Monk Skills

Few zero-level characters care to follow the lonely lifestyle of a monk. Teachers of the martial arts can be found at any monastery, but monastic isolation absolutely prevents any other form of study, and few characters care to follow a monk’s rigid discipline. Characters who study monkish skills but find the life too hard may leave freely, but once they abandon their training, no master will ever consent to teach them again.

A character can’t retain the monkish powers of open hand attack, running ability, and thieving skills after breaking monkish codes. Further, zero-level characters will be barred from studying a monk’s skills if they hoard excess treasure or use forbidden weapons. Armor prevents any use of monkish martial arts, just as it hampers thieves’ abilities. If the character learned any of a monk’s mental powers with insight, these powers disappear once the character defies a monk’s laws. Only characters with a lawful alignment tendency can learn monk skills, and each use of a monkish power adds one point to the character’s law/chaos score.