Monk

Overview

Monks are united in their ability to magically harness the energy that allows 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.

Monks walk a path of contradiction. They study their art as a wizard does, and like a wizard, they wear no armor and typically eschew weapons. Yet they are deadly combatants, their abilities on a par with those of a raging barbarian or a superbly trained fighter. Monks embrace this seeming contradiction, for it speaks to the core of all monastic study. By coming to know oneself completely, one learns much of the wider world.

A monk's focus on inner mastery leads many such individuals to become detached from society, more concerned with their personal experience than with happenings elsewhere. Adventuring monks are a rare breed of an already rare type of character, taking their quest for perfection beyond the walls of the monastery into the world at large.

The Magic of Ki

Monks make a careful study of magical energy that most 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 Faerûn. 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 Iive 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 Iive 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 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.

Monastery

A monk studies in a monastery in preparation for a life of asceticism. Most of those who enter a monastery make it their home for the rest of their lives, with the exception of adventurers and others who have reason to leave. For those individuals, a monastery might serve as a refuge between excursions to the world or as a source of support in times of need.

Master

During a monk's studies, they were likely under the tutelage of a master who imparted to them the precepts of the order.

Features

Level	Martial Arts	Ki Points	Unarmored Movement
1st	1d4	-	-
2nd	1d4	2	+10 feet
3rd	1d4	3	+10 feet
4th	1d4	4	+10 feet
5th	1d6	5	+10 feet
6th	1d6	6	+15 feet
7th	1d6	7	+15 feet
8th	1d6	8	+15 feet
9th	1d6	9	+15 feet
10th	1d6	10	+20 feet
11th	1d8	11	+20 feet
12th	1d8	12	+20 feet
13th	1d8	13	+20 feet
14th	1d8	14	+25 feet
15th	1d8	15	+25 feet
16th	1d8	16	+25 feet
17th	1d10	17	+25 feet
18th	1d10	18	+30 feet
19th	1d10	19	+30 feet
20th	1d10	20	+30 feet

Hit Points

• 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

Proficiencies

• Armor: None
• Weapons: Simple weapons, shortswords
• Tools: Choose one type of tool or one musical instrument
• Saving Throws: Strength, Dexterity
• Skills: Choose two from Acrobatics, Athletics, History, Insight, Religion, and Stealth

Equipment

• A shortsword or any simple weapon
• A dungeoneer’s pack or an explorer’s pack
• 10 darts

1st Level - Unarmored Defense

While you are wearing no armor and not wielding a shield, your AC equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Wisdom modifier.

1st Level - Martial Arts

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 table above.
• 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.

2nd Level - Dedicated Weapon

You train yourself to use a variety of weapons as monk weapons, not just simple melee weapons and shortswords. Whenever you finish a short or long rest, you can touch one weapon, focus your ki on it, and then count that weapon as a monk weapon until you use this feature again.

• The chosen weapon must meet these criteria:
• The weapon must be a simple or martial weapon.
• You must be proficient with it.
• It must lack the heavy and special properties.

2nd Level - Ki

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 table above.
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.

2nd Level - Unarmored Movement

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

3rd Level - Deflect Missiles

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.

3rd Level - Ki-Fueled Attack

If you spend 1 ki point or more as part of your action on your turn, you can make one attack with an unarmed strike or a monk weapon as a bonus action before the end of the turn.

3rd Level - Monastic Tradition

Traditions of monastic pursuit are common in the monasteries scattered across the multiverse. Most monasteries practice one tradition exclusively, but a few honor more traditions and instruct each monk according to his or her aptitude and interest. All 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.
You commit yourself to a monastic tradition. Your tradition grants you features at 3rd level and again at 6th, 11th, and 17th level.

4th Level - 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.

4th Level - Quickened Healing

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.

4th Level - Slow Fall

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.

5th Level - Extra Attack

You can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

5th Level - Focused Aim

When you miss with an attack roll, you can spend 1 to 3 ki points to increase your attack roll by 2 for each of these ki points you spend, potentially turning the miss into a hit.

5th Level - Stunning Strike

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.

6th Level - Ki-Empowered Strikes

Your unarmed strikes count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.

7th Level - Evasion

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.

7th Level - Stillness of Mind

You can use your action to end one effect on yourself that is causing you to be charmed or frightened.

10th Level - Purity of Body

Your mastery of the ki flowing through you makes you immune to disease and poison.

13th Level - Tongue of the Sun and Moon

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.

14th Level - Diamond Soul

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.

15th Level - Timeless Body

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.

18th Level - Empty Body

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.

20th Level - Perfect Self

When you roll for initiative and have no ki points remaining, you regain 4 ki points.

A Monk human