A mild monk variant. [Archive] - Wizards Community

A mild monk variant. [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
teshen
06-12-07, 05:57 PM I know that many wiser than I have made solid martial artist classes (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=758520), even if some of them are just variations on the monk class. I'll throw in a mild variant collection and see what others think.

This is not a drastic change, or at least I think not, and the idea comes from a particular comment or two from a specific thread (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=859256). Changes will be in red. I don't believe that this dramatically increases the power of the monk, but I could be wrong. :)

(Variant) Monk

Alignment: Any.

Hit Die: d8.

Class Skills
The monk’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (arcana/religion) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), and Tumble (Dex).

Skill Points at 1st Level: (4 + Int modifier) x 4.

Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Lv BaB Fort Ref Will Features
1 +0 +2 +2 +2 Unarmed strike, Flurry, Martial technique
2 +1 +3 +3 +3 Evasion, Martial technique
3 +2 +3 +3 +3 Still mind
4 +3 +4 +4 +4 Ki strike (magic), slow fall 20 ft.
5 +3 +4 +4 +4 Purity of body, Improved flurry
6 +4 +5 +5 +5 Martial technique, slow fall 30 ft.
7 +5 +5 +5 +5 Wholeness of body, Weapon kata
8 +6 +6 +6 +6 Slow fall 40 ft.
9 +6 +6 +6 +6 Improved evasion, Improved flurry
10 +7 +7 +7 +7 Ki strike, (alignment) slow fall 50 ft.
11 +8 +7 +7 +7 Diamond body, Greater flurry
12 +9 +8 +8 +8 Abundant step, slow fall 60 ft.
13 +9 +8 +8 +8 Diamond soul
14 +10 +9 +9 +9 Slow fall 70 ft.
15 +11 +9 +9 +9 Quivering palm, Tongue of the Sun and Moon
16 +12 +10 +10 +10 Ki strike (material), slow fall 80 ft.
17 +12 +10 +10 +10 Timeless body
18 +13 +11 +11 +11 Slow fall 90 ft.
19 +14 +11 +11 +11 Empty body
20 +15 +12 +12 +12 Perfect self, slow fall any distance

Unarmed Damage
Lv Flurry Bonus Small Medium Large AC Speed
1 -2/-2 1d4 1d6 1d8 +0 +0 ft.
2 -1/-1 1d4 1d6 1d8 +0 +0 ft.
3 +0/+0 1d4 1d6 1d8 +0 +10 ft.
4 +1/+1 1d6 1d8 2d6 +0 +10 ft.
5 +2/+2 1d6 1d8 2d6 +1 +10 ft.
6 +3/+3 1d6 1d8 2d6 +1 +20 ft.
7 +4/+4 1d6 1d8 2d6 +1 +20 ft.
8 +5/+5/+0 1d8 1d10 2d8 +1 +20 ft.
9 +6/+6/+1 1d8 1d10 2d8 +1 +30 ft.
10 +7/+7/+2 1d8 1d10 2d8 +2 +30 ft.
11 +8/+8/+8/+3 1d8 1d10 2d8 +2 +30 ft.
12 +9/+9/+9/+4 1d10 2d6 3d6 +2 +40 ft.
13 +9/+9/+9/+4 1d10 2d6 3d6 +2 +40 ft.
14 +10/+10/+10/+5 1d10 2d6 3d6 +2 +40 ft.
15 +11/+11/+11/+6/+1 1d10 2d6 3d6 +3 +50 ft.
16 +12/+12/+12/+7/+2 2d6 2d8 3d8 +3 +50 ft.
17 +12/+12/+12/+7/+2 2d6 2d8 3d8 +3 +50 ft.
18 +13/+13/+13/+8/+3 2d6 2d8 3d8 +3 +60 ft.
19 +14/+14/+14/+9/+4 2d6 2d8 3d8 +3 +60 ft.
20 +15/+15/+15/+10/+5 2d8 2d10 4d10 +4 +60 ft.

Class Features

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.

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. 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 standard attack or 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 x 1-1/2 or x 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 the table.

Martial technique
A 1st-level monk (regardless of character level) may select one fighting style (http://http://www.systemreferencedocuments.org/35/sovelior_sage/unearthedCoreClass.html#fighting-styles) or another (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=744270). By selecting one of these fighting styles, she dictates which bonus feats she gains at 1st, 2nd, and 6th level (when a standard monk normally gains one of two bonus feats). In addition, at 1st level she gets a +2 bonus on checks involving a skill of her selection (in exchange for the freedom of choice she gives up by preselecting her bonus feats). Finally, she gains a bonus ability at 6th level if she has met the listed prerequisites by that time. If the character hasn't yet met the prerequisites, she doesn't gain the bonus ability, even if she meets the prerequisites at some later time.

A monk can abandon her fighting style by selecting a different bonus feat at 2nd or 6th level; however, if she does so, she loses the bonus on skill checks gained at 1st level and never gains the bonus ability of the fighting style (even if she meets the prerequisites). (Yes, this is, almost word for word, the Unearthed Arcana fighting style variant. )

At first level, a monk may, in place of a specific martial style, 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. These feats represent the 'standard' PHB monk martial art.

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)
A monk of 3rd level or higher gains a +2 bonus on saving throws against spells and effects from the school of enchantment.

Ki Strike (Su)
At 4th level, a monk’s unarmed attacks are empowered with ki. His 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. At 10th level, the monk picks an aspect of his alignment. His unarmed attacks are also treated as a weapon of that alignment for the purpose of dealing damage to creatures with damage reduction. A true neutral monk may still pick an alignment for his unarmed strike, even though his alignment does not match. At 16th level, his unarmed attacks are treated as weapons of a choosen material for the purpose of dealing damage to creatures with damage reduction. A monk may chose to treat his strikes as either cold iron, silver, jade (OA), or adamantine. Once the monk's ki strike aspect is chosen, it may not be changed.

Slow Fall (Su)
At 4th level or higher, a monk can slow his descent by using ki techniques to reduce his weight. When first using 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) improves with his monk level until at 20th level he can slow his descent and fall any distance without harm. He may suppress and resume this ability as a swift action.

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 his own wounds. He can heal a number of hit points of damage equal to twice his current monk level each day, and she can spread this healing out among several uses.

Weapon kata (Su)
At 7th level and higher, a monk's training has taught him how to apply unarmed combat priciples to weapons he has trained with. When a monk wields a non-magical monk weapon, he may treat it as if it were a ki focus weapon. This means the weapon may serve as a channel for the wielder’s ki, allowing her to use her special ki attacks through the weapon as if they were unarmed attacks, include the monk’s stunning attack, ki strike, and quivering palm, as well as the Stunning Fist feat. Only melee weapons can have the ki focus ability.

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 monk can slip magically between spaces, as if using the spell dimension door, twice per day. His caster level for this effect is one-half his monk level (rounded down).

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 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 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.

Tongue of the Sun and Moon (Ex)
A monk of 15th level or higher can speak with any living creature.

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. Additionally, a monk's maximum age for a creature of his type is increased by 20%.

Empty Body (Su)
At 19th level, a monk gains the ability to assume an ethereal state for 1 round per 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 monk 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 no longer needs to eat or sleep but may chose to do so if he wishes to. In place of healing during sleep, the monk heals lost hit points by meditating for an hour each day. He gains damage reduction 10/alignment. The alignment is of the same type as the ki strike feature he chose at level 10. This allows him to ignore the first 10 points of damage from any attack made by a 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.

*****

Rationals

I never equated personal discipline, or discipline in one aspect of one's life, to be a lawful alignment. As such, I removed the alignment restriction. I also believe that one can pick up an avenue of study after doing something else for a while, so I removed the unique multiclassing restriction.

The alteration to flurry of blows allows the monk to move and flurry. This allows him to fulfill the role that his class abilities are more suited for, that of a skirmisher, better. This does allow for a move and two strikes at levels 1 to 10 and a move and three strikes from 11 onward, but I believe the monk's average base attack and penalty to flurry earlier in his carreer will help to mitigate abuse.

I like the fighting style variants, so I just gave them a different name-Martial techniques and included a link to some excellent homebrew ones on these boards.

Ki strike need to be a little more adaptable. Not every monk will progress the same way, so I let the ki strike feature be a little more flexible. This will allow a monk to be better able to handle reoccuring types of enemies in a campaign better and make each monk a little different.

The fact that slow fall requires one to be next to a wall made it less useful. With this change, it is more like a permanent featherfall effect. I think this could lend itself to give a 'Crouching Tiger' look to things without seriously affecting balance.

The weapon kata is one of the few things I threw in because monk items tend to be more expensive. This doesn't fix things, since it doesn't overlap any magical properties on weapons, but a monk could pick up a cold iron singham if he needed to if he didn't have a ki strike (material) or if he chose ki strike (silver) instead and he could still be a little more effective than he might otherwise be.

I increased the use of abundant step by one. It's a weak ability at this level so an additional use of a weak ability is better, but still weak.

Tongue of the Sun and the Moon, even moreso than abundant step, is weak. I moved it up two levels from 17 to 15.

Timeless body I made a little more timeless.

Perfect self is pretty useless when you get it. So I changed the damage reduction and gave the ability a little more. It's still weak for a level twenty ability, but I didn't want to add too much.

Things I thought about...

I considered increasing the hit die from d8 to d10 (average difference of 1 hit point per level) and removing wholeness of body. I decided against it since the wholeness feature is like a stealth version of the improved toughness feat, granting an additional 2 hit points per level. A d10 would be better at levels 1 to 7 but, after that, wholeness is a little better. I really don't think of wholeness of body as actual healing, though.

I would like to change quivering palm somehow, but I can't think of anything other than making it useable more times than once a weak... but I think I'd like something different all together.

I also considered including some sort of ghost touch feature somewhere close to the empty body feature. But I decided against it.

I also thought about substituting the combat focus feat in place of still mind and throwing in one or two more of the combat feats somewhere else in the class, like levels 8 and 14... but again, I stuck with this and decided to see what others thought about the variant first.

Go ahead. Let the shooting down of this idea commence... :D
Muktar
06-12-07, 08:40 PM Don't call the Weapon Kata, a Kata. Katas are dances not martial techniques. Otherwise, with the MiC out, they don't need any help.
teshen
06-12-07, 09:11 PM Don't call the Weapon Kata, a Kata. Katas are dances not martial techniques. Otherwise, with the MiC out, they don't need any help.
So you're in that camp then. But anyway...

Kata (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kata_(martial_arts)).

Or if you don't actually look at links, like I sometimes don't...
Kata (型 or 形, literally: "form") is a Japanese word describing detailed choreographed patterns of movements practiced either solo or in pairs. Kata . . . are most commonly known for the presence in the martial arts. Kata are used by most traditional Japanese and Okinawan martial arts, such as aikidō, iaidō, jōdō, jūdō, jūjutsu, kendō and karatedō. . .

Since D&D uses Ki instead of Chi or Qi, I used Kata.

And the Magic Item Compendium does what? Scorpion Kama. Is that what you're speaking of? Is it more expensive than a comparable non-exotic weapon? I haven't taken a look at the book myself, but does the one weapon cover the all possiblities? I understand from some others' posts that it gives the monk the damage he already has... how generous.
Muktar
06-12-07, 10:56 PM No . . .The magic item compendium allows an amulet, lets say, be a amulet of might fists +5, nat armor +5, wis +5 with no special increase. I just sent someone a monk with a 53 AC with a 39 touch AC. A lvl 20 char. The kama is only good if you want to use TWF with the monk.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
teshen 06-12-07, 05:57 PM	I know that many wiser than I have made solid martial artist classes (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=758520), even if some of them are just variations on the monk class. I'll throw in a mild variant collection and see what others think. This is not a drastic change, or at least I think not, and the idea comes from a particular comment or two from a specific thread (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=859256). Changes will be in red. I don't believe that this dramatically increases the power of the monk, but I could be wrong. :) (Variant) Monk Alignment: Any. Hit Die: d8. Class Skills The monk’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (arcana/religion) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), and Tumble (Dex). Skill Points at 1st Level: (4 + Int modifier) x 4. Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier. Lv BaB Fort Ref Will Features 1 +0 +2 +2 +2 Unarmed strike, Flurry, Martial technique 2 +1 +3 +3 +3 Evasion, Martial technique 3 +2 +3 +3 +3 Still mind 4 +3 +4 +4 +4 Ki strike (magic), slow fall 20 ft. 5 +3 +4 +4 +4 Purity of body, Improved flurry 6 +4 +5 +5 +5 Martial technique, slow fall 30 ft. 7 +5 +5 +5 +5 Wholeness of body, Weapon kata 8 +6 +6 +6 +6 Slow fall 40 ft. 9 +6 +6 +6 +6 Improved evasion, Improved flurry 10 +7 +7 +7 +7 Ki strike, (alignment) slow fall 50 ft. 11 +8 +7 +7 +7 Diamond body, Greater flurry 12 +9 +8 +8 +8 Abundant step, slow fall 60 ft. 13 +9 +8 +8 +8 Diamond soul 14 +10 +9 +9 +9 Slow fall 70 ft. 15 +11 +9 +9 +9 Quivering palm, Tongue of the Sun and Moon 16 +12 +10 +10 +10 Ki strike (material), slow fall 80 ft. 17 +12 +10 +10 +10 Timeless body 18 +13 +11 +11 +11 Slow fall 90 ft. 19 +14 +11 +11 +11 Empty body 20 +15 +12 +12 +12 Perfect self, slow fall any distance Unarmed Damage Lv Flurry Bonus Small Medium Large AC Speed 1 -2/-2 1d4 1d6 1d8 +0 +0 ft. 2 -1/-1 1d4 1d6 1d8 +0 +0 ft. 3 +0/+0 1d4 1d6 1d8 +0 +10 ft. 4 +1/+1 1d6 1d8 2d6 +0 +10 ft. 5 +2/+2 1d6 1d8 2d6 +1 +10 ft. 6 +3/+3 1d6 1d8 2d6 +1 +20 ft. 7 +4/+4 1d6 1d8 2d6 +1 +20 ft. 8 +5/+5/+0 1d8 1d10 2d8 +1 +20 ft. 9 +6/+6/+1 1d8 1d10 2d8 +1 +30 ft. 10 +7/+7/+2 1d8 1d10 2d8 +2 +30 ft. 11 +8/+8/+8/+3 1d8 1d10 2d8 +2 +30 ft. 12 +9/+9/+9/+4 1d10 2d6 3d6 +2 +40 ft. 13 +9/+9/+9/+4 1d10 2d6 3d6 +2 +40 ft. 14 +10/+10/+10/+5 1d10 2d6 3d6 +2 +40 ft. 15 +11/+11/+11/+6/+1 1d10 2d6 3d6 +3 +50 ft. 16 +12/+12/+12/+7/+2 2d6 2d8 3d8 +3 +50 ft. 17 +12/+12/+12/+7/+2 2d6 2d8 3d8 +3 +50 ft. 18 +13/+13/+13/+8/+3 2d6 2d8 3d8 +3 +60 ft. 19 +14/+14/+14/+9/+4 2d6 2d8 3d8 +3 +60 ft. 20 +15/+15/+15/+10/+5 2d8 2d10 4d10 +4 +60 ft. Class Features 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. 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. 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 standard attack or 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 x 1-1/2 or x 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 the table. Martial technique A 1st-level monk (regardless of character level) may select one fighting style (http://http://www.systemreferencedocuments.org/35/sovelior_sage/unearthedCoreClass.html#fighting-styles) or another (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=744270). By selecting one of these fighting styles, she dictates which bonus feats she gains at 1st, 2nd, and 6th level (when a standard monk normally gains one of two bonus feats). In addition, at 1st level she gets a +2 bonus on checks involving a skill of her selection (in exchange for the freedom of choice she gives up by preselecting her bonus feats). Finally, she gains a bonus ability at 6th level if she has met the listed prerequisites by that time. If the character hasn't yet met the prerequisites, she doesn't gain the bonus ability, even if she meets the prerequisites at some later time. A monk can abandon her fighting style by selecting a different bonus feat at 2nd or 6th level; however, if she does so, she loses the bonus on skill checks gained at 1st level and never gains the bonus ability of the fighting style (even if she meets the prerequisites). (Yes, this is, almost word for word, the Unearthed Arcana fighting style variant. ) At first level, a monk may, in place of a specific martial style, 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. These feats represent the 'standard' PHB monk martial art. 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) A monk of 3rd level or higher gains a +2 bonus on saving throws against spells and effects from the school of enchantment. Ki Strike (Su) At 4th level, a monk’s unarmed attacks are empowered with ki. His 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. At 10th level, the monk picks an aspect of his alignment. His unarmed attacks are also treated as a weapon of that alignment for the purpose of dealing damage to creatures with damage reduction. A true neutral monk may still pick an alignment for his unarmed strike, even though his alignment does not match. At 16th level, his unarmed attacks are treated as weapons of a choosen material for the purpose of dealing damage to creatures with damage reduction. A monk may chose to treat his strikes as either cold iron, silver, jade (OA), or adamantine. Once the monk's ki strike aspect is chosen, it may not be changed. Slow Fall (Su) At 4th level or higher, a monk can slow his descent by using ki techniques to reduce his weight. When first using 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) improves with his monk level until at 20th level he can slow his descent and fall any distance without harm. He may suppress and resume this ability as a swift action. 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 his own wounds. He can heal a number of hit points of damage equal to twice his current monk level each day, and she can spread this healing out among several uses. Weapon kata (Su) At 7th level and higher, a monk's training has taught him how to apply unarmed combat priciples to weapons he has trained with. When a monk wields a non-magical monk weapon, he may treat it as if it were a ki focus weapon. This means the weapon may serve as a channel for the wielder’s ki, allowing her to use her special ki attacks through the weapon as if they were unarmed attacks, include the monk’s stunning attack, ki strike, and quivering palm, as well as the Stunning Fist feat. Only melee weapons can have the ki focus ability. 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 monk can slip magically between spaces, as if using the spell dimension door, twice per day. His caster level for this effect is one-half his monk level (rounded down). 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 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 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. Tongue of the Sun and Moon (Ex) A monk of 15th level or higher can speak with any living creature. 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. Additionally, a monk's maximum age for a creature of his type is increased by 20%. Empty Body (Su) At 19th level, a monk gains the ability to assume an ethereal state for 1 round per 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 monk 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 no longer needs to eat or sleep but may chose to do so if he wishes to. In place of healing during sleep, the monk heals lost hit points by meditating for an hour each day. He gains damage reduction 10/alignment. The alignment is of the same type as the ki strike feature he chose at level 10. This allows him to ignore the first 10 points of damage from any attack made by a 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. ***** Rationals I never equated personal discipline, or discipline in one aspect of one's life, to be a lawful alignment. As such, I removed the alignment restriction. I also believe that one can pick up an avenue of study after doing something else for a while, so I removed the unique multiclassing restriction. The alteration to flurry of blows allows the monk to move and flurry. This allows him to fulfill the role that his class abilities are more suited for, that of a skirmisher, better. This does allow for a move and two strikes at levels 1 to 10 and a move and three strikes from 11 onward, but I believe the monk's average base attack and penalty to flurry earlier in his carreer will help to mitigate abuse. I like the fighting style variants, so I just gave them a different name-Martial techniques and included a link to some excellent homebrew ones on these boards. Ki strike need to be a little more adaptable. Not every monk will progress the same way, so I let the ki strike feature be a little more flexible. This will allow a monk to be better able to handle reoccuring types of enemies in a campaign better and make each monk a little different. The fact that slow fall requires one to be next to a wall made it less useful. With this change, it is more like a permanent featherfall effect. I think this could lend itself to give a 'Crouching Tiger' look to things without seriously affecting balance. The weapon kata is one of the few things I threw in because monk items tend to be more expensive. This doesn't fix things, since it doesn't overlap any magical properties on weapons, but a monk could pick up a cold iron singham if he needed to if he didn't have a ki strike (material) or if he chose ki strike (silver) instead and he could still be a little more effective than he might otherwise be. I increased the use of abundant step by one. It's a weak ability at this level so an additional use of a weak ability is better, but still weak. Tongue of the Sun and the Moon, even moreso than abundant step, is weak. I moved it up two levels from 17 to 15. Timeless body I made a little more timeless. Perfect self is pretty useless when you get it. So I changed the damage reduction and gave the ability a little more. It's still weak for a level twenty ability, but I didn't want to add too much. Things I thought about... I considered increasing the hit die from d8 to d10 (average difference of 1 hit point per level) and removing wholeness of body. I decided against it since the wholeness feature is like a stealth version of the improved toughness feat, granting an additional 2 hit points per level. A d10 would be better at levels 1 to 7 but, after that, wholeness is a little better. I really don't think of wholeness of body as actual healing, though. I would like to change quivering palm somehow, but I can't think of anything other than making it useable more times than once a weak... but I think I'd like something different all together. I also considered including some sort of ghost touch feature somewhere close to the empty body feature. But I decided against it. I also thought about substituting the combat focus feat in place of still mind and throwing in one or two more of the combat feats somewhere else in the class, like levels 8 and 14... but again, I stuck with this and decided to see what others thought about the variant first. Go ahead. Let the shooting down of this idea commence... :D
Muktar 06-12-07, 08:40 PM	Don't call the Weapon Kata, a Kata. Katas are dances not martial techniques. Otherwise, with the MiC out, they don't need any help.
teshen 06-12-07, 09:11 PM	Don't call the Weapon Kata, a Kata. Katas are dances not martial techniques. Otherwise, with the MiC out, they don't need any help. So you're in that camp then. But anyway... Kata (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kata_(martial_arts)). Or if you don't actually look at links, like I sometimes don't... Kata (型 or 形, literally: "form") is a Japanese word describing detailed choreographed patterns of movements practiced either solo or in pairs. Kata . . . are most commonly known for the presence in the martial arts. Kata are used by most traditional Japanese and Okinawan martial arts, such as aikidō, iaidō, jōdō, jūdō, jūjutsu, kendō and karatedō. . . Since D&D uses Ki instead of Chi or Qi, I used Kata. And the Magic Item Compendium does what? Scorpion Kama. Is that what you're speaking of? Is it more expensive than a comparable non-exotic weapon? I haven't taken a look at the book myself, but does the one weapon cover the all possiblities? I understand from some others' posts that it gives the monk the damage he already has... how generous.
Muktar 06-12-07, 10:56 PM	No . . .The magic item compendium allows an amulet, lets say, be a amulet of might fists +5, nat armor +5, wis +5 with no special increase. I just sent someone a monk with a 53 AC with a 39 touch AC. A lvl 20 char. The kama is only good if you want to use TWF with the monk.