Oh, Monkday was yesterday? Sorry I'm late...

[Segev]

Yet another attempt at a homebrew "fix" for the monk. I have tried to make his powers synergize more. I might have gone overboard on his numbers, but I am not sure of that. I've also attempted to improve existing powers so they are the level of wuxia awe that I think they were looking to evoke, while magnifying his options to allow him to participate in useful ways outside of combat.

Apologies in advance for the table section being screwed up.

Anything not listed is meant to remain functioning as it is presented in the d20 hypertext srd.




Level BAB Saves Special Unarmed AC Speed
Fort Ref Will Damage
1st +0 +2 +2 +2 Bonus feat, flurry of blows, unarmed strike 1d6 +1 +0 ft.
2nd +1 +3 +3 +3 Bonus feat, evasion 1d6 +1 +0 ft.
3rd +2 +3 +3 +3 Ki Pool, Kiai, Still mind 1d6 +2 +10 ft.
4th +3 +4 +4 +4 Ki strike (magic), Feather Step 1d8 +2 +10 ft.
5th +3 +4 +4 +4 Purity of body 1d8 +3 +10 ft.
6th +4 +5 +5 +5 Bonus feat, Improved Feather Step 1d8 +3 +20 ft.
7th +5 +5 +5 +5 Wholeness of body 1d8 +4 +20 ft.
8th +6/+1 +6 +6 +6 Greater Feather Step 1d10 +4 +20 ft.
9th +6/+1 +6 +6 +6 Improved evasion 1d10 +5 +30 ft.
10th +7/+2 +7 +7 +7 Ki strike (material) 1d10 +5 +30 ft.
11th +8/+3 +7 +7 +7 Diamond body, greater flurry 1d10 +6 +30 ft.
12th +9/+4 +8 +8 +8 Abundant step (standard) 1d12 +6 +40 ft.
13th +9/+4 +8 +8 +8 Diamond soul 1d12 +7 +40 ft.
14th +10/+5 +9 +9 +9 Abundant step (move) 1d12 +7 +40 ft.
15th +11/+6/+1 +9 +9 +9 Quivering palm 1d12 +8 +50 ft.
16th +12/+7/+2 +10 +10 +10 Ki Sense 1d20 +8 +50 ft.
17th +12/+7/+2 +10 +10 +10 Timeless body, tongue of the sun and moon 1d20 +9 +50 ft.
18th +13/+8/+3 +11 +11 +11 Abundant Step (swift), Strike Without Thought 1d20 +9 +60 ft.
19th +14/+9/+4 +11 +11 +11 Empty body 1d20 +10 +60 ft.
20th +15/+10/+5 +12 +12 +12 Perfect self, No Step 2d20 +10 +60 ft.

Flurry of Blows (Ex): When unarmed or using a special monk weapon, a monk may elect to make a flurry of blows when he makes a full attack. Doing so gives him one additional attack at his highest base attack bonus. A monk may perform a flurry of blows in light armor, but medium or heavier armor interferes with the full-body motion required to bring all the required striking surfaces to bear at the right moments.

Unarmed Strike (Ex): A monk is trained to use his whole body as a weapon. When fighting unarmed, he does not provoke attacks of opportunity for making unarmed strikes and deals lethal damage with a die type as indicated in the table based on his level. A monk may, of course, choose to do his normal unarmed or natural weapon damage, instead, but natural weapons are not normally considered unarmed strikes nor special monk weapons. His unarmed strikes are enchanted as a single natural weapon, and are not normally suitable targets for the Craft Magic Arms and Armor feat (but Warforged may take a feat to enable themselves to be so enchanted). The monk chooses with each strike whether it counts as bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing. This class feature can substitute for Improved Unarmed Strike in anything that requires that feat as a prerequisite.

Bonus Speed (Su): Starting at third level, when a monk is unarmored, he gains the ability to move with greater alacrity than normal. At any time on his turn (even in the middle of a full attack), he may move as a free action, so long as his total movement taken as a free action does not exceed the distance listed. This movement may be in any movement mode, and is considered an enhancement bonus to his speed. If he has an enhancement bonus from another source, he may use that as his limit to his free movement in a given round instead; he cannot, however, combine his free movement and normal movement such that it would cause him to move faster than his highest enhancement bonus would normally permit.

AC Bonus (Ex): Monks train body and mind to toughen and work together as one contiguous whole. They add their Constitution bonus as an armor (not natural armor) bonus to their AC, and their Wisdom bonus as an insight bonus to their AC. A monk wielding a shield loses this insight bonus. In addition, when unarmored, a monk adds 1 plus half his monk level as a dodge bonus to his AC.

Ki Pool (Ex): Starting at third level, a monk gains a pool of Ki points equal to his monk level. These points can be channelled in a number of ways. Once channeled, ki remains spent until the monk takes a standard action to re-center himself. This provokes attacks of opportunity, and restores up to his Wisdom bonus or Constitution bonus in ki points (his choice).

Kiai (Su): With a loud vocal accompaniment, the monk may channel his ki along with his breath into his strikes. For one round, for every point of ki spent in this fashion, his Unarmed Strikes deal an additional die of damage. A kiai takes no action of its own, but must accompany each blow landed during the round. If the monk is silenced for any reason, he does not gain the bonus damage. Without the vocal accompaniment, the follow-through is simply not there.

Still Mind (Su): Focusing his ki inwards, the monk grasps a moment of calm to react with practiced placidity in even the harshest of circumstances. As an immediate action, he may spend up to one third his monk level in ki points to add an insight bonus to one save equal to twice the ki points spent. This bonus lasts until the monk re-centers himself to regain ki.

Ki Strike, magic (Su): As a swift action, the monk may channel ki into his unarmed strike to cause it to act as a magic weapon. His unarmed strike gains an enhancement bonus equal to the number of ki points spent, and it lasts until the monk re-centers himself to regain ki. He may assign equivalent enchantments instead of enhancement bonuses as if forging a new magic melee weapon. He may, under no circumstances, have more than a +5 enhancement bonus to his unarmed strike, and may not have more than one quarter his monk level in equivalent enchantments. Axiomatic is the only alignment-based property he may apply through this class feature. SPECIAL NOTE: Because his whole body is the weapon, if he assigns Throwing, he flings himself bodily to the target and lands within the target's space, unless he also has the Returning tag (which would cause him to rebound back to his original location). This should be used as a guideline for how to handle any similarly odd-for-a-body enchantments.

Feather Step (Su): The DC for a monk of 4th level or higher to balance on liquids and other surfaces which cannot support him is only 10. (For most non-monks, this is an epic usage of the skill which requires a DC 90 check.) As usual, the monk may accept a -5 penalty to this balance check in order to move at his full speed, and must make a balance check for each increment of his movement speed (or fraction thereof) he travels. Feather Step may only be performed while wearing no armor.

Purity of Body (Sp): At 5th level, the monk casts Cure Disease on himself each time he re-centers himself. At 11th level, he also casts Cure Poison and Delay Poison on himself each time he re-centers himself. All of these effects have a caster level equal to his monk level.

Improved Feather Step (Su): A monk of 6th level or higher can push off of surfaces from a distance, allowing him to jump or climb as long as he is within 5 ft. per monk level of any surface capable of supporting his weight. He may use balance in conjunction with Feather Step to expand the definition of "surfaces capable of supporting his weight." Improved Feather Step may only be performed while wearing no armor.

Wholeness of Body (Su): When a monk of 7th level or higher re-centers himself to recover ki, he likewise recovers a number of hit points equal to the ki he recovers. He may also channel ki as an immediate action to gain 5 temporary hp for each ki point so spent. These temporary hit points (if not used up) last until the next time he re-centers himself.

Greater Feather Step (Su): At 8th level, a monk's Feather Step becomes so instinctive that, as long as his only movement is through his free Monk bonus speed, his hands and feet remain unoccupied while climbing, jumping, and balancing and he may act normally even while apparently hanging in or flying through empty air. He still needs to maintain the proper proximity to his supporting surface, and still must succeed on relevant checks (most particularly balance, climb, and jump), but in general has the freedom to act as if he had a Fly speed equal to his enhancement bonus to speed with Good maneuverability.

Ki Strike, material (Ex): By 10th level, a monk has learned to strike any target with the full force of his art. By spending ki points as part of an attack, the monk's unarmed strikes pierce damage reduction as if they were made with weapons crafted out of any any one material per ki point spent that the monk chooses to assign. So, if he spent two ki points, his strikes might count as being made with alchemical silver and adamantine. Another ki point could add cold iron. These material properties last until the monk next re-centers himself.

Diamond Body (Su): An 11th level monk has learned to channel his ki in harmony with his body's defensive characteristics. He may channel his ki as an immediate action into giving himself an enhancement bonus to his armor class. He may, following the rules for crafting magical armor, substitute enhancement bonuses for equivalent armor enchantments which will apply to his own skin. He may never have more than a +5 enhancement bonus to his armor class in this way, nor may he have more than 1/4 his monk level in equivalent enhancement bonus due to armor enchantments. This ki-induced "magical armor" property to his body lasts until he re-centers himself to regain ki.

Greater Flurry (Ex): When performing a flurry of blows, a monk of 11th level or higher gains another extra attack at his highest base attack bonus.

Abundant Step (Su): As a standard action, a 12th level monk can slip magically between spaces, as if he had cast Dimension Door. The caster level for this effect is equal to his monk level, but the distance travelled is limited to 10 ft. per ki point channeled into the effect. Unlike the spell, the monk may act normally once he arrives at his destination. He CAN bring along passengers as per the spell. At 14th level, it can be performed as a Move action. At 18th level, it can be performed as a Swift action.

Diamond Soul (Su): A 13th level monk gains Spell Resistance equal to 10 plus his monk level. The monk may align his ki with friendly spellcasters by channeling one ki point per caster he wishes to designate. This takes a standard action and requires the casters in question to be within 5 ft. per monk level. Each such designated caster may ignore his spell resistance. This designation lasts until the monk next re-centers himself to regain ki.

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 must announce her intent before making her attack roll. If the monk strikes successfully (whether the target takes damage from the blow or not), the quivering palm attack succeeds. No matter the distance or planes separating the monk from the target, when next she re-centers herself to regain ki, as long as the attempt is made within a number of days equal to her monk level, she may choose to attempt to end the target's existence. Unless the target makes a Fortitude saving throw (DC 10 + ½ the monk’s level + the number of ki points the monk had unchanneled before re-centering), it dies. If the target is immune to critical hits, it instead takes a number of d12s of damage equal to the monk's level. If the saving throw is successful, the target is treated as if it were immune to critical hits and takes half damage.

Ki Sense (Su): Blind masters are most commonly monks of 16th level or higher. At this point, the monk can channel his ki as a swift action to gain Blindsight out to 5 ft. per point so channeled. If he has Blind Fighting, he gains Blindsense out to a distance of 5 ft. per monk level even without channelling ki into it. This blindsight remains until he next re-centers himself.

Timeless Insight (Su): Younger monks may not yet have the wisdom their eventual age will grant them, and older monks might have become infirm before they mastered their bodies. A monk of 17th level or higher may channel ki into his mental ability scores to gain an insight bonus to them equal to the number of points spent. The sum of this bonus and bonuses due to old age cannot exceed +3. If the monk is suffering penalties to his physical ability scores due to age, he may channel ki to gain an insight bonus up to a value equal to those penalties in order to off-set them. These bonuses last until the monk next re-centers himself to regain ki.

Act Without Thought (Ex): At 18th level, a monk gains the ability to take immediate actions that do not cost him his next swift action. To do so, he must merely channel one ki point per such immediate action. He may thus take more than one immediate action per round, so long as he has his next swift action or any ki points remaining. He may also spend ki points to take attacks of opportunity provoked when he had none left.

Empty Body (Su): At 19th level, a monk gains the ability to assume an ethereal state, as though using the spell etherealness. She must channel 1 ki point during her turn each round she wishes to become or remain ethereal. Becoming material or ethereal is a free action, but each time she becomes ethereal it costs another ki point.

Perfect Self (Ex): At 20th level, a monk's body transcends mortality. He no longer needs to eat, drink, or breathe. He will no longer die when "his time is up," though his type changes to Outsider[Native][Law]. He gains the ability to Plane Shift as a supernatural ability each time he re-centers himself to regain ki, and gains immunity to environmental traits of planes as if he were a native thereof. He may apply his spell resistance even to Supernatural effects (treating their caster level, if none is specified, as the hit dice of the creature who created the supernatural effect. If there is no such creature, then the monk may treat it as having CL 0 and automatically overcome it with his SR).

No Step (Su): The ultimate evolution of the monk's Feather Step is to move with the essence of creation itself. He no longer needs to make skill checks to move freely in any direction he wishes. He may act as if under the effects of Air Walk or as if he has a fly speed equal to his fastest movement speed (with Good maneuverability) as he chooses. As a consequence, the monk is immune to being tripped and suffers no penalties from being prone (though he may still benefit from the state if his player determines some mechanic thereof to be helpful at any given point in time).

Thoughts and criticisms welcome. I am particularly interested in high-level theory as applied to any areas that keep this from being at least Tier 3 in flexibility. What is it missing?

I'm also open to criticism that I've made it overpowered, particularly in numbers, but would appreciate some analysis and guide as to what pushes it "too high" and where better to aim.

Thanks!

[Talya]

I honestly think you could combine most of the class features of monk and swordsage together, keep the swordsage maneuver progression, and you'd be fine, balance-wise. The Warblade and Crusader are still better, and you're still tier 3.

[Segev]

I honestly think you could combine most of the class features of monk and swordsage together, keep the swordsage maneuver progression, and you'd be fine, balance-wise. The Warblade and Crusader are still better, and you're still tier 3.

Perhaps, but you'll note that this isn't touching on martial adepts at all. It's meant to be a revamp of the existing class, not a cobble-together of two classes.

[turkishproverb]

Not a fan of the complete removal of non-combat abilities from the monk. Always saw it as more a rogue niche class than a fighter niche one.

[Segev]

Not a fan of the complete removal of non-combat abilities from the monk. Always saw it as more a rogue niche class than a fighter niche one.

I'm not sure I follow. What non-combat abilities are you seeing as being removed?

[Iolaus]

I like it, though I have to admit I don't see any trimming of the MAD in this build.

I do admit that the adding Con and Wis helps with AC, allowing them to count their unarmed strikes as natural weapons for enhancement is nice, though I would have ruled them as simple weapons and had them count as masterwork with the monk needing to pay the gold for special herbs and stuff to meditate to awaken their enhancement bonus or whatever. But that is fluff mostly.

I do like the class build a lot. The 2d20 is kinda insane at high levels but it makes sense. I would have made it a 1d8 to start, build in the monk's belt mechanic since every monk needs that or else they cannot survive.

A way to add more damage would be nice outside of the dice roll. Perhaps a Wis to hit and a dex to damage would be a nice compliment.

But like the poster above me I noticed nothing that helps the monks issues outside of combat.

[turkishproverb]

I'm not sure I follow. What non-combat abilities are you seeing as being removed?

Offhand?

Slow Fall (Ex)


Tongue of the Sun and Moon (Ex)



Also, Still mind is now utterly useless as a scout, as it helps not a bit against magic as a regular occurrence.


All very useful (oddly high level you get some of them aside) for a monk who's not a fighter-substitute.



In addition, your re-do's of the various immunities significantly weaken them, especially for someone performing checks and scouting as opposed to relying on "healing" from such problems. Now they all require the character re-centering to heal when originally they didn't do the damage at all. So the monk can lose dex to a trap, but it's fine because they can heal the poison before it does additional damage. Even if you assume it would heal damage already done to stats (no reason to believe it would for many spells and/or poisons, instead just curing the disorder so it doesn't do more damage) that makes it significantly worse than the old methodology.


Further, while I know it's normal for Ki, the mix of abilities you have makes it a bad thing with half of them to center oneself, and a good thing on the other half.

[Segev]

I like it, though I have to admit I don't see any trimming of the MAD in this build.

I do admit that the adding Con and Wis helps with AC,
The goal here was to make them able to use either Con or Wis, and if they went MAD to be even better, rather than making them have to multifocus. It could probably use some work, there, still, though.

[QUOTE=Iolaus;17158946]allowing them to count their unarmed strikes as natural weapons for enhancement is nice, though I would have ruled them as simple weapons and had them count as masterwork with the monk needing to pay the gold for special herbs and stuff to meditate to awaken their enhancement bonus or whatever. But that is fluff mostly.The original rules treated them as natural AND manufactured weapons, whichever is better or best as the player sees it on a case-by-case basis. This leads to some silly stuff, and I was trying to minimize that. The monks can't enchant their hands as permanent items anymore (though I leave the door open for a warforged to have a feat that might allow this), but their ki strike ability lets them have one of the most versatile weapon enhancement sets around.


I do like the class build a lot.Thanks!


The 2d20 is kinda insane at high levels but it makes sense. I would have made it a 1d8 to start, build in the monk's belt mechanic since every monk needs that or else they cannot survive.Maybe. Note that the Kiai means that the 2d20 is only basically a free 1-ki-point kiai on every attack, as it doesn't actually double the damage of additional ki points spent towards it. A monk spending 10 ki points on kiai at level 20 would do 12d20 damage per hit (2d20 base, plus 10d20 more). Very high damage.

I admit that this is in no small part because I always loved the d20s of damage at the top end of monk damage back in 1e AD&D.


A way to add more damage would be nice outside of the dice roll. Perhaps a Wis to hit and a dex to damage would be a nice compliment.If they want bonuses to hit, they can get them through Ki Strike enhancement bonuses. That'd be flat +X to damage, too. They can also add d6s of elemental damage with 1 ki point each.


But like the poster above me I noticed nothing that helps the monks issues outside of combat.I'll address that in his response below!


Offhand?

Slow Fall (Ex)


Tongue of the Sun and Moon (Ex)Feather Step is a deliberate replacement for Slow Fall. I probably should have said as much, because my response to the Tongue of the Sun and Moon is that I noted that anything not listed stayed the same as in monk. I'll go back and edit that to re-include the direct ports to make it clearer. My apologies there.

But the Feather Step and its Improved and Greater versions are meant to replace Slow Fall with far greater movement capability. While it's definitely useful for movement in combat (and is very much wire-fu inspired), it is rather potent for scouting purposes, too, I think.

As I said, Tongue of Sun and Moon isn't removed; it was just so unaltered that I didn't include it. I'll go back and fix that.


Also, Still mind is now utterly useless as a scout, as it helps not a bit against magic as a regular occurrence.Still Mind is now useful against anything that allows a save; its weakness is only present in that you might be hit by different saves on the same round before you can throw extra ki points to buff them all.

Still Mind, as it was, basically only applied to Will saves, because Enchantment effects pretty much only ran those. And since it was only against Enchantment effects, it didn't help against most of the hazards that are out there.

Throw a ki point at each of the saves and you have a blanket +2 to all of them, and that's flat-out better than +2 to saves against spells of the enchantment school.



All very useful (oddly high level you get some of them aside) for a monk who's not a fighter-substitute.Agreed! I was trying to improve on them, not remove them.


In addition, your re-do's of the various immunities significantly weaken them, especially for someone performing checks and scouting as opposed to relying on "healing" from such problems. Now they all require the character re-centering to heal when originally they didn't do the damage at all. So the monk can lose dex to a trap, but it's fine because they can heal the poison before it does additional damage. Even if you assume it would heal damage already done to stats (no reason to believe it would for many spells and/or poisons, instead just curing the disorder so it doesn't do more damage) that makes it significantly worse than the old methodology.Yeah, I think I should probably just go back to the immunities. Trying to tie it to ki points was a mistake. Overcomplicated for lesser effect.



Further, while I know it's normal for Ki, the mix of abilities you have makes it a bad thing with half of them to center oneself, and a good thing on the other half.That's deliberate. Monks are meant to re-center themselves periodically as a tactical move; it allows them to shift their focus around and it lets them trigger some abilities, but it also costs them their current assortment of ki assignments.

[Segev]

Made a few adjustments based on comments above, including a major simplification and alteration to Flurry of Blows.


Level BAB Saves Special Unarmed AC Speed
Fort Ref Will Damage
1st +0 +2 +2 +2 Bonus feat, flurry of blows, unarmed strike 1d6 +1 +0 ft.
2nd +1 +3 +3 +3 Bonus feat, evasion 1d6 +1 +0 ft.
3rd +2 +3 +3 +3 Fast Movement, Ki Pool, Kiai, Still mind 1d6 +2 +10 ft.
4th +3 +4 +4 +4 Ki strike (magic), Feather Step 1d8 +2 +10 ft.
5th +3 +4 +4 +4 Purity of body (disease) 1d8 +3 +10 ft.
6th +4 +5 +5 +5 Bonus feat, Improved Feather Step 1d8 +3 +20 ft.
7th +5 +5 +5 +5 Wholeness of body 1d8 +4 +20 ft.
8th +6/+1 +6 +6 +6 Greater Feather Step 1d10 +4 +20 ft.
9th +6/+1 +6 +6 +6 Improved evasion 1d10 +5 +30 ft.
10th +7/+2 +7 +7 +7 Ki strike (material) 1d10 +5 +30 ft.
11th +8/+3 +7 +7 +7 Purity of Body (poison), Diamond body, 1d10 +6 +30 ft.
greater flurry
12th +9/+4 +8 +8 +8 Abundant step (standard) 1d12 +6 +40 ft.
13th +9/+4 +8 +8 +8 Diamond soul 1d12 +7 +40 ft.
14th +10/+5 +9 +9 +9 Abundant step (move) 1d12 +7 +40 ft.
15th +11/+6/+1 +9 +9 +9 Quivering palm 1d12 +8 +50 ft.
16th +12/+7/+2 +10 +10 +10 Ki Sense 1d20 +8 +50 ft.
17th +12/+7/+2 +10 +10 +10 Timeless body, tongue of the sun and moon 1d20 +9 +50 ft.
18th +13/+8/+3 +11 +11 +11 Abundant Step (swift), Strike Without Thought 1d20 +9 +60 ft.
19th +14/+9/+4 +11 +11 +11 Empty body 1d20 +10 +60 ft.
20th +15/+10/+5 +12 +12 +12 Perfect self, No Step 2d20 +10 +60 ft.

Flurry of Blows (Ex): When unarmed or using a special monk weapon, a monk may make a full attack as a standard action, rather than a full-round action.

Unarmed Strike (Ex): A monk is trained to use his whole body as a weapon. When fighting unarmed, he does not provoke attacks of opportunity for making unarmed strikes and deals lethal damage with a die type as indicated in the table based on his level. A monk may, of course, choose to do his normal unarmed or natural weapon damage, instead, but natural weapons are not normally considered unarmed strikes nor special monk weapons. His unarmed strikes are enchanted as a single natural weapon, and are not normally suitable targets for the Craft Magic Arms and Armor feat (but Warforged may take a feat to enable themselves to be so enchanted). The monk chooses with each strike whether it counts as bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing. This class feature can substitute for Improved Unarmed Strike in anything that requires that feat as a prerequisite.

Fast Movement (Ex): At 3rd level, a monk gains a bonus to her speed, as shown in the table. This bonus only applies while she wears no armor.

AC Bonus (Ex): Monks train body and mind to toughen and work together as one contiguous whole. They add their Constitution bonus as an armor (not natural armor) bonus to their AC, and their Wisdom bonus as an insight bonus to their AC. A monk wielding a shield loses this insight bonus. In addition, when unarmored, a monk adds 1 plus half his monk level as a dodge bonus to his AC.

Bonus Feat: At 1st level, a monk may 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.

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.

Ki Pool (Ex): Starting at third level, a monk gains a pool of Ki points equal to his monk level. These points can be channelled in a number of ways. Once channeled, ki remains spent until the monk takes a standard action to re-center himself. This provokes attacks of opportunity, and restores up to his Wisdom bonus or Constitution bonus in ki points (his choice).

Kiai (Su): With a loud vocal accompaniment, the monk may channel his ki along with his breath into his strikes. For one round, for every point of ki spent in this fashion, his Unarmed Strikes deal an additional die of damage. A kiai takes no action of its own, but must accompany each blow landed during the round. If the monk is silenced for any reason, he does not gain the bonus damage. Without the vocal accompaniment, the follow-through is simply not there.

Still Mind (Su): Focusing his ki inwards, the monk grasps a moment of calm to react with practiced placidity in even the harshest of circumstances. As an immediate action, he may spend up to one third his monk level in ki points to add an insight bonus to one save or class skill equal to twice the ki points spent. This bonus lasts until the monk re-centers himself to regain ki.

Ki Strike, magic (Su): As a swift action, the monk may channel ki into his unarmed strike to cause it to act as a magic weapon. His unarmed strike gains an enhancement bonus equal to the number of ki points spent, and it lasts until the monk re-centers himself to regain ki. He may assign equivalent enchantments instead of enhancement bonuses as if forging a new magic melee weapon. He may, under no circumstances, have more than a +5 enhancement bonus to his unarmed strike, and may not have more than one quarter his monk level in equivalent enchantments. Axiomatic is the only alignment-based property he may apply through this class feature. SPECIAL NOTE: Because his whole body is the weapon, if he assigns Throwing, he flings himself bodily to the target and lands within the target's space, unless he also has the Returning tag (which would cause him to rebound back to his original location). This should be used as a guideline for how to handle any similarly odd-for-a-body enchantments.

Feather Step (Su): The DC for a monk of 4th level or higher to balance on liquids and other surfaces which cannot support him is only 10. (For most non-monks, this is an epic usage of the skill which requires a DC 90 check.) As usual, the monk may accept a -5 penalty to this balance check in order to move at his full speed, and must make a balance check for each increment of his movement speed (or fraction thereof) he travels. Feather Step may only be performed while wearing no armor.

Purity of Body (Ex): At 5th level, a monk gains immunity poisons of all kinds and to all diseases except for supernatural and magical diseases.

Improved Feather Step (Su): A monk of 6th level or higher can push off of surfaces from a distance, allowing him to jump or climb as long as he is within 5 ft. per monk level of any surface capable of supporting his weight. He may use balance in conjunction with Feather Step to expand the definition of "surfaces capable of supporting his weight." Improved Feather Step may only be performed while wearing no armor.

Wholeness of Body (Su): When a monk of 7th level or higher re-centers himself to recover ki, he likewise recovers a number of hit points equal to the ki he recovers. He may also channel ki as an immediate action to gain 5 temporary hp for each ki point so spent. These temporary hit points (if not used up) last until the next time he re-centers himself.

Greater Feather Step (Su): At 8th level, a monk's Feather Step becomes so instinctive that, as long as his only movement is through his free Monk bonus speed, his hands and feet remain unoccupied while climbing, jumping, and balancing and he may act normally even while apparently hanging in or flying through empty air. He still needs to maintain the proper proximity to his supporting surface, and still must succeed on relevant checks (most particularly balance, climb, and jump), but in general has the freedom to act as if he had a Fly speed equal to his enhancement bonus to speed with Good maneuverability.

Ki Strike, material (Ex): By 10th level, a monk has learned to strike any target with the full force of his art. By spending ki points as part of an attack, the monk's unarmed strikes pierce damage reduction as if they were made with weapons crafted out of any any one material per ki point spent that the monk chooses to assign. So, if he spent two ki points, his strikes might count as being made with alchemical silver and adamantine. Another ki point could add cold iron. These material properties last until the monk next re-centers himself.

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): An 11th level monk has learned to channel his ki in harmony with his body's defensive characteristics. He may channel his ki as an immediate action into giving himself an enhancement bonus to his armor class. He may, following the rules for crafting magical armor, substitute enhancement bonuses for equivalent armor enchantments which will apply to his own skin. He may never have more than a +5 enhancement bonus to his armor class in this way, nor may he have more than 1/4 his monk level in equivalent enhancement bonus due to armor enchantments. This ki-induced "magical armor" property to his body lasts until he re-centers himself to regain ki.

Greater Flurry (Ex): When performing a flurry of blows, a monk of 11th level or higher gains an extra attack at his highest base attack bonus.

Abundant Step (Su): As a standard action, a 12th level monk can slip magically between spaces, as if he had cast Dimension Door. The caster level for this effect is equal to his monk level, but the distance travelled is limited to 10 ft. per ki point channeled into the effect. Unlike the spell, the monk may act normally once he arrives at his destination. He CAN bring along passengers as per the spell. At 14th level, it can be performed as a Move action. At 18th level, it can be performed as a Swift action.

Diamond Soul (Su): A 13th level monk gains Spell Resistance equal to 10 plus his monk level. The monk may align his ki with friendly spellcasters by channeling one ki point per caster he wishes to designate. This takes a standard action and requires the casters in question to be within 5 ft. per monk level. Each such designated caster may ignore his spell resistance. This designation lasts until the monk next re-centers himself to regain ki.

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 must announce her intent before making her attack roll. If the monk strikes successfully (whether the target takes damage from the blow or not), the quivering palm attack succeeds. No matter the distance or planes separating the monk from the target, when next she re-centers herself to regain ki, as long as the attempt is made within a number of days equal to her monk level, she may choose to attempt to end the target's existence. Unless the target makes a Fortitude saving throw (DC 10 + ½ the monk’s level + the number of ki points the monk had unchanneled before re-centering), it dies. If the target is immune to critical hits, it instead takes a number of d12s of damage equal to the monk's level. If the saving throw is successful, the target is treated as if it were immune to critical hits and takes half damage.

Ki Sense (Su): Blind masters are most commonly monks of 16th level or higher. At this point, the monk can channel his ki as a swift action to gain Blindsight out to 5 ft. per point so channeled. If he has Blind Fighting, he gains Blindsense out to a distance of 5 ft. per monk level even without channelling ki into it. This blindsight remains until he next re-centers himself.

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.

Timeless Insight (Su): Younger monks may not yet have the wisdom their eventual age will grant them, and older monks might have become infirm before they mastered their bodies. A monk of 17th level or higher may channel ki into his mental ability scores to gain an insight bonus to them equal to the number of points spent. The sum of this bonus and bonuses due to old age cannot exceed +3. If the monk is suffering penalties to his physical ability scores due to age, he may channel ki to gain an insight bonus up to a value equal to those penalties in order to off-set them. These bonuses last until the monk next re-centers himself to regain ki.

Tongue of the Sun and Moon (Ex): A monk of 17th level or higher can speak with any living creature.

Act Without Thought (Ex): At 18th level, a monk gains the ability to take immediate actions that do not cost him his next swift action. To do so, he must merely channel one ki point per such immediate action. He may thus take more than one immediate action per round, so long as he has his next swift action or any ki points remaining. He may also spend ki points to take attacks of opportunity provoked when he had none left.

Empty Body (Su): At 19th level, a monk gains the ability to assume an ethereal state, as though using the spell etherealness. She must channel 1 ki point during her turn each round she wishes to become or remain ethereal. Becoming material or ethereal is a free action, but each time she becomes ethereal it costs another ki point.

Perfect Self (Ex): At 20th level, a monk's body transcends mortality. He no longer needs to eat, drink, or breathe. He will no longer die when "his time is up," though his type changes to Outsider[Native][Law]. He gains the ability to Plane Shift as a supernatural ability each time he re-centers himself to regain ki, and gains immunity to environmental traits of planes as if he were a native thereof. He may apply his spell resistance even to Supernatural effects (treating their caster level, if none is specified, as the hit dice of the creature who created the supernatural effect. If there is no such creature, then the monk may treat it as having CL 0 and automatically overcome it with his SR). He also becomes immune to even magical diseases.

No Step (Su): The ultimate evolution of the monk's Feather Step is to move with the essence of creation itself. He no longer needs to make skill checks to move freely in any direction he wishes. He may act as if under the effects of Air Walk or as if he has a fly speed equal to his fastest movement speed (with Good maneuverability) as he chooses. As a consequence, the monk is immune to being tripped and suffers no penalties from being prone (though he may still benefit from the state if his player determines some mechanic thereof to be helpful at any given point in time).

[turkishproverb]

Feather Step is a deliberate replacement for Slow Fall. I probably should have said as much, because my response to the Tongue of the Sun and Moon is that I noted that anything not listed stayed the same as in monk. I'll go back and edit that to re-include the direct ports to make it clearer. My apologies there.

But the Feather Step and its Improved and Greater versions are meant to replace Slow Fall with far greater movement capability. While it's definitely useful for movement in combat (and is very much wire-fu inspired), it is rather potent for scouting purposes, too, I think.

The thing is, as I read it, they don't help with falls as appreciably. Might need to re-evaluate my interpretation of that.



As I said, Tongue of Sun and Moon isn't removed; it was just so unaltered that I didn't include it. I'll go back and fix that.

Fair enough


Still Mind is now useful against anything that allows a save; its weakness is only present in that you might be hit by different saves on the same round before you can throw extra ki points to buff them all.

Still Mind, as it was, basically only applied to Will saves, because Enchantment effects pretty much only ran those. And since it was only against Enchantment effects, it didn't help against most of the hazards that are out there.

Throw a ki point at each of the saves and you have a blanket +2 to all of them, and that's flat-out better than +2 to saves against spells of the enchantment school.

]There are two big differences though. 1: Now you have to spend Ki to do it, and 2: it's, again, not constant. They have to constantly choose to add it, rather than gaining the saves automatically.



Agreed! I was trying to improve on them, not remove them.

Ok. I read it differently, I guess.


Yeah, I think I should probably just go back to the immunities. Trying to tie it to ki points was a mistake. Overcomplicated for lesser effect.

That's certainly the result.


That's deliberate. Monks are meant to re-center themselves periodically as a tactical move; it allows them to shift their focus around and it lets them trigger some abilities, but it also costs them their current assortment of ki assignments.

Thought so, just pointing it out.


I'd probably give the monk more skill points, something you don't adress at all, and try to reduce the MAD more. maybe wisdom mod to to-hit after a certain point? Or wisdom mod to damage? Either would be justifiable fluff wise.

[Segev]

The thing is, as I read it, they don't help with falls as appreciably. Might need to re-evaluate my interpretation of that. Well, if you can climb, balance, and jump on thin air as long as you're within X distance of a supporting surface, you're not really going to have to worry about falls. Picture the wire-fu end-a-fall-two-inches-from-the-ground-by-recovering-your-balance sort of behavior.


There are two big differences though. 1: Now you have to spend Ki to do it, and 2: it's, again, not constant. They have to constantly choose to add it, rather than gaining the saves automatically.Yes, but you can do it pre-emptively if you really care. It does cost ki, but that's only a "cost" in that you have other things you COULD be doing with it. You didn't have the options, before.

I do think it might need more ki than I'm giving it, or options at least that might increase that pool (maybe a feat or two?).



I'd probably give the monk more skill points, something you don't adress at all, and try to reduce the MAD more. maybe wisdom mod to to-hit after a certain point? Or wisdom mod to damage? Either would be justifiable fluff wise.
More skill points is often popular, and I wouldn't argue too strenuously, but it's not my focus for the monk, here.

I do think I should give it a go at reducing MAD some more, but I'm hesitant to do a straight-up "add wis to something" route. I'd rather do something that makes any of their MAD ability scores options, and gives BETTER results but with diminishing returns the more you can focus them.

The Monk has always been MAD in every edition; it's practically a feature of the class. Making it worth it is the trick, I think.

[Segev]

Submitted for consideration: As currently written, the number of ki points is equal to the monk's level in said class. Monk has always been a MAD class by design, and I know that's a problem for it in the 3e environment. It used to be such because it had lots of stat minima one had to meet to even get into it, and Monk was one of the more potent classes in the fighter-friendly 1e AD&D.

I'm thinking of giving a number of bonus ki points equal to the sum of all positive stat mods the character has. This represents the wholeness-of-being aspect fairly well, and gives a relatively large but not geometrically scaling pool of "extra" points.

This means a monk with 16/14/12/10/10/9 would have +3/+2/+1/0/0/-1, or a total of +6 positive stat mod, for 6 bonus ki points.

MAD in that all abilities are giving at least some sort of boost. But not MAD in that they're all REQUIRED. One could still pump just the ones one valued most.

Interaction with temporary bonuses to stats is pretty simple: re-centering can pump them up to the "new" maximum, but any un-channeled ki goes away when the maximum shrinks back down.

[Talya]

Perhaps, but you'll note that this isn't touching on martial adepts at all. It's meant to be a revamp of the existing class, not a cobble-together of two classes.

Oh, I know. I just think it should be.

This may partly be because I hate mana-pool/point style spellcasting. I don't like psionics, I don't like ki points. I don't like the factotum.

I love the maneuver system and think more classes should have it - it plugs in so perfectly to everything - a seamless addition to the d20 system.

(Vancian magic is okay, too, although I like D20's sponaneous casting best.)

[Segev]

I love the maneuver system and think more classes should have it - it plugs in so perfectly to everything - a seamless addition to the d20 system.

While I normally say this with a certain element of disdain, I am not doing so here: You might want to take a look at 4e, as it took the philosophy expressed here to its natural conclusion. Pretty much everything classes do in 4e is a form of the maneuver mechanics. They've been tweaked and expanded to do a little bit more, but the template is pretty clear.


More on-topic, the Ki pool as expressed here doesn't quite behave the same way as the power points for psionics. It's largely a point-for-numbers expenditure to customize the instantaneous abilities of the monk to allow over-time broad versatility but restrict instantaneous versatility to manageable (and challenge-able) levels.

[Seerow]

While I normally say this with a certain element of disdain, I am not doing so here: You might want to take a look at 4e, as it took the philosophy expressed here to its natural conclusion. Pretty much everything classes do in 4e is a form of the maneuver mechanics. They've been tweaked and expanded to do a little bit more, but the template is pretty clear.

Nah, if 4e had actually held to the maneuver mechanics, it would have been a much more interesting game.

Unfortunately 4e does leaves you with around the same number of powers at level 30 as a Swordsage has at level 1. Does not have any way to recharge encounter powers mid combat (leading to very predictable combats as everyone blows all of their powers from highest level to lowest as quickly as possible then spams at wills). Does not give characters access to extra maneuvers they can switch out with between combats. Does not give you passive stances you can switch between to modify all of your actions. Oh and you never get more than one power of the a given level, so any sort of mixing and matching is pretty much out.

4e wasn't bad, but the only way it is similar to ToB is that they both have encounter powers. There is more mechanical diversity in the ToB than there is in the entirety of 4e.