Monk

The body is the ultimate weapon. While others rely on forged steel or borrowed magic, the monk sees only flesh and Ki, and the endless potential found in both. Through extreme discipline and intense training, the monk has perfected their physical form, learning to channel their internal life-force into every strike. They are a blur of motion, a living embodiment of martial artistry, whose fists and feet land with the speed of a serpent and the focused power to shatter stone.

The Perfected Form

The monk's power is the ultimate expression of self-mastery. They do not beg gods, bargain with patrons, or study arcane texts. They look inward, honing their own life-force, or Ki, into a potent fuel for their physical abilities. This energy allows them to perform superhuman feats: to move with impossible speed, to harden their bodies against attack, and to infuse their strikes with a focused energy that can find precise points in an opponent's body, bypassing their armor entirely.

A Path of Discipline

Where the Berserker finds power in raw, untamed rage, the monk finds it in perfect, unshakable discipline. Where the Warrior masters a single, efficient (and often heavy) form of combat, the monk unleashes a flurry of rapid strikes. Like the Warrior, a monk uses Stances to maintain a passive combat focus, but their goal is different. They do not meet force with force; they overwhelm it, dismantling an opponent piece by piece. Their path is one of perfect technique and internal calm.

Creating a Monk

When creating your monk, consider the origin of your unique discipline. Where did you train? Were you raised in a secluded monastery as an Acolyte or a Hermit, honing your mind and body far from the world? Are you a former Urchin who learned a unique street-fighting style as a means of survival, only to later discover its deeper, energetic potential? Or are you a Folk Hero who developed this power to protect your village? Is your training complete, or are you on a journey to find a lost master?

Quick Build

You can make a monk quickly by following these suggestions. As a pure martial combatant, your primary combat attribute will be Dexterity. Prioritize that attribute along with Agility (for speed and defense), followed by Endurance or Acuity. Choose the Hermit, Acolyte, or Urchin background. For your Job, select, Explorer to focus on your journey, Scholar to reflect a path of keen observation, or Spy if you want to leverage your social skills against your enemies.

Class Features

As a Monk, you gain the following class features:

Health

Health Pool: 1

You add your Health Pool to your Health at level 1.

Vitality

Vitality Dice: 1d8 per Monk level

Vitality at 1st Level: 8 + your Agility and Endurance

Vitality at Higher Levels: 1d8 (or 5) + your Endurance per Monk level after 1st

Combat Skills

Weapons: Monks start with simple weapon aptitude

Armor: Trained in the Unarmored skill

Defense: Trained in Body and Mobility skills

Skill Ranks at 1st Level: 2 combat skill ranks

Skill Ranks at Higher Levels: 1 combat skill rank per 2 Monk levels after 1st

Skill Boosts at Higher Levels: 1 combat skill boosts per Monk level after 1st

Action Points: A Monk uses Dexterity when rolling Action Points

Zen Defense

While you are wearing no armor and not wielding a shield, you are able to add your Acuity to your defense rolls.

Martial Arts

Your practice of martial arts gives you mastery of combat styles that use unarmed strikes and monk weapons. You gain the following benefits while you are unarmed or wielding only simple weapons and you aren’t wearing armor or wielding a shield.

• You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the damage rolls of your unarmed strikes and simple weapons without the Heavy property.

• You can roll a d4 in place of the normal damage of your unarmed strike or a simple weapon. This die changes as you gain monk levels, as shown in the Martial Arts column of the Monk table.

• Your unarmed attacks cost 3 Action Points.

Ki

Starting at 2nd level, your training allows you to harness the mystic energy of ki, sometimes called qi or chi. Your access to this energy is represented by a number of ki points. You have a number of ki points equal to your monk level plus your Acuity.

You can spend these points to fuel various ki features. You start knowing three such features: Flurry of Blows, Patient Defense, and Step of the Wind all of which cost 1 ki. You learn more ki features as you gain levels in this class.

When you spend a ki point, it is unavailable until you finish a short or long rest, at the end of which you regain your expended ki. You must spend at least 30 minutes of the rest meditating to regain your ki points.

Some of your ki features require your target to make a defense roll to resist the feature’s effects. The target number is calculated as follows:

Ki Defense = your unarmed skill rank + your Acuity

• Flurry of Blows. When you make an unarmed attack, that attack and the next unarmed attack cost 1 less Action Point.

• Patient Defense. When you make a dodge roll, you add another d6 to the dodge roll.

• Step of the Wind. Using this ability lets you double you movement and your jump distance, and that movement is made as if you used the Disengage action.

Unarmored Movement

Starting at 2nd level, your movement increases by 1 while you are not wearing armor or wielding a shield. This bonus increases when you reach certain monk levels, as shown in the Monk table.

At 9th level, you gain the ability to move along vertical surfaces and across liquids on your turn without falling during the move.

Deflect Missiles

Starting at 3rd level, you can attempt to Parry a ranged weapon attack.  If you are unsuccessful on your parry attempt you can spend 1 ki point to reduce the damage by 1d10 + your Dexterity + your monk level.

If you succeed on the parry, you can catch the missile if it is small enough for you to hold in one hand and you have at least one hand free. If you catch a missile in this way, you can spend 1 ki point to make a ranged attack (range 20/60 feet) with the weapon or piece of ammunition you just caught, as part of the Parry. The missile counts as a simple weapon for the attack.

Monastic Tradition

When you reach 3rd level, you commit yourself to a Monastic Tradition, chosen from the list of available traditions. Your tradition grants you features at 3rd level and again at 6th, 11th, 17th, and 20th level.

Talent

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you gain a Talent.

Slow Fall

Beginning at 4th level, you can spend 1 Action Point when you fall to reduce any falling damage you take by an amount equal to five times your monk level.

Stunning Strike

Starting at 5th level, you can spend 3 Action Points and 1 ki to interfere with the flow of ki in an opponent’s body by making a stunning strike. Make an unarmed attack, if you succeed, the target takes damage as normal and it must make a Body (Endurance) defense roll. On a failure, they take one stage of the Stun status (see App. A: Status Conditions), and a critical failure adds an additional stage.

At the end of the round, a creature can make another Body (Endurance) defense roll to remove 1 stage of the Stun status. A critical success moves removes 2 stages instead.

Stance

Also at 5th level, you learn to set your body into a state of martial readiness, called a Stance. You learn two stances of your choice from those available to you. You can enter a stance for 2 Action Points, and you gain the benefits of the stance until you enter a different stance, or until combat ends. You can only have one stance active at a time. You learn an additional stance at level 12.

Pressure Points

Starting at 6th level, your unarmed attacks or attacks with simple weapons bypass your opponent's armor. You can ignore a portion of the target's armor equal to half your monk level.

Evasion

At 7th level, your instinctive agility lets you dodge out of the way of certain area effects. When you make a Mobility defense, you automatically lower the effect by one stage.

Stillness of Mind

Starting at 7th level, you can spend 5 Action Points to lower the effect of a Charm or Fear status by 1 on yourself.

Purity of Body

At 10th level, your mastery of the ki flowing through you makes you immune to disease and poison.

Perfect Self

At 13th level, when you roll for Action Points and have no ki points remaining, you regain 4 ki points.

Diamond Soul

Beginning at 14th level, your mastery of ki grants you a skill boost in all defenses if you do not already have them. Additionally, whenever you make a defense roll and fail, you can spend 1 ki point to reroll it and take the second result.

Untethered

At 15th level, you move untethered from the world. You are able to fly as long as you are able to start your movement on the ground. If you end your movement in the air, you fall as if you are under the effects of the feather fall spell unless you take damage from an attack before you would reach the ground.

Empty Body

Beginning at 18th level, you can spend 4 Action Points and 4 ki points to empty your mind of all thoughts until the end of the round. During that time, you body moves with perfect grace and all attacks against you have disadvantage. You also have resistance to all non-sourced damage.