A new class (I would like feedback please)

[Kazuel]

Psionic Monk
If the body is a temple, then the mind is a thousand armed soldiers standing guard. That is a philosophy of the Psionic Monk. Unlike the Psychic Warrior who uses armor and blades, augmented by his mental powers, a Psionic Monk IS the armor and blades. Tuned to the very peak of physical and mental perfection, the Psionic Monk is a deadly weapon.

Adventures
Psionic Monks travel the world for many reasons, but at the heart of it all, they are out to prove that they are indeed perfect. Any flaw found spurs them forward to eleminate that imperfection. They drive on relentlessly towards a near unattainable goal. This burning tourmoil is only offset by their calm and collected demeanor.

Characteristics
The defining trait of a Psionic Monk is his self reliance. He does not wear armor or use swords. His power does not come from learning to control the magical weave nor does it depend on the blessing of a god. It comes from within him and he externalizes it.

Alignment
A Psionic Monk requires stable thoughts and emotions, but does not dictate that which is right or wrong. For that, a Psionic Monk may not be Chaotic. Most tend toward nuetrality and some toward good. Those that fall into the darkness and manifest their powers for evil are truly a feared among the lands.

Religion
Psionic Monks do not practice any religion as it goes against their belief of self reliance. They do however respect others religions but look to as a crutch for the weak, much a like a sword or bow is.

Background
Psionic Monks are rare due to the fact that they very rarely settle down long enough to take on an apprentice to train. Psionic Monks usualy started out as either a Psion who felt the need to project perfection into his body as well as his mind, or a Monk who had latent psionic powers.

Races
One can never predict who is going to manifest psionic powers. While any race can be a Psionic Monk (as long as they have the ability to wield the powers of the mind), the races that are prone to psionics will produce more psionic monks are the Githzerai.

Other Classes
Psionic Monks will generaly get allong with any class. Any weilder of the Psychic Arts will be the favored traveling compainion of a Psionic Monk though he will be willing to travel with anyone that can prove themselves.


GAME RULE INFORMATION

Psionic Monks have the following game statistics.
Abilities Because a Psionic Monk strives for perfection, every ability score is important. Dexterity and Wisdom will improve his armor class and Charisma will help determine to what effectiveness he can use his powers.
Alignment any non-chaotic
Hit Dice d8

Class Skills Autohypnosis (Wis), Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (psionics) (Int), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Spot (Wis), and Swim (Str)
Skill points at first level (3+Int Modifier) X 4.
Skill points at each additional level 3+Int Modifier

LEVEL | BAB | FSV | RSV | WSV | AC | FLURRY | power points | POWERS | LVL
1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | -2/-2 | 0* | 1 | 1st
2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | -1/-1 | 1 | 2 | 1st
3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | +0/+0 | 3 | 3 | 1st
4 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 4 | +1 | +1/+1 | 5 | 4 | 2nd
5 | 3 | 1 | 4| 4 | +1 | +2/+2 | 7 | 5 | 2nd
6 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 5 | +1 | +3/+3 | 11 | 6 | 2nd
7 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 5 | +1 | +4/+4 | 15 | 7 | 3rd
8 | 6/1 | 2 | 6 | 6 | +2 | +5/+5/+0 | 19 | 8 | 3rd
9 | 6/1 | 3 | 6 | 6 | +2 | +6/+6/+1 | 23 | 9 | 3rd
10 | 7/2 | 3 | 7 | 7 | +2 | 7/7/2 | 27 | 10 | 4th
11 | 8/3 | 3 | 7 | 7 | +2 | 8/8/8/3 | 35 | 11 | 4th
12 | 9/4 | 4 | 8 | 8 | +3 | 9/9/9/4 | 43 | 12 | 4th
13 | 9/4 | 4 | 8 | 8 | +3 | 9/9/9/4 | 51 | 13 | 5th
14 | 10/5 | 4 | 9 | 9 | +3 | 10/10/10/5 | 59 | 14 | 5th
15 | 11/6/1 | 5 | 9 | 9 | +3 | 11/11/11/6/1 | 67 | 15 | 5th
16 | 12/7/2 | 5 | 10 | 10 | +4 | 12/12/12/7/2 | 79 | 16 | 6th
17 | 12/7/2 | 5 | 10 | 10 | +4 | 12/12/12/7/2 | 91 | 17 | 6th
18 | 13/8/3 | 6 | 11 | 11 | +4 | 13/13/13/8/3 | 103 | 18 | 6th
19 | 14/9/4 | 6 | 11 | 11 | +4 | 14/14/14/9/4 | 115 | 19 | 6th
20 | 15/10/5 | 6 | 12 | 12 +5 | 15/15/15/10/5 | 127 | 20 | 6th

Level | Special | Unarmed damage
1 | Flurry, Unarmed strike | 1D6
2 | Bonus Feat, Evasion | 1D6
3 | ------------- | 1D6
4 | Slow Fall 20" | 1D8
5 | -------------- | 1D8
6 | Mental Leap | 1D8
7 | Slow Fall 30" | 1D8
8 | Bonus Feat | 1D10
9 | Improved Evasion | 1D10
10 | Retain Focus | 1D10
11 | Slow Fall 40" | 1D10
12 | ------------ | 2D6
13 | Bonus Feat | 2D6
14 | Psionic Body | 2D6
15 | Slow Fall 50" | 2D6
16 | ------------ | 2D8
17 | Bonus Feat | 2D8
18 | Improved Retain Focus | 2D8
19 | Bonus Feat | 2D8
20 | Perfection | 2D10

Class Features
All the following are class features of the Psionic Monk

Weapon and armor proficiency: Psionic Monks are not proficient with any weapons or armor. They will not use even simple weapons.

AC Bonus (EX) A Psionic Monk is adept at dodging blows beyond that of a normal man. At 4th level and every 4th level (ie, 8th, 12th, ect) the Psionic Monk gains +1 to his natural AC. This bonus to the AC can not excede the Wisdom modifier. A Psionic Monk does not recieve his wisdom modifier to his AC as a normal monk would.

Flurry of Blows A Psionic Monk can strike with a flurry of blows as if he were a monk of equal level. He must make this attack unarmed.

Unarmed Strike A Psionic Monk gains all benifits that a normal monk would when striking unarmed.

Bonus Feat A Psionic Monk gains a bonus feat at 2nd level and then again at 8th, 13th, 17th and 19th. He may choose any feat so long as he meets the prerequisit.

Evasion A Psionic Monk gains the Evasion ability as per Monks and Rogues at 2nd level. At 9th level a Psionic Monk gains Improved Evasion.

Slow Fall At 4th level a Psionic Monk gains the Slow Fall ability as per a monk and can slow fall for 20 feet. This ability increases by 10 feet at levels 7, 11, and 15 for a max distance of 50 feet.

Mental Leap At 6th level a Psionic Monk gains the feat Mental Leap from the Expanded Psionics Handbook whether he meets the prerequisits or not.

Retain Focus As a Psionic Monk perfects his abilities in combat, he gains the ability to retain his psychic focus after use. When expending his psychic focus, a Psionic Monk may make a Concentration check DC 25 to retain his psychic focus. A Psionic Monk can not use Retain Focus to keep the same Psychic focus more than once.

Psionic Body A Psionic Monk gains the feat Psionic Body.

Improved Retain Focus A Psionic Monk using his Retain Focus can now use that same focus twice before needing to refocus. A DC 30 Concentration check is used to activate this ability.

Perfection at level 20 and beyond, the Psionic Monk has become perfect. He has blended his mental and physical capabilities together where it becomes difficult to dicern where one ends and the other begins. A Psionic Monks Hit points and Psionic points become one. He may use hit points to manifest powers and he may subtract damage from his power reserve. As long as he has either either hit points or psionic points, he may function as normal. However if he is at 0 hps and he enters a null psionic field, he would fall unconcious as anyone would apun reaching 0 hps.



Alright there it is. I'm sorry bout the spacing but I tried to make it as readable as possible. I'm looking for anyone and all critiques. What I'm mainly looking for is, is it balanced as a class. If you like what you see and want to use it for your games, feel free and enjoy. thanks in advance for all opinions.

 

[Goose]

Do their fists follow the same tree as normal monks in terms of magical bonus? Also, do they simply follow the Psychic Warriors power list? From what i see now it might be powerful but im also not as boned up on 3.5 psionics as i should be. They do lose out by not being able to use any weapons which might make it hard to overcome DR early in their career. Also, what stat do they use to determine bonus powerpoints?


Overall i really like it tho, gonna have to pull out the PHB to truely compare it tho.

 

[Kazuel]

Charisma is the Key ability for a Psionic Monk's manifesting Powers

So far yes, I was going to use the Psychic Warrior's power list.

No I wasn't giving them the magical bonus that normal monks get, the use of psionics can help to over come this though.

 

[Goose]

ok, sounds good then, they have their drawbacks, such as they wont be nearly as good when they run out of power points.

 

[Beowolf]

Cool idea but could you put it in an easier to read format thanks

 

[Kazuel]

ok after discussing this with Goose at length on IM, I have made the following changes. Also, agian, I'm sorry that it's some what difficult to follow but this message board is frustrating to say the least when trying to add chart style posts. I appriciate all the input I've received and look forward to more.

First, the unarmed damage is now

Levels 1-5
1D6
Levels 6-10
1D8
Levels 11-16
1D10
Levels 17-20
2D8

Also, the following changes have been made to the special abilities

Level 12
Perfection: At level 12 a Psionic Monk may expend his psionic focus to convert hit points into psionic points. The rate of exchange is 3 hit points for 1 power point. No more than 1/4 of the Psionic Monk's Hps can be drained in this manner per day. Hp loss do to perfection can not be healed psionicly or magicly. The hps return after a full nights rest and do not count towards the normal healing factor of a character.

Level 16
Greater Perfection: As Perfection except the rate of exchange is 2 hit points for 1 power point and the Psionic Monk may transfer up to half his Hps in this manner.

level 20
True Perfection: As per Perfection except the Psionic Monk may now echange 1 hit point for 1 power point and has no restriction on how many of his Hps he can use in this manner.

 

[Goose]

does anybody have any input on this, actual criticism? Id like to know how balanced ya'll think it is before it gets playtested.

 

[VoiceOfReason?]

For balancing issues, I might limit the bonus feats to those on the various monk lists plus any non-weapon/armor oriented ones on the psionic warrior bonus feat list.
Also, some form of DR bypass for fists might be a good idea, otherwise you're more or less dictating a chunk of the powers that the psimonk must take or be crippled in certain situations (or be forced to rely on the wizard/druid for magic fang etc.)

 

[Nifft]

Waaaaaay too strong.

Start with the PsiWar and add/subtract each class feature to get a balanced end result.

First, exchange 3 Armor Feats for Monk's AC bonus (Wisdom + level). This dovetails nicely with the PsiWar's Wisdom caster stat, so it's a trade on the strong side, but IMHO balanced.

Second, exchange martial weapon prof. for Improved Unarmed Strike, 4 skill points/level and a slightly better skill list (including Tumble). Do NOT give Flurry. That's what their Psi Feats and Powers are for -- extra attacks, better damage, etc. Psionic Meditation + Psionic Fist will give excellent value.

PsiWars get a lot of bonus Feats. That's where these guys will pick up Speed of Thought, Mental Leap, etc. -- or, they could opt for Powers like Skate or Burst. They're flexible. And that's cool.

Finally, that power where you can convert pp into hp -- that's too strong, too. Look at the XPH feat Body Fuel -- your class ability is WAAAAAY stronger. Consider that a 20th level psychic monk can use Animal Affinity to gain 40 hp.

Anyway, I like the idea, but the balance is off.

-- N

 

[Khaalis]

I completely agree with nift on this. The class is a bit too powerful.

I would begin with the Psychic Warrior as the core to work with, and use the example for this class's molding from the Psychic Rogue from Mind's Eye (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040723b). The class should incorporate the existing KEY monk abilities, but at a reduced rate of progression or delayed levels. However since they get so much of the Monk class abilities still, the psionics gained should be less than a Psychic Warrior as should the bonus feats.

Here is a sample version I would consider.

PSYCHIC MONK

Alignment: Any Lawful
Hit Die: d8

Class Skills
The psychic monk’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Autohypnosis* (Wis), Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (Psionics* / Religion) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), and Tumble (Dex).
Skill Points at 1st Level: (4 + Int modifier) x 4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier.

BAB: As Monk
Saves: As Monk

Level….PP/Day…Powers…Level Known…Unarmed…..AC…..Speed…..Abilities
1…………0*…………1……………1st…………1d6……..+0………+0’…….Unarmed Strike, Style I, Psionics
2 ………..1…………..2……………1st…………1d6……..+0………+0’…….Evasion, Style II
3 ………..2…………..3……………1st…………1d6……..+0………+0’…….Bonus Feat
4 ………..4…………..3……………1st…………1d6……..+0………+10’……
5 ………..6…………..4……………2nd………..1d6……..+1………+10’……Slow Fall 20’
6 ………..8…………..5……………2nd………..1d8……..+1………+10’……Style III
7 ………..10…………6……………2nd………..1d8……..+1………+10’…… Bonus Feat
8 ………..12…………6……………2nd………..1d8……..+1………+20’……
9 ………..16…………7……………3rd…………1d8……..+1………+20’……Improved Evasion
10 ………20…………8……………3rd…………1d8……..+2………+20’……Slow Fall 30’
11 ………24…………9……………3rd…………1d10……+2………+20’……Aligned Attack (Lawful), Bonus Feat
12 ………28…………9……………3rd…………1d10……+2………+30’……
13 ………32…………10………….4th………….1d10……+2………+30’……
14 ………40…………11………….4th………….1d10……+2………+30’……
15 ………48…………12………….4th………….1d10……+3………+30’……Bonus Feat, Slow Fall 40’
16 ………56…………12………….4th………….2d6……..+3………+40’……Ki Strike (adamantine)
17 ………64…………13………….5th………….2d6……..+3………+40’……
18 ………76…………14………….5th………….2d6……..+3………+40’……
19 ………88…………15………….5th………….2d6……..+3………+40’……Bonus Feat
20 ………100……….15…………..5th………….2d6……..+4………+50’……Slow Fall 50’

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Psychic monks are proficient with club, crossbow (light or heavy), dagger, handaxe, javelin, kama, nunchaku, quarterstaff, sai, shuriken, siangham, and sling. Psychic monks are not proficient with any armor or shields. When wearing armor, using a shield, or carrying a medium or heavy load, a psychic monk loses their AC bonus, as well as their fast movement abilities.

AC Bonus (Ex): When unarmored and unencumbered, the psychic monk adds their Wisdom bonus (if any) to their AC. In addition, a psychic monk gains a +1 bonus to AC at 5th level. This bonus increases by 1 for every five psychic monk levels thereafter (+2 at 10th, +3 at 15th, and +4 at 20th level). These bonuses to AC apply even against touch attacks or when the psychic monk is flat-footed. They lose these bonuses when they are immobilized or helpless, when they wear any armor, when they carry a shield, or when they carry a medium or heavy load.

Unarmed Strike: At 1st level, a psychic monk gains Improved Unarmed Strike as a bonus feat.

Style: At 1st level, a psychic monk may select either Improved Grapple or Stunning Fist as a bonus feat. At 2nd level, they may select either Combat Reflexes or Deflect Arrows as a bonus feat. At 6th level, they may select either Improved Disarm or Improved Trip as a bonus feat. A psychic monk need not have any of the prerequisites normally required for these feats to select them.

Ki Strike (Su): At 16th level, a psychic monk’s unarmed attacks are treated as adamantine weapons for the purpose of dealing damage to creatures with damage reduction and bypassing hardness.

Aligned Attack (Su): At 10th level, a psychic monk gains Aligned Attack (Lawful only) as a bonus feat.

Bonus Feat: A psychic monk may choose a bonus feat drawn from the feats noted as Fighter Bonus Feats or Psionic Feats. The psychic monk must still meet all prerequisites for the bonus feat, including ability score and base attack bonus minimums as well as class requirements. A psychic monk cannot choose feats that specifically require levels in the fighter class unless they are a multiclass character with the requisite levels in the fighter class.

Psionics: Wisdom determines the Psychic Monk’s bonus power points per day. To learn or manifest a power, a psychic monk must have a Wisdom score of at least 10 + the power's level. The powers available to a Psychic Monk are:
Level 1: Burst, Catfall, Chameleon, Compression, Daze (psionic), Detect Psionics, Disable, Dissipating Touch, Distract, Elfsight, Empty Mind, Expansion, Float, Grip of Iron, Hammer, Inertial Armor, Know Direction/Location, Metaphysical Claw, Metaphysical Weapon, Missive, Precognition (defensive), Precognition (offensive), Prescience (offensive), Skate, Stomp, Synesthete, Thicken Skin, Vigor
Level 2: Animal Affinity, Biofeedback, Body Adjustment, Body Equilibrium, Body Purification, Darkvision (psionic), Detect Hostile Intent, Dissolving Touch, Dissolving Weapon, Empathic Transfer, Energy Adaptation (specified), Energy Push, Energy Stun, Feat Leach, Hustle, Levitate (psionic), Painful Strike, Prowess, Psionic Scent, Psionic Lion’s Charge, Strength of My Enemy, Sustenance, Thought Shield, Tongues (psionic), Wall Waker
Level 3: Danger Sense, Dimension Slide, Duodimensional Claw, Empathic Feedback, Empathic Transfer (hostile), Escape Detection, Evade Burst, Graft Weapon, Mental Barrier, Mind Trap, Touchsight, Ubiquitous Vision
Level 4: Aura Sight, Detect Remote Viewing, Dimension Door (psionic), Energy Adaptation, Freedom of Movement (psionic), Immovability, Inertial Barrier, Intellect Fortress, Psychic Vampire, Steadfast Perception, Telekinetic Maneuver, Truevenom, Truevenom Weapon, Weapon of Energy
Level 5: Adapt Body, Catapsi, Incarnate, Oak Body, Power Resistance, Psychofeedback, Tower of Iron Will, True Seeing (psionic)


JMHO, YMMV.