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Lycan999
2018-09-22, 07:59 PM
So I have been struck with a bout of madness as of late and have taken it upon myself to design my own revision of the oh-so-hated Monk class. As a martial artist myself the monk archetype has always been one of my favorite, so maintaining the flavor of the class was my top priority as well as bringing the Monk to at least tear 3 with plenty of options. I have yet to really check it for balance especially as I am planning on remaking several of the other base classes in a similar manner, so all critique is welcome.


The Monk



The monk is a difficult class to peg down, especially from an efficiency of play standpoint. It is not going to be the best DPS option, skillmonkey/scout, or tank. Despite this it is obviously a dedicated melee fighter, high mobility character with a decent skill selection, and highly has survivability. Eventually I decided to focus primarily on the Monk's amazing mobility and it's unique lockdown and debuffing potential, as well as granting it rediculous survivability potential. Combined with decent physical defenses, skills, offense, and utility the Monk should at least be a useful addition to any party.


Hit Dice: d8

I considered increasing this to d10, but in the end decided that this is a nice balance to the Monks obscenely strong defenses against anything involving saves.

BAB: Good

You are a melee fighter, now you can do that.

Saves: All Good

No change, the basis of the Monk's survivability.

Skill Points: 6 + Int

Class Skills: Balance, Climb, Concentration, Craft, Diplomacy, Escape Artist, Handle Animal, Heal, Hide, Jump, Knowledge (Geography), Knowledge (History), Knowledge (Local), Knowledge (Nature), Knowledge (Religion), Listen, Move Silently, Perform, Search, Sense Motive, Sleight of Hand, Speak Language, Spot, Survival, Swim, Tumble, Use Rope
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Simple Weapons; Handaxe, Kukri, Shortsword, Shortbow, Kama, Naginata, Nunchaku, Sai, Siangham, Shuriken

Bumped skill points because skills are great. Added Handle Animal, Heal, Search, Sleight of Hand, Speak Language, Survival, and Use Rope to add options and because they seemed thematically appropriate.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Simple Weapons; Handaxe, Kukri, Shortsword, Shortbow, Kama, Naginata, Nunchaku, Sai, Siangham, Shuriken

Provided more options because I saw no reason not to. Shortbow is now a beginning range weapon option.



LevelAbilitiesUnarmed DamageSpeed Bonus Slow Fall Height



1stUnarmed Strike, Unarmored Defense, Speed Bonus, Slow Fall, Bonus Feats1d6+10 ft 10 ft



2ndStunning Fist, Evasion1d6+10 ft 10 ft



3rdStill Mind, Increased Mobility1d6+10 ft 20 ft



4thKi Strike (Magic, +1), Uncanny Dodge1d8+10 ft 20 ft



5thPurity of Body, Endure Elements, Sustenance1d8+20 ft 30 ft



6thMettle1d8+20 ft 30 ft



7thWholeness of Body1d8+20 ft 40 ft



8thKi Strike (Adamant, +2), Improved Uncanny Dodge1d10+20 ft 40 ft



9thImproved Evasion1d10+30 ft 50 ft



10thDiamond Body, Ki Blast1d10+30 ft 50 ft



11thAbundant Step1d10+30 ft 60 ft



12thKi Strike (Alignment, +3)2d6+30 ft 60 ft



13thDiamond Soul2d6+40 ft 70 ft



14thBoundless Step2d6+40 ft 70 ft



15thPierce the Veil2d6+40 ft 80 ft



16thKi Strike (Ghost Touch, +4)2d8+40 ft 80 ft



17thTimeless Body, Tongue of the Sun and Moon2d8+50 ft 90 ft



18thEmpty Mind2d8+50 ft 90 ft



19thEmpty Body, Heightened Perception2d8+50 ft 100 ft



20thKi Touch (Cold Iron/Silver), Ascended Master2d10+50 ft Unlimited



Unarmed Strike: At 1st level you gain the feat Improved Unarmed Strike. Your unarmed attacks may be made with fists, feet, elbows, or any other part of your body so you are capable of making unarmed attacks even when your hands are full. There is no such thing as an off-hand attack when you strike unarmed. You may choose to deal lethal or nonlethal damage when attacking unarmed or grappling with no penalty to your attack roll. Your unarmed attacks are treated as both natural and manufactured weapons for the purposes of spells and effects that enhance and improve natural and/or manufactured weapons. You may add your Dexterity bonus to the attack roll and damage bonus whey you make unarmed strikes. Finally you deal more base damage with your unarmed strikes than a normal person would which increases according to the Unarmed Damage table.

For the most part kept the same with the main addition being you can now add your Dexterity modifier to your to-hit bonus and melee damage bonus

Unarmored Defense: Beginning at 1st level through your extensive monastic training you learn how to best defend yourself while unarmored. You gain a bonus to your AC equal to your Wisdom modifier + half your Monk level (rounded up). Furthermore you also gain this bonus to all Balance, Climb, Jump, Swim, and Tumble ability checks. When wearing armor, using a shield, or carrying a medium to heavy load you lose these bonuses

Buffed with a new bonus to a certain number of skill I felt like skills should be good at to help with mobility.

Speed Bonus: Beginning at 1st level your base movement speed increases by 10ft, and increases by another 10ft every four levels afterward. When wearing armor, using a shield, or carrying a medium to heavy load you loosed this speed bonus.

Slightly reduced overall but moved to 1st level.

Slow Fall: Beginning at 1st level you learn how to contort your body and channel your Ki in such a way to negate a certain amount of fall damage depending in accordance with the Slow Fall chart. If you have a wall within an arm’s reach for any portion of your fall you may negate that portion of fall damage entirely. This takes ability takes a Swift action to initiate. When wearing armor, using a shield, or carrying a medium to heavy load you become incapable of using this ability. This is an extraordinary ability.

This ability. I decided to keep it for a few main reasons: one, it is thematic; two, it is still worse than a 1st level spell so there is no reason to remove it; and 3 with the changes I made it can now be integrated with the new Increased Mobility ability and the new Monk feat Lunging Strike that will be described later. Overall buffed as well.

Bonus Feats: At 1st level you gain a bonus feat from the list of Monk bonus feats. At 2nd level and every two levels afterward you gain another bonus feat from this list. If the listed feat is an Epic feat the Monk may take it without being Epic.

I basically slapped the Fighter class as written onto the monk to help buff it. Now all of the feats it could get before are wrapped up into this ability plus many more, including some new ones I have written. I plan on doing something similar to the other melee classes and then completely reworking the Fighter.

Stunning Fist: Beginning at 2nd level you learn to channel Ki into your attacks to potentially inhibit your opponent’s ability to fight. Before you make an attack roll for one of your unarmed attacks you may declare that you are using this ability. If you successfully hit the enemy they are forced to make a Fortitude saving throw (DC 10 + half your Monk level (rounded up) + Wisdom modifier), and upon a failed save are Stunned for 1 round, and upon a successful save are Staggered for 1 round. You gain a number of uses of this ability equal to 3 + your Monk level + your Wisdom modifier.

Turned the feat into a class ability because lets face it, no one other than a monk is going to take it. Moved it 2nd level mostly to not completely front load 1st level. The ability is designed to interact with a lot of the new Monk feats I am writing, including the new Flurry of Blows which has been rewritten as a feat. The main changes to the ability itself are an increased number of uses per day and it now Staggers on a failed save so the Monk can be a more effective debuffer capable of exerting pressure despite its lower damage output.

Evasion: Beginning at 2nd level if you make a successful Reflex save against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save you instead take no damage. You can only use Evasion if you are wearing light or no armor. You do not gain the benefits of this ability if you are Helpless.

Still Mind: Begging at 3rd level you gain a bonus on saving throws against spells and effects from the schools of Enchantment and Illusion and those that cause Fear effects equal to half of your Monk level (rounded up). Furthermore you no longer need to sleep in the normal sense of the word, and gain immunity to the Sleep spell and similar effects. Instead of sleeping you now meditate, which allows you to stay fully alert while gaining all of the benefits of sleep. While meditating you are constantly under the benefits of the Sanctuary spell (DC 10 + Monk level + Wisdom modifier). If you meditate for at least one hour you retain the benefits of the Sanctuary spell until it is broken. This is an extraordinary ability.

Significantly buffed to grow with the character as well as be applicable to more effects that I felt it should. Also saw it as an opportunity to add some flavor text ribbon abilities.

Increased Mobility: Begging at 3rd level your understanding of movement greatly increases your mobility on the battlefield. You gain a swim speed and a climb speed equal to half of your base land speed. You also gain the ability to walk on liquids and move up vertical surfaces at your full base land speed during your turn, immediately falling once your turn is over. You may take actions normally up until this point.

More focus on mobility.

Ki Strike: Beginning at 4th level you learn to channel your Ki into your unarmed attacks to greatly increase their effectiveness. Your unarmed attacks are now treated as magical +1 weapons. At 8th level this increases to +2 and your unarmed strikes are now treated as adamant for the purposes of damage reduction. At 12th level the bonus increases to +3 and your unarmed strikes are treated as being aligned to your alignment for the purposes of damage reduction. At 16th level the bonus increases to +4 and your unarmed attacks are treated as if having the Ghost Touch property. Finally at 20th level your bonus increases to +5 and your unarmed attacks are treated as being cold iron and silver for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

Another major change. Part of this ability I tore from the Vow of Poverty feat to help mitigate the fact you can not enchant your unharmed effects so instead you gain a straight to-hit and damage bonus. Furthermore as you go up in levels you are going to be able to overcome more and more types of damage reductions to also help mitigate this.

Uncanny Dodge: Beginning at 4th level you become capable of reacting to danger before your senses would normally allow you to. You retain your Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) even when you are Flat-Footed and/or struck by an Invisible attacker. However you still lose your Dexterity bonus to AC if immobilized. If you already have Uncanny Dodge from another class you instead gain Improved Uncanny Dodge.

I see no reason that the Monk would not have this especially since they are an unarmored combatant. Same goes for Improved Uncanny Dodge.

Purity of Body: At 5th level you become immune to all kinds of diseases. This is an extraordinary ability.

Endure Elements: Begging at 5th level you are constantly under the effects of the spell Endure Elements. This is an extraordinary ability.

Sustenance: Begging at 5th level you have learned to sustain yourself on the ambient energy of the universe. You no longer need to eat or drink. This is an extraordinary ability.

All three of these abilities are more flavor than anything else, though Purity of Body has now been buffed so at least you can punch mummies without worrying about magical leprosy. More stuff I ripped from Vow of Poverty.

Mettle: At 6th level you gain the ability to resist magical or unusual attacks with great willpower or fortitude. If you successfully make a Will or Fortitude save against an attack that would normally have a lesser effect on a successful save you instead completely negate the effect. When you are unconscious or sleeping you do not gain the benefits of this ability.

Interacts well with the Monks focus on having good saves. Between this and all of the strait immunities the Monk gets you have the potential to build one into a caster's nightmare.

Wholeness of Body: Beginning at 7th level or you may restore a number of your own hit points per day equal to your Monk level x your Wisdom modifier. Begging at 11th level this ability improves, and you gain the ability to expend the equivalent of 15 hit points to gain the benefits of the spell Lesser Restoration on yourself. Beginning at 15th level this ability improves again, and you gain the ability to expend the equivalent of 30 hit points to gain the benefits of the spell Restoration. Finally begging at 19th level this ability improves a final time, and you gain the ability to expend the equivalent of 45 hit points to gain the benefit of the spell Greater Restoration. This ability takes a Swift action to activate and is an extraordinary ability.

Buffed to make it considerably more useful and to help survivability.

Improved Uncanny Dodge: Begging at 8th level you may no longer be Flanked. This denies any other character from flanking you unless it also has Improved Uncanny Dodge and at least four more class levels in classes that grant the ability than you have in classes that grant the ability.

Improved Evasion: At 9th level your Evasion ability improves. You still take no damage on a successful Reflex saving throw against attacks, but henceforth you take only half damage on a failed save. You do not gain the benefits of this ability when you are Helpless.

Diamond Body: At 10th level you become immune to all kinds of poisons. This is an extraordinary ability.

Ki Blast: Beginning at 10th level you may concentrate your inner Ki energies to project out an attack of pure force. As a full attack action you may make a single ranged attack against a creature within 10ft x (Monk level + Wisdom modifier). This attack deals force damage equal to your (unarmed damage + your Wisdom modifier) x 3. For all intents and purposes this counts as a melee attack for the purposes of applying Stunning Strike and similar abilities.

One of the options to help Monks deal with foes that like to keep their distance
and who have flight along with the new feat Lunging Strike. Needs a thorough proofreading and probably needs to be better balanced.

Abundant Step: Beginning at 11th level you may slip magically through spaces as if using the spell Dimension Door, except that you may initiate it as a move action and are capable of acting normally afterwards. You may use this ability a number of times per day equal to 1 plus your Wisdom modifier (minimum 1). Your caster level for this ability is equal to your monk. This is a supernatural ability.

Significantly buffed to help the Monks mobility focus. Most of the buffs are designed to either make it useful for skirmishing purposes or to make you be able to Dimension Door better than the Wizard since if a non-caster class gets the ability to use a spell I believe they should have some way to do it better than a normal caster unless it is very high level.

Diamond Soul: At 13th level you gain Spell Resistance equal to your current monk level + 10. In order to affect a monk with a spell, a spellcaster must get a result on a caster level check (1d20 + caster level) that equals or exceeds the monk’s spell resistance. You may instantaneously suppress this as an immediate action.

More screw you to casters as well as a fix so that you can still be healed and buffed by your teammates without issue.

Boundless Step: Beginning at 14th level you are constantly under the benefits of the spell Freedom of Movement. This is an extraordinary ability.

You are supposed to be mobile, now nothing can stop you. More stuff taken from Vow of Poverty. Don't take that feat.

Pierce the Veil: Beginning at 15th level you are constantly under the benefits of the spell True Seeing. This is an extraordinary ability.

Felt like this was thematic and helps with some of the anti-caster undertones of the class.

Timeless Body: Upon attaining 17th level you no longer take penalties to your abilities scores through aging and cannot be magically aged. Any such penalties that you have already received are also removed and bonuses still accrue. Finally the natural lifespan of your species is now doubled, but you still
die or pass on when your time is up, which you will become aware of at least a year in advance.

Tongue of the Sun and Moon: At 17th level your connection with the cosmos grants you a level of understanding of other beings that lets you communicate with anything that has some form of communication. As long as another creature speaks some kind of language you are capable of understanding it and it is capable of understanding you. Furthermore you are now capable of projecting your intentions through empathetic means, granting you telepathy out to 60 ft. Finally this increased understanding grants you an untyped +4 to all Diplomacy checks. This is an extraordinary ability.

Two mostly fluff abilities. Timeless body is basically unchanged except for a few buffs that will almost never come up. Tongue of the Sun and Moon is a little different; at first I almost removed it because I thought it did not fit, but later I decided that it actually does fit. Monks are supposed to be super in tune with the universe, and I rewrote the ability to help reflect my interpretation of it as well as giving it some slight general utility. Diplomacy bonus taken from the Vow of Peace feat.

Empty Body: Beginning at 18th level you are constantly under the benefits of the spell Mind Blank. This is an extraordinary ability.

Felt like it was thematically appropriate and a considerable defense buff for a high level character. Again, screw casters.

Empty Body: At 19th level you gain the ability to assume an ethereal state for a number of rounds per day equal to your monk level times your Wisdom modifier, as per the spell Etherealness. You may go ethereal on a number of different occasions during any single day, as long as the total number of rounds spent in an ethereal state does not exceed your monk level times Wisdom modifier. Furthermore you may project yourself into the Astral Plane as per the spell Astral Projection, except you may only target yourself. These are both supernatural abilities.

I like this ability so I kept it. Added the increased duration to make it more comparable to what a Wizard could do if it really wanted to. Personal Astral Projection was to cool not to add.

Heightened Perception: Beginning at 19th level you are constantly under the benefits of the spell Foresight. This is an extraordinary ability.

By this level Monks should be nearly untouchable by anything short of near Epic level threats.

Ascended Master: At 20th level a monk has achieved a heightened state of being and has become something more than mortal. Your type changes to Outsider (Native), except you are treated as your old species whenever it is beneficial for you. You may be treated as an outsider and your old species at the same time. You now sustain yourself purely on the ambient energy of the universe and no longer need to breathe. You gain damage reduction 25/magic, which allows you to ignore the first 25 points of damage on an attack not made by a magical weapon or a natural attack from a creature with similar damage reduction. Finally, whenever you are struck by a manufactured weapon the weapon must immediately make a successful Fortitude save (DC 10 + one-half your monk level + your Wisdom modifier) or shatter against your skin, leaving you unharmed. Artifacts ignore this ability.

The infamous capstone. My first change was to remove of all of the self-nerfing aspects of the original capstone. At first I removed the Outsider transformation entirely but I later put it back with the caveat that the monk is treated as its old species whenever it is beneficial. This allows it all of the benefits of being an outsider while still being able to be raised, effected by buffs that effected humanoids, and still use race specific feats, classes, abilities, and magic items. Next I tossed in not needing to breathe to pretty much complete Vow of Poverty, increased the damage reduction since it is probably going to be ignored in most scenarios at this level anyway, and finally added in the Vow of Peace ability since I thought it was thematic after changing it so it keyed off Wisdom.

Lycan999
2018-09-22, 08:00 PM
Monk Bonus Feats List-
Acrobatic’, Agile’, Alertness’, Armor Skin, Athletic’, Blind-Fight, Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Damage Reduction, Deflect Arrows, Deft Hands’, Devastating Critical’, Diehard, Dire Charge, Dodge’, Epic Speed, Endurance, Energized Strike*, Energy Resistance, Exceptional Deflection, Exotic Weapon Proficiency, Flurry of Blows*, Great Fortitude, Improved Combat Reflexes, Improved Critical, Improved Disarm, Improved Flurry of Bows*, Improved Initiative, Improved Trip’, Improved Grapple, Improved Natural Weapon, Improved Toughness, Improved Trip, Improved Versatile Strike*, Infinite Deflection, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Martial Weapon Proficiency, Mobility, Movement Before Thought*, Negotiator, Overwhelming Critical’, Quivering Palm*, Reflect Arrows, Run, Self-Concealment, Snap Kick, Snatch Arrow, Spring Attack, Stand Still, Superior Initiative, Superior Unarmed Strike, Stealthy’, Versatile Strike, Whirlwind Attack, Zen Archery
‘ Revised Feat
* New Feat

All of these feats need considerable critique and balancing. Any suggestions to add to the list is also appreciated. More new feats should be coming along in the future.

Revised Feats
+2 Skill Feats
Requirement: None
Benefit: You gain a bonus to all checks of the listed skills equal to half of your character level (rounded down).

An attempt to make these feats somewhat relevant. Have not yet evaluated how this effects Diplomancers but that entire skill will probably need to be rewritten.

Dodge
Requirements: None
Benefit: During your action you designate an opponent and gain a dodge bonus to AC equal to your Dexterity modifier (minimum +1) against attacks from that opponent. You can select a new opponent on any action.

Now should provide a decent defensive buff against single targets. Might need to put a cap on the bonus. Yes, this is designed to provide the full Dexterity bonus even when you are using armor.

Devastating Critical
Requirements: BAB +15, Overwhelming Critical (chosen weapon), Improved Critical (chosen weapon), Weapon Focus (chosen weapon)
Benefit: When you score a critical hit with the chosen weapon the target must make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + half your character level + damage bonus) or die instantly.

I saw no reason to keep this as an Epic feat or to require Power attack. Now it is useful for a Dex based monk Crit Fisher build. The + damage bonus is supposed to allow you to use either Dexterity or Strength depending on where you get your damage bonus, probably need to word it better.

Improved Trip
Requirements: Combat Expertise
Benefit: You do not provoke an attack of opportunity when you attempt to trip an opponent while you are unarmed. You also gain a +4 bonus on your Strength check to trip your opponent. If you trip an opponent, you immediately get a melee attack against that opponent as if you hadn’t used your attack for the trip. Finally you may instead make a Dexterity check instead of a Strength check to trip your opponent.

Removed that stupid Intelligence requirement and made it so you can use your Dexterity for trip attempts.

Overwhelming Critical
Requirements: Improved Critical (chosen weapon), Weapon Focus (chosen weapon)
Benefit: When using the weapon you have selected, you deal an extra weapon die of damage on a successful critical hit. If the weapon’s critical multiplier is x3, add two weapon die of bonus damage instead, and if the multiplier is x4, add three weapon die bonus damage instead.

This was a weak feat and definitely had no reason to be limited to Epic characters. Also changed it so a Dex based build can utilize it.

New Feats
Energized Strike
Requirements: Improved Unarmed Strike, Ki Strike +2, Stunning Fist ability
Benefit: When you gain this feat choose an energy typed: acid, cold, electricity, fire, or sonic. Whenever you take a full attack action you may choose to expend a daily use of your Stunning Fist ability to grant all of your attacks and additional 1d8 bonus damage of the chosen damage type. This feat may be taken multiple times, it does not increase the damage, instead you may choose a different energy type.

An option to increase damage output by mimicking the weapon enhancement for a turn.

Flurry of Blows
Requirements: Improved Unarmed Strike, Stunning Fist ability
Benefit: Whenever you make a melee attack using an unarmed strike you may expend a daily use of your Stunning Fist ability to immediately make a second unarmed attack at your highest level of BAB. You may only use this ability once per round.

Now in feat form.

Movement before Thought
Requirements: 15th level, Stunning Fist ability
Benefit: As a swift action you may expend one of your daily uses of Stunning Fist to act as if Hasted for a number of rounds equal to your Wisdom modifier.

Self buff yourself and do it in Anti-Magic Fields.

Improved Flurry of Blows
Requirements: +11 BAB, Flurry of Blows, Improved Unarmed Strike, Stunning Fist
Benefit: Whenever you make use of your Flurry of Blows feat you now make two extra unarmed attacks instead of one.

Improved Versatile Strike
Requirements: BAB +12, Improved Unarmed Strike, Versatile Strike
Benefit: When you use Versatile Strike to deal slashing damage your unarmed attacks count as having the Keen property (except that it stacks with Improved Critical). When you use Versatile Strike to deal Piercing damage your unarmed attacks count as having the Wounding property. When you use Versatile Strike to deal Bludgeoning damage your unarmed attacks count as having the Vicious property, which you may suppress as a Free action.

Increased versatility. In great need of critiquing.

Lunging Strike
Requirements: Improved Unarmed Strike, Increased Mobility ability
Benefit: When you make a movement action you may move straight up as if you had a flight speed with each foot or vertical movement using two feet of your normal movement. When you move in this way you may make actions normally after having moved, but as soon as your turn ends you immediately fall if you are not a solid surface.

The current solution to dealing with flying enemies. Designed to complement well the newly revised Slow Fall ability and your high movement speed. Fight like in the old Kung Fu movies.

Versatile Strike
Requirements: Improved Unarmed Strike, Ki Strike (adamant)
Benefit: Every time you make an unarmed attack you may choose whether you deal bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage.

A needed stepping stone for later abilities. I guess it helps you damage Rakshas.

Quivering Palm
Requirements: Improved Unarmed Strike, Ki Strike +4, Stunning Fist ability
Benefit: By expending a daily use of your Stunning Fist ability you may make a touch attack against an opponent in reach. If the touch attack is successful the opponent must make a Constitution saving throw (DC 10 + ½ your Monk level + Wisdom modifier) or have vibrations set up within their body. These vibrations remain for one day per Monk level you possess, and cannot be removed through anything short of a Wish spell or effect of equivalent or greater power. While these vibrations are in effect the monk knows the exact location of the creature effected and can choose to instantly slay the creature as a free action. Creatures that are immune to critical effects are immune to this ability.

I couldn't just get rid of it could I? Now functions with Stunning Fist so you can use it more than once a campaign.

nonsi
2018-09-23, 12:48 AM
.
Very nicely done overall. Improvements all across the board.

Given that Werewolf is a 3rd level encounter, Silver property comes way too late.
Your Ki Strike solution is an improvement, but you could push it a bit more.

Your approach regarding high BAB and making flurry cost uses of Stunning Fist reminds me why I've decided against elevating BAB.
It's a legitimate design decision, but I found something that works better for me.

For a more pleasant display of the table:
1. Lose the "Width" constraint.
2. Except for the header row, replace all the [th] tags with [td] tags.
If you need help with table formatting, the first item in my sig leads to a project filled with tables.