Monk

You are a faux-eastern wanderer, questing for the secrets of the universe, seeking perfection of the mind, body and spirit. Your mind-over-matter style allows you to achieve feats that look an awful lot like magic to most people.
Hit Dice: d8
Weapon and Armor Training: Monks may not wear armor of any kind. They may use any weapons they wish to, but most monks prefer to fight unarmed.
Unarmed Attacks: When fighting unarmed, monks may treat their agility as 16 for the purposes of making multiple attacks per round. As the monk becomes more experienced, he can deal more damage with these attacks.
Armor Bonus: Although monks cannot wear armor, they use the better of the following two methods to calculate their armor class:

• Armor Class = Agility Score
• Armor Class = 10 + Character Level

Thief Skills: Monks begin with +3 in the following thief skills:

• Pick Locks (AGI)
• Find Traps (INT)
• Disable Traps (AGI)
• Sneak Silently (AGI)
• Hide in Shadows (AGI)
• Climb Sheer Surfaces (AGI)

Other Special Abilities: Whenever a monk gains a level beyond first, he gains a new special ability from the list. These are either rolled for, or chosen by the player, as indicated in the advancement table. For supernatural abilities based on spells, monks make spell checks as a cleric would (action die + level + personality modifier).
Quivering Palm: Once per week the monk may set up weird mystical vibrations and transfer them to an enemy via a successful unarmed attack roll, which must be made within 3 rounds of initiating the vibrations. At any time within the following week, the monk may will the vibrations to stop, causing cardiac arrest in the victim. Only affects living creatures with HD equal or less than the monk’s level.
Limitations: Monks are limited to owning no more than two magic weapons and three other magic items. Item types are limited to weapons, rings, and miscellaneous magic items usable by thieves. Monks may not accumulate wealth beyond the square of their level times 100 gold pieces.

Career

Qualifications

Monks are relatively rare. In order to qualify to become a monk, the PC must have agility and personality scores of 13 or higher.

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Career Progression

Level	Attack	Crit. Die/ Table	Action Die	Unarmed Damage*	Ref	Fort	Will	Special Abilities
1	d3	1d8/III	1d20	d6	+1	+1	+1
2	d3	1d8/III	1d20	d6	+1	+1	+1	randomly determined
3	d4	1d10/III	1d20	d8	+2	+2	+2	player choice
4	d4	1d10/III	1d20	d8	+2	+2	+2	randomly determined
5	d6	1d12/III	1d20	d10	+3	+3	+3	randomly determined
6	d6	1d12/III	1d20	d10	+4	+4	+4	player choice
7	d8	1d14/III	1d20+1d14	d12	+4	+4	+4	randomly determined, Gust of Wind
8	d8	1d14/III	1d20+1d16	d12	+5	+5	+5	randomly determined, breath weapon
9	d10	1d316/III	1d20+1d20	d14	+5	+5	+5	player choice, Darkness  normal or reverse form.
10	d10+1	1d16/III	1d20+1d20	d16	+6	+6	+6	Quivering Palm

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Monk Titles

Level	All Alignments
1	Initiate
2	Brother
3	Disciple
4	Immaculate
5	Master
6	Superior Master
7	Master of the Four Winds (North/South/East/West)
8	Master of Dragons (Red/Black/Green)
9	Master of Light/Shadow
10	Grand Master of Orchids

Other Benefits

Special Abilities (d10)

Each result says at the end how many times you can get it. If you’ve already gotten that result the max number of times, take the next lowest result that you are still eligible for, looping back up to 10 if necessary. For example, the first time you roll a 1 you get Speak with Animals. Get another 1 and you gain Speak with Plants, etc.

1. Speak with Animals -> Speak with Plants -> Speak with Anything (three times)
2. Resist Cold or Heat and Feather Fall -> Lotus Stare and Neutralize Poison or Disease (self only) (twice)
3. Lay on Hands a number of times per day equal to your level. Treat self as adjacent alignment, and everyone else as opposite. -> If you get this result a 2nd time, treat self as same alignment, and everyone else as adjacent. (twice)
4. Add +4 to all of your thief skills. (three times)
5. If your attack roll exceeds the number needed to hit by 5 or more, the target must make a fort save with a DC equal to your attack roll or be stunned for 1d4 rounds. -> If you get this result a second time, your crits have a chance to kill. Upon scoring a critical hit, roll a d12. If you get equal or under your level, you’ve killed the enemy. Both of these effects only work on targets man-sized or smaller whose HD do not exceed the monk’s level. (twice)
6. Ability to Feign Death for two 10-minute turns per level. (three times)
7. Mind Block: Add level to saves against mind-affecting spells (such as ESP, Charm Person, etc.).
8. Deflect normal missiles (arrows and so forth) by making a reflex save with DC equal to the attack roll. Usable once per round. (once)
9. Increase speed by 10’. (three times)
10. Ability to burn 1 point of luck per adventure in exchange for a 1d6 luck die that may be added to any roll. The luck point is regenerated between adventures. (once)

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Advancing Beyond 6th Level

There are a finite number of monks in the world that are level 7 or greater. Once the required experience is gained to reach 7th level, the monk must seek out one of the Masters of the Four Winds and challenge him in single combat with no weapons or magic items. Victory allows the monk to take the new title and all the abilities afforded a 7th level monk. Defeat causes the monk to lose XP and go back to the beginning of 6th level. Likewise there are but three 8th level monks, two 9th level, and a single monk of 10th level. The same process must be followed to advance to each of these levels. Also note that defeating one of the Masters of the Four Winds grants use of Gust of Wind. Defeating one of the Masters of Dragons grants the monk a once per day use of the breath weapon that corresponds to the dragon type. Defeating the Master of Shadow grants Darkness, or the reverse form if the Master of Light is bested. No one knows exactly what is gained by defeating the Grand Master of Orchids, as that title hasn’t changed hands in many centuries...

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Monk Disapproval Table

Whenever a natural 1 is rolled on a spell check, roll 1d12. This represents the monk making necessary recompense with the universe for the imbalance he has caused.

1. Access to all supernatural abilities are lost until the monk flagellates himself 1d12 times with his cat-o-nine-tails (every monk has one). Each strike does 1d2 damage.
2. The monk must lie on the ground while an assistant drops 1d6 coconuts (or any object of similar size/weight) onto his bare stomach from a height of no less than 20’. Each one causes 1d6+2 damage, unless a DC 15 will save can be made, in which case the damage is completely negated.
3. Access to all supernatural abilities are lost until the monk has fasted for a period of 1d8 days. Each day, the monk is subject to one point of stamina damage unless a DC 15 will save can be made. The stamina damage does not begin to heal until the fasting period is over.
4. The monk must spend the next adventure (session) in solitary meditation. The player must play another PC, or roll another batch of level zeroes if no other PC is available.
5. The monk must shatter a block of stone (or similar object) with his bare hands in order to regain access to his supernatural abilities. An unarmed attack roll of 22+ (or a natural 20) is required to accomplish this. The object is treated as AC 10. A non-critical hit causes the monk 1 point of damage. A miss causes the monk 2 points of damage. On a fumble, the monk has broken his hand.
6. Access to Lay on Hands is lost for the remainder of the adventure. If the monk does not have Lay on Hands, they take 2d6 damage from the shame.
7. Lose 1 luck point permanently.
8. The unseen forces of the universe immediately destroy all your wealth (gems, jewelry, and coins) unless you can roll equal or under your luck score on a d30.
9. Lose access to supernatural abilities until you wrestle a wild animal (such as a bear), demonstrating your mastery over the forces of nature.
10. You must eat handfuls of broken glass to prove your mastery over your body. If you can make a DC 15 Will save, you suffer no ill effect. Otherwise, you suffer 2d6 stamina damage and all attack, damage, and saving rolls are at -2 until the damage is healed.
11. Must make a vow of celibacy or permanently lose a randomly selected supernatural ability. If the vow is made and then broken in the future, two randomly selected supernatural abilities will be lost.
12. You are now the indentured servant of the guy in the party that is the biggest jerk for the next 1d3 adventures (sessions). You must carry his bags, give him back rubs, or whatever else is requested of you that isn’t suicidal. Loss of the use of one randomly determined supernatural ability until the term of service is completed.