Elemental Monk (3.5e Class)

Elemental Monk

Making a Elemental Monk

Alignment: Any lawful.

Starting Age: Complex.

Table: The Elemental Monk

Hit Die: d8

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special	Elemental Blows Attack Bonus	Unarmed Damage1	AC Bonus
		Fort	Ref	Will
1st	+0	+2	+2	+2	Bonus Feat, Elemental Blows, Unarmed Strike	–2/–2	1d6	+0
2nd	+1	+3	+3	+3	Bonus Feat, Evasion	–1/–1	1d6	+0
3rd	+2	+3	+3	+3	Air Movement, Natural Mind	+0/+0	1d6	+0
4th	+3	+4	+4	+4	Ki Strike (Magic), Slow Fall 20 ft.	+1/+1	1d8	+0
5th	+3	+4	+4	+4	Purity of Body	+2/+2	1d8	+1
6th	+4	+5	+5	+5	Bonus Feat, Slow Fall 30 ft.	+3/+3	1d8	+1
7th	+5	+5	+5	+5	Wholeness of Body	+4/+4	1d8	+1
8th	+6/+1	+6	+6	+6	Slow Fall 40 ft.	+5/+5/+0	1d10	+1
9th	+6/+1	+6	+6	+6	Improved Evasion	+6/+6/+1	1d10	+1
10th	+7/+2	+7	+7	+7	Ki Strike (Lawful), Slow Fall 50 ft.	+7/+7/+2	1d10	+2
11th	+8/+3	+7	+7	+7	Diamond Body, Greater Blows	+8/+8/+8/+3	1d10	+2
12th	+9/+4	+8	+8	+8	Abundant Step, Slow Fall 60 ft.	+9/+9/+9/+4	2d6	+2
13th	+9/+4	+8	+8	+8	Diamond Soul	+9/+9/+9/+4	2d6	+2
14th	+10/+5	+9	+9	+9	Slow Fall 70 ft.	+10/+10/+10/+5	2d6	+2
15th	+11/+6/+1	+9	+9	+9	Elemental Palm	+11/+11/+11/+6/+1	2d6	+3
16th	+12/+7/+2	+10	+10	+10	Ki Strike (Adamantine), Slow Fall 80 ft.	+12/+12/+12/+7/+2	2d8	+3
17th	+12/+7/+2	+10	+10	+10	Timeless Body, Tongue of the Sun and Moon	+12/+12/+12/+7/+2	2d8	+3
18th	+13/+8/+3	+11	+11	+11	Slow Fall 90 ft.	+13/+13/+13/+8/+3	2d8	+3
19th	+14/+9/+4	+11	+11	+11	Empty Body	+14/+14/+14/+9/+4	2d8	+3
20th	+15/+10/+5	+12	+12	+12	Perfect Self, Slow Fall Any Distance	+15/+15/+15/+10/+5	2d10	+4
The value shown is for Medium elemental monks. See Table: Elemental Monk Unarmed Damage by Size for elemental monks of all sizes.
Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level, ×4 at 1st level) Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex).

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the elemental monk.

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

Elemental Monks are not proficient with any armor or shields.

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

AC Bonus (Ex): When unarmored and unencumbered, the elemental monk adds her Wisdom bonus (if any) to her AC. In addition, an elemental monk gains a +1 bonus to AC at 5th level. This bonus increases by 1 for every five elemental monk levels thereafter (+2 at 10th, +3 at 15th, and +4 at 20th level).

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

Elemental Blows (Ex): When unarmored, an elemental monk may empower her fists with the elements at the expense of accuracy. She may pick from the following list of elements: Air (Force), Fire, Ice (Cold), Acid, Electricity, Earth (Acid). This is a permanent choice and can not get changed later on. When doing so, she may make one extra attack in a round at her highest base attack bonus, but this attack takes a –2 penalty, as does each other attack made that round. The resulting modified base attack bonuses are shown in the Elemental Blows Attack Bonus column on Table: The Elemental Monk. This penalty applies for 1 round, so it also affects attacks of opportunity the elemental monk might make before her next action. When an elemental monk reaches 5th level, the penalty lessens to –1, and at 9th level it disappears. A elemental monk must use a full attack action to strike with an elemental blows.

When using elemental blows, an elemental monk may attack only with unarmed strikes or with special elemental monk weapons (kama, nunchaku, quarterstaff, sai, shuriken, and siangham). She may attack with unarmed strikes and special elemental monk weapons interchangeably as desired. When using weapons as part of an elemental blows, an elemental monk applies her Strength bonus (not Str bonus × 1-1/2 or ×1/2) to her damage rolls for all successful attacks, whether she wields a weapon in one or both hands. The elemental monk can’t use any weapon other than a special elemental monk weapon as part of an elemental blows.

In the case of the quarterstaff, each end counts as a separate weapon for the purpose of using the elemental blows ability. Even though the quarterstaff requires two hands to use, an elemental monk may still intersperse unarmed strikes with quarterstaff strikes, assuming that she has enough attacks in her elemental blows routine to do so.

When an elemental monk reaches 11th level, her elemental blows ability improves. In addition to the standard single extra attack she gets from elemental blows, she gets a second extra attack at her full base attack bonus.

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

Usually an elemental monk’s unarmed strikes deal lethal damage, but she can choose to deal nonlethal damage instead with no penalty on her attack roll. She has the same choice to deal lethal or nonlethal damage while grappling.

A elemental monk’s unarmed strike is treated both as 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 elemental monk also deals more damage with her unarmed strikes than a normal person would, as shown on Table: The Elemental Monk. The unarmed damage on Table: The Elemental Monk is for Medium elemental monks. A Small elemental monk deals less damage than the amount given there with her unarmed attacks, while a Large elemental monk deals more damage; see Table: Elemental Monk Unarmed Damage by Size.

Table: Elemental Monk Unarmed Damage by Size

Level	Fine	Diminutive	Tiny	Small	Medium	Large	Huge	Gargantuan	Colossal
1st–3rd	1	1d2	1d3	1d4	1d6	1d8	2d6	3d6	4d6
4th–7th	1d2	1d3	1d4	1d6	1d8	2d6	3d6	4d6	6d6
8th–11th	1d3	1d4	1d6	1d8	1d10	2d8	3d8	4d8	6d8
12th–15th	1d4	1d6	1d8	1d10	2d6	3d6	4d6	6d6	8d6
16th–19th	1d6	1d8	1d10	2d6	2d8	3d8	4d8	6d8	8d8
20th	1d8	1d10	2d6	2d8	2d10	4d8	6d8	8d8	12d8

Bonus Feat: At 1st level, an elemental monk may select either Improved Grapple or Stunning Fist as a bonus feat. At 2nd level, she may select either Combat Reflexes or Deflect Arrows as a bonus feat. At 6th level, she may select either Improved Disarm or Improved Trip as a bonus feat. A elemental monk need not have any of the prerequisites normally required for these feats to select them.

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

Air Movement (Ex): At 3rd level, an elemental monk gains the ability to fly using the air around her. An elemental monk gains a flight speed equal to her movement speed with good maneuverability.

Natural Mind (Ex): A elemental monk of 3rd level or higher gains a +2 bonus on saving throws against spells and effects from the school of evocation.

Ki Strike (Su): At 4th level, an elemental monk’s unarmed attacks are empowered with ki. Her unarmed attacks are treated as magic weapons for the purpose of dealing damage to creatures with damage reduction. Ki strike improves with the character’s elemental monk level. At 10th level, her unarmed attacks are also treated as lawful weapons for the purpose of dealing damage to creatures with damage reduction. At 16th level, her unarmed attacks are treated as adamantine weapons for the purpose of dealing damage to creatures with damage reduction and bypassing hardness.

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

Purity of Body (Ex): At 5th level, an elemental monk gains immunity to all diseases except for supernatural and magical diseases.

Wholeness of Body (Su): At 7th level or higher, an elemental monk can heal her own wounds. She can heal a number of hit points of damage equal to twice her current elemental monk level each day, and she can spread this healing out among several uses.

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

Elemental Body (Su): At 11th level, an elemental monk gains immunity to the element chosen from Elemental Blows.

Abundant Step (Su): At 12th level or higher, an elemental monk can slip magically between spaces, as if using the spell dimension door, once per day. Her caster level for this effect is one-half her elemental monk level (rounded down).

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

Elemental Palm (Su): Starting at 15th level, an elemental monk can set up elements within the body of another creature that can thereafter be fatal if the elemental monk so desires. She can incinerate the target, freeze the target, dissolve the target, or implode the target. She can use this elemental palm attack once a week, and she must announce her intent before making her attack roll. Constructs, oozes, plants, undead, incorporeal creatures, and creatures immune to critical hits cannot be affected. Otherwise, if the elemental monk strikes successfully and the target takes damage from the blow, the Elemental palm attack succeeds. Thereafter the elemental 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 her elemental monk level. To make such an attempt, the elemental monk merely wills the target to die (a free action), and unless the target makes a Fortitude saving throw (DC 10 + 1/2 the elemental monk’s level + the elemental monk’s Wis modifier), it dies. If the saving throw is successful, the target is no longer in danger from that particular elemental palm attack, but it may still be affected by another one at a later time.

Timeless Body (Ex): Upon attaining 17th level, an elemental monk no longer takes penalties to her ability scores for aging and cannot be magically aged. Any such penalties that she has already taken, however, remain in place. Bonuses still accrue, and the elemental monk still dies of old age when her time is up.

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

Empty Body (Su): At 19th level, an elemental monk gains the ability to assume an ethereal state for 1 round per elemental monk level per day, as though using the spell etherealness. She may go ethereal on a number of different occasions during any single day, as long as the total number of rounds spent in an ethereal state does not exceed her elemental monk level.

Perfect Self: At 20th level, an elemental monk becomes a magical creature. She is forevermore treated as an elemental of the type chosen from elemental blows rather than as a humanoid (or whatever the elemental monk’s creature type was) for the purpose of spells and magical effects. Additionally, the elemental monk gains damage reduction 10/magic, which allows her to ignore the first 10 points of damage from any attack made by a nonmagical weapon or by any natural attack made by a creature that doesn’t have similar damage reduction. Unlike other elementals, the elemental monk can still be brought back from the dead as if she were a member of her previous creature type.

Ex-Elemental Monks

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

Like a member of any other class, an elemental monk may be a multiclass character, but multiclass elemental monks face a special restriction. A elemental monk who gains a new class or (if already multiclass) raises another class by a level may never again raise her elemental monk level, though she retains all her elemental monk abilities.

Epic Elemental Monk

Table: The Epic Elemental Monk

Hit Die: d8

Level	AC Bonus	Unarmored Speed Bonus	Special
21st	+4	+70 ft.
22nd	+4	+70 ft.
23rd	+4	+70 ft.
24th	+4	+80 ft.
25th	+5	+80 ft.	Bonus Feat
26th	+5	+80 ft.
27th	+5	+90 ft.
28th	+5	+90 ft.
29th	+5	+90 ft.
30th	+6	+100 ft.	Bonus Feat
4 + Int modifier skill points per level.

AC Bonus: The Elemental Monk’s bonus to Armor Class when unarmored increases by +1 every five levels higher than 20th.

Unarmed Strike: The damage for a Elemental Monk’s unarmed strike does not increase after 20th level.

Fast Movement: The epic Elemental Monk’s speed when wearing no armor increases by 10 feet every three levels higher than 18th. The unarmored speed of Small and dwarven monks increases by 5 feet instead of 10 feet.

Ki Strike: The Elemental Monk’s ki strike ability does not automatically increase with class level after 16th level.

Wholeness of Body (Su): The epic Elemental Monk can cure up to twice his or her class level in hit points each day, as normal.

Abundant Step (Su): Use the Elemental Monk’s class level when determining the effective caster level of this ability, as normal.

Diamond Soul (Ex): The epic Elemental Monk’s spell resistance is equal to his or her class level +10, as normal.

Elemental Palm (Su): Use the Elemental Monk’s class level when determining the DC to resist this attack, as normal.

Empty Body (Su): Use the Elemental Monk’s class level when determining the duration of this effect, as normal.

Bonus Feats: The epic Elemental Monk gains a bonus feat (selected from the list of epic Elemental Monk bonus feats) every five levels higher than 20th.

Epic Elemental Monk Bonus Feat List: Armor Skin, Blinding Speed, Damage Reduction, Energy Resistance, Epic Prowess, Epic Speed, Epic Toughness, Exceptional Deflection, Fast Healing, Improved Combat Reflexes, Improved Ki Strike, Improved Spell Resistance, Improved Stunning Fist, Infinite Deflection, Keen Strike, Legendary Climber, Legendary Wrestler, Reflect Arrows, Righteous Strike, Self-Concealment, Shattering Strike, Vorpal Strike.

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