Touching the Ripples (Ex & Su): At 3rd level, a monk gains a preternatural awareness that allows her to feel the emotions of her opponents, sensing their presence even at the loss of sight. The monk gains blindsense to a distance of 30 feet (defeated by sound), which can be activated or deactivated as a free action (by closing her eyes). If the monk already has blindsense (by means of a racial ability, for example), the range of her blindsense increases by an extra 30 feet. By spending a daily use of her ki power, she may instead gain blindsight (also defeated by sound), but limited to 30 feet (regardless of whether she originally has blindsense or not), for a number of rounds equal to half her class level. A monk that follows the way of Water may sense creatures even within an area of silence; a monk that follows the way of Earth also gains tremorsense (and she may detect enemies touching the ground or any wall with her blindsight).
At 13th level, a monk gains permanent blindsight (defeated by sound) to a distance of 30 feet, and her blindsense (and tremorsense) extends to a distance of 60 feet. If she already has blindsight (by means of a racial ability, for example), her blindsight instead increases by an extra 30 feet. If she had blindsense by any means other than this class ability (such as a racial ability, her range doubles instead. If she expends a daily use of her ki power, her blindsight extends an extra 30 feet (this replaces the original ability).
The monk's permanent blindsense ability and permanent blindsight ability are considered extraordinary abilities, but abilities acquired by expending a daily use of ki are considered supernatural abilities. This is an exception to the rule that blindsight is always an extraordinary ability.
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One of the things I wanted to conquer with the earlier Monk was miss chances and illusion-based non-AC defenses. Mirror Image, Blur and Displacement can and WILL be a hassle, and if you're fighting a tier 1 character and expect to be a spellcaster hunter, you'd be out of luck without this ability, unless you...erm, use a magic item.
Blindsense might be kinda weak (unless you work with the Invisible Eye combat style, which has a nice synergy with this ability), but it's no slouch. Just the ability to sense the enemy is surprisingly good enough. However, eventual blindsight gets real good, particularly at the range, since it completely negates the benefits of non-AC defenses barring the Darkstalker feat.
Last time I made a fun quip, I mentioned you had technical immunity to blindness. As you can see, this "technicality" has to be explained, because you don't become immune to blindness; you merely ignore its worst effects once you get blindsight, but you're still affected nonetheless (so no Spot checks). This is because invalidating Invisible Eye is a big no-no, but having the ability to strike as if you could see by relying on other senses rather than sight IS the very nature of Invisible Eye, so denying that benefit would be troublesome. Hence, while you're not invulnerable to blindness, you can be affected and gain a benefit from it.
Art of the Deadly Wind (Ex): At 4th level, the monk’s expertise with martial arts improves. When she uses seemingly weak ranged attacks, her strikes are much more lethal and reach a greater distance than usual.
When the monk uses a dart, a sling, or a shuriken, the monk deals damage with the weapon as if she was using an unarmed strike, but of a monk of her level -3 (thus, she deals 1d6 points of damage if Medium). These weapons are not treated as if they were unarmed strikes for purposes of the ki strike ability (see below). As well, her range increment is equal to 50 ft. if it doesn’t have that range increment already; at every 4 levels after the 4th, the range increment of the weapon increases by 10 ft.
Depending on the elemental way she follows, the monk may gain certain extra abilities:
Air: the range increment of the weapon increases by a further 10 feet every 4 levels. She adds her Dexterity modifier to her damage rolls. She may draw sling bullets, darts and shuriken as if she had the Quick Draw feat, but only for these weapons.
Earth: the monk may deal damage with darts, sling bullets, shuriken and stones (if used with a sling) and use her full unarmed strike damage. In the case of stones thrown from slings, she gains no penalty to attack rolls and she deals damage as if the stone was of a creature her size.
Fire: the monk adds 1-1/2 times her Strength modifier to damage rolls with these weapons, and may use her Strength modifier instead of her Dexterity modifier for attack rolls.
Water: the monk uses her Wisdom modifier instead of her Strength or Dexterity modifier for attack and damage rolls with these weapons.
If the campaign has the following available, the monk may provide the benefits of this ability to the following weapons: blowgun, greater blowgun.
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Art of the Deadly Wind, alongside Deadly Weapons, were some of the class abilities I designed to make special monk weapons and simple weapons deadly in the hands of the Monk. By tying them to the Elemental Way chosen by the Monk at 2nd level, I've definitely made a memorable class ability that can't be replicated by a feat, because of its complexity. Parts of it could be replicated by means of feats, but would be considered weak by any means.
Try to differ when a Monk gets a simple stone and hurls it 50 ft. across, dealing damage almost as if it were its own fist.
This ability was designed with the idea that the Monk had very few ranged options, and by these levels flying enemies would incapacitate them. By relying on the simplest weapons around, the Monk gains a solid ranged option for cheap, and sometimes even for free (in the case of using stones for slings).
Art of the Deadly Wind, though, is limited to core weapons, hence the dart, sling (both bullets and stones) and shuriken. You're welcome to add other weapons, such as the orc shotput or the halfling skiprock, so as long as they can be treated as special monk weapons. A halfling with a specialization in thrown weapons may become a deadly opponent, particularly with skiprocks and their ricochet ability. The idea, of course, is to make them special monk weapons, which is left to the DM's decision.
Ki Strike (Su): At 4th level, a monk’s unarmed attacks are empowered with ki. Her unarmed attacks are treated as magic weapons for the purpose of dealing damage to creatures with damage reduction. Ki strike improves with the character’s monk level. At 8th level, her unarmed attacks are also treated as lawful weapons for the purpose of dealing damage to creatures with damage reduction. At 12th level, her unarmed attacks are treated as adamantine weapons for the purpose of dealing damage to creatures with damage reduction and bypassing hardness).
Furthermore, starting from 4th level the monk’s unarmed attacks are more accurate and strong. A 4th level monk gains a +1 bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls when attacking with an unarmed strike; this bonus increases by 1 every four levels. Treat this bonus as an enhancement bonus for purposes of which abilities stack with it (thus, a 4th level monk wouldn’t benefit from magic weapon or magic fang, but it could take benefit from greater magic weapon or greater magic fang if it so desires).
By expending several daily uses of her ki power, a monk’s ki strike temporarily improves. At 4th level, the monk may spend one daily use to increase the bonus on attack and damage rolls from her unarmed strikes by 1 (but the bonus cannot exceed +5 until 20th level). At 8th level, the monk may spend two daily uses to grant her unarmed strikes gain the lawful weapon special ability, and at 12th level she may spend three daily use to grant her weapons ignore all kinds of damage reduction. These enhancements are cumulative (a monk need only spend two daily uses to gain the enhancement bonus and the lawful special ability, and three daily uses for all effects), and last for a period of rounds equal to half her class level. If the monk gains the lawful special quality or the ability to ignore all damage reduction as an enhancement, she need only spend one or two daily uses of ki and gain the remaining enhancements.
If a class progresses ki strike, levels in monk stack with levels in that class to determine the effective enhancement bonus with unarmed strikes, but not with the other provided abilities (such as bypassing DR or ki expenditures). A monk cannot extend her ki strike ability to her natural weapons (unarmed strikes are not considered as natural weapons for these purposes, nor slam attacks).
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While drawn almost verbatim from the earlier version of the Monk, ki strike has gained some significative changes.
The most important is that the Monk's unarmed strikes finally gain an enhancement bonus progression, which can be upgraded using ki into a higher enhancement bonus. No longer you need to worry about your unarmed strikes being mundane, as they will count as +1 weapons often before the rest of the party gets +1 weapons (with the lucky exceptions, of course). The second is the inclusion of slam weapons into the ki strike: this is so that Warforged Monks and other non-humanoid Monks with slam attacks gain their benefits. The reason why it wasn't added to other natural weapons was because it would make a 4 level Monk dip phenomenal for various characters holding loads of natural weapons (particularly Monk/Totemists). Slams, being pretty close to unarmed strikes, are fair play though.
Otherwise, the ki enhancements remain pretty similar. A stacking +1 enhancement bonus, the axiomatic property and the ability to bypass all DR are solid traits even for their apparently excessive ki cost (3 for all three abilities).
Slow Fall (Ex or Su): At 4th level or higher, a monk takes damage from any fall as if it were shorter. The amount of distance reduced by this ability is shown on the table above. As well, a monk may expend one daily use of her ki pool as an immediate action to gain the effect of a feather fall spell; this latter ability is a supernatural ability. A monk that follows the way of Air adds 10 feet to the distance she may fall safely; a monk that follows the way of Earth takes one less dice of damage while falling.
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Not many changes from the core version aside from the addition of ki to use Feather Fall (which was in the earlier revision). The main difference is the addition of synergies with Air and Earth Monks, which have essentially the same ability but applying in a different way: reducing 10 ft. and reducing one die of damage are the same thing, but they apply this differently. That I leave you to figure out.
Purity of Body (Ex): At 5th level, a monk gains immunity to all poisons and diseases.
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Legacy ability, simple, easy, so why bother removing it? Unless you can find a way to make it quite strong without it being an immunity. Sickening and nausea could count as well.
Unburdened Path (Su): At 5th level, a monk may spend one daily use of her ki power as a swift action to ignore any effects that hamper or impede movement, as if having a freedom of movement spell cast upon itself, until the next round. At 14th level, the effect lasts instead for a number of rounds equal to half her class level. A monk following the way of Air or Water doubles the duration of this ability.
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Another ability devised in the earlier revision, Unburdened Path is meant to protect the Monk against crowd control spells and abilities. One round (two for Air and Water Monks) may seem like too little, but it synergizes well with the Monk's mobility. At 14th level, however, the extension is worthy enough to bypass some of the most serious locking spells around (Evard's Black Tentacles, I'm looking at you!).
Some people may chafe of seeing so many technical immunities, but this form of immunity is tied to what makes spellcasters so powerful. By balancing FoM, you can balance this ability as well. It becomes a creative immunity, rather than a fixed, unbalanced one.
Bonus Feat: At 6th level and every 5 levels, a monk gains a bonus feat. The monk may choose from the list of fighter bonus feats. A monk is considered as a fighter of her class level -2 for feats that have a fighter level prerequisite.
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As with the earlier revision, this is to allow Monks to be less feat-starved and make a better build for combat purposes. This opens general feat slots for non-combat purposes, which may open the door to domain feats (Travel!!) or any other feat you consider worthwhile. The effective Fighter level is there so that you can take stuff like Weapon Supremacy...actually, not really; it's just in case I post my feat retoolings, of which the [Fighter] feats rely upon for their scaling.
Yes, I said it. Scaling feats based on your effective Fighter level. No, not initiator level; Fighter level. Even if I mentioned Fighter has no solution.
Philosophy (Su): At 6th level, the monk chooses a philosophy to follow. This philosophy grants her the ability to harness her power to advance her cause. Once a philosophy is chosen, the decision is permanent and may not be changed.
Path of Harmonious Balance: a monk that follows the Path of Harmonious Balance seeks peace with the world. Normally, only lawful good monks and a group of lawful neutral monks choose this path, but the path is not tied to a specific alignment (aside from the monk's lawful alignment); a lawful evil monk may find the utility of peace with the world to further her own means. A monk that chooses this feat exudes an aura of peace, forcing all creatures that make melee attacks against the monk to make a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 the monk's class level + the monk's Wisdom modifier; Earth monks use Constitution, Fire monks use Strength) or fail to proceed with the attack and deny the opponent the ability to make melee attacks against it (as the sanctuary spell, except it is constantly active). A successful Will save negates the benefit, and the benefit is negated for the remainder of the encounter if the monk engages in combat (by making a melee or ranged attack, casting a spell if it knows any, or executing any special combat maneuver except grappling or tripping, and the monk may not deal damage while grappling). By expending a daily use of her ki power as a standard action, the monk may emit a burst of healing that cures all allies within 30 feet a number of hit points equal to 1d4 for every two class levels after the 5th (2d4 at 7th level, 3d4 at 9th level, and so forth).
Path of Ineffable Dominion: a monk that follows the Path of Inevitable Dominion seeks to unify the world upon her discipline. Normally, only lawful evil monks and a group of lawful neutral monks choose this path, but the path is not tied to a specific alignment (aside from the monk's lawful alignment); a lawful monk may seek to unify the world within a fair and just discipline and is generally accepting of those who dissent with her. A monk that chooses this path gains the frightful presence ability (as that of a dragon), but the save DC is equal to 10 + 1/2 the monk's class level + the monk's Wisdom modifier (Earth monks use Constitution, Fire monks use Strength), and affects all creatures of a Challenge Rating equal or lower than the monk's level +2. By expending a daily use of her ki power as a swift action, whenever the monk makes a successful attack, the enemy must succeed on a Fortitude saving throw (DC equal to her frightful presence ability) or become fatigued; if the target becomes fatigued or exhausted, the monk gains a number of temporary hit points equal to 5+the creature's Hit Dice, that last for a number of rounds equal to half her class level. These temporary hit points do not stack, but overlap. This benefit lasts for a number of rounds equal to half her class level.
Path of the Riddle of Equilibrium: a monk that follows the Path of Inevitable Equilibrium follows an inevitable axiom of the universe; good and evil cannot exist within each other. A great deal of lawful neutral monks follow this path, but the path itself is not tied to alignment (aside from the monk's lawful alignment); lawful good or lawful evil monks may recognize this fundamental axiom and reach peace with the unusual understanding they receive. A monk that chooses this path is treated as if it were both good and evil for purposes of spells and effects that target alignment, regardless of actual alignment; in the case a spell varies based on alignment, the monk is treated as if it were of the most beneficial alignment (thus, a monk that follows this path may use weapons enchanted with the holy or unholy special quality without receiving negative levels). By expending a daily use of her ki power as a swift action as part of an attack, the target of the attack is subject to a targeted dispel magic effect as if cast by a cleric of the monk's class level, except the limit to the dispel check bonus is 20.
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Here's the fourth column of Monk customization: philosophies. Also taken pretty straight from DDO, philosophies are meant to expand the variety of options a Monk has by making them a support class or a pure DPS class. This is tabletop, though, so things must differ. Hence, a third option is added (for 50% more customization!) and their definitions cleared up so that they have a strong roleplaying feel.
Monks that follow the Path of Harmonious Balance (deceptive name, eh?) seek to be passive. You may think that this implies being good, and to an extent Light Monks (the nickname they are given in DDO) work that way, but an evil Monk can definitely be a passive character. Lawful Evil is the epitome of passive evil, if good ol' Tarquin hasn't proven in a masterful class. Passivity in this case isn't really "I won't hit my enemy" but rather "I won't hit my enemy unless he asks for it, and I will make it so that he doesn't ask for it". Sanctuary as an aura is a perfect example of it: if the enemy decides not to attack you, then there's no need to attack them.
Monks that follow the Path of Ineffable Dominion seek to be aggressive. As with the Light Monks, the Dark Monks may have a strong evil feel, but that's not the case; anti-heroes sometimes are aggressive but kind-hearted, ready to enter the fisticuffs against anyone except children, old ladies and those whom they consider weak and in need of protection. However, when they fight...which is why frightful presence is perfect for them. The draining attack they get by expending ki leads to the second part of the philosophy: they are so aggressive, they weaken people just by being nearby.
Monks that follow the Path of the Riddle of Equilibrium, in that aspect, seek balance between passivity and aggressivity. Balance Monks (cute name, eh?) are definitely Neutral in philosophical terms, but that doesn't mean they MUST be Lawful Neutral in alignment; what it means is that there's a notable inclination. Their ki ability (a targeted Greater Dispel Magic by any other name) exemplifies this concept of balance everywhere, because a super-buffed character may eventually end up clearly unbuffed and ready for the next, deadly strike of the Monk. However, you'll notice most of the Balance Monk's abilities are buffs, which in a way are methods to serve balance: if the enemy is buffed, so will your allies, which will technically level the playing field.
Still Mind (Su): A monk of 6th level or higher may expend a daily use of her ki power as an immediate action to become immune to spells and effects with the fear or mind-affecting descriptor until her next round. A monk that follows the way of Earth instead becomes immune to spells and effects with such descriptors for a number of rounds equal to half her class level. A monk that follows the way of Fire not only becomes immune to fear or mind-affecting effects, but also reflects the effect back to the caster or user (thus, if a Fire monk were to be affected by a phantasmal killer spell, she returns it to the caster).
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Still Mind makes its appearance a bit later, but it's definitely better than the original. A brief chance of becoming immune to spells and effects with the fear or mind-affecting descriptor nulls just about the other half of nullifying tactics usable by enemies, so it's pretty obvious that people may see this and cry foul.
Of course, the very nature of having a single pool of abilities powering this balances this out. This methodical restriction advises moderation in the uses, because going nova in a single battle at early levels because you just wanted to be immune to everything eventually hinders you. Hence, why I like the concept of ki so much: it's a pool of daily uses that power various abilities, but it will always get used, unlike other methods of providing daily uses which will eventually get spares because the build is so carefully crafted you'll rarely use them. And, with good saves and stuff, only those with horrible Will saves will rely on them.
Resilient Body (Su): At 7th level, a monk is capable of strengthening her mind to partially ignore the effect of the elements in her body, but at a very limited scale. She gains resistance 10 to the energy type related to her choice of elemental way (Air= electricity, Earth= acid, Water= cold). By expending a daily use of her ki power, her elemental resistance increases by 10 points for a number of rounds equal to her class levels.
At 11th level, her resistance with the energy type related to her elemental way increases to 20, and she gains resistance 10 against all other energy types except sonic and that which opposes her elemental way (Air opposes Earth, Fire opposes Water, and viceversa). Expending a daily use of her ki power increases the energy resistance of her choice by 10 points instead of only the energy type related to her elemental way, but this does not allow her to increase her energy resistance with her opposing element. This increase applies to any type of energy resistance, not just the one gained from this ability.
At 15th level, her resistance with all energy types except sonic increase by 10 (including the energy type related to her opposing element), and spending a daily use of her ki power increases her resistance with all energy types except sonic by 10.
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Just to make it clear: you can't get Sonic Resistance by means of this ability. This only works with the four "classic" energy types.
Having said that, the earlier revision of the Monk in its very first incarnation (before all the v2.00 patching) didn't have energy resistance. This was a bad idea, because despite their high Reflexes and Evasion, if the enemy struck you with a no-fail energy attack, you were screwed. You had to rely on potions or, worse, magic items to stave that off. This is a breather to that, because you get some degree of innate energy resistance which relates to your choices of element, but always leaving a "weakness" to cover.
The ki power-up of Resilient Body, however, can make some people cringe. Technically, this is the only instance where you'll see energy resistance above 30, since activating the ki power-up at 15th level or more will grant you energy resistance 40 against your primary element, because of the stacking nature of the power-up. That also means it stacks with other forms of energy resistance, so you can have two, three, or even FOUR resistances to energy types over 40, which is a very solid amount of damage reduction. You'll probably notice why I left sonic behind...
Deadly Weapons (Ex): At 8th level, a monk can use certain weapons with such grace, that she can deliver far deadlier blows than others who pursue her arts.
When using a club, kama, nunchaku, quarterstaff, sai or siangham, the monk deals damage with the weapon as if she was using an unarmed strike, but of a monk of her level -3 (thus, she deals 1d8 points of damage if Medium). These weapons are not treated as if they were unarmed strikes for purposes of the ki strike ability (see above). As well, she gains a special ability when using any of these weapons:
Club: a monk may use a club to deliver daily uses of her Stunning Fist feat (if she has it).
Kama: upon a successful trip attempt, the monk may deal damage with the kama as if she had succeeded on a melee attack, but she only deals half the damage she would have usually dealt. This applies even if she has the Improved Trip feat.
Nunchaku or Sai: when using a disarm attempt, the monk may decide to “lock” the weapon instead of merely disarming. She may make this special disarm attempt even when her enemy uses natural weapons, but it applies only to one such natural weapon (thus, if the enemy has two claws, she may apply this effect only to one of the claws). Until the creature attempts to move away from the monk, the creature may not use this weapon, nor the monk may use her nunchaku or sai (but she may still use her unarmed strikes if she so desires); if the creature wields a manufactured weapon and attempts to move away, the monk may force another disarm attempt to remove the weapon from the creature’s hands.
Quarterstaff: the monk may use a quarterstaff as a reach weapon if she so desires. If she has the Two-Weapon Fighting feat, she may not fight with the quarterstaff as a double weapon and apply the reach; only one or the other. However, her damage with both ends of the weapon increases as indicated above.
Siangham: the monk may use a feint attempt with a siangham. She may use her base attack bonus plus her Wisdom modifier or her Bluff check plus her Wisdom modifier for the feint, whichever is higher (Earth monks use Constitution, Fire monks use Strength). She may use this special feint with the siangham as a swift action, and the loss of the creature’s Dexterity modifier to AC applies to all attacks she makes until the end of her turn (thus, she may apply this to a single attack, or to a full attack action).
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Round 2 of "how to make special monk weapons actually special", and this one is pretty nice.
You'll notice the club was added as a special monk weapon, the rough equivalent of the stone thrown on a sling (since you can find a club lying just about anywhere, that means you'll get very nice stuff from it, particularly if a friendly spellcaster adds Greater Mighty Wallop+Greater Mighty Weapon and/or Shillelagh.
This was another ability I devised to power-up special monk weapons, and I hope it shows. This makes choosing a kama instead of an unarmed strike a useful change, even if it has one dice of damage less than the strike itself, as well as other weapons. It makes its appearance into this retool nearly integral, perhaps with a boost in overall power. The nifty tricks you can pull off, such as the automatic damage when tripping with a kama or the special feinting option of the siangham (thanks, Deadliest Warrior, for showing that cool trick with the emeici!) are meant to make these weapons just as attractive as using an unarmed strike in case you find them lying around, instead of just relying on your punches. Consider this a fifth column of customization, because having a dual-kama wielding Monk combining Two-Weapon Fighting with Improved Trip can be pretty surprising to behold.
Walk the River and the Clouds (Ex or Su): At 8th level, a monk is capable of leaping and moving with such grace that she seems to move through the air.
The monk may move upon any kind of liquid, such as water or even acid, without sinking, up to her base land movement speed. Treat as the water walk spell, except the duration is permanent but she must end her movement in a solid surface. If she walks upon acid or lava, she still takes damage because of exposure to them (1d6 acid/2d6 fire points per round of exposure, 10d6 acid/20d6 lava if she becomes immersed completely). She may remain afloat by concentrating as a move action, if she desires. A monk that follows the way of Earth may remain afloat in acid and takes no damage from it; a monk that follows the way of Fire may remain afloat in lava and takes no damage from it; a monk that follows the way of Water may remain afloat in water without sinking unless the monk intends to.
Furthermore, she gains the ability to move throughout the air as if she was walking on land. Treat as the air walk spell, except the duration is permanent but she must end her movement in a solid surface. She may remain aloft by concentrating as a move action, if she desires, or by grappling a flying creature (in which case she remains aloft so as long as the creature remains on the air). If the monk has the ability to levitate (such as by means of the levitate spell), she can remain aloft so as long as the effect remains, and she may move using this ability as usual. A monk that follows the way of Air may remain floating in air and suffers no penalties because of strong winds.
If she desires, the monk may instead make a Balance check (instead of concentrating) before moving to remain afloat or aloft, but only to half her base land speed; the skill check DC to succeed is 25 for liquids and 30 for air. The monk may accept a -10 penalty on both checks to move up to her full speed instead. A failed check still allows the monk to concentrate as a move action to remain afloat, as usual.
If she instead expends one daily use of her ki power, she does not need to retain concentration while moving over a liquid or through the air, but only for a number of minutes equal to 10 per class level of the monk.
This ability is treated as an extraordinary ability, unless she expends a daily use of her ki power; in that case, the ability to remain afloat or aloft becomes a supernatural action. In the case she enters an antimagic field while using this ability as a supernatural action, she may still remain afloat or aloft, but she must concentrate (or use her Balance check) as usual. Rounds spent in an antimagic field count against the duration of her ability to remain afloat or aloft as a supernatural action, however.
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Yet another such ability from my earlier revision, this was meant to deal with the problem of fighting in surfaces that enemies could use to establish distance and take advantage of the territory. By making them float in water AND in air with little effort (other than a Balance check to concentrate: you DO remember having a nice amount of ranks in Balance, right?), they can take the battle to where those pesky spellcasters are attempting to hide, and with the added advantage of your mobility. Some options such as the Graceful Swan or Leaping Dragon ways of the beast null some of these benefits, but because all monks need in one way or another to surpass these limits, all Monks get it.
Of course, that doesn't mean that their choice of Elemental Way won't influence this ability. Monks of Air and Water seem to get the nicer benefits (able to remain still on water or effectively have permanent Air Walk), but those who chose Earth or Fire have a very nice benefit as well (becoming immune to walking on acid or lava, which can cause ridiculous amounts of damage per round).
Improved Evasion (Ex): At 9th level, a monk’s evasion ability improves. She still takes no damage on a successful Reflex saving throw against attacks, but henceforth she takes only half damage on a failed save. A helpless monk does not gain the benefit of improved evasion.
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Not much to say except "legacy ability". However, because both Evasion and Imp. Evasion are on the right levels, it means you can replace them for Spell Reflection or Invisible Fist. Those are two ACFs that basically remain intact.
The Way Between the Ways (Su): At 9th level, the monk's choice of elemental way and philosophy merge, granting her an unusual ability which she may activate by expending one daily use of her ki power (unless otherwise indicated). The monk needs only to follow the indicated element (either primary or secondary) and/or the indicated philosophy to use these abilities; if the monk follows the path of Harmonious Balance or Ineffable Dominion, she may not use an ability of the opposite path regardless of the element chosen. All abilities last for a number of rounds equal to half her character level (unless the effect is of instantaneous duration). All saving throw DCs are based on saving throw DC of the Stunning Fist feat (10 + 1/2 the monk's class level + the monk's Wisdom modifier: Earth monks use Constitution and Fire monks use Strength) and are modified by spells or effects that improve Stunning Fist.
Aligning the Heavens: all casters within 30 feet of the monk gain a +1 bonus to their caster level. This applies to manifesters, meldshapers and users of mysteries, but not to creatures that use spell-like or psi-like abilities. Martial adepts that use maneuvers or stances that depend on initiator level are treated as if their initiator level was one higher instead. To use this ability, the monk must follow the way of Water or the Path of the Riddle of Equilibrium.
All-Consuming Flame: as part of a melee attack or when activating the benefit of the Path of Ineffable Dominion, the monk may force the enemy to succeed on a Reflex save or catch on fire, except the damage increases by 1d6 points of damage for every 3 class levels. This ability works regardless of whether the target can catch fire or not. To use this ability, the monk must follow the way of Fire or the Path of Ineffable Dominion.
Dance of the Clouds: all allies within 30 feet of the monk gain concealment, as if they were under the effect of a blur spell. To use this ability, the monk must follow the way of Air or the Path of the Riddle of Equilibrium.
Difficulty at the Beginning: the monk can remove fatigue, exhaustion and ability damage as if using a lesser restoration spell on all allies within 30 ft (or as part of the healing burst ability of the Path of Harmonious Balance). To use this ability, the monk must follow the way of Water or the Path of Harmonious Balance.
Grasp the Earth Dragon: all allies within 30 feet of the monk gain immunity to daze, stun and sleep. To use this ability, the monk must follow the way of Earth or the Path of the Riddle of Equilibrium.
Lifting the Veil: the monk can remove blindness or deafness as if using a remove blindness/deafness spell on all allies within 30 ft (or as part of the healing burst ability of the Path of Harmonious Balance). To use this ability, the monk must follow the way of Air or the Path of Harmonious Balance.
Porous Soul: when activating the benefit of Path of Ineffable Dominion, a failed save also causes the target to take a -1 penalty to Armor Class and Fortitude saves for every 3 class levels. To use this ability, the monk must follow the way of Earth or the Path of Ineffable Dominion.
Restoring the Balance: the monk can remove curses afflicting the target as if using a remove curse spell cast by a cleric of her class level on all allies within 30 ft (or as part of the healing burst ability of the Path of Harmonious Balance). To use this ability, the monk must follow the way of Fire or the Path of Harmonious Balance.
Static Charge: when touching an enemy or activating the benefit of Path of Ineffable Dominion, a failed save also causes the target to take a -1 penalty to all attack and damage rolls, as well as all saves against stun, for every three levels. To use this ability, the monk must follow the way of Air or the Path of Ineffable Dominion.
The Receptive Earth: the monk can remove poisons and diseases as if using a remove disease or neutralize poison spell on all allies within 30 ft. (or as part of the bealing burst ability of the Path of Harmonious Balance). To use this ability, the monk must follow the way of Earth or the Path of Harmonious Balance.
Walk the Sun: all allies within 30 feet of the monk gain a +2 bonus on all attack rolls, saving throws and skill checks as if they received the benefit of a heroism spell except the bonus is untyped. To use this ability, the monk must follow the way of Fire or the Path of the Riddle of Equilibrium.
Winter's Chill: when touching an enemy or activating the benefit of Path of Ineffable Dominion, a failed save also causes the target to take a -1 penalty to all damage rolls and Reflex saving throws for every 3 levels. To use this ability, the monk must follow the way of Water or the Path of Ineffable Dominion.
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If you've played DDO, these abilities may seem a bit familiar to you guys. If not...well, these were some of the "finishing moves" of the DDO Monk, but turned into actual abilities.
You may see that there are many abilities, divided neatly into three stacks of four (one for Light Monks, one for Balance Monks, and one for Dark Monks), with each stack relying to one element. Hence, the "way between the Ways", because it is a combination of the Elemental Way and the Philosophy.
...even if you didn't laugh at the horrendous pun, you get only 5 (FIVE) of these abilities, unless you're from the Path of the Riddle of Equilibrium in which you receive six. At 10th level, you get one more ability (or two if you're a Balance Monk) because of the secondary element: this quip has precedence over what appears above, even if it's just me clarifying myself.
Light Monks may seem like they got the shaft, because they only get healing abilities, but they get limited-yet-interesting abilities that a Cleric might just reserve as part of a scroll or wand. I declined for temporary immunity for Light Monks because most people are already iffy regarding immunities, and granting all your allies immunity against one thing might seem like insulting them. Then again, the abilities are a bit weak.
Balance Monks get, oddly, buffs. These buffs belonged to Light Monks in DDO, but inventing new abilities that appealed to balance would be a bit complicated, and would have left the healing abilities out of the question. However, both Light and Dark Monks can get a brief taste of those abilities, so you don't have to worry that much: in fact, allowing access to the abilities of Balance Monks reinforced their idea of balance.
Dark Monks, on the other hand, get some nasty debuffs that scale with level. They are more limited in scale (Light and Balance Monks affect all within 30 ft. whereas Dark Monks need to touch or strike the opponent), but the penalties can be pretty strong. The original version either imposed energy vulnerabilities with the enhancement-based techniques or replicate actual feats (Freezing the Lifeblood, Falling Star Strike) so they were unsuitable, so I decided for penalties to compensate.
Because of the allowance of all Monks to dabble on the abilities of others, you'll notice that neither Light nor Dark monks will really get shafted, whereas Balance Monks definitely win this round. Dark Monks can't get abilities from Light Monks and viceversa, so that's the reason both get 5/6 abilities to the Balance Monk's 6/8.
Finishing Move (Su): At 10th level, if the monk has expended a daily use of her ki power (or daily use of her Stunning Fist feat) to deal elemental damage with her weapons, she may elect to end this benefit as a swift action. If she does so, she may activate the following abilities, based on her choice of elemental way:
Air: the next melee attack deals 1d6 points of electricity damage per two class levels and the target must succeed on a Will saving throw or become paralyzed for 1 round.
Earth: the next melee attack deals 1d6 points of acid damage per two class levels and the target must succeed on a Fortitude saving throw or become nauseated for a number of rounds equal to half her class level.
Fire: the monk unleashes a cone of fire that deals 1d6 points of fire damage per two class levels on a 15 ft. range, as if using the burning hands spell. If the affected creatures fail their Reflex saves, they catch on fire.
Water: the next melee attack deals 1d6 points of cold damage per two class levels and the target must succeed on a Reflex saving throw or become slowed for a number of rounds equal to half her class level.
All saving throws have a DC equal to 10 + 1/2 the monk's class level + the monk's Wisdom modifier (Con for Earth monks, Str for Fire monks).
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Another thing taken from DDO (notice how much I love their rendition of the Monk? Another thing that inspired me to retool the revision I did earlier) and adapted to tabletop, the Finishing Moves required you to combo elemental fists in order to elicit a Finishing Move. This would be far too complex in tabletop to enable that way, so making it a swift action finishing move that cancels that "state" of elemental fists (which is technically drawn from the Draconic Fist ACF from Dragon Magic) makes for a proper replacement that holds essentially the same power.
You'll notice that the "finishing" moves aren't taken verbatim from their DDO incarnation aside from the Fire finishing move (which is exactly the same except for increased damage and the ability to catch fire) and the Water finishing move (which imposes the slow status). All others are reasonable facsimiles that deal damage of the same element (and a suitable amount of damage) plus a status effect. Air and Earth moves, of course, are potentially lethal because you can nauseate or even paralyze an opponent, which effectively takes it out of the playing field (and in the case of the Air finishing move, it's actually better than Freezing the Lifeblood). They may seem a bit strong, but do consider that you're almost halfway through the levels, and enemies are pretty strong at this moment.
Fire has an odd finisher because, unlike the others, it has an AoO effect. Fire will always have the shaft, so making it an AoO (which Monks desperately lack) makes it slightly more useful to get than a simple attack, if only because you can use another finishing move for single enemies and the Fire finishing move to finish various mooks.
Diamond Body (Ex or Su): At 11th level, a monk’s skin becomes unnaturally resilient. She gains damage reduction 10, which can only be bypassed by magic or chaotic-aligned weapons. As well, may expend a daily use of her ki power to gain temporary increased resiliency to damage. The monk increases her DR to 15/magic and chaotic for a number of rounds equal to half her class level plus her Wisdom modifier (Strength for Fire monks); this increase is treated as a supernatural ability. At 20th level, this changes to DR 20/epic and chaotic. A monk that follows the way of Earth gains DR 10/chaotic and adamantine at 11th level, increases her DR to 15/chaotic and adamantine by expending a daily use of her ki ability (and uses Constitution instead of Wisdom), and at 20th level she increases her DR to 20/epic, chaotic and adamantine.
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The core Monk grants DR at 20th level, but what you get is really pointless. Since Diamond Body was subsumed into Purity of Body, I decided in the earlier revision of the Monk to grant them a degree of damage reduction before Perfect Self came online. Still, DR 5/magic and adamantine wasn't really that hot, so it now became DR 10/magic or chaotic. Certainly not the best, but if you factor the use of ki granting you DR 15/magic AND chaotic, it makes for a last-resort damage mitigator in case you need to go up close and personal (as befitting their martial character nature).
As befitting their "tank-ish" nature, Earth Monks get a superb bonus by having an entirely different form of DR which may only be passed by chaotic OR adamantine weapons, and which improvement makes them nearly unbeatable.
Of course, once they get to 20th level, the damage reduction becomes spectacular: DR 20/epic and chaotic (and adamantine, if an Earth monk) ensures that nearly anyone won't dent the Monk.
Perhaps I jumped the gun a bit? You're the judge of that.
Abundant Step (Ex or Su): At 12th level or higher, the monk can move to half her land speed as a free action once per round. She may not use a 5-foot step in the same round she uses this ability. Her movement while using this ability is affected as usual, except she does not provoke an attack of opportunity when moving out of a threatened space. She may also use the Balance, Jump and Tumble skills as part of this movement.
As well, a monk may expend a daily use of her ki power to slip magically between spaces, as if using the spell dimension door, except she uses it as a move action and can act her remaining actions afterwards. Her caster level for this effect is one-half her monk level (rounded down). A monk that follows the way of Fire releases a 5 ft. radius burst of flames on the spot from where she teleports, dealing damage as if using her finishing move (1d6 fire damage/2 class levels). This latter ability is a supernatural ability.
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A legacy ability that has little reason to remain, Abundant Step was improved to grant the often sought "improve 5-ft. step to 1/2-movement-step" ability that would make monks synergize with Flurry of Blows and their martial nature. Being so good, I decided to retain that ability, and keep the Dimension Door aspect open in case they need to escape, which also allows Sun School to remain almost intact.
Of course, after I made a few checks, I noticed Fire Monks were getting shafted a bit, so they get a nice trick by bursting into flames on the spot they were, making Dimension Door an offensive teleportation ability. The damage is, of course, fire (easily resisted and/or ignored) but if the Monk gets surrounded, even a bit of damage and a chance to escape are an unbeatable combination. I expect this allows you to make more Fire Monks, because Fire needs some love.
Diamond Soul (Ex): At 13th level, a monk gains spell resistance equal to her current monk level + 10; monks following the way of Water gain spell resistance equal to her current monk level +15 instead. By spending one daily use of her ki pool, the monk may add her Wisdom modifier to her spell resistance for a number of rounds equal to half her class level; Earth monks add Constitution and Fire monks use Strength instead. Beneficial spells (those with the [harmless] descriptor) are not affected by this kind of spell resistance, even if the spell is originally subject to it.
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Not much changes to Diamond Soul (the earlier revision, that is), except that the choice of elemental way matters. Water monks get higher Spell Resistance because Water Monks are a bit more aligned to supernatural combat than their other brethren (such as Fire and Earth monks, which are physically offensive and defensive respectively, or Wind monks which are physically fast). Of course, to make SR worthwhile, beneficial spells are ignored, so you can get buffed and healed with little trouble while having spells bounce off you.
(continued on next post. Really, I should have reserved 5 posts...)
