The monk is simultaneously a versatile character class — with a wide range of class skills, 4 skill points per level, and a selection of bonus feats — and limited in its avenues of development. In a typical D&D campaign, monks are uncommon enough that each can strive to be unique, but in a game where monks are more common (such as a martial-arts action campaign), the one class doesn’t really allow a lot of character development.
This article presents two different approaches to individualizing the monks in your campaign. The first retains all the class features of the Player’s Handbook monk but allows greater diversity in fighting styles through the choice of bonus feats. The second presents a half-dozen class variants of the monk, each of which trades away one or more monk class features for those of other classes. In your campaign, you can pick and choose from these approaches. sampling a couple of fighting styles along with a variant or three. or simply adopt the whole range of options for a truly kaleidoscopic vision of martial-arts frenzy!
In literature and lore, the combat styles and aptitudes of a martial artist — in D&D terms, a monk — depend greatly on where (or by whom) she was trained. The base monk class in the Player’s Handbook, however, presents only a limited variety of options to personalize your monk.
This article presents a variety of specialized fighting styles, each dedicated to a particular tradition, art or school. You can add as many or as few of these to your campaign as you desire, depending on how much variety you want in your campaign.
These fighting styles can serve a variety of purposes in your campaign. Each one might symbolize a different monastery, creating a rivalry (friendly or unfriendly) between their students. Perhaps a specific master teaches each style only to a few select students, meaning that a monk must prove herself worthy before pursuing the training. Or maybe each monk simply chooses her own way in life, styling herself after great martial artists of the past. Monks might vary by region or continent, or different races or types of creatures might practice martial arts in different ways.
A campaign steeped in martial arts might include several or all of these, plus additional styles created by the DM. On the other hand, a campaign where monks are less common might feature only one or two of these styles, with the rest either never discovered or lost to the mists of time.
When your character gains her first level of monk (regardless of her character level), you must select a fighting style from those available in the campaign. This choice might dictate the school you have chosen to attend, the tradition you are studying, or the master who has taken you under his wing.
By selecting one of these fighting styles. you dictate which bonus feats you gain at 1st, 2nd and 6th level (the levels at which a monk normally gains one of two bonus feats as listed in the Player’s Handbook). You need not have the normal prerequisites in order to gain these feats.
In exchange for giving up this versatili1y, you get a +2 bonus to a single specific skill (listed in the style description) at 1st level.
Finally, you gain a bonus ability at 6th level if you have met the listed prerequisites by that time. If you haven’t yet met the prerequisites. you don’t gain the bonus ability. even if you meet the prerequisites at some later time.
You can turn away from your fighting style by selecting a different bonus feat at 1st, 2nd or 6th level; however, if you do so you lose the skill bonus gained at 1st level and can never gain the bonus ability at 6th level (even if you meet the prerequisites).
Each fighting style includes contextual information to help you place it in your campaign, as well as brief notes on the tactics of a character who uses the style.
Skill Bonus: The character gains a +2 bonus to this skill at 1st level. This bonus is lost if the character turns away from her chosen style by selecting a different bonus feat at 1st, 2nd or 6th level. A skill’s inclusion in this entry doesn’t change a cross-class skill to a class skill.
1st Level: The bonus feat gained with the character’s first class level of monk.
2nd Level: The bonus feat gained with the character’s second class level of monk.
6th Level: The bonus feat gained with the character’s sixth class level of monk.
Bonus Ability: The class feature gained with the character’s sixth class level of monk, as long as the character meets the listed prerequisites by the time she reaches that level (that is, after choosing her fears and spending her skill points from her sixth level of monk). If the character fails to meet these prerequisites, or has turned away from her chosen style by selecting a different bonus feat at 1st, 2nd or 6th level, this bonus ability is forever lost.
Typical Alignment: The alignment traditionally associated with this style (if any). This is not a restriction, but merely indicates the most common alignment of those monks who follow the particular tradition. Monks of different alignments might be outcasts from the school, renegade warriors or studying the tradition without her teachers realizing her true nature.
Monks of the Cobra Strike Academy specialize in agility and defence. Inspired by the lighting-fast strike of the venomous serpent, the Cobra Strike school of martial arts teaches its students to combine mobility with deadly accuracy. By making herself hard to pin down, the Cobra Strike monk forces the enemy to fight on her terms.
Although some claim the school was founded twelve centuries ago by a renegade yuan-ti, this is most likely an idle boast. Nevertheless, the masters of the Cobra Strike Academy are legendary for their cruel methods of teaching, a tradition that tends to create hard-hearted students. The masters of the school point to the lack of failed Cobra Strike students in the world as evidence of the efficiency of their methods, but many whisper that it more accurately points to the efficiency of the school in eliminating those who meet with the displeasure of the masters.
Skill Bonus: Escape Artist
1st Level: Dodge
2nd Level: Mobility
6th Level: Spring Attack
Bonus Ability: The dodge bonus to AC granted by your Dodge feat increases to +2. Prerequisites: Balance 4 ranks, Escape Artist 9 ranks.
Typical Alignment: Lawful evil
The Denying Stance seeks to neutralize the opponent’s maneuvers, thwarting him at every turn until he becomes so frustrated that he makes a crucial error. An inherently defensive tradition, the Denying Stance was created many years ago by a halfling whose town was controlled by a gang of monks practicing the Overwhelming Attack style. It spread like wildfire through the youth of the town, and within three years the cruel overlords had been driven out. Today, Denying Stance is widely practiced by those willing to learn the discipline of a patient defence.
Skill Bonus: Tumble
1st Level: Improved Grapple
2nd Level: Combat Reflexes
6th Level: Improved Disarm
Bonus Ability: When fighting defensively or using the Combat Expertise feat, you gain a +2 bonus on grapple checks and disarm attempts. Prerequisites: Tumble 9 ranks, Combat Expertise.
Typical Alignment: Lawful good
Students of the Hand and Foot style learn to use their appendages for both offence and defence. This style closely resembles the “traditional” fighting style of the D&D monk, and thus is usually among the most common in any campaign that includes martial artists.
The origins of the Hand and Foot technique are lost to the mists of time. Today, it is taught in almost every town large enough to support a school of martial arts, and by solitary masters even in tiny villages. Its simple elegance and effectiveness ensures that it never goes completely out of style. Combining offence and defence, it is among the most well-rounded and balanced fighting styles practiced today.
Skill Bonus: Balance
1st-Level: Stunning Fist
2nd-Level: Deflect Arrows
6th-Level: Improved Trip
Bonus Ability: You gain a +2 bonus on attacks of opportunity made against an opponent attempting to bull rush or trip you, and a +4 bonus on Dexterity or Strength checks to avoid being tripped or bull rushed. Prerequisites: Balance 9 ranks, Tumble 4 ranks.
Typical Alignment: Any lawful
Monks of the Invisible Eye rely on their other senses, particularly hearing, to aid them in combat. To the uninitiated, the style appears essentially defensive, yet a master of the Invisible Eye learns to turn defensive awareness into offensive prowess.
The Invisible Eye style was created by an order of monks who voluntarily blinded themselves in order to gain a deeper spiritual awareness. Thankfully to newer students, the modern teachers of the style don’t demand such personal sacrifice. In memory of the founders of rhe style, however, all students spend the entire first year of their training blindfolded. These blindfolds are removed in a ceremony called “The Awakening”.
Skill Bonus: Listen
1st-Level: Combat Reflexes
2nd-Level: Lightning Reflexes
6th-Level: Blind-Fight
Bonus Ability: When unarmed and fighting defensively, using Combat Expertise, or using the total defence action, increase the dodge bonus to Armour Class that you gain from using that tactic by +1. Prerequisites: Agile, Listen 9 ranks.
Typical Alignment: Lawful neutral
A monk trained in the Overwhelming Attack style always presses the advantage, preferring all-out offence over any form of defence. Some monks trained in other styles accuse them of unnecessary brutality, but it’s hard to argue with the results.
The Overwhelming Attack style is popular among the larger and stronger races, including half-ores and even the occasional stone giant. It tends to be a very showy style, with many intimidating flourishes mixed in with devastating strikes. Monks who practice this style tend to be enemies of monks of the Denying Stance, thanks to an old enmity between the two styles.
Skill Bonus: Intimidate
1st-Level: Power Attack
2nd-Level: Improved Bull Rush
6th-Level: Improved Overrun
Bonus Ability: If you have used Intimidate to demoralize your opponent at any point within the previous 10 rounds, you gain a +4 bonus on Strength checks made to bull rush or overrun that opponent. Prerequisites: Intimidate 4 ranks, Perform (Dance) 4 ranks.
Typical Alignment: Lawful neutral or lawful evil
The Passive Way focuses on making your opponent overreach himself or underestimate your skill. A monk who practices this style typically opens combat in a defensive stance, first taking measure of her opponent before stepping in to take advantage of a momentary opening in the opponent’s defences.
This complex style originated among the gith during their long enslavement by the mind flayers. Over the many generations, it has been passed down from teacher to student, usually in private tutelage. Today. the githzerai remain the most common practitioners of the style, although it is believed that some rare githyanki might also teach it to willing students.
Skill Bonus: Bluff
1st-Level: Combat Expertise
2nd-Level: Improved Trip
6th-Level: Improved Feint
Bonus Ability: You gain a +4 bonus to Strength checks made to trip an opponent who is denied his Dexterity bonus to Armour Class. Prerequisites: Bluff 4 ranks, Sense Motive 4 ranks, Skill Focus (Bluff).
Typical Alignment: Lawful neutral
The Sleeping Tiger style mixes smooth motions with powerful strikes. It favours a quick, first-strike approach, preferably from a position of ambush.
This is amongst the more physically challenging of the known fighting styles, demanding a combination of strength and agility of those who would master it. For that reason, it is also one of the rarer styles, taught by only a handful of senseis throughout the lands. Even after you find one of these rare teachers, you must then undergo rigorous tests of body and mind to prove your worth, as these teachers don’t waste their time with those unfit for the training.
Skill Bonus: Hide
1st-Level: Weapon Finesse
2nd-Level: Improved Initiative
6th-Level: Improved Sunder
Bonus Ability: Once per round, when an opponent would be denied his Dexterity bonus to Armour Class, the monk deals an extra 1d6 points of damage with a melee attack made with a light weapon. Any creature immune to sneak attacks is immune to this ability. Prerequisites: Power Attack, Hide 9 ranks.
Typical Alignment: Any lawful
Monks of the Undying Way believe in patience above all else. They work to outlast their opponent by means of superior endurance. The Undying Way is popular among dwarves, who claim to have invented the style. Most believe this claim without difficulty, since the style takes advantage of dwarven durability. The masters of the Undying Way are called “Immovables” and are highly respected within dwarven communities. The fact that these masters produce students well-qualified to defend those communities doesn’t hurt.
Skill Bonus: Concentration
1st-Level: Toughness
2nd-Level: Endurance
6th-Level: Diehard
Bonus Ability: When fighting defensively, using Combat Expertise, or using the total defence action, the monk gains damage reduction 2/—. Prerequisites: Concentration 9 ranks.
Typical Alignment: Lawful neutral
There are many ways to tweak the monk class without creating entirely new sets of class features simply by exchanging some existing class features for those of other classes. Below are some examples; as with the fighting styles presented above, you can add any or all of these variants to your game depending on the range of variety you desire in your monk characters.
A monk who is particularly devoted to her religious beliefs gains divine powers in trade for some of her other talents.
Gain: Aura of Courage, Smite Evil, Turn Undead (all as paladin).
Lose: Bonus feats at 1st and 6th level.
Multiclass Options: This monk can multiclass between paladin and monk with no penalty. Her monk class levels stack with paladin levels for determining her daily uses of smite evil and her effective turning level.
After mastering the basic talents of martial arts, some monks are selected to trade life in the monastery for a life hunting the enemies of his order.
Gain: Favoured Enemy (as ranger), Swift Tracker (as ranger), Survival as class skill.
Lose: Bonus feat (1st level), Slow Fall.
Multiclass Options: This monk can multiclass between ranger and monk with no penalty. Her monk class levels stack with ranger levels for determining when she gains new favoured enemies.
Some monks train as soldiers rather than as ascetic mystic warriors. These martial artists have a greater range of combat talents, but have less time to practice other skills.
Gain: Fighter bonus feat list to choose monk bonus feats (at 1st, 2nd and 6th level); Intimidate is class skill.
Lose: -1 skill point per level (and -4 skill points at 1st level); no Knowledge skills as class skills.
Multiclass Options: This monk can multiclass between fighter and monk with no penalty.
A monk who learns to master her inner fury is capable of channeling this into great physical power, although at the cost of some of her physical and mental grace.
Gain: Rage, Greater Rage, Mighty Rage (all as barbarian).
Lose: Flurry of Blows, Still Mind, Greater Flurry, Quivering Palm.
Ex-Monk Options: If this character becomes chaotic and begins gaining levels of barbarian, she retains her monk rage abilities and can add her monk class levels to her barbarian levels to determine the number of times per day she can rage (as well as when she gains greater rage and mighty rage).
A monk might choose to give up some of his mobility in exchange for the ability to withstand attacks.
Gain: Damage Reduction (as barbarian).
Lose: Unarmoured speed bonus, unarmoured Armour Class bonus (retains Wisdom bonus to Armour Class when unarmoured).
A monk who can open her mind to a greater awareness gains the talent to identify her enemies more easily, but she gives up some of her inner peace.
Gain: Detect Chaos (as paladin’s detect evil ability), Uncanny Dodge (as barbarian), Improved Uncanny Dodge (as barbarian).
Lose: Bonus feats at 2nd and 6th level, Still Mind.
Source: Dragon Magazine #310 (Page 41)