Monk, Danzig Variant (3.5e Class)

Monk

Making a Monk

Alignment: Any lawful.

Starting Age: Complex.

Table: The Monk

Hit Die: d8

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special	Flurry of Blows Attack Bonus	Man. Known	Man. Readied	Stances Known	Unarmed Damage1	AC Bonus	Unarmored Speed Bonus
		Fort	Ref	Will
1st	+0	+2	+2	+2	Bonus Feat, Flurry of Blows, Unarmed Strike	–2/–2	1	1	1	1d6	+0	+0 ft.
2nd	+1	+3	+3	+3	Bonus Feat, Evasion	–1/–1	2	1	1	1d6	+0	+0 ft.
3rd	+2	+3	+3	+3	Still Mind, Dance With The Elements,	+0/+0	3	2	1	1d6	+0	+10 ft.
4th	+3	+4	+4	+4	Ki Strike (Magic), Slow Fall 20 ft.	+1/+1	3	2	2	1d8	+0	+10 ft.
5th	+3	+4	+4	+4	Purity of Body	+2/+2	4	2	2	1d8	+1	+10 ft.
6th	+4	+5	+5	+5	Bonus Feat, Slow Fall 30 ft.	+3/+3	4	2	2	1d8	+1	+20 ft.
7th	+5	+5	+5	+5	Wholeness of Body	+4/+4	5	3	2	1d8	+1	+20 ft.
8th	+6/+1	+6	+6	+6	Slow Fall 40 ft.	+5/+5/+0	5	3	2	1d10	+1	+20 ft.
9th	+6/+1	+6	+6	+6	Improved Evasion	+6/+6/+1	6	3	2	1d10	+1	+30 ft.
10th	+7/+2	+7	+7	+7	Ki Strike (Lawful), Slow Fall 50 ft.	+7/+7/+2	6	3	3	1d10	+2	+30 ft.
11th	+8/+3	+7	+7	+7	Diamond Body, Greater Flurry	+8/+8/+8/+3	7	4	3	1d10	+2	+30 ft.
12th	+9/+4	+8	+8	+8	Abundant Step, Slow Fall 60 ft.	+9/+9/+9/+4	7	4	3	2d6	+2	+40 ft.
13th	+9/+4	+8	+8	+8	Diamond Soul	+9/+9/+9/+4	8	4	3	2d6	+2	+40 ft.
14th	+10/+5	+9	+9	+9	Slow Fall 70 ft.	+10/+10/+10/+5	8	4	3	2d6	+2	+40 ft.
15th	+11/+6/+1	+9	+9	+9	Quivering Palm	+11/+11/+11/+6/+1	9	5	3	2d6	+3	+50 ft.
16th	+12/+7/+2	+10	+10	+10	Ki Strike (Adamantine), Slow Fall 80 ft.	+12/+12/+12/+7/+2	9	5	4	2d8	+3	+50 ft.
17th	+12/+7/+2	+10	+10	+10	Timeless Body, Tongue of the Sun and Moon	+12/+12/+12/+7/+2	10	5	4	2d8	+3	+50 ft.
18th	+13/+8/+3	+11	+11	+11	Slow Fall 90 ft.	+13/+13/+13/+8/+3	10	5	4	2d8	+3	+60 ft.
19th	+14/+9/+4	+11	+11	+11	Empty Body	+14/+14/+14/+9/+4	11	6	4	2d8	+3	+60 ft.
20th	+15/+10/+5	+12	+12	+12	Perfect Self, Slow Fall Any Distance	+15/+15/+15/+10/+5	11	6	4	2d10	+4	+60 ft.
The value shown is for Medium monks. See Table: Monk Unarmed Damage by Size for 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 monk.

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

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 her AC bonus, as well as her fast movement and flurry of blows abilities.

Disciplines Available: A monk can learn maneuvers from any discipline. A monk is a martial adept class, and treated as a martial adept for the purpose of determining initiator level.

Maneuvers: A monk has knowledge of 1 maneuver when he begins his career. As he attains levels, he gains knowledge of additional maneuvers, as shown in the table above. A monk must fulfill all prerequisites for whatever maneuver he wishes to learn before taking it.

A monk’s maneuvers (and stances) count as extraordinary abilities unless otherwise noted. Maneuvers are not subject to spell resistance or antimagic fields (unless the maneuver is supernatural), and do not provoke attacks of opportunity.

In addition, when a monk reaches 4th level, and every other level after, he can exchange one maneuver for another. The new maneuver does not need to have the same level as the old maneuver, but he must observe the restriction on the highest-level maneuver he knows, and he must meet all other prerequisites before selecting the new maneuver.

Maneuvers Readied: Starting at 1st level, a monk is able to ready 1 of his maneuvers. In order to ready them, he must spend 5 minutes in a meditative state. A monk can change his maneuvers during the day if he wishes, but he must take a full-round action in order to do so.

When an encounter begins, the monk has all of his maneuvers, unexpended. These maneuvers can be initiated once per encounter, and does not regain them until the end of the encounter unless he refreshes them, which requires a move action, and recovers a number of maneuvers of a maximum of 1 + his Wisdom bonus, or the maximum indicated on the table, whichever is lower.

Stances Known: At 1st level, a monk can select a 1st level stance from one of the available disciplines. At 4th, 10th, and 16th levels, he can select additional stances. Like with maneuvers, he must meet all prerequisites when selecting a new stance. These stances are available at all times, and he can initiate or change the stance he is currently using as a swift action. Stances count as extraordinary abilities (unless stated otherwise).

AC Bonus (Ex): When unarmored and unencumbered, the monk adds her Wisdom bonus (if any) to her AC. In addition, a monk gains a +1 bonus to AC at 5th level. This bonus increases by 1 for every five 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 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.

Flurry of Blows (Ex): When unarmored, a monk may strike with a flurry of blows at the expense of accuracy. 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 Flurry of Blows Attack Bonus column on Table: The Monk. This penalty applies for 1 round, so it also affects attacks of opportunity the monk might make before her next action. When a monk reaches 5th level, the penalty lessens to –1, and at 9th level it disappears. A monk must use a full attack action to strike with a flurry of blows.

When using flurry of blows, a monk may attack only with unarmed strikes or with special monk weapons (kama, nunchaku, quarterstaff, sai, shuriken, and siangham). She may attack with unarmed strikes and special monk weapons interchangeably as desired. When using weapons as part of a flurry of blows, a 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 monk can’t use any weapon other than a special monk weapon as part of a flurry of blows.

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

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

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

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

Table: 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, a 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 monk need not have any of the prerequisites normally required for these feats to select them.

Evasion (Ex): At 2nd level or higher if a 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 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 her speed, as shown on Table: The Monk. A monk in armor or carrying a medium or heavy load loses this extra speed.

Still Mind (Ex): At 3rd level, a monk learns to empty his mind of all desire and expectation and strike free from worldly worries. He gains a +2 bonus on saving throws against spells and effects from the school of enchantment. Also, while you are unarmored, add your Wisdom bonus and the better of your Strength or Dexterity bonuses to attack and damage with unarmed strikes and special monk weapons, and to all contested combat maneuvers, such as bull rush, disarm, grapple, overrun, sunder, or trip checks. Still Mind qualifies for prerequisites as if it was the Weapon Finesse feat.

Dance With The Elements (Ex): Where other adventurers practice rigorously with weapons or craft powerful magic items, the monk understands that devices are mere distractions. A wise master looks beyond rigid structures and perceives the dance of earth, air, fire and water in the world. Then, he learns to dance with them. Upon reaching 3rd level, a monk gains half of her fast movement bonus as a competence bonus to her Balance, Jump, and Tumble checks. For example, a level 3 monk gains +10 ft move speed and a +5 competence bonus to Balance, Jump and Tumble, while a level 18 monk has a +60 ft move speed and a +30 competence bonus to Balance, Jump, and Tumble.

Ki Strike (Su): At 4th level, a 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 monk level. For each four additional monk levels you gain, your enhancement bonus to attack and damage while unarmed increases by an additional +1. 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): Upon reaching 4th level, the monk learns to balance upon the sky. He can fall the listed distance without taking harm, and reduces the effective distance of longer falls by the same amount. He does not need to be within reach of a wall or other solid object to use this class feature.

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

Wholeness of Body (Su): At 7th level or higher, a monk can heal her own wounds. She can heal a number of hit points of damage equal her current monk level times her Wisdom modifer (Minimum 1) each day, and she can spread this healing out among several uses.

Improved Evasion (Ex): At 9th level, a 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 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 number of times per day equal to her Wisdom modifier (minimum 1), a monk can slip magically between spaces, as if using the spell dimension door. Her caster level for this effect is equal to her monk level.

Diamond Soul (Ex): At 13th level, a monk gains spell resistance equal to her 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. She can use this quivering palm attack a number of times per day equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum 1), 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 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 her 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.

Timeless Body (Ex): Upon attaining 17th level, a 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 monk still dies of old age when her 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 number of times per day equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum 1), you learn to step into the Void and remain there briefly. This functions as the ethereal jaunt spell with a caster level equal to your character level.

Perfect Self: At 20th level, a monk becomes a magical creature. She 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 15/chaotic, which allows her to ignore the first 15 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 she were a member of her previous creature type.

Ex-Monks

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

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

Epic Monk

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

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

Fast Movement: The epic 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 Monk’s ki strike ability does not automatically increase with class level after 16th level.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Epic 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.

<-Sample race of your choice-> <-class name-> Starting Package

Weapons: <-Weapon selection for starting at 1st level with this class.->.

Skill Selection: Pick a number of skills equal to 4 + Int modifier.

Skill	Ranks	Ability	Armor Check Penalty
<-Skill name->	<-4 for class skills and 2 for cross-class skills->	<-Abbrieviated key ability->	<-armor check penalty based on starting armor. If innapplicable put "—"->
<-Skill name->	<-4 for class skills and 2 for cross-class skills->	<-Abbrieviated key ability->	<-armor check penalty based on starting armor. If innapplicable put "—"-> <-copy and paste the rows as necessary.->

Feat: <-1st-level feat selection->.

Bonus Feats: <-1st-level feat bonus feats due to class or sample race. remove this section if this sample doesn't get any bonus feats at 1st level. ->.

Gear: <-Starting armor and other equipment outside of weapons.->.

Gold: <-Starting gold using this package.->.

Campaign Information

Playing a <-class name->

Religion: <-description of how this class typically (but no exclusively) approaches religion including likely portfolios it would worship->.

Other Classes: <-How this class typically interacts with other classes and how characters of this class interact with characters of other classes->.

Combat: <-Typical role in combat->.

Advancement: <-Typical advancement options for characters with this class. Include desirable multiclass options->.

<-pluralized class name-> in the World

“	<-Some quote from a character of this class->	”
—<-NPC name->, <-race-> <-class->

<-Where characters of this class fit in a d20 world.->

Daily Life: <-day in the life of a character of this class->.

Notables: <-notable NPCs of this class->.

Organizations: <-info on what, where, when, and how characters of this class congregate and assemble->.

NPC Reactions: <-How NPCs react to PCs of this class->.

<-class name-> Lore

Characters with ranks in <-the appropriate skills-> can research <-pluralized class name-> to learn more about them. When a character makes a skill check, read or paraphrase the following, including information from lower DCs.

<-the appropriate skills->

DC	Result
5	<-common knowledge->.
10	<-not so common knowledge->.
15	<-rare information->.
20	<-very rare information->.

<-pluralized class name-> in the Game

<-How characters of this class fit in the game (PC and NPC) and what roles they play.->

Adaptation: <-Possible variant conceptions of this class.->.

Sample Encounter: <-DM placement for NPCs of this class.->.

EL : <-Encounter scenario and character info on sample NPC including stat block. The CR of the NPC is typically the same as the EL for the encounter.->.

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