Monk
Dotted across the landscape are monasteries—small, walled cloisters inhabited by monks who pursue personal perfection through action as well as contemplation. They train themselves to be versatile warriors skilled at fighting without weapons or armor. The inhabitants of monasteries headed by good masters serve as protectors of the people. Ready for battle even when barefoot and dressed in peasant clothes, monks can travel unnoticed among the populace, catching bandits, warlords, and corrupt nobles unawares. In contrast, the residents of monasteries headed by evil masters rule the surrounding lands through fear, as an evil warlord and his entourage might. Evil monks make ideal spies, infiltrators, and assassins.
The individual monk is unlikely to care passionately about championing commoners or amassing wealth. She cares primarily for the perfection of her art and, thereby, her personal perfection. Her goal is to achieve a state that is beyond the mortal realm.
Monk
Monastic orders usually originate in civilized human lands. Among humans, the earliest monastic orders native to Faerûn seem to have arisen in Amn and Calimshan simultaneously with some orders immigrating from other worlds and the eastern land of Kara-Tur. Unlike clerics and druids, monks do not necessarily have to choose a patron deity (although most do), nor do monks have to associate themselves with one of the schools listed in the Monastic Orders sidebar. If your monk character belongs to a different monastic group, you and your DM should at least name it and place it in relation to the groups mentioned below.
Preferred Character Regions: Monks are most common in Amn, Calimshan, Damara, Mulhorand, the Lake of Steam, and Silverymoon. Strongheart halflings are also culturally inclined toward becoming monks.
Choose A or B: (A) Spear, 5 Daggers, Artisan’s Tools or Musical Instrument chosen for the tool proficiency above, Explorer’s Pack, and 11 GP; or (B) 50 GP
None.
As a Monk, you gain the following class features when you reach the specified Monk levels. These features are listed in the Monk Features table.
Level 1: Martial Arts
Your practice of martial arts gives you mastery of combat styles that use your Unarmed Strike and Monk weapons, which are the following:
- Simple Melee weapons
- Martial Melee weapons that have the Light property
You gain the following benefits while you are unarmed or wielding only Monk weapons and you aren’t wearing armor or wielding a Shield.
Bonus Unarmed Strike. You can make an Unarmed Strike as a Bonus Action.
Martial Arts Die. You can roll 1d6 in place of the normal damage of your Unarmed Strike or Monk weapons. This die changes as you gain Monk levels, as shown in the Martial Arts column of the Monk Features table.
Dexterous Attacks. You can use your Dexterity modifier instead of your Strength modifier for the attack and damage rolls of your Unarmed Strikes and Monk weapons. In addition, when you use the Grapple or Shove option of your Unarmed Strike, you can use your Dexterity modifier instead of your Strength modifier to determine the save DC.
Level 1: Unarmored Defense
While you aren’t wearing armor or wielding a Shield, your base Armor Class equals 10 plus your Dexterity and Wisdom modifiers.
Level 1: Flurry of Blows
You can make two Unarmed Strikes as a Bonus Action.
Level 1: Monk Maneuvers
You gain Improved Grapple and Stunning Fist.
Improved Grapple: You have advantage on Grapple checks made against creatures that match your size.
Stunning Fist: You can interfere with the flow of ki in an opponent’s body. Once per turn when you hit a creature with a Monk weapon or an Unarmed Strike, you can attempt a stunning strike. The target must make a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, the target has the Stunned condition until the start of your next turn. On a successful save, the target’s Speed is halved until the start of your next turn, and the next attack roll made against the target before then has Advantage.
Level 2: Evasion
Your proficiency bonus is doubled for Dexterity saving throws. You can’t use this feature if you have the Incapacitated condition.
Level 3: Still Mind
You have advantage on saving throws against spells, magical effects, and to avoid or end the Charmed condition.
Level 3: Monk Maneuvers
You gain Combat Reflexes and Deflect Arrows.
Combat Reflexes: You gain one additional opportunity attack per combat round.
Deflect Arrows: You can use your reaction to deflect or catch the missile when you are hit by a ranged weapon attack. When you do so, the damage you take from the attack is reduced by 1d10 + your Dexterity modifier + your monk level.
If you reduce the damage to 0, you can redirect some of the attack’s force. If you do so, choose a creature you can see within 5 feet of yourself if the attack was a melee attack or a creature you can see within 60 feet of yourself that isn’t behind Total Cover if the attack was a ranged attack. That creature must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or take damage equal to two rolls of your Martial Arts die plus your Dexterity modifier. The damage is the same type dealt by the attack.
Level 4: ki Strike (Magic)
Your unarmed strikes count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.
Level 4: Slow Fall
You can take a Reaction when you fall to reduce any damage you take from the fall by an amount equal to five times your Monk level.
Level 5: Extra Attack
You can attack twice instead of once whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.
Level 5: Purity of body
Your mastery of the ki flowing through you makes you immune to disease and poison.
Level 6: Empowered Strikes
Whenever you deal damage with your Unarmed Strike, it can deal your choice of Force damage or its normal damage type.
Level 7: Monk Maneuvers
You gain Disarming Strike and Improved Trip.
Disarming Strike: Once per combat round when you hit a creature with an Unarmed Strike, you can to attempt to disarm the target. The target must succeed on a Strength saving throw or drop one object of your choice that it’s holding, with the object landing in its space. You may do this once per turn.
Trip Attack: When you hit a creature with an attack roll using a weapon or an Unarmed Strike, you can attempt to knock the target down. If the target is equal your size or smaller, it must succeed on a Strength saving throw or have the Prone condition.
Level 7: Wholeness of Body
When you roll Initiative, you can roll your Martial Arts die, and regain a number of Hit Points equal to your Monk level plus the number rolled.
Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a Long Rest.
Level 8: Acrobatic Movement
While you aren’t wearing armor or wielding a Shield, you gain the ability to move along vertical surfaces and across liquids on your turn without falling during the movement.
Level 9: Improved Evasion
When you’re subjected to an effect that allows you to make a Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage, you instead take no damage if you succeed on the saving throw and only half damage if you fail.
You don’t benefit from this feature if you have the Incapacitated condition.
Level 10: Heightened Focus
You gain Improved Flurry of Blows, Patient Defense, and Step of the Wind.
Improved Flurry of Blows. You can use Flurry of Blows to make three Unarmed Strikes with it instead of two.
Patient Defense. You can use an action to gain a number of Temporary Hit Points equal to two rolls of your Martial Arts die.
Step of the Wind. You can use a bonus action to choose a willing creature within 5 feet of yourself that is Large or smaller. You move the creature with you until the end of your turn. The creature’s movement doesn’t provoke Opportunity Attacks.
Level 10: Self-Restoration
Through sheer force of will, you can remove one of the following conditions from yourself at the end of each of your turns: Charmed, Frightened, or Poisoned.
In addition, forgoing food and drink doesn’t give you levels of Exhaustion.
Level | Proficiency Bonus | Monk Class Features | Martial Arts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | +2 | Martial Arts, Monk Maneuvers, Flurry of Blows, Unarmed Defense | 1d6 | |
2 | +2 | Evasion | 1d6 | |
3 | +2 | Still Mind, Monk Maneuvers | 1d6 | |
4 | +2 | Ki Strike (Magic), Slow Fall | 1d8 | |
5 | +3 | Extra Attack, Purity of Body | 1d8 | |
6 | +3 | Empowered Strikes | 1d8 | |
7 | +3 | Wholeness of Body, Monk Maneuvers | 1d8 | |
8 | +3 | Acrobatic Movement | 1d10 | |
9 | +4 | Improved Evasion | 1d10 | |
10 | +4 | Heightened Focus, Self-Restoration | 1d10 | |
Monastic Orders
Dozens of monastic orders exist in Faerûn. Most are small circles of no more than 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. Some of the prominent orders include:
Broken Ones (Good): Of all the popular deities of Faerûn, Ilmater is the deity most associated with an order of monks who act purely in his name. The Dalelands house no monasteries of great fame, but monks of Ilmater frequently travel through the Dales, sheltering in Ilmater’s temples if they cannot find other lodging.
Dark Moon (Evil): Shar is worshiped by a powerful sect of monks who maintain open temples in lands ruled by evil overlords or hide among hills, back alleys, or the Underdark. Most of the Dark Moon monks are human, but occasionally they are joined by a half-orc, shade, or drow.
Hin Fist (Neutral or Good): The halflings of Luiren turn their confidence into belief in the power of a single halfling to master herself and the world. Enterprising Luiren monks sometimes establish monasteries in the north. Although only halflings can study Hin Fist in Luiren, some Hin Fist monasteries outside Luiren accept exceptional gnomes and dwarves.
Long Death (Evil): The Long Death order worships the principle of death without caring much which deity currently owns the portfolio. They are more than willing to share death and its antecedent, pain, with others. Clerics of the previous god of death, Myrkul, chose to view them as part of their god’s long-range plans. Kelemvor (the current god of the dead) views them as enemies, but is at least pleased that they do not actively promote undeath. Velsharoon (the god of necromancy and undeath) wants to woo them, but has not figured out how.
Old Order (Neutral, Sometimes Good, Rarely Evil): Monks of the Old Order do not worship any deity, but are devoted to the philosophy espoused by a deity who is either now dead or has never existed on the Material Plane of Toril. The monks contradict themselves on this point, but the deity’s identity isn’t important to them, it’s the message they care about. The Old Order never has huge monasteries, but has spread widely throughout Faerûn.
Shining Hand (Neutral): The Shining Hand is one of the oldest monk orders of Amn, mixing faith in Azuth and the practice of wizardry with monastic devotions. Amn’s crackdown on the practice of wizardry has sent some Shining Hand groups underground and sent others out into the wider world.
Sun Soul (Good or Neutral): The allegiance of this widespread but disorganized sect varies between groups, some following Lathander, others Selûne, and a few devoted to Sune. The Sun Soul order, along with the Old Order, is the most likely to have monasteries hidden in far flung wilderness areas.
Yellow Rose (Good, Neutral): Also known as the Disciples of Saint Sollars, this solitary monastery of Ilmater worshipers in the Earthspur Mountains of Damara is known for loyalty to its allies and destruction to its enemies. Greatly respected on matters of truth and diplomacy, the monks work hard to survive in their harsh remote sanctuary. The monks often travel with Ilmataran paladins, particularly from the Order of the Golden Cup.
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