The new Monk

[Ivius]

Alignment
Any lawful.

Hit Die
d8.

Class Skills

The monk’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), and Tumble (Dex).

Skill Points at 1st Level
(4 + Int modifier) ×4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level
4 + Int modifier.

The Monk
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special

1st|
+1|
+2|
+2|
+2|Improved Unarmed Strike, Superior Unarmed Strike 1d6, Intuitive Defense, Ki Pool

2nd|
+2|
+3|
+3|
+3|Master the Pain 5

3rd|
+3|
+3|
+3|
+3|Superior Unarmed Strike 2d6, Intuitive Combat

4th|
+4|
+4|
+4|
+4|Master the Pain 10

5th|
+5|
+4|
+4|
+4|Superior Unarmed Strike 3d6, Refuse Attack, Intuitive Attack

6th|
+6/+1|
+5|
+5|
+5|Master the Pain 15

7th|
+7/+2|
+5|
+5|
+5|Superior Unarmed Strike 4d6

8th|
+8/+3|
+6|
+6|
+6|Master the Pain 20

9th|
+9/+4|
+6|
+6|
+6|Superior Unarmed Strike 5d6

10th|
+10/+5|
+7|
+7|
+7|Master the Pain 25, Punishing Gravity

11th|
+11/+6/+1|
+7|
+7|
+7|Superior Unarmed Strike 6d6

12th|
+12/+7/+2|
+8|
+8|
+8|Master the Pain 30

13th|
+13/+8/+3|
+8|
+8|
+8|Superior Unarmed Strike 7d6

14th|
+14/+9/+4|
+9|
+9|
+9|Master the Pain 35

15th|
+15/+10/+5|
+9|
+9|
+9|Superior Unarmed Strike 7d6, Undeniable Fist

16th|
+16/+11/+6/+1|
+10|
+10|
+10|Master the Pain 40

17th|
+17/+12/+7/+2|
+10|
+10|
+10|Superior Unarmed Strike 8d6

18th|
+18/+13/+8/+3|
+11|
+11|
+11|Master the Pain 45

19th|
+19/+14/+9/+4|
+11|
+11|
+11|Superior Unarmed Strike 9d6

20th|
+20/+15/+10/+5|
+12|
+12|
+12|Palm of Eternity, Master the Pain 50[/table]


Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiency
Monks are proficient with all simple weapons.

Unarmed Strike
Monks receive Improved Unarmed Strike as a bonus feat. Their unarmed attacks do extra damage as normal.

Intuitive Defense
When unarmed and unarmored, a monk gets a bonus to armor class equal to his Wisdom modifier.

Ki Pool
A Monk has a number of points equal to his Wisdom modifier plus half of his class level rounded down which he can use to power other class features. This pool refreshes every encounter, and once per minute when out of combat.

Superior Unarmed Strike
By spending one Ki point, the Monk does an especially lethal unarmed strike. The Monk does a single attack that does the indicated damage in addition to the normal damage.

Master the Pain
By spending two Ki points, the Monk can ignore the pain of a blow, turning an attack, up to the listed amount, into nonlethal damage. If an attack exceeds this, the listed number turns into nonlethal damage, and the rest does damage normally.

Intuitive Combat
When unarmed and unarmored, a monk gets a bonus to attack rolls equal to his Wisdom modifier.

Refuse Attack
By spending three Ki points, a Monk strikes his opponent's weapon at the moment of an attack, stopping the attempt and disarming him. As an immediate action, the Monk makes an attack roll. If this roll is lower than his opponent's opponent attack roll, the attack is made normally. If the roll is higher, the attack is canceled, and, if desired, the Monk may make a disarm attempt.

Intuitive Attack
When unarmed and unarmored, a monk gets a bonus to damage rolls equal to his Wisdom modifier.

Punishing Gravity
By spending 3 Ki points, a Monk performs a long, sweeping kick. This attack knocks his opponent prone, unless he succeeds on a Reflex save with a DC of 10 + the Monk's Wisdom modifier

Undeniable Fist
By spending two Ki points, a Monk aims an attack at the weakest point on an opponent. This is considered a touch attack, and also bypasses any DR.

Palm of Eternity
By spending ten Ki points, a monks aims several attacks at microscopic points of his opponent's body, speeding up his natural entropy. Unless a Wish or Miracle is cast on his opponent, he ages 1d4 years on the first round, increasing by 1d4 years on every subsequent round (1d4 on round 1, 2d4 on round 2, etc.). With a successful fortitude save (DC = 15 + Wisdom modifier + 1 per additional Ki point invested) he can delay it by preventing the amount aged from increasing for that round. If he makes three successful saves in a row the effect is negated. After his opponent reaches his maximum age, he turns to dust, unable to be resurrected by any means, since he died a "natural" death.

[Deesix]

Palm of eternity is completely broken. I'm all for super-abilities, but you gave no way to resist this attack nor any way to reverse it. It's instant kill, no save.

The level 20 benchmark SHOULD be a very defensive ability, and a good one; that's just two much. Nothing wrong with Quivering Palm.

Also, the damage bonus is far too much. Fireball on every attack? Yeah that's kind of crazy...Normal monk progression for unarmed damage, with perhaps an option (not unlike flurry) for insane increased damage would be really neat, but having a 9d6 melee attack that can be used 4/turn is a little crazy.

Edit: Also, Wisdom to Attack and Damage? Aaaaah...Maybe eventually work into that, but not at level one.

[Magill]

Fireball at every attack?!?! Yeah That is a bit terminator like dont ya think?

[Ivius]

Palm of eternity is completely broken. I'm all for super-abilities, but you gave no way to resist this attack nor any way to reverse it. It's instant kill, no save.
Okay, I'll fix that.



The level 20 benchmark SHOULD be a very defensive ability, and a good one; that's just two much. Nothing wrong with Quivering Palm.
Almost every class gets a death attack as a capstone ability. But a death attack once per WEEK? Wizards get 10 a day!


Also, the damage bonus is far too much. Fireball on every attack? Yeah that's kind of crazy...Normal monk progression for unarmed damage, with perhaps an option (not unlike flurry) for insane increased damage would be really neat, but having a 9d6 melee attack that can be used 4/turn is a little crazy.
Fireball? It's almost identical to the sneak attack progression! If the monk does nothing else at all, he can have a damage output on par with a blaster Sorcerer. That's why I put the Ki pool in there. But yeah, I should probably prevent it on a full attack.



Edit: Also, Wisdom to Attack and Damage? Aaaaah...Maybe eventually work into that, but not at level one.
Well, it's essentially to remove the Monk's MAD. But it does make it WAY too dipworthy for Clerics. I'll spread it out a bit

[Deesix]

I still think the final attack should allow a save. Maybe save every turn, and three successful saves in a row ends it. It'll still be awesome and scary, but not instant death with no save unless the wizard prepared Wish.

[lord_khaine]

now the superior unarmed strike suck, 1 singel attack with +9d6 damage at lv 20 is a complete and utter waste of time.

[Ivius]

I still think the final attack should allow a save. Maybe save every turn, and three successful saves in a row ends it. It'll still be awesome and scary, but not instant death with no save unless the wizard prepared Wish.

Alright, I added a Fortitude save to delay it, but I still think that the class needs a ridiculous capstone ability, since a lot of it's other class feature have dried up by then.

[Deesix]

That looks pretty good. I'd also allow them to use the +xd6 damage on attacks more times as they level, and give them normal or slightly reduced unarmed damage increase as per monk...But otherwise, this is looking cool.

I like what was done with the ki pool, and the neat abilities it allows. Also, Master the Pain is pretty cool. You don't see stuff like that too often.

[Inane-Fedaykin]

The biggest problem is that it's an excessively powerfull 1-2 level dip for anyone lawfull and there's no real way to change that.

[Quellian-dyrae]

How about letting superior unarmed strike cost an amount of Ki equal to previous uses during the round + 1 (so 1 the first use in the round, 2 the second use in the round, etc). That way, much like a rogue, the monk has the option of devastating full attack damage, but rather than being completely situational (like the rogue's) it is simply more costly.

Or, you could let it cost 1, but make applying it to an attack a swift action. That way, the monk can full attack and make one strong hit, or get a good hit in when limited to a single attack, etc.

Palm of Eternity is much better for NPCs than PCs. Even against a human, it's unlikely to have any immediate effect during the battle (except a few aging penalties, I guess). Wielded against a PC, though, it's a rezz-prohibiting attack, which is just irksome, and it might take the PC out even if the party wins, which they probably will. If you make it a standard save or die with the typical 10 + 1/2 level + abil mod (in this case, Wis) it would probably have more utility, and still be a good capstone. A DC ~30 save or die at least once per encounter is a solid move.