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View Full Version : [3.5 Core] Boosting the monk (PEACH)



Yitzi
2011-07-22, 10:41 AM
The monk is one of the two weak core classes that really needs a boost (fighter being the other). Here's my approach to doing so.

Basic idea: Many of a monk's abilities seem designed to protect him against magic. As such, my goal will be to develop a monk into a full-fledged anti-caster role.

I am assuming that casters have been somewhat weakened, as per the other fixes in my sig.
So here are the added monk abilities:

-level 5: Soulspell. Beginning at 5th level, a monk may designate one beneficial spell affecting her, plus one additional spell for every 4 levels after 5th, as a soulspell. Whenever an attempt is made to dispel the soulspell, the monk is allowed a Will save (with the DC equal to the DC the dispelling effect would normally have if it allowed a save) to negate the dispel.

-level 6: Avoid Impediment (Su): At 6th level, a monk gains the ability to shrug off hindrances to her mobility. Whenever she is affected by a magical effect that would be blocked by Freedom of Movement, she may make a will save once per round as a free action to remove it. If such an effect impedes her movement but she is not the target (such as a web or solid fog spell), she may make a will save once per round; succeeding on the save allows her to move normally for that round.
This does not protect against nonmagical hindrances to movement such as
grappling or being underwater.

-level 8:Purity of Sight (Su): At 8th level, a monk gains the ability to see past illusion effects. Whenever she is aware of the existence of a visual illusion effect (including effects such as Blur, Displacement, or Mirror Image), she may make a Will save once per round as a free action to ignore it, as though affected by a True Seeing spell. Once an effect has been negated in this manner it remains negated, even if the target afterward leaves the monk’s sight and then returns.

-level 9:Inviolate Soul (Ex): At 9th level, a monk gains immunity to possession or mental control, as though protected by a Protection from Evil spell. This effect does not grant any of the other benefits of the spell, such as a bonus to AC or saves or protection from summoned creatures.

-Purity of Form (Su): At 10th level, a monk gains the ability to recover from inimical effects that change her form, such as a Flesh to Stone or Baleful Polymorph spell. Whenever affected by such an effect, she may make one Fortitude save per round as a free action to remove it. If the effect reduces her Fortitude save bonus or would prevent her from making the save, she may roll the save as though not affected by it.

-Diamond Spirit (Ex): At 14th level, a monk gains added resistance to death spells, magical death effects, energy drain, and negative energy effects (including the saving throw necessary 24 hours after gaining a negative level).
Whenever targeted by such an effect, the monk is entitled to a Fortitude save to negate it (even if she normally would not be), and may add her Wisdom bonus to the saving throw.

-Superior Reflexes (Ex): At 16th level, a monk using a delay action may choose to interrupt another character’s action with her turn (as though she had readied the interruption, although she may use a full round’s worth of actions rather than just a single standard or shorter action.) After the interruption is finished, the interrupted character finishes his action if still able to do so. The monk’s new initiative count becomes that of the interrupted character, and she acts immediately ahead of the interrupted character.

-Resolute Strike (Su): At 17th level, when a monk attacks, with an unarmed strike or natural weapon, a target protected by a deflection bonus, she may make a Will save (DC=10+2Xdeflection bonus). If the save is successful, the attack ignores the deflection bonus. (If the save fails, the attack resolves normally.)

-Greater Diamond Soul: At 18th level, a monk's spell resistance increases by 5, to 15+class level.

-Empty Body is improved: While ethereal, the monk may use Abundant Step at will, but each usage counts as an extra round spent ethereal. The ethereal state may be entered or exited as a free action.

The goal is that (especially at higher levels) a monk can easily defeat a wizard of equal level.

Thoughts?

NeoSeraphi
2011-07-22, 10:58 AM
Soulspell: What's the DC of the Will save? (Dispels usually don't allow a saving throw)

Otherwise, it looks good. Do any of these replace the monk's class features? After all, the monk already gets no dead levels. Are you just piling all of this ontop of that?

Yitzi
2011-07-22, 11:45 AM
Soulspell: What's the DC of the Will save? (Dispels usually don't allow a saving throw)

But the same formula as normal would indicate what it is; still, probably a good idea to put it in.


Otherwise, it looks good. Do any of these replace the monk's class features? After all, the monk already gets no dead levels. Are you just piling all of this ontop of that?

Yes, it's on top; while the monk has no dead levels, he does have some pretty-close-to-dead levels, and could use the boost (and the casters could use the hit.)

erictheredd
2011-07-24, 01:29 PM
This looks pretty strong. I am sitting here trying to think of how a wizard preparing for a monk is going to have a good chance at.

The wizard still has exellent mobility, which the monk doesn't quite have at the same level.

I don't know which spells don't require a saving throw, but that is going to be the only thing that can stop this monk that a wizard can throw, and a lot of catagories of spells are effectively gone. vs a wizard, the monk charges in, the wizard get scared and flees the monk while decimating his allies. leaving the monk and the wizard.

The thing the monk doesn't protect against now (directly) is if the caster decides to summon creatures or go into the fight in a superbuffed state (or is a druid in wildshape). of course, the monk is a warrior and can fight them, but They have no specific defense vs. that kind of attack.

Yitzi
2011-07-24, 03:08 PM
This looks pretty strong. I am sitting here trying to think of how a wizard preparing for a monk is going to have a good chance at.

Hire a fighter.


The wizard still has exellent mobility, which the monk doesn't quite have at the same level.

Yes, at low levels the wizard has slightly higher mobility...of course, Soulspell allows the monk to use Winged Boots or potions without worrying too much about the effect being dispelled.


I don't know which spells don't require a saving throw

Mainly (at least in core) those that require a touch attack.
Which the monk also has very high.

And even that is going to turn problematic once he gets SR.


The thing the monk doesn't protect against now (directly) is if the caster decides to summon creatures

A monk's Flurry of Blows is quite good at dealing with large numbers of weak enemies such as summons...it'll slow him down, but not stop him. And of course summoning takes 1 round, leaving the wizard open to disruption. It's probably his best bet, but it's still a very long shot.


or go into the fight in a superbuffed state (or is a druid in wildshape).

Of course, I've been weakening some of the more powerful buffs (including wildshape), so the wizard will still have quite a bit of trouble. The druid might be able to pull it off, though; druids aren't countered by the monk as well as wizards are, but conversely will probably lose to wizards in a straight-up fight and won't win as strongly against the fighter.