Bengali Monks

shivamuffin

First Post
Had to tweak some core classes to add a bit more flavor to my Near East campaign. The Bengali Monks were the most challenging so far.
Most Arabic campaigns are too focused on the arabic world. My idea was to have an overall near eastern world, with Hindi, Greek, Central Asian, and other more ancient elements.
The most neglected culture represented in any campaign of this sort is the Indian culture. It is from India that most of the Arab worlds goodies came from.

I have not test played these guys yet, but I think they would be OK. I limited the ability to multi class, and mandated that not just anybody can become a Bengali Monk...It begins at birth, so that fixed that problem. I restricted it to humans as well.

I was considering ability requirements, but the D20 purists would flip out.



Bengali Monk

The Bengali are reknowned for their mountaintop monestaries and the monks that inhabit them. The monks claim to be the followers of Bengal Rashiva, the Bengali demigod that led the rebellion against the Aryans, later to be reborn as the so called rogue prophet. The monks claim to have received the ultimate wisdom and teachings.

In their fortified monestaries they practice martial arts and other feats to achieve perfection. The monks are divided into 2 groups, the martial monks and spiritual monks. The martial group seeks perfection through the physical universe, and the Spiritual monks seek perfection through the divine. Both groups cooperate and hold annual contests to test each others abilities.

Spiritual monks are basically sorcerers that cast divine spells instead of arcane spells ( They only receive the monks basic unarmed damage as listed in the PHB , movement, and AC bonus for wisdom, all other benefits and feats are ignored ).

If Bengali monks continue to stray from their alignment or switch classes, they lose their martial/spiritual monk abilities. The only exception is if the monk chooses to pursue a related prestige class.
Only Humans may choose this class.

The Bengali Martial Monk

Alignment: lawful. Good or Neutral
Hit Die: d6.
Class Skills: The monk's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Swim (Str), and Tumble (Dex).
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Monks are proficient with basic peasant weapons and special weapons whose use is part of monk training. The full list includes club, crossbow (light or heavy), dagger, handaxe, javelin, kama, nunchaku, quarterstaff, shuriken, siangham, and sling.
A monk using a kama, nunchaku, or siangham can strike with his or her unarmed base attack, including her more favorable number of attacks per round (see below). His or her damage, however, is standard for the weapon (1d6, crit X2), not his or her unarmed damage. The weapon must be light, so a Small monk must use Tiny versions of these weapons in order to use the more favorable base attack.
A monk adds her Wisdom bonus (if any) to AC, in addition to her normal Dexterity modifier, and her AC improves as she gains levels. (Only add this extra AC bonus if the total of the monk's Wisdom modifier and the number in the "AC Bonus" column is a positive number.) The Wisdom bonus and the AC bonus represent a preternatural awareness of danger, and a monk does not lose either even in situations when he or she loses her Dexterity modifier due to being unprepared, ambushed, stunned, and so on. (Monks do lose these AC bonuses when immobilized.)
When wearing armor, a monk loses her AC bonus for Wisdom, AC bonus for class and level, favorable multiple unarmed attacks per round, and heightened movement. Furthermore, her special abilities all face the arcane spell failure chance that the armor type normally imposes.

TABLE: The Bengali Martial Monk

Base Fort Ref Will
Level Attack Bonus Save Save Save Special
----- ------------ ---- ---- ---- -------
1 0 +2 +2 +2 Unarmed Strike,
stunning attack, evasion
2 +1 +3 +3 +3 Deflect Arrows feat
3 +2 +3 +3 +3 Still mind
4 +3 +4 +4 +4 Slow fall (20 ft.)
5 +3 +4 +4 +4 Purity of body
6 +4 +5 +5 +5 Slow fall (30 ft.),
Improved Trip feat
7 +5 +5 +5 +5 Wholeness of body,
Leap of the clouds
8 +6/+1 +6 +6 +6 Slow fall (50 ft.)
9 +6/+1 +6 +6 +6 Improved evasion
10 +7/+2 +7 +7 +7 Ki strike (+1)
11 +8/+3 +7 +7 +7 Diamond body
12 +9/+4 +8 +8 +8 Abundant step
13 +9/+4 +8 +8 +8 Diamond soul, ki strike (+2)
14 +10/+5 +9 +9 +9
15 +11/+6/+1 +9 +9 +9 Quivering palm
16 +12/+7/+2 +10 +10 +10 Ki strike (+3)
17 +12/+7/+2 +10 +10 +10 Timeless body,
Tongue of the sun and moon
18 +13/+8/+3 +11 +11 +11 Slow fall (any distance)
19 +14/+9/+4 +11 +11 +11 Empty body
20 +15/+10/+5 +12 +12 +12 Perfect self


TABLE: More Martial Monk Abilities

Unarmed Unarmed AC Unarmored
Level Attack Bonus Damage* Bonus Speed**
----- ------------ ------- ----- ---------
1 +0 1d8 +0 30 ft.
2 +1 1d8 +0 30 ft.
3 +2 1d8 +0 40 ft.
4 +3 1d10 +0 40 ft.
5 +3 1d10 +1 40 ft.
6 +4/+1 1d10 +1 50 ft.
7 +5/+2 1d10 +1 50 ft.
8 +6/+3 1d12 +1 50 ft.
9 +6/+3 1d12 +1 60 ft.
10 +7/+4/+1 1d12 +2 60 ft.
11 +8/+5/+2 1d12 +2 60 ft.
12 +9/+6/+3 1d20 +2 70 ft.
13 +9/+6/+3 1d20 +2 70 ft.
14 +10/+7/+4/+1 1d20 +2 70 ft.
15 +11/+8/+5/+2 1d20 +3 80 ft.
16 +12/+9/+6/+3 1d30 +3 80 ft.
17 +12/+9/+6/+3 1d30 +3 80 ft.
18 +13/+10/+7/+4/+1 1d30 +3 90 ft.
19 +14/+11/+8/+5/+2 1d30 +3 90 ft.
20 +15/+12/+9/+6/+3 1d30 +4 90 ft.

Unarmed Strike: A monk fighting unarmed gains the benefits of the Improved Unarmed Strike feat and thus does not provoke attacks of opportunity from armed opponents that she attacks.
Making an off-hand attack makes no sense for a monk striking unarmed.
A monk fighting with a one-handed weapon can make an unarmed strike as an off-hand attack, but she suffers the standard penalties for two-weapon fighting. Likewise, a monk with a weapon (other than a special monk weapon) in her off hand gets an extra attack with that weapon but suffers the usual penalties for two-weapon fighting and can't strike with a flurry of blows.

Flurry of Blows: The monk may make one extra attack in a round at her highest base attack, but this attack and each other attack made that round suffer a -2 penalty apiece. This penalty applies for 1 round, so it affects attacks of opportunity the monk might make before her next action. The monk must use the full attack action to strike with a flurry of blows. A monk may also use the flurry of blows if armed with a special monk weapon (kama, nunchaku, or siangham). If armed with one such weapon, the monk makes the extra attack either with that weapon or unarmed. If armed with two such weapons, she uses one for the regular attack (or attacks) and the other for the extra attack. In any case, her damage bonus on the attack with her off hand is not reduced.
Usually, a monk's unarmed strikes deal normal damage rather than subdual damage. However, she can choose to deal her damage as subdual damage when grappling.

Stunning Attack: The monk can use this ability once per round, but no more than once per level per day. The monk must declare she is using a stun attack before making the attack roll (thus, a missed attack roll ruins the attempt). A foe struck by the monk is forced to make a Fortitude saving throw (DC 10 + one-half the monk's level + Wisdom modifier). In addition to receiving normal damage, If the saving throw fails, the opponent is stunned for 1 round. The stunning attack is a supernatural ability.

Evasion: If a monk makes a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, the monk instead takes no damage. Evasion can only be used if the monk is wearing light armor or no armor. It is an extraordinary ability.

Deflect Arrows: At 2nd level, a monk gains the Deflect Arrows feat, even if she doesn't have the prerequisite Dexterity score.
Fast Movement: At 3rd level and higher, a monk moves faster than normal. A monk in armor (even light armor) or carrying a medium or heavy load loses this extra speed. A dwarf or a Small monk moves more slowly than a Medium-size monk.
From 9th level on, the monk's running ability is actually a supernatural ability.

Still Mind: At 3rd level, a monk gains a +2 bonus to saving throws against spells and effects from the Enchantment school.
Slow Fall: At 4th level, the monk takes damage as if a fall were 20 feet shorter than it actually is. At 18th level, the monk can use a nearby wall to slow her descent and fall any distance without harm.

Purity of Body: At 5th level, a monk gains immunity to all diseases except for magical diseases.
Improved Trip: At 6th level, a monk gains the Improved Trip feat. She need not have taken the Expertise feat, normally a prerequisite.

Wholeness of Body: At 7th level, a monk can cure her own wounds. She can cure up to twice her current level in hit points each day, and she can spread this healing out among several uses. Wholeness of body is a supernatural ability.

Leap of the Clouds: At 7th level or higher, a monk's jumping distance (vertical or horizontal) is not limited according to her height.

Improved Evasion: At 9th level, a monk only takes half damage on a failed save.
Ki Strike: At 10th level, a monk's unarmed attack is empowered with ki. The unarmed strike damage from such an attack can deal damage to a creature with damage reduction as if the blow were made with a weapon with a +1 enhancement bonus. Ki strike is a supernatural ability.

Diamond Body: At 11th level, a monk gains immunity to poison of all kinds. Diamond body is a supernatural ability.
Abundant Step: At 12th level, a monk can slip magically between spaces, as per the spell dimension door, once per day. This is a spell-like ability, and the monk's effective casting level is one-half her actual level (rounded down).

Diamond Soul: At 13th level, a monk gains spell resistance. Her spell resistance equals her level + 10.

Quivering Palm: Starting at 15th level, a monk can use the quivering palm.
The monk can use the quivering palm attack once a week, and she must announce her intent before making her attack roll. Creatures immune to critical hits cannot be affected. The monk must be of higher level than the target (or have more levels than the target's number of Hit Dice). If the monk strikes successfully and the target takes damage from the blow, the quivering palm attack succeeds. Thereafter the monk can choose to try to slay the victim at any later time within 1 day per level of the monk. The monk merely wills the target to die (a free action), and unless the target makes a Fortitude saving throw (DC 10 + one-half the monk's level + Wisdom modifier), it dies. If the saving throw is successful, the target is no longer in danger from that particular quivering palm attack (but may be affected by another one at a later time). Quivering palm is a supernatural ability.

Timeless Body: After achieving 17th level, a monk no longer suffers ability penalties for aging and cannot be magically aged. (Any penalties she may have already suffered remain in place.) Bonuses still accrue, and the monk still dies of old age when her time is up.
Tongue of the Sun and Moon: A monk of 17th level or above can speak with any living creature.

Empty Body: At 19th level or higher, a monk can assume an ethereal state for 1 round per level per day, as per the spell etherealness. The monk may go ethereal on a number of different occasions during any single day as long as the total number of rounds spent ethereal does not exceed her level. Empty body is a supernatural ability.

Perfect Self: At 20th level, a monk is forevermore treated as an outsider rather than as a humanoid. Additionally, the monk gains damage reduction 20/+1.

The Bengali Spiritual Monk

Alignment: Any.
Hit Die: d4.
Class Skills: The monk's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Alchemy (Int), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Knowledge ( religion) (Int), Profession (Wis), Scry (Int, exclusive skill), and Spellcraft (Int). Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Swim (Str), and Tumble (Dex).
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: monks are proficient with all simple weapons. They are not proficient with any type of armor, nor with shields.
TABLE: The Bengali Spiritual Monk
Base Fort Ref Will
Level Attack Bonus Save Save Save Special
----- ------------ ---- ---- ---- -------
1 +0 +0 +0 +2 bonus feat
2 +1 +0 +0 +3
3 +1 +1 +1 +3
4 +2 +1 +1 +4
5 +2 +1 +1 +4
6 +3 +2 +2 +5
7 +3 +2 +2 +5
8 +4 +2 +2 +6
9 +4 +3 +3 +6
10 +5 +3 +3 +7 bonus feat
11 +5 +3 +3 +7
12 +6/+1 +4 +4 +8
13 +6/+1 +4 +4 +8
14 +7/+2 +4 +4 +9
15 +7/+2 +5 +5 +9
16 +8/+3 +5 +5 +10
17 +8/+3 +5 +5 +10
18 +9/+4 +6 +6 +11
19 +9/+4 +6 +6 +11
20 +10/+5 +6 +6 +12 bonus feat

TABLE: Divine Spells Per Day
----------------------Spells per Day-------------------
Level 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
----- - - - - - - - - - -
1 5 3 - - - - - - - -
2 6 4 - - - - - - - -
3 6 5 - - - - - - - -
4 6 6 3 - - - - - - -
5 6 6 4 - - - - - - -
6 6 6 5 3 - - - - - -
7 6 6 6 4 - - - - - -
8 6 6 6 5 3 - - - - -
9 6 6 6 6 4 - - - - -
10 6 6 6 6 5 3 - - - -
11 6 6 6 6 6 4 - - - -
12 6 6 6 6 6 5 3 - - -
13 6 6 6 6 6 6 4 - - -
14 6 6 6 6 6 6 5 3 - -
15 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 4 - -
16 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 5 3 -
17 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 4 -
18 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 5 3
19 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 4
20 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6

TABLE: Divine Spells Known
--------------------- Spells Known --------------------------
Level 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
----- - - - - - - - - - -
1 4 2 - - - - - - - -
2 5 2 - - - - - - - -
3 5 3 - - - - - - - -
4 6 3 1 - - - - - - -
5 6 4 2 - - - - - - -
6 7 4 2 1 - - - - - -
7 7 5 3 2 - - - - - -
8 8 5 3 2 1 - - - - -
9 8 5 4 3 2 - - - - -
10 9 5 4 3 2 1 - - - -
11 9 5 5 4 3 2 - - - -
12 9 5 5 4 3 2 1 - - -
13 9 5 5 4 4 3 2 - - -
14 9 5 5 4 4 3 2 1 - -
15 9 5 5 4 4 4 3 2 - -
16 9 5 5 4 4 4 3 2 1 -
17 9 5 5 4 4 4 3 3 2 -
18 9 5 5 4 4 4 3 3 2 1
19 9 5 5 4 4 4 3 3 3 2
20 9 5 5 4 4 4 3 3 3 3


Unarmed Unarmed AC Unarmored
Level Attack Bonus Damage* Bonus Speed**
----- ------------ ------- ----- ---------
1 +0 1d6 +0 30 ft.
2 +1 1d6 +0 30 ft.
3 +2 1d6 +0 40 ft.
4 +3 1d8 +0 40 ft.
5 +3 1d8 +1 40 ft.
6 +4/+1 1d8 +1 50 ft.
7 +5/+2 1d8 +1 50 ft.
8 +6/+3 1d10 +1 50 ft.
9 +6/+3 1d10 +1 60 ft.
10 +7/+4/+1 1d10 +2 60 ft.
11 +8/+5/+2 1d10 +2 60 ft.
12 +9/+6/+3 1d12 +2 70 ft.
13 +9/+6/+3 1d12 +2 70 ft.
14 +10/+7/+4/+1 1d12 +2 70 ft.
15 +11/+8/+5/+2 1d12 +3 80 ft.
16 +12/+9/+6/+3 1d20 +3 80 ft.
17 +12/+9/+6/+3 1d20 +3 80 ft.
18 +13/+10/+7/+4/+1 1d20 +3 90 ft.
19 +14/+11/+8/+5/+2 1d20 +3 90 ft.
20 +15/+12/+9/+6/+3 1d20 +4 90 ft.
*Small monks deal less damage.


Spells: A Bengali spiritual monk casts divine spells. The number of spells a monk knows is not affected by his Wisdom bonus. The spells a monk knows are chose from the clerics list. No domain spells may be obtained by the monk, since the monk does not actually receive power from one particular god.
A monk is limited to casting a certain number of spells of each level per day, but he need not prepare his spells in advance. The number of spells he can cast per day is improved by his bonus spells, if any.
A monk may use a higher-level slot to cast a lower-level spell if he so chooses. The spell is still treated as its actual level, not the level of the slot used to cast it.
To learn or cast a spell, a monk must have a Wisdom score of at least 10 + the spell's level. The Difficulty Class for saving throws against monk spells is 10 + the spell's level + the monk's Wisdom modifier.
Ex Monks: Lose all spell casting abilities. Spiritual monks may not multiclass.
 

Attachments

  • hindu12.jpg
    hindu12.jpg
    3.8 KB · Views: 151
Last edited:

log in or register to remove this ad

So its a monk with different 'background fluff?" fair enough

btw have you heard of Kalaripayit? - an Indian Martial art

Also on the subject of 'Different Monks' how would you treat the Whirling Dervish?
 

So it's sorceror spellcasting with cleric spell lists, plus the unarmed damage and the enhanced speed? And a few bonus feats? From this I'd guess (and it is just a guess) that it may be too powerful.
 

So its a monk with different 'background fluff?" fair enough

COOL! I knew they had a martial art form, but I couldn't remember it's name! Thanks!

Yeah it's a fluffed up monk. I wanted to capture something...Hopefully I haven't caught something too ridiculous.

The spiritual monk is powerful, but I did my best to add restrictions. I have yet to play test the thing...I'm sure it will be alot less troublesome as some multi classes I seen...

Barbarian/fighter/monk/drunken master...I can't believe d20 allows such things! or DM's for that matter.

Powerful classes are cool if there's a reason ( I want an Indian element that players can understand and desire to explore ), and the creator adds restrictions. This particular example ( Bengali Spiritual Monk ) restricts multi classes with the exception of some related prestige classes. I also made the HD low, which sucks. No domain spells are a bite too. I had to keep the basic unarmed and AC stuph as a teaser. Alignment restrictions, and the abscence of the monk feats. The 2 bonus feats are another teaser, but don't make up for the lack of the monk feats.

The Martial monk just hits a bit harder. The restrictions will prevent silly multi classes, and races from making the class too powerful...Humans only for this one. In the Near East campaign, the selection of this class will also determine ethnicity. A factor that must be carefully considered by the player...Not much is really out there in the gaming world for India, thus making this a very alien class for most players.

I also think that what I did was not so far from what was done for OA...The jury is still out on that one though, so I'll refrain from delving deeper into that topic.

Thanks to the responses, and to all future responses...Critique is a good thing.
 

Whirling Dervish

I would place that in the catagory of either a weapon master or a beserker of some sorts...It depends on how the DM views the subject. I would rather see it as a type of feat in an Al Qadim type world...Something for the fighter classes to play around with.
Make it part of those nifty expertise type of feats...A flurry of blows for the fighter class!?

I Haven't really worked on the feats yet...That's going to be a nightmare. The AQ 3E conversion I seen does a decent job with them, but there's more that are needed....Yuck, I dread creating feats.
 

A few questions and suggestions:

For the Martial Monk, other than dropping them to d6 hp what changes are their from thePhB Monk?

As for the Spiritual Monk, if you are going for something between a Monk and a spellcaster I suggest you look at Orienttal Adventures and the Rokogan D20 book (forgett the actual title). In OA, their is a Shaman class which is a slighlty less powerful Cleric withsome martial arts feats. In the Rokgan book, their is a Monk class that is less adept at fighting unarmed, but gets other special powers. I suggest the following changes to the Spirittual Monk.
Raise the BAB to 3/4 level rather than 1/2 and drop the UAB. Max out the unarmed damage at d12 and raise the HP to d6. That way they won't be as good as Monk when fighting unarmed, but they will have the hit points, and attack bonus to hold their own in a fight.

Change the spells so they go from 0 to 6th level instead of 0 to 9th. An alternative to this is to give them their own spell list, not just the Clerics list. Also, change their alignment to "only lawful" or remove tthe alignmentt restriction on the Martial Monk (in my mind, a Spiritual Monk is more likely to be lawful than a Martial Monk). If you do stick with the Clerics spell list, you might want to limit them so they cannot cast chaotic and/or Evil Clerical spells. Their AC bonus, speed bonus and unarmed fighting ability should more than make up for them not getting as many damaging and offensive spells.



Edited fore speelleng.
 
Last edited:

A d30?!?!? For punch damage?!?!?

So you inflated their punch damage even more than the truly overinflated punch damage of the core monk. Fair enough.

Did you take anything else away in balance? From what I can see, no...

Spiritual monk, same way.
 

As a Bengali myself (and as monastic as they get) I figured I should chime in :D

The martial monk looks fine to me for the most part, although it's weaker than the PHB monk (the HD drop doesn't really offset the change in the unarmed attack damage dice). As for the spiritual monk, Witness makes some really good points. If you really want a different flavor, give them their own spell list. Unfortunately, that means more work for you.
 


I didn't notice the d30 damage at 1st. Suggest you reduce the max unarmed damage for the martial monks damage at d20, and the Ki Strike ability so it goes up to +5. they will be able to damage any creature regardless of damage reduction, and your players won't have to go out and buy new dice (do they even make a d30?)
 

Remove ads

Top