The Monk - Part 2: Mentzer's Master Mystic

 

Coming as part 4 in the BECMI set (Basic, Expert, Champion, Master, Imortals) is the black box master set designed to take characters from level 26 to 36 this set also contains a monk class of sorts. For master we have ditched the monk as the name and gone with mystic.

Mystics are NPC humans, monastic people who follow a strict discipline of meditation, denial, seclusion, and mastery of the human body. Mystics are skilled in unarmedcombat. They live in cloisters, or lairs.

 We get a whole slew of information on how cloisters are organised so you know exactly how many people make up a cloister and their classes which is nice but not exactly relevant to running a player character.

Mystics advance in levels at the same XP cost as fighters however they are limited to level 16 and after each level up you have to spend 1-6 months back at your cloister to prove you are not just out in the world having too much fun. You only gain XP from treasure if you give it to the needy and 10% of your treasure has to be tithed back to your cloister. So do you lose 10% of the XP you should get from your treasure or are cloisters considered needy?

 When in unarmed combat your unarmed strikes count as silver weapons (2nd level), +1 weapons (5th level), +2 weapons (8th level), +3 weapons (11th level), +4 weapons (14th level) and +5 weapon (16th level) however this is only for the purpose of being able to damage a creature, you do not get any to hit or damage bonuses!

 Mystics do get to use special fighter options such as disarm, stun etc and can use the different martial arts styles from the Companion Set. If you use a dominant style in combat then you get to do double damage unless the opponent saves vs spells. This is adding a level of fiddly onto combat which I do not really like.

 Next you get some acrobatics skills as a mystics. Jumps/leaps, tumbles/falls, dodges, catches (stopping yourself from falling), swings and balances all of which you succeed on a d100 roll that is less than or equal to three times your dex plus two times your level which would have been much better expressed in a table. For the benefit of having these acrobatic skills you earn 20% less XP than a normal mystic.

 And that is it.

 It is a bit of a bare bones, get you started class. By this point you are supposed to be skilled enough as a DM to be able to work it out yourself. No mention given of mystics having to go without armour, what their HD should be, any stat requirements or their saves.

 I like the stuff on how cloisters are organised even if it is not that useful for the class itself. There are some nods to making different orders more unique by having them use different martial arts styles however again this is hand waved and left up to the DM.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17167/DD-Master-Set-BECMI-ed-Basic

 

Tomorrow back to calling a monk a monk?