Zaydos
2015-03-31, 11:10 AM
Sublime Monk
So this is a quick monk variant/fix to use martial maneuvers, trying to maintain the things that make monk unique compared to unarmed swordsage while also incorporating initiating more thoroughly than just by tacking on Warblade initiating. Also throwing on more skill points because.
The sublime 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) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), and Tumble (Dex). In addition the Sublime Monk adds the associated skill for each discipline they select to their class skill list if it is not there already.
Skill Points at 1st Level: (6 + Int modifier) × 4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 6 + Int modifier.
HD Type: d8
Level
BAB
Fort
Ref
Will
Special
Maneuvers Known
Maneuvers Readied
Stances
1
+0
+2
+2
+2
AC bonus, Flurry of Blows, Unarmed Strike, Sublime Skill Aptitude
4
3
1
2
+1
+3
+3
+3
Bonus Feat, Evasion
5
3
1
3
+2
+3
+3
+3
Still Mind, Fast Movement +10-ft
6
3
1
4
+3
+4
+4
+4
Ki Strike (Magic), Slow Fall
6
4
1
5
+3
+4
+4
+4
Purity of Body, Bonus Feat, Flurry of Blows (-1)
7
4
2
6
+4
+5
+5
+5
Martial Awareness, Slow Fall 30-ft, Fast Movement +20-ft
7
4
2
7
+5
+5
+5
+5
Wholeness of Body
8
4
2
8
+6/+1
+6
+6
+6
Slow Fall 40-ft, Bonus Feat, Sublime Flurry
8
4
2
9
+6/+1
+6
+6
+6
Improved Evasion, Fast Movement +30-ft, Flurry (+0)
9
4
3
10
+7/+2
+7
+7
+7
Ki Strike (Lawful), Slow Fall 50-ft
9
5
3
11
+8/+3
+7
+7
+7
Diamond Body, Greater Flurry, Timeless Body
10
5
3
12
+9/+4
+8
+8
+8
Abundant Step, Fast Movement +40-ft, Slow Fall 60-ft
10
5
3
13
+9/+4
+8
+8
+8
Diamond Soul, Ki Strike (Adamantine)
11
5
4
14
+10/+5
+9
+9
+9
Sublime Fist, Slow Fall 70-ft
11
5
4
15
+11/+6/+1
+9
+9
+9
Quivering Palm, Fast Movement +50-ft, Greater Sublime Flurry
12
6
4
16
+12/+7/+2
+10
+10
+10
Ki Strike (Overwhelming), Slow Fall 80-ft
12
6
4
17
+12/+7/+2
+10
+10
+10
Ageless Body, Tongue of the Sun and Moon
13
6
5
18
+13/+8/+3
+11
+11
+11
Fast Movement +60ft, Slow Fall 90-ft, Sublime Defense
13
6
5
19
+14/+9/+4
+11
+11
+11
Empty Body
14
6
5
20
+15/+10/+5
+12
+12
+12
Perfect Self, Slow Fall (any distance), Passive Recovery
14
7
5
Abilities that remain unchanged will not be listed below.
Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: A Sublime Monk also gains proficiency in all Simple and Martial Weapons which are discipline weapons for one of their martial disciplines and beginning at 4th level may use any discipline weapon from one of their selected disciplines as a monk special weapon.
Martial Maneuvers: A Sublime Monk gains Martial Maneuvers as listed on the table above, recovering them as a warblade. However they select their martial maneuvers from Stone Dragon and 3 disciplines of their choice. DMs may, of course, choose to restrict certain disciplines from monks (for example I would be unlikely to allow them Star Dream, or a chaos discipline unless I was removing the Lawful alignment restriction).
Flurry of Blows: Flurry of Blows remains unchanged, except a Sublime Monk may expend a martial maneuver to use their Flurry with a normal attack (not a martial strike) which is not part of a full attack.
Sublime Skill Aptitude (Ex): A Sublime Monk gains a bonus to skill checks with the associated skill of any discipline they are in a stance belonging to. They gain either +3 or +1/3 their Sublime Monk level whichever is higher.
Bonus Feat: A Sublime Monk gains bonus feats more slowly than a regular monk. Instead of gaining bonus feats at 1st, 2nd, and 6th, they gain them at 2nd, 5th, and 8th. They may select any of the 1st or 2nd level bonus feats at 2nd, and any of the bonus feats at 5th and 6th.
Still Mind: A Sublime Monk may, as an immediate action, expend a single martial maneuver to increase their saving throw bonus from Still Mind to +6 instead of +2.
Slow Fall: A Sublime Monk may, as an immediate action, expend a single martial maneuver to double the distance they may slow fall. Beginning at 10th level if a Sublime Monk does this they no longer must be within arms reach of a wall to use their slow fall, although it becomes a Supernatural ability if they are not.
Ki Strike: Ki Strike (Adamantine) is gained at an earlier (13th) level. At its original level they instead gain Ki Strike (Overwhelming) which allows their unarmed strikes to ignore damage reduction completely.
Purity of Body: This ability now applies even against supernatural diseases.
Martial Awareness (Ex): A Sublime Monk is supremely aware of themselves on the battlefield adding their Wisdom modifier (if positive) to Initiative checks and opposed checks to resist special combat maneuvers (bull rush, disarm, overrun, sunder, trip), Demoralize attempts, and Feint attempts. This is in addition to whatever they would normally add.
Wholeness of Body: A Sublime Monk may expend a single martial maneuver to use their Wholeness of Body as an immediate action. In addition once per encounter when a Sublime Monk is damaged they may, as an immediate action, expend a martial maneuver to refill their Wholeness of Body pool by 3/4 their class level or the damage dealt (whichever is less); this may not increase the pool to greater than its normal maximum.
Sublime Flurry (Ex): When a Sublime Monk uses a martial strike and are wielding a weapon(s) that may be used to flurry, they may use flurry of blows. They only add 1 additional attack until they gain Greater Sublime Flurry, and may do so as part of a standard action strike, but otherwise it functions as Flurry of Blows. The bonus attacks granted by Flurry of Blows do not gain any benefits from the martial strike (if used along with Mountain Hammer they do not gain +2d6 damage or the ability to overcome DR, for example). Beginning at 15th level a sublime monk adds 2 bonus attacks (as if with Greater Flurry of Blows) with this ability.
Timeless Body (Ex): Is now gained at 11th level.
Abundant Step (Su): Is replaced with the following. A Sublime Monk can slip magically between places, teleporting. As a standard action a Sublime Monk can expend a martial maneuver to teleport a distance equal to their land speed plus the value shown on the table below as a standard action. They may use this ability as long as they have maneuvers to expend, but may only use it without line of effect to their destination a number of times per day equal to 1 + their Wisdom modifier.
Maneuver LevelDistance
1st0-ft
2nd20-ft
3rd50-ft
4th80-ft
5th120-ft
6th170-ft
7th230-ft
8th310-ft
9th420-ft
Diamond Soul: A sublime monk may lower their spell resistance completely as an immediate action by expending one maneuver. In addition they may, also as an immediate action, expend a maneuver to raise it (if it was lowered) and increase it by an amount equal to two plus the expended maneuver's level until the start of their next turn.
Sublime Fist (Su): A sublime monk's unarmed strikes gain an enhancement bonus to attack and damage based upon the level of the lowest level stance they are currently in.
Maneuver LevelDistance
1st-2nd
+4
3rd-4th
+3
5th-6th
+2
7th-8th
+1
9th
+0
Quivering Palm: This ability is now usable 1/day, and if a sublime monk kills a creature with a CR of at least 1/2 their character level with this ability they may recover all maneuvers they have expended as a free action.
Ageless Body (Su): A sublime monk's physical vitality is fed by their wisdom and the harmony with life that age grants, instead of sapped by the wear of time. Beginning at 17th level a sublime monk no longer suffers any aging penalties to ability scores they may have accrued before gaining Timeless Body, and, if they are Old or older, gain a +1 bonus to Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution. In addition a sublime monk may add 1/2 the maximum amount of lifespan for their race past venerable to their maximum lifespan. These benefits are lost in an antimagic field or area of dead magic, which may prove fatal.
Sublime Defense (Ex): Beginning at 18th level a Sublime Monk may, as an immediate action, expend a martial maneuver to gain a dodge bonus to AC against one attack or Insight bonus to one saving throw equal to 3/4 their Sublime Monk level.
Empty Body: A sublime monk may expend martial maneuvers to extend the etherealness granted by this ability. Each maneuver expended, as a free action at the beginning of the monk's turn, prevents that turn from counting against the duration they may remain ethereal. A monk may not use expend a maneuver to prevent the turn they turned ethereal from counting, and while ethereal in this way they may not recover maneuvers expended to maintain their etherealness.
Perfect Self: A monk with this ability no longer dies of old age.
Passive Recovery: Beginning at 20th level a sublime monk may, as a free action, at the end of their turn recover a single maneuver they have expended but have not initiated since the beginning of their previous turn. A maneuver expended to fuel a sublime monk class feature was not initiated and is a valid target for this ability even if it was expended within the last round.
So this is a quick monk variant/fix to use martial maneuvers, trying to maintain the things that make monk unique compared to unarmed swordsage while also incorporating initiating more thoroughly than just by tacking on Warblade initiating. Also throwing on more skill points because.
The sublime 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) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), and Tumble (Dex). In addition the Sublime Monk adds the associated skill for each discipline they select to their class skill list if it is not there already.
Skill Points at 1st Level: (6 + Int modifier) × 4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 6 + Int modifier.
HD Type: d8
Level
BAB
Fort
Ref
Will
Special
Maneuvers Known
Maneuvers Readied
Stances
1
+0
+2
+2
+2
AC bonus, Flurry of Blows, Unarmed Strike, Sublime Skill Aptitude
4
3
1
2
+1
+3
+3
+3
Bonus Feat, Evasion
5
3
1
3
+2
+3
+3
+3
Still Mind, Fast Movement +10-ft
6
3
1
4
+3
+4
+4
+4
Ki Strike (Magic), Slow Fall
6
4
1
5
+3
+4
+4
+4
Purity of Body, Bonus Feat, Flurry of Blows (-1)
7
4
2
6
+4
+5
+5
+5
Martial Awareness, Slow Fall 30-ft, Fast Movement +20-ft
7
4
2
7
+5
+5
+5
+5
Wholeness of Body
8
4
2
8
+6/+1
+6
+6
+6
Slow Fall 40-ft, Bonus Feat, Sublime Flurry
8
4
2
9
+6/+1
+6
+6
+6
Improved Evasion, Fast Movement +30-ft, Flurry (+0)
9
4
3
10
+7/+2
+7
+7
+7
Ki Strike (Lawful), Slow Fall 50-ft
9
5
3
11
+8/+3
+7
+7
+7
Diamond Body, Greater Flurry, Timeless Body
10
5
3
12
+9/+4
+8
+8
+8
Abundant Step, Fast Movement +40-ft, Slow Fall 60-ft
10
5
3
13
+9/+4
+8
+8
+8
Diamond Soul, Ki Strike (Adamantine)
11
5
4
14
+10/+5
+9
+9
+9
Sublime Fist, Slow Fall 70-ft
11
5
4
15
+11/+6/+1
+9
+9
+9
Quivering Palm, Fast Movement +50-ft, Greater Sublime Flurry
12
6
4
16
+12/+7/+2
+10
+10
+10
Ki Strike (Overwhelming), Slow Fall 80-ft
12
6
4
17
+12/+7/+2
+10
+10
+10
Ageless Body, Tongue of the Sun and Moon
13
6
5
18
+13/+8/+3
+11
+11
+11
Fast Movement +60ft, Slow Fall 90-ft, Sublime Defense
13
6
5
19
+14/+9/+4
+11
+11
+11
Empty Body
14
6
5
20
+15/+10/+5
+12
+12
+12
Perfect Self, Slow Fall (any distance), Passive Recovery
14
7
5
Abilities that remain unchanged will not be listed below.
Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: A Sublime Monk also gains proficiency in all Simple and Martial Weapons which are discipline weapons for one of their martial disciplines and beginning at 4th level may use any discipline weapon from one of their selected disciplines as a monk special weapon.
Martial Maneuvers: A Sublime Monk gains Martial Maneuvers as listed on the table above, recovering them as a warblade. However they select their martial maneuvers from Stone Dragon and 3 disciplines of their choice. DMs may, of course, choose to restrict certain disciplines from monks (for example I would be unlikely to allow them Star Dream, or a chaos discipline unless I was removing the Lawful alignment restriction).
Flurry of Blows: Flurry of Blows remains unchanged, except a Sublime Monk may expend a martial maneuver to use their Flurry with a normal attack (not a martial strike) which is not part of a full attack.
Sublime Skill Aptitude (Ex): A Sublime Monk gains a bonus to skill checks with the associated skill of any discipline they are in a stance belonging to. They gain either +3 or +1/3 their Sublime Monk level whichever is higher.
Bonus Feat: A Sublime Monk gains bonus feats more slowly than a regular monk. Instead of gaining bonus feats at 1st, 2nd, and 6th, they gain them at 2nd, 5th, and 8th. They may select any of the 1st or 2nd level bonus feats at 2nd, and any of the bonus feats at 5th and 6th.
Still Mind: A Sublime Monk may, as an immediate action, expend a single martial maneuver to increase their saving throw bonus from Still Mind to +6 instead of +2.
Slow Fall: A Sublime Monk may, as an immediate action, expend a single martial maneuver to double the distance they may slow fall. Beginning at 10th level if a Sublime Monk does this they no longer must be within arms reach of a wall to use their slow fall, although it becomes a Supernatural ability if they are not.
Ki Strike: Ki Strike (Adamantine) is gained at an earlier (13th) level. At its original level they instead gain Ki Strike (Overwhelming) which allows their unarmed strikes to ignore damage reduction completely.
Purity of Body: This ability now applies even against supernatural diseases.
Martial Awareness (Ex): A Sublime Monk is supremely aware of themselves on the battlefield adding their Wisdom modifier (if positive) to Initiative checks and opposed checks to resist special combat maneuvers (bull rush, disarm, overrun, sunder, trip), Demoralize attempts, and Feint attempts. This is in addition to whatever they would normally add.
Wholeness of Body: A Sublime Monk may expend a single martial maneuver to use their Wholeness of Body as an immediate action. In addition once per encounter when a Sublime Monk is damaged they may, as an immediate action, expend a martial maneuver to refill their Wholeness of Body pool by 3/4 their class level or the damage dealt (whichever is less); this may not increase the pool to greater than its normal maximum.
Sublime Flurry (Ex): When a Sublime Monk uses a martial strike and are wielding a weapon(s) that may be used to flurry, they may use flurry of blows. They only add 1 additional attack until they gain Greater Sublime Flurry, and may do so as part of a standard action strike, but otherwise it functions as Flurry of Blows. The bonus attacks granted by Flurry of Blows do not gain any benefits from the martial strike (if used along with Mountain Hammer they do not gain +2d6 damage or the ability to overcome DR, for example). Beginning at 15th level a sublime monk adds 2 bonus attacks (as if with Greater Flurry of Blows) with this ability.
Timeless Body (Ex): Is now gained at 11th level.
Abundant Step (Su): Is replaced with the following. A Sublime Monk can slip magically between places, teleporting. As a standard action a Sublime Monk can expend a martial maneuver to teleport a distance equal to their land speed plus the value shown on the table below as a standard action. They may use this ability as long as they have maneuvers to expend, but may only use it without line of effect to their destination a number of times per day equal to 1 + their Wisdom modifier.
Maneuver LevelDistance
1st0-ft
2nd20-ft
3rd50-ft
4th80-ft
5th120-ft
6th170-ft
7th230-ft
8th310-ft
9th420-ft
Diamond Soul: A sublime monk may lower their spell resistance completely as an immediate action by expending one maneuver. In addition they may, also as an immediate action, expend a maneuver to raise it (if it was lowered) and increase it by an amount equal to two plus the expended maneuver's level until the start of their next turn.
Sublime Fist (Su): A sublime monk's unarmed strikes gain an enhancement bonus to attack and damage based upon the level of the lowest level stance they are currently in.
Maneuver LevelDistance
1st-2nd
+4
3rd-4th
+3
5th-6th
+2
7th-8th
+1
9th
+0
Quivering Palm: This ability is now usable 1/day, and if a sublime monk kills a creature with a CR of at least 1/2 their character level with this ability they may recover all maneuvers they have expended as a free action.
Ageless Body (Su): A sublime monk's physical vitality is fed by their wisdom and the harmony with life that age grants, instead of sapped by the wear of time. Beginning at 17th level a sublime monk no longer suffers any aging penalties to ability scores they may have accrued before gaining Timeless Body, and, if they are Old or older, gain a +1 bonus to Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution. In addition a sublime monk may add 1/2 the maximum amount of lifespan for their race past venerable to their maximum lifespan. These benefits are lost in an antimagic field or area of dead magic, which may prove fatal.
Sublime Defense (Ex): Beginning at 18th level a Sublime Monk may, as an immediate action, expend a martial maneuver to gain a dodge bonus to AC against one attack or Insight bonus to one saving throw equal to 3/4 their Sublime Monk level.
Empty Body: A sublime monk may expend martial maneuvers to extend the etherealness granted by this ability. Each maneuver expended, as a free action at the beginning of the monk's turn, prevents that turn from counting against the duration they may remain ethereal. A monk may not use expend a maneuver to prevent the turn they turned ethereal from counting, and while ethereal in this way they may not recover maneuvers expended to maintain their etherealness.
Perfect Self: A monk with this ability no longer dies of old age.
Passive Recovery: Beginning at 20th level a sublime monk may, as a free action, at the end of their turn recover a single maneuver they have expended but have not initiated since the beginning of their previous turn. A maneuver expended to fuel a sublime monk class feature was not initiated and is a valid target for this ability even if it was expended within the last round.