Monk

The Monk Common Roles Acolyte, adventurer, advisor, assassin, bodyguard, cenobite, city guard, cultist, hermit, high priest, officer, priest, trainer Common Races Humans, Arvek Nar, Egalrin, Halflings Influencial Faiths Daeus, Serriel, Navos, Vardama Common Organizations See Monastic Orders, below. Pathfinder Rules for Monk, Paizo's Updates

Monks are mostly a mixture of contemplative scholar and deadly martial artist, and come from diverse traditions around the world. Many originated east of Xiang Sei, across the Roof of the World and in the lands of Ten Thousand Gods and among the Islands of Jade. Others found root in philosophical definitions made manifest by the orders of some of the gods who proposed self perfection and the pursuit of enlightenment. The fighting styles are as varied as the ones who practice them. Dozens of Monastic orders exist on Gaea. Most are small circles of no more then a dozen or so members, living in isolated monasteries in the wilderness. A few orders include hundreds of members and influence events across entire nations.

A number of monastics find their homes among temples--particularly those of Vardama, Navos, and Serriel. Among Vardama's temples, the Chords serve often as honored guards and spiritualists, where many other faiths employ more traditional fighters or guards.

Monk

Role: Monks excel at overcoming even the most daunting perils, striking where it's least expected, and taking advantage of enemy vulnerabilities. Fleet of foot and skilled in combat, monks can navigate any battlefield with ease, aiding allies wherever they are needed most.

Alignment: Any lawful.

Hit Die: d8.

Class Skills: Acrobatics (Dex), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Escape Artist (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (history) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Perception (Wis), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Stealth (Dex), and Swim (Str).

Skill Ranks per Level: 4 + Int modifier.

The Monk
Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special	Flurry of Blows Attack Bonus	Unarmed Damage	AC Bonus	Fast Movement
1st	+0	+2	+2	+2	Bonus feat, flurry of blows, stunning fist, unarmed strike	–1/–1	1d6	+0	+0 ft.
2nd	+1	+3	+3	+3	Bonus feat, evasion	+0/+0	1d6	+0	+0 ft.
3rd	+2	+3	+3	+3	Fast movement, maneuver training, still mind	+1/+1	1d6	+0	+10 ft.
4th	+3	+4	+4	+4	Ki pool (magic), slow fall 20 ft.	+2/+2	1d8	+1	+10 ft.
5th	+3	+4	+4	+4	High jump, purity of body	+3/+3	1d8	+1	+10 ft.
6th	+4	+5	+5	+5	Bonus feat, slow fall 30 ft.	+4/+4/–1	1d8	+1	+20 ft.
7th	+5	+5	+5	+5	Ki pool (cold iron/silver), wholeness of body	+5/+5/+0	1d8	+1	+20 ft.
8th	+6/+1	+6	+6	+6	Slow fall 40 ft.	+6/+6/+1/+1	1d10	+2	+20 ft.
9th	+6/+1	+6	+6	+6	Improved evasion	+7/+7/+2/+2	1d10	+2	+30 ft.
10th	+7/+2	+7	+7	+7	Bonus feat, ki pool (lawful), slow fall 50 ft.	+8/+8/+3/+3	1d10	+2	+30 ft.
11th	+8/+3	+7	+7	+7	Diamond body	+9/+9/+4/+4/–1	1d10	+2	+30 ft.
12th	+9/+4	+8	+8	+8	Abundant step, slow fall 60 ft.	+10/+10/+5/+5/+0	2d6	+3	+40 ft.
13th	+9/+4	+8	+8	+8	Diamond soul	+11/+11/+6/+6/+1	2d6	+3	+40 ft.
14th	+10/+5	+9	+9	+9	Bonus feat, slow fall 70 ft.	+12/+12/+7/+7/+2	2d6	+3	+40 ft.
15th	+11/+6/+1	+9	+9	+9	Quivering palm	+13/+13/+8/+8/+3/+3	2d6	+3	+50 ft.
16th	+12/+7/+2	+10	+10	+10	Ki pool (adamantine), slow fall 80 ft.	+14/+14/+9/+9/+4/+4/–1	2d8	+4	+50 ft.
17th	+12/+7/+2	+10	+10	+10	Timeless body, tongue of the sun and moon	+15/+15/+10/+10/+5/+5/+0	2d8	+4	+50 ft.
18th	+13/+8/+3	+11	+11	+11	Bonus feat, slow fall 90 ft.	+16/+16/+11/+11/+6/+6/+1	2d8	+4	+60 ft.
19th	+14/+9/+4	+11	+11	+11	Empty body	+17/+17/+12/+12/+7/+7/+2	2d8	+4	+60 ft.
20th	+15/+10/+5	+12	+12	+12	Perfect self, slow fall any distance	+18/+18/+13/+13/+8/+8/+3	2d10	+5	+60 ft.

Monk Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Monks are proficient with the club, crossbow (light or heavy), dagger, handaxe, javelin, kama, nunchaku, quarterstaff, sai, shortspear, short sword, shuriken, siangham, sling, and spear.

Monks are not proficient with any armor or shields.

When wearing armor, using a shield, or carrying a medium or heavy load, a monk loses his AC bonus, as well as his fast movement and flurry of blows abilities.

AC Bonus (Ex): When unarmored and unencumbered, the monk adds his Wisdom bonus (if any) to his AC and his CMD. In addition, a monk gains a +1 bonus to AC and CMD at 4th level. This bonus increases by 1 for every four monk levels thereafter, up to a maximum of +5 at 20th level.

These bonuses to AC apply even against touch attacks or when the monk is flat-footed. He loses these bonuses when he is immobilized or helpless, when he wears any armor, when he carries a shield, or when he carries a medium or heavy load.

Flurry of Blows (Ex): Starting at 1st level, a monk can make a flurry of blows as a full-attack action. When doing so, he may make on additional attack, taking a -2 penalty on all of his attack rolls, as if using the Two-Weapon Fighting feat. These attacks can be any combination of unarmed strikes and attacks with a monk special weapon (he does not need to use two weapons to use this ability). For the purpose of these attacks, the monk's base attack bonus from his monk class levels is equal to his monk level. For all other purposes, such as qualifying for a feat or a prestige class, the monk uses his normal base attack bonus.

At 8th level, the monk can make two additional attacks when he uses flurry of blows, as if using Improved Two-Weapon Fighting (even if the monk does not meet the prerequisites for the feat).

At 15th level, the monk can make three additional attacks using flurry of blows, as if using Greater Two-Weapon Fighting (even if the monk does not meet the prerequisites for the feat).

A monk applies his full Strength bonus to his damage rolls for all successful attacks made with flurry of blows, whether the attacks are made with an off-hand or with a weapon wielded in both hands. A monk may substitute disarm, sunder, and trip combat maneuvers for unarmed attacks as part of a flurry of blows. A monk cannot use any weapon other than an unarmed strike or a special monk weapon as part of a flurry of blows. A monk with natural weapons cannot use such weapons as part of a flurry of blows, nor can he make natural attacks in addition to his flurry of blows attacks.

Unarmed Strike: At 1st level, a monk gains Improved Unarmed Strike as a bonus feat. A monk's attacks may be with fist, elbows, knees, and feet. This means that a monk may make unarmed strikes with his hands full. There is no such thing as an off-hand attack for a monk striking unarmed. A monk may thus apply his full Strength bonus on damage rolls for all his unarmed strikes.

Usually a monk's unarmed strikes deal lethal damage, but he can choose to deal nonlethal damage instead with no penalty on his attack roll. He has the same choice to deal lethal or nonlethal damage while grappling.

A monk's unarmed strike is treated as both a manufactured weapon and a natural weapon for the purpose of spells and effects that enhance or improve either manufactured weapons or natural weapons.

A monk also deals more damage with his unarmed strikes than a normal person would, as shown above on Table: Monk. The unarmed damage values listed on Table: Monk is for Medium monks. A Small monk deals less damage than the amount given there with his unarmed attacks, while a Large monk deals more damage; see Small or Large Monk Unarmed Damage on the table given below.

Unarmed Strike Damage for Differently Sized Monks
Level	Damage (Small Monk)	Damage (Large Monk)
1st–3rd	1d4	1d8
4th–7th	1d6	2d6
8th–11th	1d8	2d8
12th–15th	1d10	3d6
16th–19th	2d6	3d8
20th	2d8	4d8

Bonus Feat: At 1st level, 2nd level, and every 4 levels thereafter, a monk may select a bonus feat. These feats must be taken from the following list: Catch Off-Guard, Combat Reflexes, Deflect Arrows, Dodge, Improved Grapple, Scorpion Style, and Throw Anything. At 6th level, the following feats are added to the list: Gorgon's Fist, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Disarm, Improved Feint, Improved Trip, and Mobility. At 10th level, the following feats are added to the list: Improved Critical, Medusa's Wrath, Snatch Arrows, and Spring Attack. A monk need not have any of the prerequisites normally required for these feats to select them.

Stunning Fist (Ex): At 1st level, the monk gains Stunning Fist as a bonus feat, even if he does not meet the prerequisites. At 4th level, and every 4 levels thereafter, the monk gains the ability to apply a new condition to the target of his Stunning Fist. This condition replaces stunning the target for 1 round, and a successful saving throw still negates the effect. At 4th level, he can choose to make the target fatigued. At 8th level, he can make the target sickened for 1 minute. At 12th level, he can make the target staggered for 1d6+1 rounds. At 16th level, he can permanently blind or deafen the target. At 20th level, he can paralyze the target for 1d6+1 rounds. The monk must choose which condition will apply before the attack roll is made. These effects do not stack with themselves (a creature sickened by Stunning Fist cannot become nauseated if hit by Stunning Fist again), but additional hits do increase the duration.

Evasion (Ex): At 2nd level or higher, a monk can avoid damage from many area-effect attacks. If a monk makes a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, he instead takes no damage. Evasion can be used only if a monk is wearing light armor or no armor. A helpless monk does not gain the benefit of evasion.

Fast Movement (Ex): At 3rd level, a monk gains an enhancement bonus to his land speed, as shown on Table: Monk. A monk in armor or carrying a medium or heavy load loses this extra speed.

Maneuver Training (Ex): At 3rd level, a monk uses his monk level in place of his base attack bonus when calculating his Combat Maneuver Bonus. Base attack bonuses granted from other classes are unaffected and are added normally.

Still Mind (Ex): A monk of 3rd level or higher gains a +2 bonus on saving throws against enchantment spells and effects.

Ki Pool (Su): At 4th level, a monk gains a pool of ki points, supernatural energy he can use to accomplish amazing feats. The number of points in a monk's ki pool is equal to 1/2 his monk level + his Wisdom modifier. As long as he has at least 1 point in his ki pool, he can make a ki strike. At 4th level, ki strike allows his unarmed attacks to be treated as magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. At 7th level, his unarmed attacks are also treated as cold iron and silver for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. At 10th level, his unarmed attacks are also treated as lawful weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. At 16th level, his unarmed attacks are treated as adamantine weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction and bypassing hardness.

By spending 1 point from his ki pool, a monk can make one additional attack at his highest attack bonus when making a flurry of blows attack. In addition, he can spend 1 point to increase his speed by 20 feet for 1 round. Finally, a monk can spend 1 point from his ki pool to give himself a +4 dodge bonus to AC for 1 round. Each of these powers is activated as a swift action. A monk gains additional powers that consume points from his ki pool as he gains levels.

The ki pool is replenished each morning after 8 hours of rest or meditation; these hours do not need to be consecutive.

Ki Pool (Paizo Update December 12, 2014: Monks typically have problems bypassing DR with their unarmed strikes, forcing them to rely on weapons to deal with many forms of DR. We have decided to add a new ability to the Ki Pool monk class feature. At 7th level, a monk's unarmed strikes count as cold iron and silver for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction, so long as he has at least 1 point remaining in his ki pool.

Slow Fall (Ex): At 4th level or higher, a monk within arm's reach of a wall can use it to slow his descent. When first gaining this ability, he takes damage as if the fall were 20 feet shorter than it actually is. The monk's ability to slow his fall (that is, to reduce the effective distance of the fall when next to a wall) improves with his monk level until at 20th level he can use a nearby wall to slow his descent and fall any distance without harm.

High Jump (Ex): At 5th level, a monk adds his level to all Acrobatics checks made to jump, both for vertical jumps and horizontal jumps. In addition, he always counts as having a running start when making jump checks using Acrobatics. By spending 1 point from his ki pool as a swift action, a monk gains a +20 bonus on Acrobatics checks made to jump for 1 round.

Purity of Body (Ex): At 5th level, a monk gains immunity to all diseases, including supernatural and magical diseases.

Wholeness of Body (Su): At 7th level or higher, a monk can heal his own wounds as a standard action. He can heal a number of hit points of damage equal to his monk level by using 2 points from his ki pool.

Improved Evasion (Ex): At 9th level, a monk's evasion ability improves. He still takes no damage on a successful Reflex saving throw against attacks, but henceforth he takes only half damage on a failed save. A helpless monk does not gain the benefit of improved evasion.

Diamond Body (Su): At 11th level, a monk gains immunity to poisons of all kinds.

Abundant Step (Su): At 12th level or higher, a monk can slip magically between spaces, as if using the spell dimension door. Using this ability is a move action that consumes 2 points from his ki pool. His caster level for this effect is equal to his monk level. He cannot take other creatures with him when he uses this ability.

Diamond Soul (Ex): At 13th level, a monk gains spell resistance equal to his current monk level + 10. In order to affect the monk with a spell, a spellcaster must get a result on a caster level check (1d20 + caster level) that equals or exceeds the monk's spell resistance.

Quivering Palm (Su): Starting at 15th level, a monk can set up vibrations within the body of another creature that can thereafter be fatal if the monk so desires. He can use this quivering palm attack once per day, and he must announce his intent before making his attack roll. Creatures immune to critical hits cannot be affected. Otherwise, if the monk strikes successfully and the target takes damage from the blow, the quivering palm attack succeeds. Thereafter, the monk can try to slay the victim at any later time, as long as the attempt is made within a number of days equal to his monk level. To make such an attempt, the monk merely wills the target to die (a free action), and unless the target makes a Fortitude saving throw (DC 10 + 1/2 the monk's level + the monk's Wis modifier), it dies. If the saving throw is successful, the target is no longer in danger from that particular quivering palm attack, but it may still be affected by another one at a later time. A monk can have no more than 1 quivering palm in effect at one time. If a monk uses quivering palm while another is still in effect, the previous effect is negated.

Timeless Body (Ex): At 17th level, a monk no longer takes penalties to his ability scores for aging and cannot be magically aged. Any such penalties that he has already taken, however, remain in place. Age bonuses still accrue, and the monk still dies of old age when his time is up.

Tongue of the Sun and Moon (Ex): A monk of 17th level or higher can speak with any living creature.

Empty Body (Su): At 19th level, a monk gains the ability to assume an ethereal state for 1 minute as though using the spell etherealness. Using this ability is a move action that consumes 3 points from his ki pool. This ability only affects the monk and cannot be used to make other creatures ethereal.

Perfect Self: At 20th level, a monk becomes a magical creature. He is forevermore treated as an outsider rather than as a humanoid (or whatever the monk's creature type was) for the purpose of spells and magical effects. Additionally, the monk gains damage reduction 10/chaotic, which allows him to ignore the first 10 points of damage from any attack made by a nonchaotic weapon or by any natural attack made by a creature that doesn't have similar damage reduction. Unlike other outsiders, the monk can still be brought back from the dead as if he were a member of his previous creature type.

Ex-Monks

A monk who becomes nonlawful cannot gain new levels as a monk but retains all monk abilities.

Monastic Orders

Common Monastic Sponsors

A number of deities sponsor monastic orders, though sponsors are not limited to the ones, below. In addition, not every monastery has a sponsor. It may, instead, focus around an ideal or other set of teachings.

Angoron: Angoronian monks tend to follow a more martial tradition, focused to an extent on heroism and good deeds. They're known for their feats of not just strength, but dexterity and any demonstration of bodily prowess. They tend to believe such acts are better attained through proper discipline and technique, rather than the more chaotic enthusiasm of other Angoronian followers.

Daeus: Daeus' monks walk the line of balance, devoted to goodness, and ideals of honesty, purity, and perseverence. Known for their kinder philsophy, they nonetheless have a strong martial tradition.

Eluna: Elunan monks tend to come from a tradition more in line with reflection and meditation. They're known for their almost otherworldly styles, and a number of them place emphasis on the interpretation and study of dreams.

Serriel: Serriel's monks are highly disciplined, known for their precision and expertise in the battlefield. Of all orders, they're explorative of new techniques, incorporating them and seeing them as part of the advancement of civilization and ideas.

Navos: Navos' monks are known for a solemn study of the perfection of the body and mind. Often historians, they're known for their production of illuminated manuscripts and wide berth of knowledge in addition to a philosophical martial tradition. Navosian monks are also some of the few monks with official titles: they are known as Focus, and often noted for their skills in concentration and meditation.

Kor: Korite monks are strictly martial in their outlook, though a number of them take joy in the study of battle formations, history, and techniques. They tend to be more martially focused than other disciplines.

Vardama: Vardama's monk orders are well-known, usually solemn individuals who contemplate life's natural cycles and the unknown of death. They are sometimes employed as assassins, and are frequently found as temple guards, serving as a kind of holy warrior. Vardaman (or Vardamite) monks are some of the few to hold divine titles akin to clerics and paladins--see Vardama's entry for details. Vardaman monks are also some of the few monks with official titles: they are called Chords, which refers to Vardama's role as the Harpist, an instrument she famously plays to sooth the souls of the dead.

Common Orders

The below orders are ones you may encounter through the course of RP, though they are by no means the only orders within the world of Ea. When creating your character, feel free to use your creativity.

Many monks are also, or are instead, members of a temple--particularly temples of Vardama, Serriel, and Navos, among others. For some deities, such as Vardama, they often take the place where more traditional warriors would be, and stand in places of honor at temple gates.

Template:MonasticOrders

Monastic Vows

Vows, and the interpretation thereof, are up to the player. We consider this a creative outlet rather than a requirement.

Starting Kits

Monks are a diverse class with a lot of quirks, and for this reason are not one we recommend for a first-time character. They act often as secondary, mobile fighters, moving in where they can do the most good and then moving away. Some of them focus on disabling enemy spellcasters, or combat maneuvers.

Many of their abilities focus on their mobility, though they gain a number of bonuses when standing still. Also, monks tend to require a high strength, though it may not seem so from their writeup.

Coming soon.

Concept

Attributes

Feats and Skills

Notes

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