Psionic Monk

[Jeph]

FLUFF: Oh come on, don't you already know? It's in the PHB, Dragonstar, Oriental Adventures, Sword and Fist, Quint Monk, and 583 other books.

NOTE: Monks do NOT have multicalssing or alignment restrictions.

Attack Bonus: As Cleric
Fortitude: Good
Reflex: Good
Will: Good
Hit Die: d8
Manifester Level: 1/2 Class Levels
0-Level Powers: One free manifestation per manifester level
Proficiencies: As Monk
Skills: As Monk, add Stabalize Self and Autohypnosis to skill list.

Monk Psionics and Class Abilities
LV . PP . 0 . 1 . 2 . 3 . 4 . Special
01 . 00 . 1 . 0 . 0 . 0 . 0 . Unarmed Strike (d6), Constant Awareness, Mind Armor
02 . 00 . 1 . 0 . 0 . 0 . 0 . Bonus Feat
03 . 00 . 1 . 0 . 0 . 0 . 0 . Fast Movement (40')
04 . 00 . 1 . 0 . 0 . 0 . 0 . Unarmed Strike (d8)
05 . 01 . 1 . 1 . 0 . 0 . 0 .
06 . 01 . 1 . 1 . 0 . 0 . 0 . Bonus Feat, Fast Movement (50')
07 . 02 . 1 . 1 . 0 . 0 . 0 .
08 . 05 . 1 . 1 . 1 . 0 . 0 . Unarmed Strike (d10)
09 . 05 . 1 . 1 . 1 . 0 . 0 . Fast Movement (60')
10 . 08 . 1 . 1 . 1 . 0 . 0 . Bonus Feat
11 . 13 . 2 . 1 . 1 . 1 . 0 .
12 . 13 . 2 . 1 . 1 . 1 . 0 . Fast Movement (70'), Unarmed Strike (d12)
13 . 18 . 2 . 2 . 1 . 1 . 0 .
14 . 25 . 2 . 2 . 1 . 1 . 1 . Bonus Feat
15 . 25 . 2 . 2 . 2 . 1 . 1 . Fast Movement (80')
16 . 25 . 2 . 2 . 2 . 1 . 1 . Unarmed Strike (d20)
17 . 25 . 2 . 2 . 2 . 2 . 1 .
18 . 25 . 2 . 2 . 2 . 2 . 1 . Bonus Feat, Fast Movement (90')
19 . 32 . 2 . 2 . 2 . 2 . 2 .
20 . 32 . 2 . 2 . 2 . 2 . 2 .

Monks, due to the wide variety of training that different monasteries give, can choose any 2 psionic Disciplines. All powers in these disciplines are on their power list. All powers not in these disciplines, are not. In addition to the power points shown, Monks may apply a portion of their Wisdom bonus (if any) to their PP total, up to double the level of the highest level power that they can manifest. Thus, a 13th level monk could add up to 6 points of his Wisdom modifier to his PP pool.

Unarmed Strike:
The monk is considered to have the Improved Unarmed Strike feat, and deals the listed amount of damage with an unarmed attack. They mate ittinerative unarmed strikes at a -3 penalty (instead of -5), and may make a Flurry of Blows, accepting a -2 penalty on attacks in the round to make an additional unarmed attack at their highest attack bonus. Special Monk weapons may also be used at the higher attack rate, and may be used to make a Flurry of Blows. Unarmed Strike is lost if the Monk is wearing armor.

Constant Awareness:
Monks are always considered to have 1 more Power Point than they actually do, for the purposes of determining Reserve Power Points and if they are out of PP durring a Psionic Combat. This extra PP is not expendable, and may not be used to manifest powers.

Mind Armor:
Monks apply their Wisdom bonus, if any, to their Defense while wearing no armor and not using a shield.

Fast Movement:
While wearing no armor, the Monk's base speed increases to the shown amount.

Bonus Feats:
At 2nd level and every 4 levels thereafter, the Monk gains a bonus Psionic, Metapsionic, Martial Arts, or Combative feat. Instead of gaining a feat, they may instead choose to gain Evasion, or Uncanny Dodge (dex bonus to AC). If they are at least 6th level and have taken Uncanny Dodge (dex bonus to AC), they may take Uncanny Dodge (can't be flanked). If they are at least 10th level and have taken Evasion, they may take Improved Evasion. Uncanny Dodge, Evasion, and Improved Evasion do not function if the monk is wearing armor.

-Jeph

 

[The Iron Mark]

You know you could take the Diamond Warrior Prc from the Mind's Eye at Wizard's website. That is a psionic monk, and it's official.

 

[Spatzimaus]

In fact, there are TWO official psionic monk PrCs there, Diamond Warrior and Mindknight. Both are very nice; Diamond Warrior lets you gain more psionic powers, but Mindknight gives things like total immunity to mind-affecting spells.

But that's not the point. You're reworking the basic Monk class to replace all the strange or specialized abilities with Psionic powers. Not a bad concept, really.

As far as I can tell, it loses the Innate AC bonus (that's a big one), Evasion, Still Mind, Deflect Arrows, Slow Fall, Purity of Body, Improved Trip, Wholeness of Body, Leap of the Coulds, Improved Evasion, Ki strike, Diamond Body, Abundant Step, Diamond Soul, Quivering Palm, Timeless Body, Tongue of the sun and moon, Empty Body, and Perfect Self.
That's a lot of stuff.
In exchange, you give him 5 Feats (with Evasion, Improved Evasion, and the Uncanny Dodge abilities added to the list) and some powers.

Frankly, I think he loses too much. Those 5 feats don't begin to cover what he's lost. If you take Evasion and Improved Evasion with two, then Deflect Arrows and Improved Trip, you've only got one Feat left to cover all those other abilities.
Powers can't substitute for many of these. While Metaphysical Body is a nice power, your low caster level will keep you from having it on all day, and so on.

So, first of all, give back the innate AC bonus, Evasion, and Ki Strike. Narrow down the disciplines (no Metacreativity or Telepathy?) to compensate. That sort of thing.

Sooner or later I'll have to post the Monk rewrite my people have been working on.

 

[GuardianLurker]

Umm... wouldn't it just be easier to tweak (or even just use straight up) the Psychic Warrior?

 

[DreamChaser]

Umm... wouldn't it just be easier to tweak (or even just use straight up) the Psychic Warrior?

that is basically what I tried to do with mine. You can find it here. I know it is overpowered and want to tone it down without changing the concept of the class. Have a look and if you have any suggestions, I want them.

My Psionic Monk

DC

 

[Spatzimaus]

You don't even need to make a modified class. If you want a Psionic Monk, just play a pure-class Psychic Warrior. Take the psychometabolism powers, Speed of Thought, Metaphysical Body, Inertial Armor and Improved Inertial Armor, Psionic Fist, etc... there, you've got a "psionic monk". There's just no need to change the core class to be something you can already do with another core class.

 

[SteelDraco]

I'm going to have to agree. You don't need to change either core class (the monk or the psychic warrior) to pull of such a character. I've played a monk/psychic warrior very effectively in a campaign. I specialized in movement and attack powers - the concept of the character was a monk with psychoportive abilities, developing toward something akin to the Flash's abilities mixed with unarmed combat. Claws of the Bear turns a monk's normally lackluster damage ability into a pretty impressive bit of pain. There are a number of nice defensive PsyWar powers you can pick up, and the Inertial Armor feat can make a monk's AC really impressive. If you focus on Dex and Wis, as well as that feat, you can easily get into the 20s by mid to low levels, comparable to combat tanks in AC.

Let me see if I can find that character.... ah. Here we go.