class Skills Class Features As a monk, all of the following are class features. Weapon and Armor Proficiency: You are proficient with all simple weapons. You are not proficient with any armor or shields of any kind. Armored in Life (Su): (lvl 1) You have a special Armor bonus whenever you are not using armor or shields in which you are not proficient. This Armor Bonus applies against Touch Attacks and Incorporeal Touch Attacks, and has a value of +4. Every even numbered class level, the Armored in Life bonus increases by 1. If you wear armor in which you are proficient (for example: normal clothing) that has an enhancement bonus, that enhancement bonus applies to your Armored in Life Armor Bonus. If you wear armor in which you are proficient that grants an armor bonus you retain your Armored in Life Armor Bonus, but the armor bonuses do not stack. Willow Step (Su): (lvl 1) A true monk does not seek to outrun the fist, but to anticipate it. If you would be allowed to add your Dexterity modifier to a Reflex Save or Armor Class, you may add your Wisdom bonus (if positive) instead. Fatal Strike (Ex): (lvl 1) You have a natural weapon Slam in addition to however else you are capable of attacking. This attack can be made with any part of your body, regardless of what might be held in your hands or whether or not you are hindered somehow. As a natural slam attack, if you use no other natural or manufactured weapons you add your Strength and a half to damage and may make iterative attacks if you have sufficient BAB. If the slam is used with other weaponry, it becomes a secondary natural attack, suffers a -5 penalty to-hit, and adds only half your Strength modifier to damage. Your slam attack does a base of 1d8 damage for a Medium sized monk and does more or less damage as appropriate if you are larger or smaller than medium size. Fighting Style (Su): (lvls 1, 3, 5, 7) You learn a Fighting Style. Each Fighting style requires a Swift Action to activate, lasts one round, and is usable at will. Each Fighting Style must have a name (see Naming Your Fighting Style), and provides two bonuses from the Fighting Style Abilities: Fighting Style Abilities While Active, your Fighting Style: provides a +4 Dodge Bonus to AC. provides a +4 Dodge Bonus to Saving Throws. forces any opponent struck by your slam attack to make a Fortitude Save (DC 10 + ½ your character level + your Wisdom Modifier) or become stunned for one round. This can only affect any single opponent once per round. allows you to make an attack of opportunity against any opponent who attacks you. This attack of opportunity must be a trip or disarm attempt. provides you with concealment. provides you with blindsense and scent. provides a +30' Insight Bonus to your movement rate. allows your slam attacks to ignore hardness and DR. provides any bonuses it gives to your slam attack to any attack you make with any weapon. causes your slam attack to inflict piercing damage and to inflict 2 points of Constitution damage. causes your slam attack to inflict slashing damage and to reduce your opponent's movement rate by 10' every time they suffer damage from it. This movement rate reduction can be healed like ability damage (treating 5' of movement as 1 point of ability damage). allows you to move through occupied spaces as if they were unoccupied and you provoke no attacks of opportunity for your movement. allows you to make Jump checks as if you had a running start, regardless of your movement, and you take no penalty for attempting to land without falling prone. Rain of Flowers (Su): (lvl 2) Any time you inflict lethal damage, you may elect to inflict non-lethal damage instead. Any time you inflict non-lethal damage, you may elect to inflict lethal damage instead. Abundant Leap (Su): (lvl 2) Your ability to jump is unbounded by your height. In addition, the DC for any jump check is divided by two. Diamond Soul (Su): (lvls 4, 8, 16) You gain Spell Resistance equal to 5 + your character level. At 8th level, your soul becomes immaculate and your Spell Resistance improves to 10 + character level, and at 16th level you master your diamond soul and your spell resistance improves to 15 + character level. Walk of a Thousand Steps (Su): (lvl 6) Once per day, you may activate a Fighting Style and extend its duration to 1 round/level rather than 1 round. Activating this Fighting Style is still a Swift Action. Other Fighting Styles may be activated during this period, though their duration is normally going to be only 1 round. Master Fighting Style">Master Fighting Style (Su): (lvls 9, 11, 13) You learn a Master Fighting Style. Each Master Fighting style requires a Swift Action to activate, lasts one round, and is usable at will. Each Master Fighting Style must have a name (see Naming Your Fighting Style), and provides two bonuses from the Master Fighting Style Abilities. When you gain a new Master Fighting Style, you may replace one of your Fighting Styles with a different Fighting Style. Master Fighting Style Abilities While Active, your Master Fighting Style: allows you to teleport yourself and everything you are physically carrying 60 feet in any direction as a free action usable once per round. provides total concealment. provides you the effect of a true seeing spell. transforms your slam attacks into Force effects that inflict Force damage. affects any creature struck with your slam attack with a banishment effect that transports it back to its home plane unless it succeeds at a Will save (DC 10 + ½ character level + Wisdom Modifier). Outsiders suffer a -4 penalty to their saving throw. A creature so banished may not return to the plane from which it was banished for a year. This can only affect any single opponent once per round. forces any creature struck by your slam attack to make a Reflex Save (DC 10 + ½ character level + Wisdom Modifier) or be helpless for one round. This can only affect any single opponent once per round. provides you the effect of an air walk spell, and gives you a +20' competence bonus to your speed. affects any opponent you successfully trip or bull rush with the violent thrust version of telekinesis, with a caster level equal to your character level. There is no saving throw against this effect. allows you to shoot fire out of your hands or mouth as a standard action. The fire can be shot out to medium range, requires a ranged touch attack, and inflicts 1d6 of fire damage per character level if it hits. causes your slam attack to inflict vile damage. forces every creature within 10 feet of you to make a Will save (DC 10 + ½ character level + Wisdom Modifier) or become panicked for one minute. affects any target you strike with your slam attack with a targeted version of greater dispelling with a caster level equal to your character level. causes 5d6 of Sonic damage to everything within 30 feet of you when you inflict damage with your slam attack against any target. You are immune to Sonic damage while your Master Fighting Style is active. Instead of gaining a Master Fighting Style Ability, you may choose two regular Fighting Style Abilities. Leap of the Clouds (Su): (lvl 10) The DC for any jump check is divided by 5. Master of the Four Winds (Su): (lvl 12) Your breath of life is carried on the winds of fate. If you are restored to life, you gain no experience debt. Master of the Four Seasons (Su): (lvl 14) Time passes relentlessly in the world, but for you, the change of seasons is as no change at all. You no longer appear to age, never accumulate any additional penalties for growing older, and will never die of old age. Grand Master Fighting Style (Su): (lvls 15, 17, 19) You learn a Grand Master Fighting Style. Each Grand Master Fighting style requires a Swift Action to activate, lasts one round, and is usable at will. Each Grand Master Fighting Style must have a name (see Naming Your Fighting Style), and provides two bonuses from the Grand Master Fighting Style Abilities. When you gain a new Grand Master Fighting Style, you may replace one of your Fighting Styles or Master Fighting Style with a different Style of the same type. Grand Master Fighting Style Abilities While Active, your Grand Master Fighting Style: makes you and everything you are carrying incorporeal, your slam attacks are incorporeal touch attacks. provides you the effect of a foresight spell. slows down time to the point where you can act twice each round. You do not gain an extra Swift Action during your extra actions. allows you to punch a hole through space and time, allowing you to open a travel version of gate with a slam attack. prevents all [Teleport] effects from entering or exiting within 1 mile of your location. causes your slam attacks to reduce the spell resistance of enemies by an equal amount to the damage the slam attack inflicts. forces every creature struck with your slam attack to make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + ½ character level + Wisdom Modifier) or die. This can only affect any single opponent once per round. affects any target you strike with your slam attack with a disintegrate effect, with a caster level equal to your character level (DC 10 + ½ character level + Wisdom Modifier). causes you to regenerate. You recover a number of points of nonlethal damage each round equal to your character level. Unarmed or Slam attacks inflict regular damage. forces any opponent you strike with your slam attack to make a Willpower save (DC 10 + ½ character level + Wisdom Modifier) or become feeble minded. This can only affect any single opponent once per round. affects every target you strike with a slam attack with the violent thrust version of telekinesis, with a caster level equal to your character level. There is no saving throw against this effect. Instead of gaining a Grand Master Fighting Style Ability, you may choose two Master Fighting Style Abilities. Perfect Mastery: (lvl 18) Once per day you may activate a Fighting Style, Master Fighting Style, or Grand Master Fighting Style and extend its duration to 1 round/level rather than 1 round. Activating this style is still a Swift Action. Other styles may be activated during this period, though their duration is normally going to be only 1 round. Grand Master of Flowers: (lvl 20) You become an Outsider, and immortal of legend. You gain the augmented subtype of his previous type, and has Damage Reduction of 20/Epic. Naming Your Fighting Style Roll a d10, or choose an adjective, an animal, and a noun: d10 Adjective Animal Noun 1 Running Ox Fist 2 Hungry Tiger Stance 3 Angry Dragon Spinning Kick 4 Naked Crane Attack 5 Drunken Monkey Technique 6 Fortunate Turtle Style 7 Lazy Manticore Dance 8 Swift Serpent Movement 9 Powerful Hummingbird Touch 10 Enlightened Demon Fu Note from the authors: Feel free to add any adjectives, animals, or nouns that you want. There's no reason that your character's fighting style has to be called "Naked Tiger Stance" rather than "Astonished Centaur Defense".