The_Ebolanator
2021-12-20, 06:53 PM
I have loved the concept of the monk ever since I first heard of it, as crazy kung fu “weeaboo fighting magic” appeals to me greatly. That being said, the monk has an unfortunately well-earned reputation of being quite a stinker. Now, a million monk fixes have been made in the past, and I’m sure a good handful of the good ones would be the ideal “true monk fix” for those wanting such a thing.
But I’m not here to “fix” the monk. I am here to break the monk.
Ponder me this: what would happen if the most popular low-tier class in the game became a nightmare to DMs everywhere? What if the monk could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the likes of Batman wizards and CoDZillas?
What if … the monk were a tier 1 class?
Well, let’s find out.
Changelog
Jan 17, 2022:
Retooled class by modifying how Ki and Martial Arts class features work.
Removed Flurry of Blows and Abundant Step as spells and reintegrated them into the Ki class feature.
Martial Mystic is changed to Mystic Martial Arts and retooled to help integrate changes.
Timeless Body changed to include old features found in Celestial Soul.
Added Transcendent Metamagic homebrew feat.
Slight retool of spell list.
Dec 26, 2021: Added fluff text to help solidify the theme of the T1 monk and help differentiate it from the vanilla monk.
Dec 25, 2021 (Merry Xmas!): Restructured spell list to follow a more uniformed theme. Added new spells Acrobatic Surge, Focused Surge, and Spiritual Sustenance. Added new monk-based usages of spells Shillelagh, Spiritual Weapon, and Scrying.
Dec 24, 2021: Added Restoration, Planar Ally spells (lesser, normal, and greater) to spell list. Changed Transcendent Spirit spells to include a boost to skill rolls and cut back on temp HP. Changelog Added.
Dec 20, 2021: First Creation
The Elephant in the Room (A.K.A. “Why would you DO this??”)
Okay, okay. Some of you may be asking why in the blue blazes would I ever want to add yet another tier 1 monstrosity to the rule-bloated maelstrom that is 3.5 D&D.
Short answer: Because I wanna.
Longer answer: Because I have a hard bias towards the monk. As I said earlier, the “weeaboo fighting magic” schtick is my jam. Yes, I could do the whole unarmed swordsage thing or find a nice monk fix to play, but I want to powergame. I love powergaming. All the groups I play with are cool with it and we have a ball finding out ways to bend the system until it snaps. That being said, I want to do all that nonsense AND play a monk. Is that too much to ask?
Besides; all the popular kids have long ago moved on to 5e where the tier 1 insanity of yesteryear was put to rest. Only the geezers and neckbeards bother playing 3.5 nowadays, so I figure now is the best time to introduce this monstrosity since it’s no longer on the cutting edge where it could do potential damage in the hands of a starry-eyed fresh new player.
Some of you may be asking “why change the monk like this? Why not play a Shaman? It’s the closest thing to a monk-like spellcaster, right?” And yes, you’re technically correct, but correct in the same way as asking “why bother fixing the vanilla monk when you can just play an unarmed swordsage?”
Why not indeed? Why play fighter when you can play a warblade? To be fair, though, I will admit that shaman isn’t exactly what I’m looking for. It’s got some awesome things, don’t get me wrong (animal companion, hello?) but I want to make something that I would want to personally play. That’s pretty much the long and short of it.
Design Goals for the Tier 1 Monk
First and foremost, the class has to be a tier 1. The T1M needs to play and feel every bit as powerful, cheesy, and toe-steppingley versatile as his natural-spell-slinging druid and nightstick-DMM-spamming cleric brethren.
Though the T1M isn’t meant to be the same as the vanilla combat-focused monk, it should still feel monk-ish. Like, “wise man atop the snowy mountain meditating on the secrets of the universe” type of thing. If anything, the T1M should feel kind of like a Jedi, but more of a Yoda Jedi than an Anakin Skywalker Jedi.
Despite being a tier 1 class, the monk shouldn’t feel unreasonably broken to the point where you’d have to be an idiot not to choose the monk over the other tier 1 classes. For example, a reasonable veteran player should be able to compare the monk to the cleric, acknowledge the monk’s level of power, yet still choose the cleric over the monk because “eh, I like the warpriest aesthetic more than the wise master aesthetic” or something like that.
To further extrapolate on the above point, the T1M, despite being a tier 1 class, needs to feel like it wouldn’t stand out in a lineup with the other classes, particularly when a noob player looks over the other classes for the first time.
Quick anecdote: When I was in college I knew a guy who had a very poor grasp on power structure amongst the classes. He was convinced the TOB classes were “overpowered” because they could use their maneuvers on an encounter basis as opposed to a daily basis. Furthermore, he actually banned (yes, outright BANNED) warlocks from his games because Eldritch Blast had infinite uses and he saw that as “broken”.
You could give the T1M full BAB, a d12 hit dice, 8 skill points a level, and all good saves but as soon as you take away his spellcasting, he won’t hold a candle to a cleric, druid, or wizard, and yet THAT GUY would swear up and down the campus that this hypothetical class would be “too broken”. So as I’m building out the chassis of this class, I want to make sure it’s a class that THAT GUY wouldn’t bat a grotesquely misinformed eyelash at.
As you can tell, I’m using the cleric and druid specifically as benchmarks for the T1M, as the class is meant to be a divine caster, so deviations from the wizard’s design philosophy is acceptable to me.
Lastly, this whole thing isn’t meant to be taken too seriously. I mean, I’m making a tier 1 class for crying out loud. Who does that? Anyway, I do appreciate full PEACH, but mostly I just want to see what you guys think about something like this as a thought experiment. If anything, I'd love to hear from people who have CoDZilla experience if they want to give this class a spin.
The Tier 1 Monk in Dungeons and Dragons (A.K.A. “The Fluff”)
MONK
All beings throughout the planes of existence exert a spiritual cosmic energy. It grows with life, surrounds it, and enables it to flourish. Some harness this energy through divine worship, others through a deep primal connection, and others still through scholastic study.
And then there are those who ally themselves with this strange magic through spiritual contemplation and martial transcendence. These warrior-philosophers are known as monks. Monks meditate upon and train with this spiritual energy to not only transcend the mortal limits of their own minds, bodies, and souls, but those of other entities and even the very world around them. Good monks cultivate life, use their own preternatural abilities to protect the innocent, and shape the very world around them into a better place for all. Evil monks desecrate life, terrorize the populace with their destructive power, and warp the landscape around them into a hell on earth. Whether it is to serve or to conquer, by the power of life force itself a monk ensures his will be done.
Adventures: Monks adventure for a cause. Whether that cause be just, vile, greedy, or curious, monks are compelled by spiritual force to act upon the world. Regardless of motive, monks have a strong drive to better themselves and their understanding of spiritual power and adventuring provides the ideal proving grounds for such an undertaking.
Occasionally monks are ordered by their monastic superiors to venture out into the world to complete a specific task or a broader forwarding of a more complex agenda. On rare occasions, a monk may leave a specific monastery against the wishes of the superiors in order to fulfil a selfish desire or even atone for the monastery’s perceived wrongdoings.
Characteristics: Monks cast divine spells similarly to clerics and druids, though they get their spells through spiritual energy as opposed to deities or primal nature. Their spells are oriented toward combat and manipulation, and specialize on transforming and boosting the abilities of themselves and others.
In addition to spells, monks channel spiritual energy into a personal pool of magic known as Ki. Ki is mainly used to boost the monk’s own abilities and ascend them further beyond the mortal realm.
Monks have extensive martial arts training. Though they do not wield the most powerful weapons or wear the heaviest armor, they train in esoteric combat styles that surpass the skills of average warriors. Sufficiently advanced monks can even blend their martial arts training with their spellcasting, allowing for impressive displays of martial might.
Alignment: A monk can choose any alignment except neutral. The path of the monk requires diligence and dedication beyond the norm. Achieving optimum spiritual connection to the life force of the very cosmos leaves no room for indifference. Monks must stand for good, evil, law, chaos, or any combination thereof.
Though lawful monks are more common, given law’s natural propensity toward discipline, a sufficiently zealous student of chaos can easily find his way through the practice of the monk philosophy.
Religion: A monk’s first and foremost reverence is the spiritual life force of the cosmos, and from this very life force he gains all his magical power. Despite this, some monks see the gods as inspiring examples of the final destination of their philosophy, a being so in tune with cosmic life force as to embody fundamental aspects of it via domains. Such revered gods tend to include Hieroneous (god of valor), Kord (god of strength), Hextor (god of tyranny), and even Erythnul (god of slaughter).
Background: A monk typically trains in a monastery. Many monks were children when they first joined, whether sent by their parents to live a better life or tragically orphaned before being adopted by their monastery. Some monks join during their young adult years, drawn by the mystical teachings of spirit and life force the monasteries offer, or drawn by the prospect of being a master of such teachings. Life in the monastery is very focused to the point where a monk may feel a stronger connection to said monastery than even his own family or village.
Whether from large cities or small rural areas, monasteries are meant to teach the spiritual way to those who are interested and worthy, and thus location disparity bears little effect on how one monastery views another. Monasteries instead base their views and judgement upon other schools of differing alignment, particularly along the good/evil axis. Despite this, within these good or evil schools, one can find students of both lawful and chaotic alignment coexisting amicably– at least for the good-aligned monasteries.
A monk tends to feel a strong connection to his school, particularly to the monks who taught him and gave him his ranked monk’s dan. Some monks, however, feel only a connection to spiritual life force itself or even his own personal mastery of said life force.
Races: Monasteries are found primarily among humans, who yearn for the learnings of spiritual life force for various reasons ranging from curiosity to raw ambition. Thus, many monks are humans, and many are half-orcs and half-elves who live among humans.
Elves are capable of single-minded, long-term devotion and have a natural love for magic, and so some of them leave the forests to become monks.
The monk tradition is generally alien to dwarf and gnome culture, though a rare ambitious or curious few take to learning of the spiritual ways.
Halflings typically have too mobile a lifestyle to commit themselves to a monastery, but those who’s natural bravery and inclination for a path beyond the mortal realm outstrip their wanderlust manage to stomach the lifestyle in exchange for the path it yields.
The savage humanoids do not have the stable social structure that allows monk training, but the occasional orphaned or abandoned child from some humanoid tribe winds up in a civilized monastery or is adopted by a wandering master.
The evil subterranean elves known as the drow have a small but successful monk tradition dedicated to unlocking the secrets of the spiritual way so that they may wield it in their favor.
Other Classes: The monk appreciates the martial dedication of fighters and barbarians, though tends to view their single-minded focus on the physical to be a missed opportunity. He views the tricky and theatrical nature of the rogue and bard to be a weak mimicry of the spiritual way, though appreciates their ability to accomplish tasks when it counts. The monk shares the passionate pursuit of mystical knowledge with wizards, though typically sees their unbalanced focus on the mental aspects of study at the expense of physical and spiritual practice to be unusual. He appreciates the strong spiritual connection clerics and druids have to their respective purviews, and good/lawful monks particularly admire the righteous dedication paladins have for their cause. Sorcerers fascinate the monk due to their innate connection to magic, but puzzle him at the same time due to their inability to mold or improve upon it in any significant way.
Role: The monk’s strengths lie in his ability to support his allies through increasing their combat and skill capabilities, controlling the battlefield, and by providing offensive capabilities via his spells and Ki abilities. He has the capacity for healing, though not to the extent of the cleric.
Abilities: Wisdom determines how powerful a spell a monk can cast, how many spells he can cast per day, and how hard those spells are to resist. To cast a spell, a monk must have a Wisdom score of 10 + the spell’s level. A monk gets bonus spells based on Wisdom. The Difficulty Class of a saving throw against a monk’s spell is 10 + the spell’s level + the monk’s Wisdom modifier.
Since a monk wears light armor, a high Dexterity score greatly improves his defensive ability, and a high Strength score improves his melee combat capability.
The Monk
Saves
Spells Per Day
Level
BAB
Fort
Ref
Will
Special
0th
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th
1st
+0
+0
+2
+2
Martial Arts, Ki
3
1
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
2nd
+1
+0
+3
+3
Martial Clarity
4
2
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
3rd
+2
+1
+3
+3
Uncanny Dodge
4
2
1
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
4th
+3
+1
+4
+4
Courageous Mind
5
3
2
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
5th
+3
+1
+4
+4
Evasion
5
3
2
1
—
—
—
—
—
—
6th
+4
+2
+5
+5
Purity of Body
5
3
3
2
—
—
—
—
—
—
7th
+5
+2
+5
+5
Mettle
6
4
3
2
1
—
—
—
—
—
8th
+6/+1
+2
+6
+6
Wholeness of Body
6
4
3
3
2
—
—
—
—
—
9th
+6/+1
+3
+6
+6
Bonus Feat
6
4
4
3
2
1
—
—
—
—
10th
+7/+2
+3
+7
+7
Celestial Mind
6
4
4
3
2
2
—
—
—
—
11th
+8/+3
+3
+7
+7
Mystic Martial Arts
6
5
4
4
3
2
1
—
—
—
12th
+9/+4
+4
+8
+8
Diamond Body
6
5
4
4
3
3
2
—
—
—
13th
+9/+4
+4
+8
+8
Bonus Feat
6
5
5
4
4
3
2
1
—
—
14th
+10/+5
+4
+9
+9
Resilient Mind
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
—
—
15th
+11/+6/+1
+5
+9
+9
Timeless Body
6
5
5
5
4
4
3
2
1
—
16th
+12/+7/+2
+5
+10
+10
Diamond Soul
6
5
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
—
17th
+12/+7/+2
+5
+10
+10
Bonus Feat
6
5
5
5
5
4
4
3
2
1
18th
+13/+8/+3
+6
+11
+11
Celestial Soul
6
5
5
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
19th
+14/+9/+4
+6
+11
+11
Transcendent Infusion
6
5
5
5
5
5
4
4
3
3
20th
+15/+10/+5
+6
+12
+12
Perfect Self
6
5
5
5
5
5
4
4
4
4
Alignment: Any Non-Neutral
Hit Die: d8
Class Skills: The 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), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Knowledge (the planes) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), and Tumble (Dex).
Skill Ranks At 1st Level: (6 + Int) x 4
Skill Ranks At Each Additional Level: 6 + Int
Design Notes
Being a caster means the need for some caster-based skills peppered into the mix. To aid with this, I gave the monk some more skill points to play around with and knocked the fortitude save progression down a peg to compensate.
In regards to the alignment, I’m taking a page out of the TOB Crusader’s book and making it so that a monk needs to stand for some kind of cause or philosophy in order to reach true monkish mastery. I know the classic wise master trope would be to go the neutral route in order to “let go of all earthly ties” or whatever, but the druid is already the neutral class.
Class Features
The following are class features of the monk.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency
A monk is proficient with the club, crossbow (light or heavy), dagger, handaxe, javelin, kama, longsword, nunchaku, quarterstaff, sai, scimitar, short bow, short sword, shuriken, siangham, sling, and spear.
A monk is proficient with his unarmed strike and is treated as if he has the Improved Unarmed Strike feat for all intents and purposes. Additionally, he is proficient with any natural weapon he gains through shapeshifting into another creature.
A monk is proficient with light armor but not shields.
Design Notes
(In regards to Weapons) I added a couple of new weapons into the monk weapon mix because I feel like things such as scimitars, spears, and a good short bow are weapons a practical martial artist should train with. Also, keep in mind that one of the most famous shaolin monk weapons is the dual broadswords (hence the scimitar).
(In regards to Unarmed Strikes) What’s a monk that can’t punch? A nobody, that’s what! Also now that monks can cast spells, it seems only logical that they’d train how to throw hands (or claws) in a polymorphed body.
(In regards to Armor) What? A monk in armor? Yep. Frankly I just felt like it fit better for this particular iteration of the monk. Besides, the other divine casters get armor so I don’t feel guilty about it.
Spellcasting
A monk casts divine spells, which are drawn from the monk spell list. His alignment may restrict him from casting certain spells opposed to his moral or ethical beliefs which include Chaotic, Evil, Good, and Lawful Spells. A monk must choose and prepare his spells in advance (see below).
To prepare or cast a spell, the monk must have a Wisdom score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a monk’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the monk’s Wisdom modifier.
Like other spellcasters, a monk can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given on Table: The Monk. In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Wisdom score. He does not have access to any domain spells or granted powers, as a cleric does.
A monk prepares and casts spells the way a cleric or druid does, though he cannot lose a prepared spell to cast a cure spell or a summon nature’s ally spell in its place (but see Spontaneous Casting, below). A monk may prepare and cast any spell on the monk spell list, provided that he can cast spells of that level, but he must choose which spells to prepare during his daily meditation.
Spontaneous Casting
A monk can channel stored spell energy into specific spells that he hasn’t prepared ahead of time. He can "lose" a prepared spell in order to cast any Transcendent Spirit spell of the same level or lower.
Chaotic, Evil, Good, and Lawful Spells
A monk can’t cast spells of an alignment opposed to his own or his deity’s (if he has one). Spells associated with particular alignments are indicated by the chaos, evil, good, and law descriptors in their spell descriptions.
Monk’s Dan
A monk’s dan is the divine focus a monk uses to cast spells. The default dan is a belt colored in such a way as to signify a monk’s rank in his monastic training, though some monk schools use other articles of clothing, jewelry, or other accoutrements as a dan. The monk merely needs to wear the dan on his person to make full use of it in his spellcasting.
Design Notes
(In regards to Spells) Nothing terribly special here (except the whole “monks are full casters now” thing). Just pulled it straight from the cleric/druid entry. And for those of you wondering what “Transcendent Spirit” spells are, they’ll be explained later.
(In regards to Monk's Dan) If clerics use holy symbols and druids use twigs with funny little leaves on it for their respective divine focuses, then what do monks get? Their cool belts, of course! Yeah, yeah, Mr. Miyagi from Karate Kid once said that belts are for holding your pants up and nothing more, but I bet HE couldn’t summon a celestial brown bear with HIS black belt!
Martial Arts (Ex)
Unarmed Strikes and Natural Weapons
At 1st level, whenever the monk makes natural attacks or unarmed strikes, such attacks may be made with any appendage interchangeably or even from elbows, knees, feet, tails, jaws, tentacles, crown of the head, shoulder, or other similar protruding extremities. This means that a monk may even make such strikes with prehensile appendages carrying objects of any sort.
A medium-sized monk deals 1d6 damage plus his full Strength bonus on an unarmed strike by default. If a monk possesses a natural weapon that deals more damage, including the option of applying strength and a half on damage (such as from a slam attack), he may choose to use that damage instead.
Usually a monk’s unarmed strikes and natural attacks deal lethal damage, but he can choose to deal nonlethal damage instead with no penalty on his attack roll. He has the same choice to deal lethal or nonlethal damage while executing any sort of combat maneuvers, such as tripping or grappling.
A monk may treat his unarmed strikes and natural attacks as “free hands” for the purpose of special abilities that require “a free hand to initiate”, such as the Deflect Arrows feat, even if the unarmed strike or natural attack is otherwise not prehensile. This does not work if the monk is rendered completely immobile or helpless.
A monk’s unarmed strikes and natural attacks are treated both as a manufactured weapon and a natural weapon for the purpose of feats, class features, weapon enchantments, and spells and effects that enhance or improve either manufactured weapons or natural weapons. A monk treats his unarmed strikes and natural attacks as masterwork weapons.
Monk Weapons
The club, crossbow (light or heavy), dagger, handaxe, javelin, kama, longsword, natural weapon, nunchaku, quarterstaff, sai, scimitar, short bow, short sword, shuriken, siangham, sling, spear, and unarmed strike are all considered monk weapons.
When armed with any number of monk weapons in one or both (or more, given the current form) hands, a monk may attack interchangeably as desired, thus a monk may apply nothing less than his full Strength bonus on damage rolls and take no penalty to attack rolls, and is treated as having the Two-Weapon Fighting feat for all intents and purposes. Despite this, a monk is still limited to how many extra attacks he can make if he does not possess the Improved Two-Weapon Fighting or Greater Two-Weapon Fighting feats.
Additionally, a monk wielding monk weapons may attempt a special attack, such as a bull rush, disarm, grapple, overrun, sunder, or trip without provoking attacks of opportunity.
Monk weapons are a very special classification of weapons. Even if a monk gains proficiency in a weapon not listed above through other means, he cannot treat it as a monk weapon.
Abundant Step
A monk gains a bonus to all movespeeds he possesses equal to 10ft per monk spell level he is capable of casting, so a 1st level monk who is only capable of casting 1st level monk spells only adds 10ft to his movement, while a 5th level monk capable of casting 3rd level monk spells adds 30ft to his movement.
This speed bonus also applies to temporary modes of movement, such as a fly speed granted by the Fly spell, but only if the monk himself imbued the new movement in the first place, therefore new movements granted onto the monk by another caster or magical creature cannot be enhanced.
This bonus to his movement cannot exceed the base value of each respective movespeed, so a 13th level monk capable of casting 7th level monk spells that possesses a base land speed of 30ft and also happens to be under a self-imbued Fly spell can only enhance his land speed by an additional 30ft (to a maximum of 60ft) and can only enhance his temporary fly speed by an additional 60ft (to a maximum of 120ft) despite being capable of giving himself a theoretical 70ft movement bonus.
Flurry of Blows
A monk can move a number of feet equal to his Abundant Step bonus speed while making a full-round attack so long as he does so while wielding monk weapons. If he possesses feats or features such as Shot on the Run, Spring attack, or the like, he can intersperse his movement freely between each and every attack as he sees fit.
Design Notes
(In regards to Unarmed Strikes and Natural Weapons) The unarmed strike doesn’t change damage for the rest of the T1M’s career, so the versatility of unarmed strikes working interchangeably with potential natural attacks gained from shapechanging was added to fit the new class abilities better.
(In regards to Monk Weapons) This part is the first half of my attempt at retooling Flurry of Blows. As this ability is currently written, a monk can always dual-wield his unarmed attacks, meaning he always has access to a form of FOB. Additionally, a trained martial artist should know how to trip and grapple and disarm without getting smacked in the face, but it felt too cheesy (even for a tier 1 class) to just dump a whole slew of “improved bull rush/grapple/trip/etc” feats at first level, so the “no provoking AoO” seemed like a good compromise.
(In regards to Abundant Step) Originally this was made as a spell, but the whole fast movement thing is so classic monk I decided to add it into the main chassis, albeit a bit differently. I engineered it in this manner mainly so that the main monk table wouldn’t be cluttered with extra columns breaking down speed bonuses and whatnot.
(In regards to Flurry of Blows) Here we have the other half of the retooled FOB. This, again, used to be in spell form but it was probably better to reintegrate it into the main chassis. The whole thing about being able to move and flurry is actually based on Jiriku’s famous monk homebrew made way back when.
Ki (Ex or Su)
At 1st level a monk gains a well of spiritual willpower called ki that can be used to enhance his abilities. A monk’s pool of ki points is equal to his Wisdom bonus plus his monk level (minimum 1 ki point). This ki pool replenishes each morning after 8 hours of rest or meditation; these hours do not need to be consecutive.
Though ki itself is extraordinary in nature, certain powers it can grant a monk are supernatural. Each individual ki ability will distinguish whether it’s extraordinary or supernatural in nature.
Enhanced Abundant Step (Ex)
A monk may spend 1 ki point as a Free Action to treat any and all Balance, Climb, Jump, and Tumble checks below a 10 on a d20 roll as a 10. This ability lasts a number of minutes equal to his monk level, or until he ends it with another Free Action.
Enhanced Flurry of Blows (Ex)
A monk may spend 1 ki point as a Free Action to make a single monk weapon attack as a Swift Action using his highest BAB. This ability lasts a number of minutes equal to his monk level, or until he ends it with another Free Action.
Martial Clarity (Ex)
At 2nd level a monk can spend ki as a Free Action to add his Wisdom bonus to a number of the following attributes equal to the amount of ki points spent for one minute per monk level or until he ends the effect as another Free Action.
AC (including touch and flat-footed AC)
All saving throws
All attack rolls made with monk weapons
All ability checks, including checks used to bull rush, disarm, grapple, overrun, sunder, or trip
The DC of all spells cast
All skill checks and caster level checks
A monk is limited to how many ki points he can spend on this ability and thus how many attributes he can boost per activation. This limit is equal to the level of monk spells he is able to cast, so a 2nd level monk who is only capable of casting 1st level monk spells can only spend 1 ki point on Martial Clarity and thus can only benefit from 1 attribute boost, while a 5th level monk capable of casting 3rd level monk spells can spend 3 ki points to boost 3 attributes.
Design Notes
It’s time for our first helping of stinky cheese! If a druid gets a cool attack dog AND the ability to change into another attack dog herself, then a monk gets to be a SAD panda (and I mean a reeeallly SAD panda). Because of the potential of this ability, I wanted it to scale somewhat so a quick dip wouldn’t be enough for you to rock it for very long and for as many attributes.
Uncanny Dodge (Ex)
At 3rd level, a monk can react to danger before his senses would normally allow him to do so. He retains his Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) even if he is caught flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker. However, he still loses his Dexterity bonus to AC if immobilized.
Courageous Mind (Ex or Su))
At 4th level, a monk can ignore Fear effects. This particular use of Courageous Mind is an extraordinary ability.
A monk may choose to still accumulate levels of fear for the sake of reversing their effects. Any time he is subject to specific levels of fear, he gains the following benefits by spending the appropriate amount of ki as a Free Action.
By spending 1 ki point, a monk becomes Encouraged instead of Shaken. He gains a +2 bonus on attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks.
By spending 2 points, a monk becomes Emboldened instead of Frightened. In addition to the bonuses from being Encouraged, a monk gains a +2 bonus to AC (including Touch and Flat-Footed AC) and all damage rolls.
By spending 3 ki points, a monk becomes Galvanized instead of Panicked or Cowering. In addition to the bonuses from being Encouraged and Emboldened, a monk gains a +2 on the DCs to all spells he casts, and all bonuses gained are doubled when dealing with the source of the fear effect (when applicable).
These reversal bonuses last for one minute per monk level or until he ends it as another Free Action. If this ability is active during a lesser fear effect and more intense fear effects take place, the monk can pay the difference in ki as a Free Action to gain the new reversal bonuses. This particular use of Courageous Mind is a supernatural ability.
Design Notes
I wanted to do something more creative than just “fear immunity” for this one. I actually stole this same idea from an old paladin homebrew I saw on this sight about 10 or so years ago. It was cool enough that I remembered it all these years later and wanted to use it.
Evasion (Ex)
At 5th level, if a monk makes a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, he 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.
Purity Of Body (Ex or Su)
At 6th level, a monk can ignore the negative effects of all diseases. This particular use of Purity of Body is an extraordinary ability.
A monk may spend 1 ki point as a Free Action while under the effect of a disease to metabolize it and gain a +2 bonus to his Constitution. This bonus lasts for one minute per monk level or until he ends it with another Free Action, at which point the disease is entirely purged from his body.
A monk may only benefit from one use of this ability regardless of the amount of diseases he has accumulated. If he has accumulated multiple diseases and activates this particular use of Purity of Body, all diseases are purged at the end of the effect. This particular use of Purity of Body is a supernatural ability.
Mettle (Ex)
At 7th level, if a monk makes a successful Will or Fortitude save against an attack that normally would have a lesser effect on a successful save (such as any spell with a saving throw entry of Wil half or Fortitude partial), he instead completely negates the effect. An unconscious or sleeping monk does not gain the benefit of Mettle.
Wholeness Of Body (Ex or Su)
At 8th level a monk may heal an additional amount of hit points equal to his Wisdom modifier whenever he receives any sort of magical healing. This particular use of Wholeness of Body is an extraordinary ability.
Additionally, a monk can spend 2 ki points as a Free Action to gain Fast Healing equal to his Wisdom Modifier for one minute per monk level or until he ends it with another Free Action. This particular use of Wholeness of Body is a supernatural ability.
Design Notes
Since cure spells are now on the menu, fast healing seemed the logical alternative to vanilla WOB.
Bonus Feat
At 9th level, then again at 13th and 17th level, a monk gains a bonus feat. These can be any Metamagic feat, or any feat with Improved Unarmed Strike, Two-Weapon Fighting, or any monk class feature as a prerequisite.
Celestial Mind (Ex or Su)
At 10th level a monk can communicate with any creature capable of speaking a language. This particular use of Celestial Mind is an extraordinary ability.
Additionally, a monk can spend 1 ki point as a Free Action to emulate the Detect Thoughts spell, as well as telepathically communicate with any creature capable of speech at a range of 10ft per monk level. This ability lasts one minute per monk level or until he ends it with another Free Action. The DC for this effect is 10 + ½ Monk Level + Wisdom bonus. This particular use of Celestial Mind is a supernatural ability.
Design Notes
Tongue of the Sun and Moon always seemed like a goofy and out-of-place ability for a vanilla monk to have, but it is a legacy ability. Also, a wise master trope (especially one capable of casting spells) should have the ability to literally read minds and communicate telepathically.
Mystic Martial Artist (Ex or Su)
At 11th level a monk’s Martial Arts ability is enhanced. He gains the following features.
Monk Spell Weapons (Su)
A monk may treat certain spells he can cast as monk weapons for all beneficial purposes, and may cast these monk weapon spells as part of an attack roll instead of their usual casting time. Additionally, he may add his Wisdom bonus to the damage rolls.
In order for a spell to qualify as a monk weapon, it must meet the following criteria.
It must be a single-target spell
It must target a creature’s AC
It must have a casting time no greater than 1 Standard Action
It must deal hit-point damage.
It must have an Instantaneous duration.
If it allows for multiple chances to strike a creature’s AC per casting (such as Scorching Ray), only one instance of attack is allowed per cast
Ki Efficiency (Ex)
A monk can now activate a number of ki-based abilities simultaneously equal to his Wisdom bonus in one Free Action, though he must pay the ki point price for each effect individually as normal.
Greater Abundant Step (Ex)
While under the effect of Enhanced Abundant Step, a monk may use his Move Action to teleport a distance equal to his greatest available movespeed, including the bonus brought upon by Abundant Step, and new forms of movements granted by temporary spells and effects, such as a newly gained fly speed from the Fly spell.
If the monk possesses feats or features such as Shot on the Run, Spring attack, or the like, he can intersperse his teleportation distance freely between attacks.
If the monk uses this ability, his Enhanced Abundant Step prematurely stops at the beginning of his next turn.
Greater Flurry Of Blows (Ex)
A monk who activates Flurry of Blows may now make two monk weapon attacks as a Swift Action using his highest BAB.
Additionally, a monk using Flurry of Blows may make a full-round attack as a Standard Action, and all attacks using monk weapons that round use the monk’s highest BAB.
If he possesses feats or features such as Shot on the Run, Spring attack, or the like, he can intersperse his movement freely between each and every attack as he sees fit.
If the monk uses this particular instance of this ability, his Flurry of Blows prematurely stops at the beginning of his next turn.
Design Notes
Time for another helping of stinky cheese! What’s more cheesy than casting spells? Casting multiple spells in a single round, of course! Sure, it’s just single-target damage spells (and admittedly you’ll be burning through your spell slots to pull this off), but now you can throw some hands during a full-round attack and pepper in a Shocking Grasp to go Tekken on a poor hapless orc and Electric Wind God Fist him to oblivion.
Also, you can see that the beefed-up Abundant Step resembles the Dimension door trick the vanilla monk got. Additionally Flurry of Blows allows you to make your full attack as a standard action, which again was yoinked from elsewhere.
Hey, sue me. It was just too good to pass up.
Diamond Body (Ex or Su)
At 12th level, a monk can ignore the negative effects of all poisons. This particular use of Diamond Body is an extraordinary ability.
A monk may spend 1 ki point as a Free Action while under the effect of a poison to metabolize it and gain a +2 bonus to his Wisdom. This bonus lasts for one minute per monk level or until he ends it with another Free Action, at which point the poison is entirely purged from his body.
A monk may only benefit from one use of this ability regardless of the amount of poisons he has accumulated. If he has accumulated multiple diseases and activates this particular use of Diamond Body, all poisons are purged at the end of the effect. Diamond Body and Purity of Body can be active simultaneously.
This particular use of Diamond Body is a supernatural ability.
Resilient Mind (Ex or Su)
At 14th level a monk can ignore effects that attempt to exercise mental control over him, such as charm and compulsion effects that grant the caster ongoing control over the subject, such as the Dominate Person spell.
This particular use of Resilient Mind is an extraordinary ability.
Additionally, a monk may spend 2 ki points as a Free Action to gain the ability to ignore any and all unwanted mind-affecting effects for one minute per monk level or until he ends the ability with another Free Action.
If the monk is currently under a negative mind-affecting effect, even if under a compulsion that robs him of free will that is somehow not subject to the base protection of Resilient Mind, he may activate the ki-enhanced version of the ability and cease the unwanted effect, though he must spend 3 ki points to do so.
This particular use of Resilient Mind is a supernatural ability.
Design Notes
A wise master is the embodiment of willpower, so when some clown wants to tell you what to do you should have the ability to tell them to shove it where the sun don’t shine without screwing yourself out of beneficial mind-affecting buffs.
Timeless Body (Ex)
At 15th level a monk no longer takes penalties to his ability scores for aging and cannot be magically aged. Any such penalties that he has already taken, however, remain in place. Bonuses still accrue, and the monk still dies of old age when his time is up.
Additionally, A monk no longer needs to eat, drink, sleep, or breathe in order to sustain himself, and may ignore any and all sleep effects.
Design Notes
I decided to add the whole “don’t need to eat” gear to Timeless Body in order to give it some kind of immediate and tangible mechanical benefit.
Diamond Soul (Ex or Su)
At 16th level a monk treats any and all ability drain as ability damage instead, and ability damage is healed at a rate of a number of points per day equal to his Wisdom modifier (minimum 2 points per day), with full bedrest doubling that amount.
Additionally, a monk treats severe energy drain (caused by effects such as the Energy Drain spell) into milder energy drain (caused by effects such as the lower-level Enervation spell).
This particular use of Diamond Soul is an extraordinary ability.
A monk can spend 2 ki points as a Free Action to ignore ability penalties, ability damage, ability drain, and energy drain effects for one minute per monk level or until he ends the ability with another Free Action. Negative levels inflicted by energy drain and ability penalties are suppressed for the duration of this ability, but ability damage and ability drain remain.
This particular use of Diamond Soul is a supernatural ability.
Design Notes
Spell resistance is a trap. I know some monk fixes place addendums excluding beneficial spells, but I personally believe that being able to ignore having your abilities and levels screwed with follows the spirit of spell resistance (resisting bad juju) without biting you in the ass.
Celestial Soul (Ex or Su)
At 18th level a monk begins to ascend beyond mortal limits. He gains Blindsight out to 60ft and may ignore any and all unwanted polymorphing and petrification effects. This particular use of Celestial Soul is an extraordinary effect.
A monk can also spend 3 ki points as a Free Action to gain the following attributes for one minute per monk level or until he ends it with another Free Action.
A monk body glows brilliantly, shedding light as if under the effect of a Daylight spell. This light can be suppressed and reactivated as a Free Action.
A monk is not subject to paralysis or stunning
A monk is not subject to critical hits or flanking
This particular use of Celestial Soul is a supernatural effect.
Design Notes
Since Etherealness is a monk spell now, something needed to replace Empty Body. What better way to replace the ability than to gain one where you exceed your meager mortal coil and obtain a celestial-like form? After all, Yoda once said “Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter.”
Transcendent Infusion (Su)
At 19th level a monk treats all his spontaneous castings of Transcendent Spirit spells as Supernatural abilities. This means that they no longer need spell components, are not subject to spell resistance, counterspells, or to being dispelled by Dispel Magic. They also do not provoke attacks of opportunity and no longer require Concentration checks.
Design Notes
I wanted something that would set the monk apart from the other tier 1 casters, something that had the same usual cheese you get from tier 1 but with a unique flare, so I decided to go with supernatural spellcasting, as it fits the whole “ascend beyond limits” motif I’m going for.
Perfect Self (Su)
At 20th level all ki abilities cost 1 ki point less to a minimum of 0, and the duration of all Ki abilities increases to 24 hours.
Design Notes
And now some of your beefier monk abilities are effectively permanent. Enjoy your candy (and cheese).
But I’m not here to “fix” the monk. I am here to break the monk.
Ponder me this: what would happen if the most popular low-tier class in the game became a nightmare to DMs everywhere? What if the monk could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the likes of Batman wizards and CoDZillas?
What if … the monk were a tier 1 class?
Well, let’s find out.
Changelog
Jan 17, 2022:
Retooled class by modifying how Ki and Martial Arts class features work.
Removed Flurry of Blows and Abundant Step as spells and reintegrated them into the Ki class feature.
Martial Mystic is changed to Mystic Martial Arts and retooled to help integrate changes.
Timeless Body changed to include old features found in Celestial Soul.
Added Transcendent Metamagic homebrew feat.
Slight retool of spell list.
Dec 26, 2021: Added fluff text to help solidify the theme of the T1 monk and help differentiate it from the vanilla monk.
Dec 25, 2021 (Merry Xmas!): Restructured spell list to follow a more uniformed theme. Added new spells Acrobatic Surge, Focused Surge, and Spiritual Sustenance. Added new monk-based usages of spells Shillelagh, Spiritual Weapon, and Scrying.
Dec 24, 2021: Added Restoration, Planar Ally spells (lesser, normal, and greater) to spell list. Changed Transcendent Spirit spells to include a boost to skill rolls and cut back on temp HP. Changelog Added.
Dec 20, 2021: First Creation
The Elephant in the Room (A.K.A. “Why would you DO this??”)
Okay, okay. Some of you may be asking why in the blue blazes would I ever want to add yet another tier 1 monstrosity to the rule-bloated maelstrom that is 3.5 D&D.
Short answer: Because I wanna.
Longer answer: Because I have a hard bias towards the monk. As I said earlier, the “weeaboo fighting magic” schtick is my jam. Yes, I could do the whole unarmed swordsage thing or find a nice monk fix to play, but I want to powergame. I love powergaming. All the groups I play with are cool with it and we have a ball finding out ways to bend the system until it snaps. That being said, I want to do all that nonsense AND play a monk. Is that too much to ask?
Besides; all the popular kids have long ago moved on to 5e where the tier 1 insanity of yesteryear was put to rest. Only the geezers and neckbeards bother playing 3.5 nowadays, so I figure now is the best time to introduce this monstrosity since it’s no longer on the cutting edge where it could do potential damage in the hands of a starry-eyed fresh new player.
Some of you may be asking “why change the monk like this? Why not play a Shaman? It’s the closest thing to a monk-like spellcaster, right?” And yes, you’re technically correct, but correct in the same way as asking “why bother fixing the vanilla monk when you can just play an unarmed swordsage?”
Why not indeed? Why play fighter when you can play a warblade? To be fair, though, I will admit that shaman isn’t exactly what I’m looking for. It’s got some awesome things, don’t get me wrong (animal companion, hello?) but I want to make something that I would want to personally play. That’s pretty much the long and short of it.
Design Goals for the Tier 1 Monk
First and foremost, the class has to be a tier 1. The T1M needs to play and feel every bit as powerful, cheesy, and toe-steppingley versatile as his natural-spell-slinging druid and nightstick-DMM-spamming cleric brethren.
Though the T1M isn’t meant to be the same as the vanilla combat-focused monk, it should still feel monk-ish. Like, “wise man atop the snowy mountain meditating on the secrets of the universe” type of thing. If anything, the T1M should feel kind of like a Jedi, but more of a Yoda Jedi than an Anakin Skywalker Jedi.
Despite being a tier 1 class, the monk shouldn’t feel unreasonably broken to the point where you’d have to be an idiot not to choose the monk over the other tier 1 classes. For example, a reasonable veteran player should be able to compare the monk to the cleric, acknowledge the monk’s level of power, yet still choose the cleric over the monk because “eh, I like the warpriest aesthetic more than the wise master aesthetic” or something like that.
To further extrapolate on the above point, the T1M, despite being a tier 1 class, needs to feel like it wouldn’t stand out in a lineup with the other classes, particularly when a noob player looks over the other classes for the first time.
Quick anecdote: When I was in college I knew a guy who had a very poor grasp on power structure amongst the classes. He was convinced the TOB classes were “overpowered” because they could use their maneuvers on an encounter basis as opposed to a daily basis. Furthermore, he actually banned (yes, outright BANNED) warlocks from his games because Eldritch Blast had infinite uses and he saw that as “broken”.
You could give the T1M full BAB, a d12 hit dice, 8 skill points a level, and all good saves but as soon as you take away his spellcasting, he won’t hold a candle to a cleric, druid, or wizard, and yet THAT GUY would swear up and down the campus that this hypothetical class would be “too broken”. So as I’m building out the chassis of this class, I want to make sure it’s a class that THAT GUY wouldn’t bat a grotesquely misinformed eyelash at.
As you can tell, I’m using the cleric and druid specifically as benchmarks for the T1M, as the class is meant to be a divine caster, so deviations from the wizard’s design philosophy is acceptable to me.
Lastly, this whole thing isn’t meant to be taken too seriously. I mean, I’m making a tier 1 class for crying out loud. Who does that? Anyway, I do appreciate full PEACH, but mostly I just want to see what you guys think about something like this as a thought experiment. If anything, I'd love to hear from people who have CoDZilla experience if they want to give this class a spin.
The Tier 1 Monk in Dungeons and Dragons (A.K.A. “The Fluff”)
MONK
All beings throughout the planes of existence exert a spiritual cosmic energy. It grows with life, surrounds it, and enables it to flourish. Some harness this energy through divine worship, others through a deep primal connection, and others still through scholastic study.
And then there are those who ally themselves with this strange magic through spiritual contemplation and martial transcendence. These warrior-philosophers are known as monks. Monks meditate upon and train with this spiritual energy to not only transcend the mortal limits of their own minds, bodies, and souls, but those of other entities and even the very world around them. Good monks cultivate life, use their own preternatural abilities to protect the innocent, and shape the very world around them into a better place for all. Evil monks desecrate life, terrorize the populace with their destructive power, and warp the landscape around them into a hell on earth. Whether it is to serve or to conquer, by the power of life force itself a monk ensures his will be done.
Adventures: Monks adventure for a cause. Whether that cause be just, vile, greedy, or curious, monks are compelled by spiritual force to act upon the world. Regardless of motive, monks have a strong drive to better themselves and their understanding of spiritual power and adventuring provides the ideal proving grounds for such an undertaking.
Occasionally monks are ordered by their monastic superiors to venture out into the world to complete a specific task or a broader forwarding of a more complex agenda. On rare occasions, a monk may leave a specific monastery against the wishes of the superiors in order to fulfil a selfish desire or even atone for the monastery’s perceived wrongdoings.
Characteristics: Monks cast divine spells similarly to clerics and druids, though they get their spells through spiritual energy as opposed to deities or primal nature. Their spells are oriented toward combat and manipulation, and specialize on transforming and boosting the abilities of themselves and others.
In addition to spells, monks channel spiritual energy into a personal pool of magic known as Ki. Ki is mainly used to boost the monk’s own abilities and ascend them further beyond the mortal realm.
Monks have extensive martial arts training. Though they do not wield the most powerful weapons or wear the heaviest armor, they train in esoteric combat styles that surpass the skills of average warriors. Sufficiently advanced monks can even blend their martial arts training with their spellcasting, allowing for impressive displays of martial might.
Alignment: A monk can choose any alignment except neutral. The path of the monk requires diligence and dedication beyond the norm. Achieving optimum spiritual connection to the life force of the very cosmos leaves no room for indifference. Monks must stand for good, evil, law, chaos, or any combination thereof.
Though lawful monks are more common, given law’s natural propensity toward discipline, a sufficiently zealous student of chaos can easily find his way through the practice of the monk philosophy.
Religion: A monk’s first and foremost reverence is the spiritual life force of the cosmos, and from this very life force he gains all his magical power. Despite this, some monks see the gods as inspiring examples of the final destination of their philosophy, a being so in tune with cosmic life force as to embody fundamental aspects of it via domains. Such revered gods tend to include Hieroneous (god of valor), Kord (god of strength), Hextor (god of tyranny), and even Erythnul (god of slaughter).
Background: A monk typically trains in a monastery. Many monks were children when they first joined, whether sent by their parents to live a better life or tragically orphaned before being adopted by their monastery. Some monks join during their young adult years, drawn by the mystical teachings of spirit and life force the monasteries offer, or drawn by the prospect of being a master of such teachings. Life in the monastery is very focused to the point where a monk may feel a stronger connection to said monastery than even his own family or village.
Whether from large cities or small rural areas, monasteries are meant to teach the spiritual way to those who are interested and worthy, and thus location disparity bears little effect on how one monastery views another. Monasteries instead base their views and judgement upon other schools of differing alignment, particularly along the good/evil axis. Despite this, within these good or evil schools, one can find students of both lawful and chaotic alignment coexisting amicably– at least for the good-aligned monasteries.
A monk tends to feel a strong connection to his school, particularly to the monks who taught him and gave him his ranked monk’s dan. Some monks, however, feel only a connection to spiritual life force itself or even his own personal mastery of said life force.
Races: Monasteries are found primarily among humans, who yearn for the learnings of spiritual life force for various reasons ranging from curiosity to raw ambition. Thus, many monks are humans, and many are half-orcs and half-elves who live among humans.
Elves are capable of single-minded, long-term devotion and have a natural love for magic, and so some of them leave the forests to become monks.
The monk tradition is generally alien to dwarf and gnome culture, though a rare ambitious or curious few take to learning of the spiritual ways.
Halflings typically have too mobile a lifestyle to commit themselves to a monastery, but those who’s natural bravery and inclination for a path beyond the mortal realm outstrip their wanderlust manage to stomach the lifestyle in exchange for the path it yields.
The savage humanoids do not have the stable social structure that allows monk training, but the occasional orphaned or abandoned child from some humanoid tribe winds up in a civilized monastery or is adopted by a wandering master.
The evil subterranean elves known as the drow have a small but successful monk tradition dedicated to unlocking the secrets of the spiritual way so that they may wield it in their favor.
Other Classes: The monk appreciates the martial dedication of fighters and barbarians, though tends to view their single-minded focus on the physical to be a missed opportunity. He views the tricky and theatrical nature of the rogue and bard to be a weak mimicry of the spiritual way, though appreciates their ability to accomplish tasks when it counts. The monk shares the passionate pursuit of mystical knowledge with wizards, though typically sees their unbalanced focus on the mental aspects of study at the expense of physical and spiritual practice to be unusual. He appreciates the strong spiritual connection clerics and druids have to their respective purviews, and good/lawful monks particularly admire the righteous dedication paladins have for their cause. Sorcerers fascinate the monk due to their innate connection to magic, but puzzle him at the same time due to their inability to mold or improve upon it in any significant way.
Role: The monk’s strengths lie in his ability to support his allies through increasing their combat and skill capabilities, controlling the battlefield, and by providing offensive capabilities via his spells and Ki abilities. He has the capacity for healing, though not to the extent of the cleric.
Abilities: Wisdom determines how powerful a spell a monk can cast, how many spells he can cast per day, and how hard those spells are to resist. To cast a spell, a monk must have a Wisdom score of 10 + the spell’s level. A monk gets bonus spells based on Wisdom. The Difficulty Class of a saving throw against a monk’s spell is 10 + the spell’s level + the monk’s Wisdom modifier.
Since a monk wears light armor, a high Dexterity score greatly improves his defensive ability, and a high Strength score improves his melee combat capability.
The Monk
Saves
Spells Per Day
Level
BAB
Fort
Ref
Will
Special
0th
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
8th
9th
1st
+0
+0
+2
+2
Martial Arts, Ki
3
1
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
2nd
+1
+0
+3
+3
Martial Clarity
4
2
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
3rd
+2
+1
+3
+3
Uncanny Dodge
4
2
1
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
4th
+3
+1
+4
+4
Courageous Mind
5
3
2
—
—
—
—
—
—
—
5th
+3
+1
+4
+4
Evasion
5
3
2
1
—
—
—
—
—
—
6th
+4
+2
+5
+5
Purity of Body
5
3
3
2
—
—
—
—
—
—
7th
+5
+2
+5
+5
Mettle
6
4
3
2
1
—
—
—
—
—
8th
+6/+1
+2
+6
+6
Wholeness of Body
6
4
3
3
2
—
—
—
—
—
9th
+6/+1
+3
+6
+6
Bonus Feat
6
4
4
3
2
1
—
—
—
—
10th
+7/+2
+3
+7
+7
Celestial Mind
6
4
4
3
2
2
—
—
—
—
11th
+8/+3
+3
+7
+7
Mystic Martial Arts
6
5
4
4
3
2
1
—
—
—
12th
+9/+4
+4
+8
+8
Diamond Body
6
5
4
4
3
3
2
—
—
—
13th
+9/+4
+4
+8
+8
Bonus Feat
6
5
5
4
4
3
2
1
—
—
14th
+10/+5
+4
+9
+9
Resilient Mind
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
—
—
15th
+11/+6/+1
+5
+9
+9
Timeless Body
6
5
5
5
4
4
3
2
1
—
16th
+12/+7/+2
+5
+10
+10
Diamond Soul
6
5
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
—
17th
+12/+7/+2
+5
+10
+10
Bonus Feat
6
5
5
5
5
4
4
3
2
1
18th
+13/+8/+3
+6
+11
+11
Celestial Soul
6
5
5
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
19th
+14/+9/+4
+6
+11
+11
Transcendent Infusion
6
5
5
5
5
5
4
4
3
3
20th
+15/+10/+5
+6
+12
+12
Perfect Self
6
5
5
5
5
5
4
4
4
4
Alignment: Any Non-Neutral
Hit Die: d8
Class Skills: The 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), Heal (Wis), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Knowledge (the planes) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), and Tumble (Dex).
Skill Ranks At 1st Level: (6 + Int) x 4
Skill Ranks At Each Additional Level: 6 + Int
Design Notes
Being a caster means the need for some caster-based skills peppered into the mix. To aid with this, I gave the monk some more skill points to play around with and knocked the fortitude save progression down a peg to compensate.
In regards to the alignment, I’m taking a page out of the TOB Crusader’s book and making it so that a monk needs to stand for some kind of cause or philosophy in order to reach true monkish mastery. I know the classic wise master trope would be to go the neutral route in order to “let go of all earthly ties” or whatever, but the druid is already the neutral class.
Class Features
The following are class features of the monk.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency
A monk is proficient with the club, crossbow (light or heavy), dagger, handaxe, javelin, kama, longsword, nunchaku, quarterstaff, sai, scimitar, short bow, short sword, shuriken, siangham, sling, and spear.
A monk is proficient with his unarmed strike and is treated as if he has the Improved Unarmed Strike feat for all intents and purposes. Additionally, he is proficient with any natural weapon he gains through shapeshifting into another creature.
A monk is proficient with light armor but not shields.
Design Notes
(In regards to Weapons) I added a couple of new weapons into the monk weapon mix because I feel like things such as scimitars, spears, and a good short bow are weapons a practical martial artist should train with. Also, keep in mind that one of the most famous shaolin monk weapons is the dual broadswords (hence the scimitar).
(In regards to Unarmed Strikes) What’s a monk that can’t punch? A nobody, that’s what! Also now that monks can cast spells, it seems only logical that they’d train how to throw hands (or claws) in a polymorphed body.
(In regards to Armor) What? A monk in armor? Yep. Frankly I just felt like it fit better for this particular iteration of the monk. Besides, the other divine casters get armor so I don’t feel guilty about it.
Spellcasting
A monk casts divine spells, which are drawn from the monk spell list. His alignment may restrict him from casting certain spells opposed to his moral or ethical beliefs which include Chaotic, Evil, Good, and Lawful Spells. A monk must choose and prepare his spells in advance (see below).
To prepare or cast a spell, the monk must have a Wisdom score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a monk’s spell is 10 + the spell level + the monk’s Wisdom modifier.
Like other spellcasters, a monk can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given on Table: The Monk. In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Wisdom score. He does not have access to any domain spells or granted powers, as a cleric does.
A monk prepares and casts spells the way a cleric or druid does, though he cannot lose a prepared spell to cast a cure spell or a summon nature’s ally spell in its place (but see Spontaneous Casting, below). A monk may prepare and cast any spell on the monk spell list, provided that he can cast spells of that level, but he must choose which spells to prepare during his daily meditation.
Spontaneous Casting
A monk can channel stored spell energy into specific spells that he hasn’t prepared ahead of time. He can "lose" a prepared spell in order to cast any Transcendent Spirit spell of the same level or lower.
Chaotic, Evil, Good, and Lawful Spells
A monk can’t cast spells of an alignment opposed to his own or his deity’s (if he has one). Spells associated with particular alignments are indicated by the chaos, evil, good, and law descriptors in their spell descriptions.
Monk’s Dan
A monk’s dan is the divine focus a monk uses to cast spells. The default dan is a belt colored in such a way as to signify a monk’s rank in his monastic training, though some monk schools use other articles of clothing, jewelry, or other accoutrements as a dan. The monk merely needs to wear the dan on his person to make full use of it in his spellcasting.
Design Notes
(In regards to Spells) Nothing terribly special here (except the whole “monks are full casters now” thing). Just pulled it straight from the cleric/druid entry. And for those of you wondering what “Transcendent Spirit” spells are, they’ll be explained later.
(In regards to Monk's Dan) If clerics use holy symbols and druids use twigs with funny little leaves on it for their respective divine focuses, then what do monks get? Their cool belts, of course! Yeah, yeah, Mr. Miyagi from Karate Kid once said that belts are for holding your pants up and nothing more, but I bet HE couldn’t summon a celestial brown bear with HIS black belt!
Martial Arts (Ex)
Unarmed Strikes and Natural Weapons
At 1st level, whenever the monk makes natural attacks or unarmed strikes, such attacks may be made with any appendage interchangeably or even from elbows, knees, feet, tails, jaws, tentacles, crown of the head, shoulder, or other similar protruding extremities. This means that a monk may even make such strikes with prehensile appendages carrying objects of any sort.
A medium-sized monk deals 1d6 damage plus his full Strength bonus on an unarmed strike by default. If a monk possesses a natural weapon that deals more damage, including the option of applying strength and a half on damage (such as from a slam attack), he may choose to use that damage instead.
Usually a monk’s unarmed strikes and natural attacks deal lethal damage, but he can choose to deal nonlethal damage instead with no penalty on his attack roll. He has the same choice to deal lethal or nonlethal damage while executing any sort of combat maneuvers, such as tripping or grappling.
A monk may treat his unarmed strikes and natural attacks as “free hands” for the purpose of special abilities that require “a free hand to initiate”, such as the Deflect Arrows feat, even if the unarmed strike or natural attack is otherwise not prehensile. This does not work if the monk is rendered completely immobile or helpless.
A monk’s unarmed strikes and natural attacks are treated both as a manufactured weapon and a natural weapon for the purpose of feats, class features, weapon enchantments, and spells and effects that enhance or improve either manufactured weapons or natural weapons. A monk treats his unarmed strikes and natural attacks as masterwork weapons.
Monk Weapons
The club, crossbow (light or heavy), dagger, handaxe, javelin, kama, longsword, natural weapon, nunchaku, quarterstaff, sai, scimitar, short bow, short sword, shuriken, siangham, sling, spear, and unarmed strike are all considered monk weapons.
When armed with any number of monk weapons in one or both (or more, given the current form) hands, a monk may attack interchangeably as desired, thus a monk may apply nothing less than his full Strength bonus on damage rolls and take no penalty to attack rolls, and is treated as having the Two-Weapon Fighting feat for all intents and purposes. Despite this, a monk is still limited to how many extra attacks he can make if he does not possess the Improved Two-Weapon Fighting or Greater Two-Weapon Fighting feats.
Additionally, a monk wielding monk weapons may attempt a special attack, such as a bull rush, disarm, grapple, overrun, sunder, or trip without provoking attacks of opportunity.
Monk weapons are a very special classification of weapons. Even if a monk gains proficiency in a weapon not listed above through other means, he cannot treat it as a monk weapon.
Abundant Step
A monk gains a bonus to all movespeeds he possesses equal to 10ft per monk spell level he is capable of casting, so a 1st level monk who is only capable of casting 1st level monk spells only adds 10ft to his movement, while a 5th level monk capable of casting 3rd level monk spells adds 30ft to his movement.
This speed bonus also applies to temporary modes of movement, such as a fly speed granted by the Fly spell, but only if the monk himself imbued the new movement in the first place, therefore new movements granted onto the monk by another caster or magical creature cannot be enhanced.
This bonus to his movement cannot exceed the base value of each respective movespeed, so a 13th level monk capable of casting 7th level monk spells that possesses a base land speed of 30ft and also happens to be under a self-imbued Fly spell can only enhance his land speed by an additional 30ft (to a maximum of 60ft) and can only enhance his temporary fly speed by an additional 60ft (to a maximum of 120ft) despite being capable of giving himself a theoretical 70ft movement bonus.
Flurry of Blows
A monk can move a number of feet equal to his Abundant Step bonus speed while making a full-round attack so long as he does so while wielding monk weapons. If he possesses feats or features such as Shot on the Run, Spring attack, or the like, he can intersperse his movement freely between each and every attack as he sees fit.
Design Notes
(In regards to Unarmed Strikes and Natural Weapons) The unarmed strike doesn’t change damage for the rest of the T1M’s career, so the versatility of unarmed strikes working interchangeably with potential natural attacks gained from shapechanging was added to fit the new class abilities better.
(In regards to Monk Weapons) This part is the first half of my attempt at retooling Flurry of Blows. As this ability is currently written, a monk can always dual-wield his unarmed attacks, meaning he always has access to a form of FOB. Additionally, a trained martial artist should know how to trip and grapple and disarm without getting smacked in the face, but it felt too cheesy (even for a tier 1 class) to just dump a whole slew of “improved bull rush/grapple/trip/etc” feats at first level, so the “no provoking AoO” seemed like a good compromise.
(In regards to Abundant Step) Originally this was made as a spell, but the whole fast movement thing is so classic monk I decided to add it into the main chassis, albeit a bit differently. I engineered it in this manner mainly so that the main monk table wouldn’t be cluttered with extra columns breaking down speed bonuses and whatnot.
(In regards to Flurry of Blows) Here we have the other half of the retooled FOB. This, again, used to be in spell form but it was probably better to reintegrate it into the main chassis. The whole thing about being able to move and flurry is actually based on Jiriku’s famous monk homebrew made way back when.
Ki (Ex or Su)
At 1st level a monk gains a well of spiritual willpower called ki that can be used to enhance his abilities. A monk’s pool of ki points is equal to his Wisdom bonus plus his monk level (minimum 1 ki point). This ki pool replenishes each morning after 8 hours of rest or meditation; these hours do not need to be consecutive.
Though ki itself is extraordinary in nature, certain powers it can grant a monk are supernatural. Each individual ki ability will distinguish whether it’s extraordinary or supernatural in nature.
Enhanced Abundant Step (Ex)
A monk may spend 1 ki point as a Free Action to treat any and all Balance, Climb, Jump, and Tumble checks below a 10 on a d20 roll as a 10. This ability lasts a number of minutes equal to his monk level, or until he ends it with another Free Action.
Enhanced Flurry of Blows (Ex)
A monk may spend 1 ki point as a Free Action to make a single monk weapon attack as a Swift Action using his highest BAB. This ability lasts a number of minutes equal to his monk level, or until he ends it with another Free Action.
Martial Clarity (Ex)
At 2nd level a monk can spend ki as a Free Action to add his Wisdom bonus to a number of the following attributes equal to the amount of ki points spent for one minute per monk level or until he ends the effect as another Free Action.
AC (including touch and flat-footed AC)
All saving throws
All attack rolls made with monk weapons
All ability checks, including checks used to bull rush, disarm, grapple, overrun, sunder, or trip
The DC of all spells cast
All skill checks and caster level checks
A monk is limited to how many ki points he can spend on this ability and thus how many attributes he can boost per activation. This limit is equal to the level of monk spells he is able to cast, so a 2nd level monk who is only capable of casting 1st level monk spells can only spend 1 ki point on Martial Clarity and thus can only benefit from 1 attribute boost, while a 5th level monk capable of casting 3rd level monk spells can spend 3 ki points to boost 3 attributes.
Design Notes
It’s time for our first helping of stinky cheese! If a druid gets a cool attack dog AND the ability to change into another attack dog herself, then a monk gets to be a SAD panda (and I mean a reeeallly SAD panda). Because of the potential of this ability, I wanted it to scale somewhat so a quick dip wouldn’t be enough for you to rock it for very long and for as many attributes.
Uncanny Dodge (Ex)
At 3rd level, a monk can react to danger before his senses would normally allow him to do so. He retains his Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) even if he is caught flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker. However, he still loses his Dexterity bonus to AC if immobilized.
Courageous Mind (Ex or Su))
At 4th level, a monk can ignore Fear effects. This particular use of Courageous Mind is an extraordinary ability.
A monk may choose to still accumulate levels of fear for the sake of reversing their effects. Any time he is subject to specific levels of fear, he gains the following benefits by spending the appropriate amount of ki as a Free Action.
By spending 1 ki point, a monk becomes Encouraged instead of Shaken. He gains a +2 bonus on attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks.
By spending 2 points, a monk becomes Emboldened instead of Frightened. In addition to the bonuses from being Encouraged, a monk gains a +2 bonus to AC (including Touch and Flat-Footed AC) and all damage rolls.
By spending 3 ki points, a monk becomes Galvanized instead of Panicked or Cowering. In addition to the bonuses from being Encouraged and Emboldened, a monk gains a +2 on the DCs to all spells he casts, and all bonuses gained are doubled when dealing with the source of the fear effect (when applicable).
These reversal bonuses last for one minute per monk level or until he ends it as another Free Action. If this ability is active during a lesser fear effect and more intense fear effects take place, the monk can pay the difference in ki as a Free Action to gain the new reversal bonuses. This particular use of Courageous Mind is a supernatural ability.
Design Notes
I wanted to do something more creative than just “fear immunity” for this one. I actually stole this same idea from an old paladin homebrew I saw on this sight about 10 or so years ago. It was cool enough that I remembered it all these years later and wanted to use it.
Evasion (Ex)
At 5th level, if a monk makes a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, he 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.
Purity Of Body (Ex or Su)
At 6th level, a monk can ignore the negative effects of all diseases. This particular use of Purity of Body is an extraordinary ability.
A monk may spend 1 ki point as a Free Action while under the effect of a disease to metabolize it and gain a +2 bonus to his Constitution. This bonus lasts for one minute per monk level or until he ends it with another Free Action, at which point the disease is entirely purged from his body.
A monk may only benefit from one use of this ability regardless of the amount of diseases he has accumulated. If he has accumulated multiple diseases and activates this particular use of Purity of Body, all diseases are purged at the end of the effect. This particular use of Purity of Body is a supernatural ability.
Mettle (Ex)
At 7th level, if a monk makes a successful Will or Fortitude save against an attack that normally would have a lesser effect on a successful save (such as any spell with a saving throw entry of Wil half or Fortitude partial), he instead completely negates the effect. An unconscious or sleeping monk does not gain the benefit of Mettle.
Wholeness Of Body (Ex or Su)
At 8th level a monk may heal an additional amount of hit points equal to his Wisdom modifier whenever he receives any sort of magical healing. This particular use of Wholeness of Body is an extraordinary ability.
Additionally, a monk can spend 2 ki points as a Free Action to gain Fast Healing equal to his Wisdom Modifier for one minute per monk level or until he ends it with another Free Action. This particular use of Wholeness of Body is a supernatural ability.
Design Notes
Since cure spells are now on the menu, fast healing seemed the logical alternative to vanilla WOB.
Bonus Feat
At 9th level, then again at 13th and 17th level, a monk gains a bonus feat. These can be any Metamagic feat, or any feat with Improved Unarmed Strike, Two-Weapon Fighting, or any monk class feature as a prerequisite.
Celestial Mind (Ex or Su)
At 10th level a monk can communicate with any creature capable of speaking a language. This particular use of Celestial Mind is an extraordinary ability.
Additionally, a monk can spend 1 ki point as a Free Action to emulate the Detect Thoughts spell, as well as telepathically communicate with any creature capable of speech at a range of 10ft per monk level. This ability lasts one minute per monk level or until he ends it with another Free Action. The DC for this effect is 10 + ½ Monk Level + Wisdom bonus. This particular use of Celestial Mind is a supernatural ability.
Design Notes
Tongue of the Sun and Moon always seemed like a goofy and out-of-place ability for a vanilla monk to have, but it is a legacy ability. Also, a wise master trope (especially one capable of casting spells) should have the ability to literally read minds and communicate telepathically.
Mystic Martial Artist (Ex or Su)
At 11th level a monk’s Martial Arts ability is enhanced. He gains the following features.
Monk Spell Weapons (Su)
A monk may treat certain spells he can cast as monk weapons for all beneficial purposes, and may cast these monk weapon spells as part of an attack roll instead of their usual casting time. Additionally, he may add his Wisdom bonus to the damage rolls.
In order for a spell to qualify as a monk weapon, it must meet the following criteria.
It must be a single-target spell
It must target a creature’s AC
It must have a casting time no greater than 1 Standard Action
It must deal hit-point damage.
It must have an Instantaneous duration.
If it allows for multiple chances to strike a creature’s AC per casting (such as Scorching Ray), only one instance of attack is allowed per cast
Ki Efficiency (Ex)
A monk can now activate a number of ki-based abilities simultaneously equal to his Wisdom bonus in one Free Action, though he must pay the ki point price for each effect individually as normal.
Greater Abundant Step (Ex)
While under the effect of Enhanced Abundant Step, a monk may use his Move Action to teleport a distance equal to his greatest available movespeed, including the bonus brought upon by Abundant Step, and new forms of movements granted by temporary spells and effects, such as a newly gained fly speed from the Fly spell.
If the monk possesses feats or features such as Shot on the Run, Spring attack, or the like, he can intersperse his teleportation distance freely between attacks.
If the monk uses this ability, his Enhanced Abundant Step prematurely stops at the beginning of his next turn.
Greater Flurry Of Blows (Ex)
A monk who activates Flurry of Blows may now make two monk weapon attacks as a Swift Action using his highest BAB.
Additionally, a monk using Flurry of Blows may make a full-round attack as a Standard Action, and all attacks using monk weapons that round use the monk’s highest BAB.
If he possesses feats or features such as Shot on the Run, Spring attack, or the like, he can intersperse his movement freely between each and every attack as he sees fit.
If the monk uses this particular instance of this ability, his Flurry of Blows prematurely stops at the beginning of his next turn.
Design Notes
Time for another helping of stinky cheese! What’s more cheesy than casting spells? Casting multiple spells in a single round, of course! Sure, it’s just single-target damage spells (and admittedly you’ll be burning through your spell slots to pull this off), but now you can throw some hands during a full-round attack and pepper in a Shocking Grasp to go Tekken on a poor hapless orc and Electric Wind God Fist him to oblivion.
Also, you can see that the beefed-up Abundant Step resembles the Dimension door trick the vanilla monk got. Additionally Flurry of Blows allows you to make your full attack as a standard action, which again was yoinked from elsewhere.
Hey, sue me. It was just too good to pass up.
Diamond Body (Ex or Su)
At 12th level, a monk can ignore the negative effects of all poisons. This particular use of Diamond Body is an extraordinary ability.
A monk may spend 1 ki point as a Free Action while under the effect of a poison to metabolize it and gain a +2 bonus to his Wisdom. This bonus lasts for one minute per monk level or until he ends it with another Free Action, at which point the poison is entirely purged from his body.
A monk may only benefit from one use of this ability regardless of the amount of poisons he has accumulated. If he has accumulated multiple diseases and activates this particular use of Diamond Body, all poisons are purged at the end of the effect. Diamond Body and Purity of Body can be active simultaneously.
This particular use of Diamond Body is a supernatural ability.
Resilient Mind (Ex or Su)
At 14th level a monk can ignore effects that attempt to exercise mental control over him, such as charm and compulsion effects that grant the caster ongoing control over the subject, such as the Dominate Person spell.
This particular use of Resilient Mind is an extraordinary ability.
Additionally, a monk may spend 2 ki points as a Free Action to gain the ability to ignore any and all unwanted mind-affecting effects for one minute per monk level or until he ends the ability with another Free Action.
If the monk is currently under a negative mind-affecting effect, even if under a compulsion that robs him of free will that is somehow not subject to the base protection of Resilient Mind, he may activate the ki-enhanced version of the ability and cease the unwanted effect, though he must spend 3 ki points to do so.
This particular use of Resilient Mind is a supernatural ability.
Design Notes
A wise master is the embodiment of willpower, so when some clown wants to tell you what to do you should have the ability to tell them to shove it where the sun don’t shine without screwing yourself out of beneficial mind-affecting buffs.
Timeless Body (Ex)
At 15th level a monk no longer takes penalties to his ability scores for aging and cannot be magically aged. Any such penalties that he has already taken, however, remain in place. Bonuses still accrue, and the monk still dies of old age when his time is up.
Additionally, A monk no longer needs to eat, drink, sleep, or breathe in order to sustain himself, and may ignore any and all sleep effects.
Design Notes
I decided to add the whole “don’t need to eat” gear to Timeless Body in order to give it some kind of immediate and tangible mechanical benefit.
Diamond Soul (Ex or Su)
At 16th level a monk treats any and all ability drain as ability damage instead, and ability damage is healed at a rate of a number of points per day equal to his Wisdom modifier (minimum 2 points per day), with full bedrest doubling that amount.
Additionally, a monk treats severe energy drain (caused by effects such as the Energy Drain spell) into milder energy drain (caused by effects such as the lower-level Enervation spell).
This particular use of Diamond Soul is an extraordinary ability.
A monk can spend 2 ki points as a Free Action to ignore ability penalties, ability damage, ability drain, and energy drain effects for one minute per monk level or until he ends the ability with another Free Action. Negative levels inflicted by energy drain and ability penalties are suppressed for the duration of this ability, but ability damage and ability drain remain.
This particular use of Diamond Soul is a supernatural ability.
Design Notes
Spell resistance is a trap. I know some monk fixes place addendums excluding beneficial spells, but I personally believe that being able to ignore having your abilities and levels screwed with follows the spirit of spell resistance (resisting bad juju) without biting you in the ass.
Celestial Soul (Ex or Su)
At 18th level a monk begins to ascend beyond mortal limits. He gains Blindsight out to 60ft and may ignore any and all unwanted polymorphing and petrification effects. This particular use of Celestial Soul is an extraordinary effect.
A monk can also spend 3 ki points as a Free Action to gain the following attributes for one minute per monk level or until he ends it with another Free Action.
A monk body glows brilliantly, shedding light as if under the effect of a Daylight spell. This light can be suppressed and reactivated as a Free Action.
A monk is not subject to paralysis or stunning
A monk is not subject to critical hits or flanking
This particular use of Celestial Soul is a supernatural effect.
Design Notes
Since Etherealness is a monk spell now, something needed to replace Empty Body. What better way to replace the ability than to gain one where you exceed your meager mortal coil and obtain a celestial-like form? After all, Yoda once said “Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter.”
Transcendent Infusion (Su)
At 19th level a monk treats all his spontaneous castings of Transcendent Spirit spells as Supernatural abilities. This means that they no longer need spell components, are not subject to spell resistance, counterspells, or to being dispelled by Dispel Magic. They also do not provoke attacks of opportunity and no longer require Concentration checks.
Design Notes
I wanted something that would set the monk apart from the other tier 1 casters, something that had the same usual cheese you get from tier 1 but with a unique flare, so I decided to go with supernatural spellcasting, as it fits the whole “ascend beyond limits” motif I’m going for.
Perfect Self (Su)
At 20th level all ki abilities cost 1 ki point less to a minimum of 0, and the duration of all Ki abilities increases to 24 hours.
Design Notes
And now some of your beefier monk abilities are effectively permanent. Enjoy your candy (and cheese).