The Monk - Part 5: Rules Cyclopedia Mystic

 

 Released in 1991 I believe, this is going to be the last monk we will look at and probably the most relevant.

The Rules Cyclopedia class reverts to the mystic name, having strength and dexterity as prime requisites while also needing a min score of 13 in dexterity and wisdom. Mystics get a D6 for hit dice and now not only can they no longer wear armour they also can not use any magic items that offer protection! We are told 75% of mystics are lawful, seemingly there being no alignment requirement.

 As a mystic levels it naturally improves it's AC, movement, number of attacks and unarmed strike damage. Mystic's unarmed strikes also start to count as magical weapons for the purposes of damaging invulnerable creatures. A mystic does 1d4 damage at first level with unarmed strikes and tops out at 3d12 at 16th level where it has 4 attacks a round!

Mystics get some optional acrobatics abilities at the cost of -20% experience points earned. This comes in the form of Acrobatics Check = d% roll vs. ([3 * Dex] + [2 x Lvl]), a return to annoying formulas rather than a straight table. The rules do suggest you could also just do it by a roll under dex check on a d20 which is probably far better.

As standard a mystic gets the following thief abilities: Find Traps, Remove Traps, Move Silently, Climb Walls, and Hide in Shadows. At 9th level you get access to the special fighter combat options too.

Next we get a fairly familiar set of features as the mystic levels

Gentle touch being the new quivering palm which you can use once a day instead of once a week and can use for charm, cureall, death, quest, or paralysis rather than just death like in previous editions.

There are some tweaks to the previous restrictions on a monk, now instead of having to donate most of your wealth your cloister just straight up owns anything you collect. Once you reach 10th level as a mystic the number of mystics at that level is restricted and you have to beat one in solo combat to actually advance to the new level. Some good news is that when you want to build a stronghold at 9th level, your current cloister will pay for it for you.

As we might have expected this class is the closest to something that might fit in B/X or OSE however it still has way too many abilities.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17171/DD-Rules-Cyclopedia-Basic

Tomorrow I try to figure out what the heck I actually want from a monk class and what is achievable!