Monk

Description

Though most of the Monasteries hail from Yamatai and Khitai - and while those nations are more closed off - several other Monasteries began sprouting around Thuria with Monks who live there seeking 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.    

Indrid's Information

Stat Priority

Primary: Agility
Secondary: Grit
Tertiary: Strength   Perks:

• Stealth
• Swiftness
• Leap Attack
• Epic Toughness
• Acrobatic Dodge
• Spellcasting
• Tactics
• Weapon Finesse

 

Roleplay Redux Information

Stats:

• +2 Dexterity or Strength, may be selected through the Might or Finesse focus options
• +1 Wisdom

 

A Closer Look at Monks

 

Culture

Monastic traditions appear to have originally arisen in Yamatai and Khitia, and then soon began bringing their traditions throughout Thuria. Most monastic orders were devoted to the worship and internalization of the ideals of a god, though others were not and it was not required for a monk to manipulate a mysterious magic called Ki. Since a monk’s power most often came from within, rather than from a divine source.   Wherever they were based, monks rigorously trained their bodies and minds towards perfection, enabling them to defend themselves with their bare hands or a few select weapons. Due to the discipline imposed by this training, monks were almost always of a lawful temperament. However, monasteries - and the monks that resided within - varied between good and evil. Good monasteries were servants of the people, protecting them from bandits and other threats. Evil monasteries, on the other hand, were often tyrannical bastions, ruling the surrounding lands through fear or serving despots as spies and assassins. Most monks adhered to neither extreme, however.   Most monks came to their individual monastery at an early age, either as orphans or as members of starving families. As a result of their young induction, relatively few monks felt any close connection to their previous families or friends, and instead looked to their fellow monks as their family. Other monks came from a different background, most often within cities where masters of an order set up schools to teach the fighting style and traditions of his or her order to prospective students.  

Abilities

Monks' ability to manipulate ki gave them a wide variety of special abilities, as did some monks' skill with psionics or divine magic. Among the most basic capabilities granted by monks' control of their own ki was an enhanced awareness of their own surroundings, improving their ability to sense and avoid attacks. This ability was impeded however, by the use of armor, which is why most monks eschewed it. In addition to forgoing armor, most monks often used only their bare hands for weapons, delivering powerful blows that were enhanced through a monk's use of ki. In addition to unarmed strikes, monks were also trained in the use of all simple weapons (such as nunchaku or kamas) as well as shortswords. When fighting unarmed or using weapons such as these, monks attacked with greater agility and power than other combatants who used similar techniques. Some monks could also enhance these attacks with implements such as magic weapons or ki focuses.   As monks grew more experienced, they gained additional abilities. Experienced monks could use their ki to increase their speed while running unarmored or to deflect missile attacks. With further training they could decrease the effect of gravity on their bodies as they fell, attack more quickly, deal a paralyzing blow to enemies, overcome a creature's resistance or immunity to non magical injuries, or calm their minds in the heat of battle. Assuming their training continued unimpeded, monks eventually became as capable in any mental, spiritual, or physical defense as humanly possible and became able to replenish their use of ki at an incredible speed.   In addition to combat abilities, monks gained a number of other benefits from mastering their ki. Experienced monks could, for example, render themselves immune to disease or poison or use their ability to interact with the ki of other living creatures to understand any spoken language (or make themselves similarly understood). With further training, monks could learn to halt the aging process and to sustain themselves on the energy of ki, without need for food or water. The most experienced monks could even make themselves invisible or replicate the effects of the astral projection by using their ki to render themselves insubstantial.    

Monastic Traditions

Though all monks shared a great deal with one another, many focused on a number of specific, exclusive techniques that distinguished different monasteries from one another. Some of the most frequently practiced traditions are listed below.
   

Stone Fist Tradtion

While some monks emphasized the importance of mind over body, adherents of the Stone Fist tradition believed that true spiritual perfection began with the mastery of the body. Training themselves to supernatural levels of agility and strength, Stone Fist monks were master athletes, who often offered their services as laborers or artisans to local communities when they weren't training. Stone Fist monasteries were therefore more likely to be found in towns or villages than the remote wilderness, though exceptions did exist for those monasteries whose members sought to test themselves physically against climatic extremes, such as a desolate tundra or an active volcano.   The harsh training of the Stone Fist tradition made its adherents both more agile and more powerful than other monks. Moving swiftly across the battlefield, Stone Fist monks favored such disciplines as the stone fist flurry of blows technique, which landed a series of quick and devastating blows on enemies. Stone Fist monks' physical mastery also gave them a degree of resistance to efforts to sap their will, making up for their shortcomings in mental training.  

Way of the Four Elements

Among the most deliberately magical of the monastic traditions, the Way of the Four Elements taught monks to use their ki to manipulate the four fundamental building blocks of matter in the multiverse: air, earth, fire, and water. Four Elements monks could bend these elements to their will, manipulating them as though they were a part of their own body. Many of them celebrated their mastery of the elemental forces by embellishing their bodies with representative tattoos, such as dragons, fish, phoenixes, or mountains.   Whereas other monks focused on the mastery of specific martial arts techniques, Four Elements monks instead used their ki to master spells which utilized one or more of the four elements. Many monks chose to specialize in one element but others were multifaceted, using two, three, or all four elements together to create a diverse array of effects  

Way of the Kensei

Practitioners of this tradition tirelessly studied with a select collection of weapons until which they attained mastery. They viewed these kensei weapons as an extension of their physical form, wielding them much as an artist did with their tools. A kensei monk could imbue their weapons with ki energy, causing them to strike more accurately and with deadlier force, and even strike as if they were magical in nature.  

Way of the Sun Soul

Monks of the Sun Soul meditated upon the inner light they believed resided within every living being, and learned how to harness their ki in ways that reflected that belief.] In order to shine their own "spiritual light" upon the darkness of the world, monks of the Sun Soul maintained a high standard of physical perfection and kept their spirit strong by making regular acts of virtue.   Practitioners of this tradition learned how to both imbue their physical attacks and conjure magical bolts of radiant sun energy. More experienced monks even learned to form explosive projectiles from this energy and manifest it as a permanent aura that radiated outward from their body.  

Way of the Open Hand

Masters of the martial arts, monks of the Open Hand were the ultimate practitioners of unarmed combat. Monks belonging to the Way of the Open Hand could use ki to hinder opponents, heal their own bodies, or protect themselves from enemy attacks. In addition to unarmed combat, monks of the Open Hand were also skilled in the use of monk weapons like kamas or staves.   The most basic technique available to monks of the Open Hand was the so-called "open-hand technique," a variation of flurry of blows which allowed a monk to knock an enemy down or force them back a distance of about 15 feet. More experienced Open Hand monks could use their ki to replicate the effects of the sanctuary spell, granting them magical protection from enemy attacks. Among the most advanced abilities known to practitioners of the Open Hand was the quivering palm technique, which allowed a monk to strike an enemy and send miniature vibrations coursing through the target for a period of up to two or more ten days or until the monk chose to end them. If the monk ended these vibrations by choice they could do so harmlessly or as a lethal attack which only the most lucky or durable could survive.  

Way of Shadow

Also known as ninjas and shadowdancers, monks who practiced the Way of Shadow were masters of stealth and trickery. Unlike most monks, Shadow monks were often part of a clan, rather than a traditional monastery, sharing techniques that were passed down from one family generation to the next. Others were more akin to thieves' guilds. Both variations often used their skills to earn a living as spies or hired killers and practitioners of the Shadow Way were expected to obey their superiors with unquestioning obedience.   To help them in their subterfuge, monks of Shadow could use their control of ki to replicate the effects of several spells such as darkness or silence as well as cantrips such as minor illusion. More experienced Shadow monks were also capable of a limited form of teleportation, darting from one shadow to another across moderate distances. A more advanced technique allowed Shadow monks to blend into such shadows, becoming invisible so long as they remained within the dark and refrained from interacting with other creatures or objects.