To find out how I got here check out parts one, two, three, four, five and six of this series. I was not able to fit in everything I wanted and ended up putting the class on par with the Paladin for XP costs.
The Monk
Requirements: Minimum DEX 9, minimum WIS 9
Prime requisite: STR, DEX
Hit Dice: 1d6
Maximum level: 14
Armour: None, no shields
Weapons: Any
Languages: Alignment, Common
Alignment: A monk must be lawful. If the character’s alignment ever changes (for any reason), they lose all class abilities and become a fighter of the same level.
Prime requisites: A monk with at least 13 in one prime requisite gains a 5% bonus to experience. If both STR and DEX are 16 or higher, the monk gets a +10% bonus.
Agile Fighting
Upon reaching 4th level, a monk gains a +1 AC bonus. This increases to +2 at 6th level, +3 at 8th level, and +4 at 10th level.
Awareness
Monks are only surprised on a roll of 1. This may mean that a monk is able to act in the surprise round while their companions are surprised.
Increased Movement
Upon reaching 4th level, a monk gains an extra 10’ of encounter movement. This increases to 20’ at 6th level, 30’ at 8th level and 40’ at 10th level.
Limited Possessions
A monk may only keep four magic items at a time and must donate 90% of their wealth to their order or other worthy causes.
Monk Skills
Monk can use the following skills, with the chance of success shown below:
▶ Climb sheer surfaces (CS): A roll is required for each 100’ to be climbed. If the roll fails, the monk falls at the halfway point, suffering falling damage.
▶ Deflect Missiles (DM): A roll is required to attempt to deflect non-magical missile attacks.
▶ Hear noise (HN): In a quiet environment (e.g. not in combat), a monk may attempt to listen at a door or to hear the sounds of something (e.g. a wandering monster) approaching.
▶ Hide in shadows (HS): Requires the monk to be motionless—attacking or moving while hiding is not possible.
▶ Move silently (MS): A monk may attempt to sneak past enemies unnoticed.
Order Code
Monks are bound by the stringent codes of their orders. A monk must never break his word or fail to pay his debts, specific codes depend on the order the monk is a member of. A Monk who fails to live up to the code of his order loses all class abilities and becomes a fighter of the same level.
Strike Invulnerable Monsters
A monk of 4th level or higher is able to use unarmed attacks to hit monsters that can normally only be harmed by magic.
Unarmed Combat
A monk’s unarmed strikes do 1D4 damage instead of the usual 1D2, upon reaching 4th level this becomes 1D6, at 8th level 1D8 and at 12th level 1D10.
Unarmed attacks which hit by 5 or more than the required amount have a 4 in 6 chance to stun (unable to move or act on their next turn) the target.
After Reaching 9th Level
There can only be a limited number of monks at each higher level. When a monk has enough experience points to reach 9th level, they challenge an existing 9th level monk. The character only advances to 9th level if the other monk is defeated. Such challenges may take any form that is agreed by both parties, including combat (which need not be fatal). This process is repeated at each subsequent level.
Monks who attain 9th level or above may found their own cloister which is funded by their order. 2D6 1st level monks will join the new cloister as students.
Monk Level Progression
Saving Throws
Level XP HD THAC0 D W P B S
1 0 1d6 19 [0] 12 13 14 15 16
2 2,750 2d6 19 [0] 12 13 14 15 16
3 5,500 3d6 19 [0] 12 13 14 15 16
4 12,000 4d6 17 [+2] 10 11 12 13 14
5 24,000 5d6 17 [+2] 10 11 12 13 14
6 45,000 6d6 17 [+2] 10 11 12 13 14
7 95,000 7d6 14 [+5] 8 9 10 10 10
8 175,000 8d6 14 [+5] 8 9 10 10 10
9 350,000 9d6 14 [+5] 8 9 10 10 10
10 500,000 9d6+2* 12 [+7] 6 7 8 8 8
11 650,000 9d6+4* 12 [+7] 6 7 8 8 8
12 800,000 9d6+8* 12 [+7] 6 7 8 8 8
13 950,000 9d6+10* 10 [+9] 4 5 6 5 5
14 1,100,000 9d6+12* 10 [+9] 4 5 6 5 5
* Modifiers from CON no longer apply. D: Death / poison; W: Wands;
P: Paralysis / petrify; B: Breath attacks;
S: Spells / rods / staves.
Monk Skills Chance of Success
Level CS DM HN HS MS
1 87 10 1–2 10 20
2 88 15 1–2 15 25
3 89 20 1–3 20 30
4 90 25 1–3 25 35
5 91 30 1–3 30 40
6 92 40 1–3 36 45
7 93 50 1–4 45 55
8 94 60 1–4 55 65
9 95 70 1–4 65 75
10 96 80 1–4 75 85
11 97 90 1–5 85 95
12 98 95 1–5 90 96
13 99 97 1–5 95 98
14 99 99 1–5 99 99
I think this take on the monk makes good sense. Any particular reason you decided not to include extra attacks?
ReplyDeleteBasically I'm not really sure how to balance giving multiple attacks. There are a lot of iconic monk features however fitting them all in without having a bonkers XP cost is pretty hard. I decided to go with what I thought were the important features while trying not to end up with a 4000XP to level 2 class which would be fairly unprecedented for a human class.
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