As a Monk, you are a seeker after enlightenment, a member of an ascetic religious order pursuing mental, spiritual, and physical perfection. You are deadly with all weapons, and an expert in complex forms of unarmed combat. Although Monks do not wear armor, they improve in armor class as they gain levels, due to a higher and higher degree of both enlightenment and martial artistry. Monks are relatively weak at lower levels, but at higher levels they approach the power of higher-level Magic-Users, although in a much different way. Various stages of enlightenment grant Monks a wide variety of abilities; if you are playing a Monk character you will have to familiarize yourself with these before you start playing.

Note: Monks are an extremely powerful character class, and are allowed only at the discretion of the Referee.

Table: Monk Advancement

Level	Experience Points Required for Level	Hit Dice (d4)**	Armor Class	Saving Throw	Abilities	Weaponless Damage	Movement Rate
1	0	1	9[10]	15	Thieving skills	1d4	12
2	2,500	2	8[11]	14	+1 damage with weapons	1d6	13
3	5,000	3	7[12]	13		1d6	14
4	10,000	4	6[13]	12	Speak with Animals +2 total damage with weapons	1d8	15
5	20,000	5	5[14]	11	Silence Slow Falling 20 ft.	1d10	16
6	40,000	6	4[15]	10	Mastery of Mind 2 weaponless attacks per round +3 total damage with weapons	1d12	17
7	80,000	7	3[16]	9	Mastery of Body	2d8	18
8	160,000	8	2[17]	8	Mastery of Self +4 total damage with weapons Slow Falling 40 ft.	2d8+1	19
9	320,000	9	1[18]	7		2d8+2	20
10	420,000	10	1[18]	6	Oneness with self +5 total damage with weapons	2d8+4	21
11	620,000	11	0[19]	5	Establish Monastery Slow Falling any distance	3d8+1	22
12	820,000	12	0[19]	5	3 weaponless attacks per round	3d8+2	23
13	1,020,000	13	-1[20]	5	Harmonic Touch	3d8+4	24
14	1,320,000	14	-1[20]	5		4d8+1	25
15	1,720,000	15	-2[21]	5		4d8+2	26
16	2,220,000 Grand Master	16	-3[22]	5	4 weaponless attacks per round	4d8+4	27
17	2,720,000	16+1 hp	-3[22]	5		4d8+5	28
18	3,220,000	16+2 hp	-3[22]	5		4d8+6	29
19	3,720,000	16+3 hp	-3[22]	5		4d8+7	30
20	4,220,000	16+4 hp	-3[22]	5	5 weaponless attacks per round	4d8+8	31
21+	+500,000 per level	+1 hp/level	-3[22]	5		+1 additional per level	32

Requirements and Limitations

Usually Lawful

Monks may be of any alignment, although most are disciples of Law.

May Only be Human

Only humans may become Monks.

Must be Charitable

All treasure other than the bare minimum of what is needed to maintain the Monk and any followers must be donated to charities.

Restricted Magic Items

Monks cannot use potions; the only magic items they can use are weapons and magic rings.

Class Abilities

Thieving Skills

Monks are proficient in some skills similar to a thief.

Level	Climb Walls	Delicate Tasks	Hear Sounds (d6)	Hide in Shadows	Move Silently	Open Locks
1	85%	15%	3 in 6	10%	20%	10%
2	86%	20%	3 in 6	15%	25%	15%
3	87%	25%	4 in 6	20%	30%	20%
4	88%	30%	4 in 6	25%	35%	25%
5	89%	35%	4 in 6	30%	40%	30%
6	90%	40%	4 in 6	35%	45%	35%
7	91%	45%	5 in 6	40%	50%	40%
8	92%	50%	5 in 6	55%	60%	55%
9	93%	60%	5 in 6	65%	70%	65%
10	94%	70%	5 in 6	75%	80%	75%
11	95%	80%	6 in 6	85%	90%	85%
12	96%	90%	6 in 6	95%	100%	95%
13	97%	100%	6 in 6	100%	100%	100%
14	98%	100%	6 in 6	100%	100%	100%
15	99%	100%	6 in 6	100%	100%	100%
16	Remains at 99%	Remains at 100%	Remains at 6 in 6	Remains at 100%	Remains at 100%	Remains at 100%

1. Climbing Walls or Cliffs The percentage chance is what the monk needs to climb a wall that others cannot climb. If the wall is more difficult than normal (very slippery, for example), the referee may lower a monk’s chances of success. In general, if a normal person has a chance to climb a wall, a monk can most likely do it automatically.
2. Delicate Tasks This percentage chance is used for disabling small mechanical traps like poisoned needles, and is also used for picking pockets. The skill is also used to detect whether a mechanism, keyhole, or other small location contains a trap that can be removed.
3. Hearing Sounds A monk can hear well when concentrating; this mainly includes listening at doors.
4. Hiding in Shadows Monks can make themselves very hard to see when lurking in the shadows. Anyone can hide, of course, but monks are virtually invisible and can move around while hiding.
5. Moving Silently Monks can move quietly, without being heard.
6. Opening Locks Monks can pick locks; some locks might be unusually difficult, in which case the referee might reduce the percentage chance as appropriate.

Weapon Damage Bonus

Monks inflict an additional point of damage at 2nd level when using weapons, and this bonus increases every other level (+2 at fourth level, +3 at sixth level) up to a maximum of +5 at tenth level.

Deadly Strike

When the Monk’s attack roll is 5 higher than the required to hit number, the target has a 75% chance to be stunned by the blow for 2d6 rounds. Moreover, the mystic perfection of the blow also has a 25% chance to kill the opponent, provided the opponent’s hit dice are no more than 1 higher than the Monk’s.

Multiple Attacks

When fighting without weapons, the Monk gains additional attacks during a single melee round. (See Table: Monk Advancement.)

• At 6th level a monk may make up to 2 weaponless attacks each round.
• At 12th level a monk may make up to 3 weaponless attacks each round.
• At 16th level a monk may make up to 4 weaponless attacks each round.
• At 20th level a monk may make up to 5 weaponless attacks each round.
  

Alertness

Monks are not easily attacked by surprise. A party containing a Monk is unlikely to be surprised, with only a 1 in 6 chance..

Deflect Missiles

The Monk can deflect arrows and magic missile spells with a successful saving throw.

Slow Falling

At fifth level, Monks can fall up to 20 ft. with no damage if they can touch a wall. This distance increases to 40 feet at eighth level and any distance at eleventh level.

Saving Throw Bonus vs. Paralysis and Poison

Monks gain a +2 bonus against paralysis and poisons.

Speak with Animals

At 4th level a Monk can speak with normal animals, in a manner similar to the spell of the same name.

Mastery of Silence

At 5th level a Monk can enter a state of perfect catatonia, stopping his or her own heart to simulate death. The character can maintain this state for 1d6 x 10 minutes x monk’s level.

Mastery of Mind

At 6th level a Monk's thoughts become so serene and placid that any attempt at mind reading has a 90% chance of failure. The failure chance increases by 1% per monk’s level above sixth, rising to 100% at level 16, when the Monk’s mind is completely at one with the surrounding environment.

Mastery of Body

At 7th level a Monk can heal himself by 1d6+1 hit points once per day. Each level above seventh adds an additional hit point to the healing.

Mastery of Self

At 8th level a Monk is not subject to mental control of any kind, including charm spells and hypnosis. The only exceptions are the geas and quest spells.

Oneness with Self

At 10th level a Monk is not subject to geas or quest spells.

Establish Monastery

At 11th level, a Monk may establish an isolated monastery for the purposes of peaceful contemplation, and for teaching disciples and students.

Harmonic Touch

At 13th level a Monk can touch any creature of equal or lesser hit dice, and create an attunement by which the creature will die instantly when the Monk gives a mental command for its heart to stop. (The creature must have a heart or other organ that can be stopped.) The creature’s bodily vibrations remain attuned to the Monk for a period of one day per level of the Monk, and if the Monk does not mentally command the creature to die within this period of time, the death will not occur.