Monk

Ability Requirements: Wisdom 15

Intelligence 14

Constitution 13

Prime Requisites: Wisdom, Intelligence

Races Allowed: Human

The monk is a priest who belongs to a cloistered or monastic order, where he withdraws from the everyday affairs of the world around him to contemplate his faith. Powers of philosophy, thought, and scholarship are commonly represented by monks, as well as any deity that is not normally worshipped by the common people of an area. Monks must be lawful in alignment, although they can be lawful good, lawful neutral, or lawful evil. While monks are most often associated with oriental campaigns and settings, this specialty priest is not necessarily an oriental class—monastic orders can exist in almost any fantasy setting.

Monks believe that rigorous training of body, mind, and spirit leads to enlightenment. Consequently, a character must have high Intelligence and Constitution scores to qualify for this class. Wisdom and Intelligence are the prime requisites of the monk, and a monk with scores of 16 or better in these two abilities gains a 10% bonus to the experience points he earns. Monks also advance in level as clerics do.

While monks do not attempt to minister to the masses or gather followers for their patron deity, they believe in demonstrating the qualities of their faith by example. A monastery or abbey is a place of learning and strength that is open to any person who requires shelter, advice, or assistance. Other monks choose to leave the abbey and travel widely, setting an example among the people they meet and help. Monasteries devoted to evil powers are sinister places where knowledge and wealth are hoarded for the use of the order, regardless of whom may need it.

The monk brings a variety of skills to the adventuring party. He is somewhat like the bard in that he is a jack of all trades and master of none. A monk is not a front-rank warrior, but he can be a very capable infiltrator and skirmisher. The monk’s selection of spells allows access to some of the most unusual and versatile priest spells, even if his spells tend to be short on sheer combat power. Like other priest characters, the monk’s principle role is to support and guide the party.

Monks do not wear armor, since the training of the body requires quickness, agility, and discipline; monks see armor and other ironmongery as crutches for a person of weak spirit. To compensate, monks are trained to avoid blows through misdirection and positioning, and their base Armor Class improves by one point at every even level (AC 9 at 2nd level, AC 8 at 4th level, AC 7 at 6th level, and so on) to a maximum base Armor Class of 2 at 16th level. Note that a monk must see the attack coming in order to use this benefit—backstabs, ambushes, or missile attacks from behind the monk will strike him as if he were unarmored.

Monks may employ any Type B weapon, just like the cleric, but they have exceptional skill in unarmed combat. When a monk makes an unarmed attack against an armed opponent, he disregards the Weapons in Defense rule, since he is trained in dealing with armed enemies. (Normally, this rule allows the armed character to attack first with a +4 on attack and damage rolls when another character makes an unarmed attack against him.) In addition, a monk begins play with a free weapon proficiency which may be used to specialize in unarmed combat. Martial arts and other forms of unarmed combat are described in detail in Player’s Option: Combat & Tactics ; if you don’t have access to this book, another system appears in The Complete Fighter’s Handbook.

Unarmed Combat with The Complete Fighter’s Handbook or The Complete Priest’s Handbook: In this system of unarmed combat, the monk begins play as a punching specialist, a wrestling specialist, or a martial arts specialist. If the monk chooses martial arts as his preferred unarmed combat form, he must spend one of his initial weapon proficiencies to do so, since this is more difficult than specializing in punching or wrestling.

Specializing in these combat forms gives the monk a +1 bonus to attack rolls, a +2 bonus to damage rolls, and a +1 chart bonus with his unarmed attacks. A monk specialized in punching or martial arts gains one extra attack per round, while a monk specialized in wrestling gains a +2 bonus to his effective Strength score for purposes of maintaining or breaking holds.

Every fourth level after 1st level (5th, 9th, 13th, 17th) the monk gains an additional free weapon proficiency which can be used to continue specialization in his chosen mode of combat. Each additional specialization grants the character an additional +1 to attack rolls, damage rolls, and a +1 chart bonus, to a maximum addition of +4 at 17th level.

Unarmed Combat with Player’s Option: Combat & Tactics: In this system, the monk begins play as described above. If he chooses martial arts as his combat form, he must spend one of his initial weapon proficiencies to do so. At 1st level, the character is considered a specialist; at 5th level, a master; at 9th level, a high master; and at 13th level, a grand master. The exact benefits are described in more detail in Chapter Five of Player’s Option: Combat & Tactics .

If you don’t have either of these books, the monk must choose to be a punching or wrestling specialist, since martial arts per se aren’t described in the Player’s Handbook. The paragraph about The Complete Fighter’s Handbook details the effects of specialization and continuing specialization for these forms of unarmed combat.

Monks may not use magical items that simulate armor, such as bracers of defense, but they are allowed to wear cloaks or rings. Otherwise, they may use any magical item normally usable by priests. Monks have a nonweapon proficiency crossover with all other classes and may learn any proficiency listed at no additional cost.

Monks enjoy major access to the spheres of all, divination, guardian, numbers, and thought. They have minor access to combat, healing, necromantic, and time. Monks cannot turn undead. Beginning at 5th level, monks are entitled to a saving throw vs. spell to block detection, scrying, or mind-reading through magical or psionic means— see the 3rd-level wizard spell nondetection . At 7th level, monks gain the special granted power of free action, which duplicates the effects of the 4th-level priest spell.

Monks never gain followers, but at 9th level a monk may receive permission to establish a monastery as an outpost of his order; if he does so, 10 to 40 monks of lower level will come to his monastery and take up their studies there, recognizing the PC monk as the head of their abbey.

Monks and Player’s Option: Skills & Powers: Selecting this class for your Player’s Option character expends all class-derived character points, so a monk may not acquire additional class abilities from the cleric list. If you want to create a specialty priest like the monk but with slightly different powers, you can use the Customized Priest Character information in this book to do so.

In the Skills & Powers character point system, monks are not required to spend CPs to gain their bonus unarmed combat proficiencies and specializations unless they choose martial arts as their unarmed combat form. In this case, the monk must pay the normal cost for proficiency with martial arts (3 CPs) when first created, although he can use his weapon proficiency CPs to cover this cost.

Table of Contents