Monk

Her fists a blur as they deflect an incoming hail of arrows, a half-elf springs over a barricade and throws herself into the massed ranks of hobgoblins on the other side. She whirls among them, knocking their blows aside and sending them reeling, until at last she stands alone. Taking a deep breath, a human covered in tattoos settles into a battle stance. As the first charging orcs reach him, he exhales and a blast of fire roars from his mouth, engulfing his foes.
Moving with the silence of the night, a black-clad halfling steps into a shadow beneath an arch and emerges from another inky shadow on a balcony a stone’s throw away. She slides her blade free of its cloth-wrapped scabbard and peers through the open window at the tyrant prince, so vulnerable in the grip of sleep.
Whatever their discipline, monks are united in their ability to magically harness the energy that flows in their bodies. Whether channeled as a striking display of combat prowess or a subtler focus of defensive ability and speed, this energy infuses all that a monk does.

The Magic of Ki

Monks make careful study of a magical energy that most monastic traditions call ki. This energy is an element of the magic that suffuses the multiverse—specifically, the element that flows through living bodies. Monks harness this power within themselves to create magical effects and exceed their bodies’ physical capabilities, and some of their special attacks can hinder the flow of ki in their opponents. Using this energy, monks channel uncanny speed and strength into their unarmed strikes. As they gain experience, their martial training and their mastery of ki gives them more power over their bodies and the bodies of their foes.

Training and Asceticism

Small walled cloisters dot the landscapes of the worlds of D&D, tiny refuges from the flow of ordinary life, where time seems to stand still. The monks who live there seek personal perfection through contemplation and rigorous training. Many entered the monastery as children, sent to live there when their parents died, when food couldn’t be found to support them, or in return for some kindness that the monks had performed for their families.
Some monks live entirely apart from the surrounding population, secluded from anything that might impede their spiritual progress. Others are sworn to isolation, emerging only to serve as spies or assassins at the command of their leader, a noble patron, or some other mortal or divine power.
The majority of monks don’t shun their neighbors, making frequent visits to nearby towns or villages and exchanging their service for food and other goods. As versatile warriors, monks often end up protecting their neighbors from monsters or tyrants.
For a monk, becoming an adventurer means leaving a structured, communal lifestyle to become a wanderer. This can be a harsh transition, and monks don’t undertake it lightly. Those who leave their cloisters take their work seriously, approaching their adventures as personal tests of their physical and spiritual growth. As a rule, monks care little for material wealth and are driven by a desire to accomplish a greater mission than merely slaying monsters and plundering their treasure.

Creating a Monk

As you make your monk character, think about your connection to the monastery where you learned your skills and spent your formative years. Were you an orphan or a child left on the monastery’s threshold? Did your parents promise you to the monastery in gratitude for a service performed by the monks? Did you enter this secluded life to hide from a crime you committed? Or did you choose the monastic life for yourself?
Consider why you left. Did the head of your monastery choose you for a particularly important mission beyond the cloister? Perhaps you were cast out because of some violation of the community’s rules. Did you dread leaving, or were you happy to go? Is there something you hope to accomplish outside the monastery? Are you eager to return to your home?
As a result of the structured life of a monastic community and the discipline required to harness ki, monks are almost always lawful in alignment.

Quick Build

You can make a monk quickly by following these suggestions. First, make Dexterity your highest ability score, followed by Wisdom. Second, choose the hermit background

Exclusive Monastic Tradition List

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Multiclassing

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Monks In Dicathia Lore

Monk

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Level	Proficiency	Martial	Ki	Unarmored	Features
	Bonus	Arts	Points	Movement
1st	+2	1d4	–	–	Unarmored Defense, Martial Arts
2nd	+2	1d4	2	+10 ft.	Ki, Unarmored Movement
3rd	+2	1d4	3	+10 ft.	Monastic Tradition, Deflect Missiles
4th	+2	1d4	4	+10 ft.	Ability Score Improvement, Slow Fall, Quickened Healing
5th	+3	1d6	5	+10 ft.	Extra Attack, Stunning Strike
6th	+3	1d6	6	+15 ft.	Ki-Empowered Strikes, Monastic Tradition feature
7th	+3	1d6	7	+15 ft.	Evasion, Stillness of Mind
8th	+3	1d6	8	+15 ft.	Ability Score Improvement
9th	+4	1d6	9	+15 ft.	Unarmored Movement improvement
10th	+4	1d6	10	+20 ft.	Purity of Body
11th	+4	1d8	11	+20 ft.	Monastic Tradition feature
12th	+4	1d8	12	+20 ft.	Ability Score Improvement
13th	+5	1d8	13	+20 ft.	Tongue of the Sun and Moon
14th	+5	1d8	14	+25 ft.	Diamond Soul
15th	+5	1d8	15	+25 ft.	Timeless Body
16th	+5	1d8	16	+25 ft.	Ability Score Improvement
17th	+6	1d10	17	+25 ft.	Monastic Tradition feature
18th	+6	1d10	18	+30 ft.	Empty Body
19th	+6	1d10	19	+30 ft.	Ability Score Improvement
20th	+6	1d10	20	+30 ft.	Perfect Self

Monk

hit dice: 1d8 per monk level

hit points at 1st level: 8 + your Constitution modifier

hit points at higher levels: 1d8 (or 5) + your Constitution modifier per monk level after 1st

armor proficiencies: None

weapon proficiencies: Simple weapons, shortswords

tools: Choose one type of artisan’s tools or one musical instrument

saving throws: Strength, Dexterity

skills: Choose two from Acrobatics, Athletics, History, Insight, Religion, and Stealth

starting equipment:
You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:

• (a) a shortsword or (b) any simple weapon
• (a) a dungeoneer’s pack or (b) an explorer’s pack
• 10 darts

spellcasting:

class features:

Unarmored Defense

Beginning at 1st level, while you are wearing no armor and not wielding a shield, your AC equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Wisdom modifier.

Martial Arts

At 1st level, your practice of martial arts gives you mastery of combat styles that use unarmed strikes and monk weapons, which are shortswords and any simple melee weapons that don’t have the two-handed or heavy property.
You gain the following benefits while you are unarmed or wielding only monk weapons and you aren’t wearing armor or wielding a shield:

• You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the attack and damage rolls of your unarmed strikes and monk weapons.
• You can roll a d4 in place of the normal damage of your unarmed strike or monk weapon. This die changes as you gain monk levels, as shown in the Martial Arts column of the Monk table.
• When you use the Attack action with an unarmed strike or a monk weapon on your turn, you can make one unarmed strike as a bonus action. For example, if you take the Attack action and attack with a quarterstaff, you can also make an unarmed strike as a bonus action, assuming you haven’t already taken a bonus action this turn.

Certain monasteries use specialized forms of the monk weapons. For example, you might use a club that is two lengths of wood connected by a short chain (called a nunchaku) or a sickle with a shorter, straighter blade (called a kama). Whatever name you use for a monk weapon, you can use the game statistics provided for the weapon in the Weapons section.

Ki

Starting at 2nd level, your training allows you to harness the mystic energy of ki. Your access to this energy is represented by a number of ki points. Your monk level determines the number of points you have, as shown in the Ki Points column of the Monk table.
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. 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 draw all of your expended ki back into yourself. 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 saving throw to resist the feature’s effects. The saving throw DC is calculated as follows:

Ki save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier

Flurry of Blows

Immediately after you take the Attack action on your turn, you can spend 1 ki point to make two unarmed strikes as a bonus action.

Patient Defense

You can spend 1 ki point to take the Dodge action as a bonus action on your turn.

Step of the Wind

You can spend 1 ki point to take the Disengage or Dash action as a bonus action on your turn, and your jump distance is doubled for the turn.

Unarmored Movement

Starting at 2nd level, your speed increases by 10 feet 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.

Monastic Tradition

When you reach 3rd level, you commit yourself to a monastic tradition, listed at the end of the class description. Your tradition grants you features at 3rd level and again at 6th, 11th, and 17th level.

Deflect Missiles

Starting at 3rd level, you can use your reaction to deflect or catch the missile when you are hit by a ranged weapon attack. When you do so, the damage you take from the attack is reduced by 1d10 + your Dexterity modifier + your monk level.
If you reduce the damage to 0, 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 with the weapon or piece of ammunition you just caught, as part of the same reaction. You make this attack with proficiency, regardless of your weapon proficiencies, and the missile counts as a monk weapon for the attack, which has a normal range of 20 feet and a long range of 60 feet.

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.
Using the optional feats rule, you can forgo taking this feature to take a feat of your choice instead.

Quickened Healing

4th-level monk feature
As an action, you can spend 2 ki points and roll a Martial Arts die. You regain a number of hit points equal to the number rolled plus your proficiency bonus.

Slow Fall

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

Extra Attack

Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

Stunning Strike

Starting at 5th level, you can interfere with the flow of ki in an opponent’s body. When you hit another creature with a melee weapon attack, you can spend 1 ki point to attempt a stunning strike. The target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or be stunned until the end of your next turn.

Ki-Empowered Strikes

Starting at 6th level, your unarmed strikes count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.

Unarmored Movement

At 6th level, your Unarmored Speed speed bonus increases to 15 feet while you are not wearing armor or wielding a shield.

Evasion

At 7th level, your instinctive agility lets you dodge out of the way of certain area effects, such as a blue dragon’s lightning breath or a fireball spell. When you are subjected to an effect that allows you to make a Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage, you instead take no damage if you succeed on the saving throw, and only half damage if you fail.

Stillness of Mind

Starting at 7th level, you can use your action to end one effect on yourself that is causing you to be charmed or frightened.

Unarmored Movement Improvement

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

Purity of Body

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

Unarmored Movement

At 10th level, your Unarmored Speed speed bonus increases to 20 feet while you are not wearing armor or wielding a shield.

Tongue of the Sun and Moon

Starting at 13th level, you learn to touch the ki of other minds so that you understand all spoken languages. Moreover, any creature that can understand a language can understand what you say.

Diamond Soul

Beginning at 14th level, your mastery of ki grants you proficiency in all saving throws.
Additionally, whenever you make a saving throw and fail, you can spend 1 ki point to reroll it and take the second result.

Unarmored Movement

At 14th level, your Unarmored Speed speed bonus increases to 25 feet while you are not wearing armor or wielding a shield.

Timeless Body

At 15th level, your ki sustains you so that you suffer none of the frailty of old age, and you can’t be aged magically. You can still die of old age, however. In addition, you no longer need food or water.

Empty Body

Beginning at 18th level, you can use your action to spend 4 ki points to become invisible for 1 minute. During that time, you also have resistance to all damage but force damage.
Additionally, you can spend 8 ki points to cast the astral projection spell, without needing material components. When you do so, you can’t take any other creatures with you.

Unarmored Movement

At 18th level, your Unarmored Speed speed bonus increases to 30 feet while you are not wearing armor or wielding a shield.

Perfect Self

At 20th level, when you roll for initiative and have no ki points remaining, you regain 4 ki points.

subclass options:

Monastic Traditions

Three traditions of monastic pursuit are common in the monasteries scattered across the multiverse. Most monasteries practice one tradition exclusively, but a few honor the three traditions and instruct each monk according to his or her aptitude and interest. All three traditions rely on the same basic techniques, diverging as the student grows more adept. Thus, a monk need choose a tradition only upon reaching 3rd level.

Way of Falling Leaves

The Way of Falling Leaves was first mastered by the wood elves. They watched as seasons came and went, and as the leaves on the trees they lived in faded and died, only to gently drift back to the earth as sustenance for the next generation. In that beauty and elegance, they saw death and rebirth, and by emulating its form they merged it with their own martial arts into something new. Able to float gracefully on the wind, before striking with all the intensity of a hurricane, their foes fall before them like autumn leaves.

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Way of Mercy

Monks of the Way of Mercy learn to manipulate the life force of others to bring aid to those in need. They are wandering physicians to the poor and hurt. However, to those beyond their help, they bring a swift end as an act of mercy.

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Way of Mundanity

There are those who study the arcane as a means to change the world around them. There is a certain arrogance in that concept, so in order to maintain balance there exists a group dedicated to preservation of the natural and the mundane. Monks who follow the Way of Mundanity use both the study of magic and the mastery of their own internal energies to battle those who use the arcane.

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Way of Poise

Monks of the Way of Poise have mastered special techniques to put their opponent off balance and they can do so even against the most armored foes. Through these balancing techniques, they are also able to make their body incredibly sturdy.

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Way of Shadow

Monks of the Way of Shadow follow a tradition that values stealth and subterfuge. These monks might be called ninjas or shadowdancers, and they serve as spies and assassins. Sometimes the members of a ninja monastery are family members, forming a clan sworn to secrecy about their arts and missions. Other monasteries are more like thieves’ guilds, hiring out their services to nobles, rich merchants, or anyone else who can pay their fees. Regardless of their methods, the heads of these monasteries expect the unquestioning obedience of their students.

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Way of the Animal Shen

The Way of the Animal Shen teaches its students to look to the animal kingdom for inspiration in battle. By studying their move­ments, one can learn great truths and powerful fighting techniques. From the quick, sharp strikes of the crane to the furious power of the tiger. A monk of this tradition can achieve amazing feats of martial prowess by emulating these animals through stances.

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Way of the Astral Self

A monk who follows the Way of the Astral Self believes their body is an illusion. They see their ki as a representation of their true form, an astral self. This astral self has the capacity to be a force of order or disorder, with some monasteries training students to use their power to protect the weak and other instructing aspirants in how to manifest their true selves in service to the mighty.

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Way of the Cloud Walker

Monks that train under the Way of the Cloud Walker learn to make themselves lighter than air. Their movements, weapon attacks, unarmed strikes and attitude to life reflect the wind that rolls across the landscape. A cloud walker is defined by their gentle demeanor and the roar of their primordial fury.

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Way of the Crimson Blade

Monks of the Way of the Crimson Blade have delved into the secrets of the blood martial arts. They use their talent in manipulating blood, to manifest blood blades that tear through their enemies’ defenses and improve their bodies’ physical abilities.

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Way of the Drunken Master

The Way of the Drunken Master teaches its students to move with the jerky, unpredictable movements of a drunkard. A drunken master sways, tottering on unsteady feet, to present what seems like an incompetent combatant who proves frustrating to engage. The drunken master’s erratic stumbles conceal a carefully executed dance of blocks, parries, advances, attacks, and retreats.

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Way of the Flowing River

Monks that devote themselves to the Way of the Flowing River have a strong love for water. They know it as the fluid of life, the sole reason civilisation has reached the heights it has. Water exhibits many unique properties and it is through these that the world is the way it is now. The Way of the Flowing River teaches their followers how to manipulate the liquid and embody its effects in their own life.

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Way of the Four Elements

You follow a monastic tradition that teaches you to harness the elements. When you focus your ki, you can align yourself with the forces of creation and bend the four elements to your will, using them as an extension of your body. Some members of this tradition dedicate themselves to a single element, but others weave the elements together.

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Way of the Frozen Fist

Monks of the Way of the Frozen Fist are taught the techniques of the freezing mountain, harnessing it's resilience and its affinity for the cold. They often train in unrelenting conditions to push their bodies and minds beyond their normal limits in an attempt to be prepared for any threat that comes their way.

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Way of the Iron Typhoon

When a Kensei wields a blade, they are legendary for the deadly precision that they wield their weapons with. But there are a few out there who have shunned the elegance of a smaller weapon and have instead taken up the challenge of wielding great weapons with all the grace and power of a mighty typhoon.

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Way of the Kensei

Monks of the Way of the Kensei train relentlessly with their weapons, to the point where the weapon becomes an extension of the body. Founded on a mastery of sword fighting, the tradition has expanded to include many different weapons.

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Way of the Long Death

Monks of the Way of the Long Death are obsessed with the meaning and mechanics of dying. They capture creatures and prepare elaborate experiments to capture, record, and understand the moments of their demise. They then use this knowledge to guide their understanding of martial arts, yielding a deadly fighting style.

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Way of the Metalbender

The Way of the Metalbender allows a monk to manipulate metal using their ki. Those that follow this monastic tradition train and fight through a special set of metal armour designed to be easily controlled by the monk. Using this special armour, the metalbeinding monk expertly switches between armoured and unarmoued styles of fighting. The most adept metalbenders can use their ki to control other metal objects.

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Way of the Open Hand

Monks of the Way of the Open Hand are the ultimate masters of martial arts combat, whether armed or unarmed. They learn techniques to push and trip their opponents, manipulate ki to heal damage to their bodies, and practice advanced meditation that can protect them from harm.

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Way of the Outcast

An Outcast is a monk that has lost their Way. Trained in the basics of the style, they have abandoned the rigorous discipline and philosophy of their tradition, and are usually now enrolled only in the school of hard knocks.

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Way of the Rolling Stone

The Way of the Rolling stone teaches its students to wander their entire lives until there is somewhere worth staying: it might be a noble cause or a safe place to spend a harsh season. Eventually when the bad weather (or trouble) clears, the way of the rolling stone is to continue their journey.
They can be stoic, stubborn, or patient to the point of indolence, but when the time for action arises, they become an avalanche of fury, and an immovable object if they have decided to stand their ground.

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Way of the Sacred Inks

Initiates of the Sacred Inks spend years practicing celestial calligraphy. Once they are ready, the monks mark their body with increasingly complex celestial tattoos, granting them access to divine power. As their spiritual connection to the divine grows, so does the beauty of their celestial tattoos.

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Way of the Sun Soul

Monks of the Way of the Sun Soul learn to channel their life energy into searing bolts of light. They teach that meditation can unlock the ability to unleash the indomitable light shed by the soul of every living creature.

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Way of the Thunderclap

The Way of the Thunderclap is a tradition tailored to those who have an affinity for lightning, being scarcely passed down within the lands of the material plane. Monks of this tradition learn how to use their elemental ki to generate an electric surge within their body, thus enhancing their speed of movement, as well as the effectiveness of their offense, to a level which can be considered unnatural.

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Way of the Viper

Monks who follow the Way of the Viper embody the serpentine grace and cunning of their namesake. Masters of fluid movement and elusive strikes, these monks are as swift as striking vipers, their bodies flowing seamlessly like a coiled serpent ready to strike. With a deep understanding of timing, distance, and precision, they navigate the battlefield with unmatched reactivity and unmatched elusiveness

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Way of the Zen Archer

Some monks seek become one with a weapon entirely different from the weapons they usually use – the bow. These monks are known as zen archers and they master the art of bow when mystically bond themselves to their bows, becoming able to channel their inner energy through it. A zen archer is able to foresee the course of its arrows and to make powerful shots capable of knock down the most powerful foes.