The Monk

The monk is the most unusual of all characters, the hardest to qualify for, and perhaps, the most deadly. That is why the class is given out of alphabetical order at the end of the section pertaining to character classes.

To be a monk, a character must have the following minimum ability scores: Strength 15, Wisdom 15, Dexterity 15, and Constitution 11. Monks never gain any experience points bonuses.

Monks are monastic aesthetics who practice rigorous mental and physical training and discipline in order to become superior. Therefore they must always be Lawful in alignment, although they can be Evil, Good, or Neutral with respect to their approach to lawfulness. A monk who, for any reason loses this Lawful alignment, loses all monk abilities and must begin again as a first level character.

Non-player character monks will be aligned as follows: 50% Lawful Good, 35% Lawful Neutral, 15% Lawful Evil.

A brief study of the monk's tables will reveal that the monk appears to be quite weak, even considering that at the topmost level a monk can have 18, albeit four-sided, hit dice and has a good selection of weapons to choose from.

Monks have no spell ability, cannot wear armor or use a shield, and not even flaming oil is usable by them. This seems to make a weak character class indeed.

But this impression is false, for monks have their own special attack and defense capabilities, certain other powers, and most of the abilities of the thief class and some clerical-type capabilities as well. So, while the class has drawbacks, it is very strong.

Prime Requisite. None
Minimum Ability Scores. Strength (15), Wisdom (15), Dexterity (15), Constitution (11)
Hit Dice. d4 (starting with 2d4); Maximum 18d4
Alignment. Any Lawful
Player Character Races. Human (U)
Armor. None (No armor class adjustments for Dexterity.)
Shield. None
Initial Weapon Proficiencies. 1
Non-proficiency Penalty. -3
Added Weapon Proficiencies. 1 per 2 levels (2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 12th, 14th, 16th)
Weapons Allowed. bo sticks, clubs, crossbows, daggers, hand axes, javelins, jo sticks, pole arms, spears, staves. Monks do not use flaming oil as a weapon in combat.
Use of Poison. ? (per DM)

Base AC

Monks cannot wear armor and do not gain adjustments to AC for a high Dexterity. However, as monks gain levels, their base AC gets better through a combination of toughness, technique, and quickness. [Campaign Rule: Opponent's never adjust attacks for weapon type versus armor rating against a monk with a Base AC of better than 10.]

Open Hand Attack

A monk can strike in melee with either fist or hand interchangeably or even from elbows, knees, and/or feet. These melee attacks are treated as natural attacks with no adjustment for Strength to “to hit” or damage rolls and these attacks are considered non-magical. The number of attacks and damage goes up as level increases, with the extra attack coming at the end of the sequence. (E.g. 3/2 equals 3 attacks per 2 rounds with the extra attack coming in the 2nd round. 5/4 is 5 attacks in 4 rounds with the extra attack in the 4th round, and so on. This different than fighters that receive the extra attack in the earlier round.) All open hand attacks must be taken against a single opponent. If using two-weapons, a monk may attack once with an open hand attack and once with a weapon, but never more than this, and the standard penalties for fighting with two-weapons applies to all attacks.

Time Required. A single open hand attack requires 1 segment. If using multiple open hand attacks during a round, the attack requires 3 segments.

Weapon Type versus AC Rating. [Campaign Rule: A monks open hand attacks are never modified by an opponent's armor rating.]

Stunning. If the monk’s “to hit” roll succeeds by 5 or more against a living creature and that creature is damaged by the attack, the target will be stunned for 1d6 rounds. At 1st level a monk can stun a creature up to 6 ft. 6 inches and 300 lbs. or approximate (i.e. roughly “man-sized”). Every level after the 1st adds 2 inches and 50 lbs. of weight to the maximum creature size affected. In any event, dopplegangers are also immune to stunning as could other living creatures as ruled by the DM (e.g. oozes).

Killing Blow. When any creature successfully stunned, there is a small chance (rolled on a d%) that the blow will instead immediately kill it. The chance is equal to the armor class of the creature plus each monk level above the 7th the monk has attained. Thus, a negative AC is a base negative chance to be killed when stunned.

Extra Damage with Weapons

With respect to combat, monks attack on the same table as clerics. However, they add one-half of a hit point per level of experience to the amount of damage they score when they successfully attack an opponent with a weapon. This simulates their study and knowledge of weapons and anatomy.

A 1st level monk scores x + ½ hp of damage, where “X” equals the damage done by the weapon used and “hp” equals the number of hit points of damage. A 2nd level monk does X + 1 when he or she scores a hit, a 3rd level, X + 1½ hp, and so on all the way to Grand Master of Flowers who scores X + 8½ hp damage. [Campaign Rule: The damage is rounded up to the nearest whole value. Thus a 1st level monk has a +1 added to weapon damage and 3rd level has a +2.]

Saving Throws and Missile Deflection

Monks make saving throws on the table used by thieves, but they gain certain advantages: Non-magical missiles (arrows, bolts, bullets, thrown daggers, thrown javelins, thrown spears, etc.) which would normally hit can be dodged or knocked aside if the monk is able to make a successful Dexterity save vs. Petrify for each such potential hit.

In other respects, if a monk makes his or her saving throw against an attack form, the monk will sustain NO DAMAGE from the attack, even if the attack form was a fireball, for instance.

At 9th level (Master of the North Wind) or higher, a monk who fails to make his or her saving throw will still sustain but one-half the total potential damage which the attack form could deliver, if possible. That is, a fireball would do 50% of total damage, but the gaze of a basilisk would still petrify the monk.

Surprise

At 1st level of experience, a monk is as likely to be surprised as any other character [...]. This chance goes down to 32% at 2nd level, and it thereafter goes down 2% per level, so there is only a 30% chance of surprising a 3rd level monk, 28% chance at 4th level, 26% chance at 5th level, etc.

Thief Skills

Monks have the following thief skills which they perform at identical level of experience to that of a thief, i.e. a 1st level monk performs as a 1st level thief, a 2nd level monk as a 2nd level thief, etc. The abilities are:

Open Locks
Find/Remove Traps
Move Silently
Hide in Shadows
Hear Noise
Climb Walls

Thief Skills

Open Locks. Opening locks includes figuring out how to open sliding puzzle locks and foiling magical closures. It is done by picking with tools and by cleverness, plus knowledge and study of such items. Opening Locks may be attempted by any given thief but once per lock. Success opens the lock.

Time Required. The act of picking the lock to be opened can take from 1-10 rounds, depending on the complexity of the lock. As a rule, most locks will take but 1-4 rounds of time to pick.

Failure. Once a roll is failed, no amount of trying will ever enable the thief to succeed with that lock, although the thief may try again when he or she has risen to a higher level of experience.

Find/Remove Traps. Finding or removing traps pertains to relatively small mechanical devices such as poisoned needles, spring blades, and the like. Finding is accomplished by inspection, and they are nullified by mechanical removal or by being rendered harmless. Small or large traps can be found, but not magical or magically hidden traps. In any case, a trap must be located before removal can be attempted (so a minimum of two rolls required). Success deactivates the trap.

Time Required. The act of finding or removing a trap can take from 1-10 rounds, depending on the complexity of the trap. As a rule, most traps will take but 1-4 rounds of time to find and a like amount to remove. Note that time counts for each function (finding and removing) or for traps with multiple elements.

Failure. Failure of removal usually indicates the trap is triggered but this is always at the DM’s option. Many systems may be used to determine it randomly—a factor of the actual “remove traps” roll, a separate roll, a note in the trap description, etc. Some traps would obviously be triggered by attempts to remove them, and such obvious details should take precedence over random determination.

Move Silently. Moving silently is the ability to move with little sound and disturbance, even across a squeaky wooden floor, for instance. It is an ability which improves with experience. Moving Silently can be attempted each time the thief moves. It can be used to approach an area where some creature is expected, thus increasing chances for surprise (by +20%), or to approach to back stab, or simply done to pass some guard or watchman. Success means movement was silent. Silent movement is done at the same rate as normal exploratory movement, i.e. 12 ft. per round if an unencumbered human as the thief creeps up (in Cant: croodles) upon the area or victim or whatever.

Failure. This means that movement was not silent (i.e. a normal chance to surprise exists).

Hide in Shadows. Hiding in shadows is the ability to blend into dark areas, to flatten oneself, and by remaining motionless when in sight, to remain unobserved. It is a function of dress and practice. Success makes the thief virtually invisible until he or she moves. A thief that successfully hides in shadows must remain immobile. If combat conditions do not exist, any creature unable to detect the thief due to hiding may be surprised at +20%. Surprised or not, a creature unaware of the thief within melee range (1”) may be back stabbed. Hiding in shadows cannot be accomplished under direct observation.

Detection of Invisible. A thief hiding in shadows is still subject to detection just as if he or she was invisible. (See Vision Table III.) Note that spells such as detect invisibility or true seeing will automatically reveal a thief hiding in shadows if such sight is directed towards him or her.

Infravision. Hiding can be accomplished with respect to creatures with infravision only if some heat producing light source is near to the creature or to the thief attempting to so hide. Otherwise, the heat signature of the thief will be plainly seen unless the thief is also using some sort of obstructing cover.

Hear Noise. Listening at doors includes like activity at other portals such as windows. It is accomplished by moving to the door and pressing an ear against it to detect sound. The thief and his or her accomplices must themselves be quiet (but not silent as in moving). This function can be repeated as often as desired. Note that sleeping creatures, undead, and many other creatures do not make sounds discernible through a portal. Success informs the hearer that someone or something awaits beyond the portal.

Time Required. It requires one round to listen.

Head Gear. The thief, just as any other character, must take off helmet or other obstructing headgear in order to press his or her ear to the door surface in order to hear beyond.

Climb Walls. Ascending and descending vertical surfaces is the ability of the thief to climb up and down walls. It assumes that the surface is coarse and offers ledges and cracks for toe and hand holds.

Procedure. It is assumed that the thief is successful until the mid-point of the climb. At that point the dice are rolled to determine continued success. Success indicates that safe ascent or descent has been accomplished. The DM will check each round of vertical or horizontal movement for chance of slipping and falling. Note that in some cases a third d10 will have to be rolled to determine the success or failure.

Failure. A score in excess of the adjusted base chance indicates the thief has slipped and fallen, taking damage based on the distance of the fall.

Movement Rate. The rate at which vertical or horizontal movement is possible depends upon the texture and other conditions of the surface.

Very smooth surfaces have few cracks.
Fairly rough surfaces have some cracks to very rough texture.
Rough w/ledges surface includes those with many projections.
Non-slippery surfaces are normal/dry.
Slightly slippery surfaces double chances of slipping and falling.
Slippery surfaces make chances of slipping and falling ten times more likely.

Surfaces which are inclined inwards move towards greater degrees of difficulty—a non-slippery one being treated as slightly slippery, and a slippery one being virtually unclimbable.

Surfaces inclined away from the perpendicular on an outward angle may be treated as either a better surface condition or rougher texture, if the degree of incline is sufficient to make climbing easier. Most dungeon walls will fall into the fairly rough to rough category. Some will be non-slippery, but most will be slightly slippery due to dampness and slime growth.

Falling

Although the chance of falling while climbing walls is the same as that of a thief of equal level, monks can escape taking damage as follows:

At 4th level (Disciple), a monk can fall up to 20 ft. if he or she is within 1 ft. of a wall.

At 6th level (Master), a monk can fall up to 30 ft. if he or she is within 4 ft. of a wall.

At 13th level (Master of Winter), a monk can fall any distance if he or she is within 8 ft. of a wall.

The monk must have an opportunity to periodically make contact with the wall during the descent. The wall is used by the monk to slow the fall so that no hit points of damage are sustained from the fall. Note that when reference to a wall is made, any similar surface, such as a tree trunk, cliff face, and the like, are equally useful to the monk.

Special Abilities

Each special ability on the Monk Table II is designated by a capital letter.

A. The ability to speak with animals as druids do which begins at 3rd level of experience.

B. The ability to mask the mind so that ESP has only a 30% chance of success. This power begins at 4th level, and with each level of experience which the monk gains thereafter, the chance for success of ESP-ing the monk’s thoughts drops by 2%, i.e. 28% chance of success on a 5th level monk, 26% on a 6th level, etc.

C. At 5th experience level, a monk is not subject to diseases of any sort, nor is he ever affected by haste or slow spells.

D. The ability to use self-induced catalepsy to appear dead. This can be done perfectly, as the 6th (or higher) level monk is able to lower his or her body temperature and heart rate. The monk is able to maintain this state for twice the number of turns (10 minute periods) which equal his level, i.e. 12 turns at 6th level, 14 at 7th, etc.

E. At 7th level, the monk gains the ability to heal damage on his or her body. The amount of damage which can be healed is 2-5 hit points (d4+1), and this amount increases by 1 hit point with each experience level gained thereafter, i.e. 3-6 h.p. at 8th level, 4-7 at 9th, etc. This may be done once per day.

F. The ability to speak with plants as druids do. This power is attained at 8th level.

G. Beguiling, charms, hypnosis, and suggestion spells have only a 50% chance of affecting a monk of the 9th level of experience. That is, the monk is 50% resistant to such magic. This resistance increases 5% per level thereafter, so that at 10th level such spells have but a 45% chance of affecting the monk, 40% at 11th level, and so on. Saving throws apply if resistance fails.

H. Telepathic and mind blast attacks upon a monk of 10th or higher level are made as if the character had an 18 Intelligence, due to the monk’s mental discipline.

I. At 11th and higher levels of experience, monks are not affected by poison of any type.

J. Geas and quest spells have no effect upon monks of 12th or higher level.

K. The last ability gained, and perhaps the most terrible power, is that fabled attack which enables the monk to set up vibrations in the body of the victim, and the monk can then control such vibrations so as to cause death to occur when the monk stops them. Known as the “quivering palm”, the monk merely touches his victim to set up the deadly vibrations. The victim can be virtually any creature. This power is limited as follows:

It can be attempted but once per week, and the monk must touch the intended victim within 3 melee rounds or the power is drained for one week.
It has no affect on the undead or creatures which can be hit only by magical weaponry.
The victim cannot have more hit dice than the monk using the power, and in any event, the total hit points of the victim cannot exceed those of the monk by more than 200%, or the power has no effect.
The command to die (the control of the vibrations) must be given by the monk within a set time limit, or else the vibrations simply cease of their own accord and do no damage whatsoever. The time limit of death command is one day per level of experience the monk has gained at the time the power is used.

Monk Ability Details

Speak with Animals. At 3rd level, a monk can speak with animals as an innate ability. This allows the monk to comprehend and communicate with any warm or cold-blooded animals within hearing distance which is not mindless. Thus, the reaction of the animals hearing the monk will be determined by an Encounter Reaction roll. (See Combat, Encounter Reaction.) This ability works only on normal (non-giant) animals. This ability is not the same as the spell as hostile animals will attack the monk.

Time Required. This innate ability is a major action that requires 1 segment of concentration before the monk can start conversing with any animals.

Catalepsy. Beginning at 6th level, monks can self-induce a state of catalepsy to appear dead. The monk can maintain this condition for 20 minutes per level. During this time, the monk can smell, hear, and know what is going on but no feeling or sight of any sort is possible and any bodily damage taken will be half. The monk consumes air at 1/100th of the normal rate. The monk is unaffected by paralysis, poison, and energy level drain. However, poison injected or otherwise introduced into the monk’s body will become effective once the monk revives. The monk can end the effect at any time but this takes 10 segments.

Time Required. This innate ability can be used as a minor action and requires 1 segment to complete.

Heal Damage. Beginning at 7th level, once per day a monk may heal 1d4+1 hit points of damage to their own body. This healing increases by 1 point per level over 7th.

Time Required. This is a minor action requiring 1 segment.

Speak with Plants. Beginning at 8th level, a monk can speak with plants as an innate ability. This enables the monk to converse, in very rudimentary terms, with all sorts of living vegetables. Thus, the monk can question plants as to whether or not creatures have passed through them or over them or the like. The reaction of plants, especially monstrous varieties (e.g. shambling mounds), hearing the monk will be determined by an Encounter Reaction roll. (See Combat, Encounter Reaction.) This ability is not the same as the spell and hostile monstrous plants will attack the monk.

Time Required. The innate ability is a major action that requires 1 segment of concentration before the monk can start conversing with any plants.

Quivering Palm. The last ability gained, and perhaps the most terrible power, is that fabled attack which enables the monk to set up vibrations in the body of the victim, and the monk can then control such vibrations so as to cause death to occur when the monk stops them.

Procedure. This attack may be used once per week and must be declared by the monk (inducing the vibrations in the monk’s hand) who then has 3 rounds to touch a living target that is not immune to normal weapons. The creature cannot have more hit dice that the monk or more than double the monk’s full hit points. The command to die may be done from anywhere and must be given within 1 day per level of the monk or the effect dissipates.

Time Required. This is a 1 segment melee attack requiring a successful to-hit roll that does no damage other than to impart the deadly vibration effect.

Monk Restrictions

There are a number of strictures which monk characters must abide by. These restrictions apply to 1.) armor and weapons, 2.) treasure, 3.) magic items usable, 4.) strength ability adjustments, 5.) henchmen, and 6.) advancement in level, as follows:

Armor, as previously stated, cannot be worn. Weapons usable by monk characters are shown [above]; Weapons not listed cannot be used.
Monks, much like paladins, may not retain more than a small fraction of whatever treasure they gain. A monk may possess no more than two magic weapons and three other magic items (see #3 below) at any time. While monks may retain money sufficient for their modest needs, and to support their henchmen (see #5 below), all other treasure and excess magic items must be bestowed upon (non-player) religious institutions. (See also Followers hereafter.)
Magic items usable by monks include all magical varieties of weapons listed (unless proscribed), rings, and those miscellaneous magic items which are usable by thieves. No other magic items of any sort may be employed by monks. (2)
Monks do not gain any bonuses, either with respect to increasing “to hit” probability or to increase hit points of damage, for Strength ability.
Until attaining the rank of Master, monks may not have any hirelings or henchmen at all. At 6th level of experience, monks may hire persons on a short-duration basis - for the duration of a single adventure only. At this level, they may also acquire up to two henchmen. Henchmen may be fighters (but not paladins nor rangers), thieves, or assassins. With each level of experience above the 6th which the monk attains, he or she may add one additional henchman, until the maximum number established by the monk’s Charisma score is reached. Monks will gain followers upon attaining 8th level; this is discussed hereafter.
There can be only a limited number of monks above 7th level (Superior Master). There are three 8th level (Master of Dragons) and but ONE of each higher level. When a player character monk gains sufficient experience points to qualify him or her for 8th level, the commensurate abilities are attained only temporarily. The monk must find and defeat in single combat, hand-to-hand, without weapons or magic items, one of the 8th level monks—the White, the Green, or the Red. The same must be done at the ninth and higher levels. The loser of these combats loses enough experience points to place him or her at the lowest number possible to attain the level just beneath the new level. The monk character will know where to locate the higher level monks; and he or she must proceed immediately to do combat or else lose experience points equal to the number which will place him or her at the lowest number possible to have attained the level just beneath that of the monk he or she should have sought out but did not. That is, the player character drops to 7th level in the above case and must then work upwards once again.

Followers

When a monk player character attains the 8th level of experience, he or she will gain a number of monks as followers upon defeating the monk which held the 8th level position that the player character has now gotten. He or she will attract from 2-5 1st level monks if the player character has a monastery or monastery-like building to use as a headquarters. These followers may be worked upwards in levels of experience. The player character will attract 1 or 2 additional monks of 1st level for each additional level of experience the player gains.

While followers of a monk are as loyal as his or her other henchmen, they automatically leave service when they attain the level of Superior Master (7th).

All followers will be of the exact same alignment as the monk player character. If he or she changes alignment, the current followers will desert, but new ones can still be gained by advancement in level.

Note that monk followers require no support, upkeep, or pay of any sort.

Monastery

The monastery or monastery-like headquarters of the monk can be that of the character he or she defeated to attain 8th or higher level, or it can be a building specially constructed by the monk player character after attaining 8th or higher level. In the latter case, the monk may retain up to 250,000 gold pieces value in treasure in order to finance construction of the place. He or she may also retain sufficient funds thereafter to maintain such a place.

1. Dragon #53, Sage Advice: Q: “Will a monk’s open hand attack affect creatures which can be hit only by magical weapons?” A: The sage says no. It doesn’t specifically say in the rules that a monk can hit in this fashion, so the only possible ruling to make is that a monk cannot. . .
2. Polyhedron #6, Dispel Confusion: Q: “Can a monk wear bracers of defense? Would they affect his armor class?” A: Technically, yes to both, but note that Dexterity will not cause further adjustments.

Original Text
Open hand attack. Monks of median level and above actually fight better without weapons using their open hands, despite the weapon damage bonus they receive. Open hand combat damage is shown on Monks Table II. Open hand fighting also allows the monk multiple attacks at such time as the monk has attained the 4th or higher experience level. Listings with a slash (/) indicate extra attacks after the appropriate number of rounds, i.e. 5/4 means 5 attacks per 4 rounds, with the additional attack coming at the end of the round sequence. The “to hit” scores rolled by the monk are never modified by any strength ability bonuses. [If attacked by non-lethal or weaponless means,] even if grappled, pummeled, or overborne, monks are able to conduct open hand combat normally until stunned or unconscious. (1)
Stunning and Killing. [When using open hand fighting], the monk has a chance to stun, or even kill, an opponent. An opponent is stunned by a monk for 1-6 (d6) melee rounds if the score of the monk’s “to hit” die score exceeds the minimum number required for a hit by 5 or more, i.e. if 15 is required, a score of 20 would indicate a stun. Killing Blow. The chance to kill is a percentage which equals the armor class (AC) of the opponent, modified by the number of experience levels above seven which the monk has attained. Example: AC -1 is a negative chance for killing, but a monk of 9th level (two above 7th) would allow a 1% chance of killing. Note that 1.) the monk must score a hit, and 2.) the hit must stun the opponent, and 3.) the percentile dice score must be equal to or less than the armor class of the stunned opponent, modified by the monk’s levels over 7th, in order to score a kill.
Limitations. Such opponents are limited, in general, to man-size or smaller. A monk at 1st level is capable of stunning or killing only an opponent of man-size (M) or smaller. For each level above the 1st, the monk will gain additional stunning/killing ability at the rate of 2 inches of height and 50 pounds of opponent weight per level of experience gained. Monks’ stunning/killing ability can only apply to living things. Undead cannot be affected (and an open hand hit on an undead creature could be very undesirable from the monk’s standpoint in any event – especially if the creature causes damage by touch, for the monk touching the undead creature then is the same as the reverse). Golems and dopplegangers cannot be affected. Damage from open hand attacks still accrues if the monster can be so hit otherwise.

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