Arcane Monk (3.5e Class)

Summary::Arcane monks study a new form of martial arts that shapes their ki in new ways. In addition to this, they also gain a small pool of spells that they can cast spontaneously. Length::20 Minimum Level::1 Base Attack Bonus Progression::Moderate Fortitude Save Progression::Poor Reflex Save Progression::Good Will Save Progression::Good Class Ability::Arcane Spellcasting Class Ability Progression::Minor

Allowed Alignments::Lawful Good Allowed Alignments::Lawful Neutral Allowed Alignments::Lawful Evil Allowed Alignments::Neutral Good Allowed Alignments::Neutral Allowed Alignments::Neutral Evil

Arcane Monks
The subtle force that is Ki can be manipulated in a million different ways. Some use it to empower their unarmed strikes, weapons, or to shield their bodies from Poison and Disease. What is almost unheard of, however, is the ability to suffuse one's Innate Magic with ki. Enter the Arcane Monk. His magic comes through strength of body, not strength of mind. Through intense training, he has learned to manipulate his ki to mimic spells of a certain nature. Flashy spells such as a Fireball are beyond his ken, but he has many transmutation and other evocations at his disposal. This Class brings a Much Needed Update to AEG's Magic: Arcane Monk.

Making an Arcane Monk
Abilities: Strength is the most important ability to an Arcane Monk, as it controls his Spellcasting as well as the strength of his unarmed strike.

Races: Of the Common races, Humans are most likely to adopt this class, due to their natural willingness to study new forms of magic. Half-Orcs throw themselves into the martial training with fervor, as most Half-Orcs are faced with steep hurdles to learn magic, they jump at the chance to not just learn a style, but to master it entirely. Wisdom and Dexterity are just as Important to them as normal Monks, and Constitution even moreso, due to their Lower HD.

Alignment: Any non-chaotic.

Starting Gold: 2d4&times;10 gp

Starting Age: As Wizard.

Class Features
All of the following are class features of the Arcane Arcane Monk.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency:

Arcane Monks are not proficient with any armor or shields.

When wearing armor, using a shield, or carrying a medium or heavy load, a Arcane Monk loses her AC bonus, as well as her Flurry of Spells, and flurry of blows abilities.

 (Ex): When unarmored and unencumbered, the Arcane Monk adds her Wisdom bonus (if any) to her AC. In addition, a Arcane Monk gains a +1 bonus to AC at 5th level. This bonus increases by 1 for every five Arcane 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 Arcane Monk is flat-footed. She loses these bonuses when she is immobilized or helpless, when she wears any armor, when she carries a shield, or when she carries a medium or heavy load.

 (Ex): When unarmored, a Arcane Monk may strike with a flurry of blows at the expense of accuracy. When doing so, she may make one extra attack in a round at her highest base attack bonus, but this attack takes a –2 penalty, as does each other attack made that round. The resulting modified base attack bonuses are shown in the Flurry of Blows Attack Bonus column on Table: The Arcane Monk. This penalty applies for 1 round, so it also affects attacks of opportunity the Arcane Monk might make before her next action. When a Arcane Monk reaches 5th level, the penalty lessens to –1, and at 9th level it disappears. A Arcane Monk must use a full attack action to strike with a flurry of blows.

When using flurry of blows, a Arcane Monk may attack only with unarmed strikes or with special Arcane Monk weapons (kama, nunchaku, quarterstaff, sai, shuriken, and siangham). She may attack with unarmed strikes and special Arcane Monk weapons interchangeably as desired. When using weapons as part of a flurry of blows, a Arcane Monk applies her Strength bonus (not Str bonus &times; 1-1/2 or &times;1/2) to her damage rolls for all successful attacks, whether she wields a weapon in one or both hands. The Arcane Monk can’t use any weapon other than a special Arcane Monk weapon as part of a flurry of blows.

In the case of the quarterstaff, each end counts as a separate weapon for the purpose of using the flurry of blows ability. Even though the quarterstaff requires two hands to use, a Arcane Monk may still intersperse unarmed strikes with quarterstaff strikes, assuming that she has enough attacks in her flurry of blows routine to do so.

When a Arcane Monk reaches 11th level, her flurry of blows ability improves. In addition to the standard single extra attack she gets from flurry of blows, she gets a second extra attack at her full base attack bonus.

A Arcane Monk’s attacks may be with either fist interchangeably or even from elbows, knees, and feet. This means that a Arcane Monk may even make unarmed strikes with her hands full. There is no such thing as an off-hand attack for a Arcane Monk striking unarmed. A Arcane Monk may thus apply her full Strength bonus on damage rolls for all her unarmed strikes.



 (Ex): At 2nd level or higher if a Arcane Monk makes a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, she instead takes no damage. Evasion can be used only if a Arcane Monk is wearing light armor or no armor. A helpless Arcane Monk does not gain the benefit of evasion.

 (Ex): A Arcane Monk of 3rd level or higher gains a +2 bonus on saving throws against spells and effects from the school of enchantment.

 (Su): At 4th level, a Arcane Monk’s unarmed attacks are empowered with ki. Her unarmed attacks are treated as magic weapons for the purpose of dealing damage to creatures with damage reduction. Ki strike improves with the character’s Arcane Monk level. At 7th level, her unarmed attacks are also treated as lawful weapons for the purpose of dealing damage to creatures with damage reduction. At 10th level, her unarmed attacks are treated as adamantine weapons for the purpose of dealing damage to creatures with damage reduction and bypassing hardness.

 (Ex): At 4th level or higher, a Arcane Monk within arm’s reach of a wall can use it to slow her descent. When first using this ability, she takes damage as if the fall were 20 feet shorter than it actually is. The Arcane Monk’s ability to slow her fall (that is, to reduce the effective distance of the fall when next to a wall) improves with her Arcane Monk level until at 20th level she can use a nearby wall to slow her descent and fall any distance without harm.

 (Ex): At 5th level, a Arcane Monk gains immunity to all diseases except for supernatural and magical diseases.

 (Ex): Starting at 5th level, the Arcane Monk may cast a single touch spell in conjunction with his unarmed strikes when making a full attack. This does not provoke an attack of opportunity, as the Arcane Monk is substituting her Somatic Components with Martial Arts Techniques. He may not choose to make a touch attack, it must be used as an unarmed strike. In addition, if the Arcane Monk chooses to cast a spell with a target of self, or a touch spell that targets herself, she does not provoke an attack of opportunity.'''

 (Ex): Starting at 5th level, the Arcane Monk may add metamagic effects whose total level adjustment does not exceed her Strength Modifier to a spell she is casting. She must have the Metamagic Feat being applied. She may do this 1/day at level 5, and an additional time per day every five class levels after that. When using this ability, the Casting time nor the spell level is modified. The only metamagic effect that this ability cannot be applied to is Persist Spell, as it is literally an explosion of Ki empowered spells.

 (Ex): At 9th level, a Arcane Monk’s evasion ability improves. She still takes no damage on a successful Reflex saving throw against attacks, but henceforth she takes only half damage on a failed save. A helpless Arcane Monk does not gain the benefit of improved evasion.

 (Ex): Starting at 10th level, an Arcane Arcane Monk never provokes Attacks of Opportunity for casting spells.

 (Ex): At 13th level, a Arcane Monk gains spell resistance equal to her current Arcane Monk level + 10. In order to affect the Arcane Monk with a spell, a spellcaster must get a result on a caster level check (1d20 + caster level) that equals or exceeds the Arcane Monk’s spell resistance.

 (Ex): Upon attaining 17th level, a Arcane Monk no longer takes penalties to her ability scores for aging and cannot be magically aged. Any such penalties that she has already taken, however, remain in place. Bonuses still accrue, and the Arcane Monk still dies of old age when her time is up.

 (Ex): A Arcane Monk of 17th level or higher can speak with any living creature.

 (Su): At 19th level, a Arcane Monk gains the ability to assume an ethereal state for 1 round per Arcane Monk level per day, as though using the spell etherealness. She may go ethereal on a number of different occasions during any single day, as long as the total number of rounds spent in an ethereal state does not exceed her Arcane Monk level.

She is forevermore treated as an outsider rather than as a humanoid (or whatever the Arcane Monk’s creature type was) for the purpose of spells and magical effects. Additionally, the Arcane Monk gains damage reduction 10/Chaotic, which allows her to ignore the first 10 points of damage from any attack made by a non-chaotic weapon or natural attack. Unlike other outsiders, the Arcane Monk can still be brought back from the dead as if she were a member of her previous creature type.

An Arcane Arcane Monk's Save DC's and Bonus spells are strength based. As the spells are literally formed from his ki, they do not require material components or focuses. Arcane Monks know all the spells on the following list:

0&mdash; Detect Magic, Disrupt Undead, Flare, Guidance, Resistance, Read Magic, Virtue.

1st&mdash; Burning Hands, Chill Touch, Endure Elements, Entropic Shield, Expeditious Retreat, Inflict Light Wounds, Mage Armor, Magic Fang, Shield, Shocking Grasp, True Strike.

2nd&mdash; Acid Arrow, Aid, Bear's Fortitude, Bull's Strength, Cat's Grace, Death Knell, Ghoul Touch, Inflict Moderate Wounds, Invisibility, Mirror Image, Resist Energy.

3rd&mdash; Contagion, Haste, Inflict Serious Wounds, Keen Edge, Protection from Elements, Vampiric Touch, Water Walk.

4th&mdash; Air Walk, Enervation, Freedom of Movement, Fire Shield, Greater Magic Fang, Improved Invisibility, Inflict Critical Wounds, Poison, Shout, Stoneskin

5th&mdash; Dimension Door, Fly, Lightning Bolt, Righteous Might, Slay Living, Telekinesis

6th&mdash; Cone of Cold, Harm, Iron Body, Mass Haste, Repulsion, Tenser's Transformation.

Ex-Arcane Monks
If an Arcane Monk becomes chaotic, or gains levels in any class other than Arcane Monk, then he forevermore loses the ability to gain levels in the Arcane Monk Class.

Epic Arcane Monks
Ki Spell Nova: Every 5 levels after 20, the Arcane Monk gains an additional use of his Ki Spell Nova.



Half-Orc Arcane Monk Starting Package
Weapons: Unarmed Strike.

Skill Selection: 4 ranks in Jump and Climb

Feat: Spell Focus (Evocation)

Gear: Monk's Robe, 50' of Rope. 4 Days trail rations. Bedroll, Winter Blanket.

Gold: Standard.

Playing an Arcane Monk
Religion: Most Arcane Monks are not religious at all, preferring faith in oneself rather than a higher deity. Those who do worship, however, worship gods of Magic, such as Mystra.

Other Classes: The Arcane monk gets along with other classes that are martial and mystical in nature. Paladins, Rangers, Clerics, and Druids will find a steadfast friend in an Arcane Monk. He believes that his non-mystical Monk counterparts are too limiting in their training, and that Sorcerers/Wizards should spend more time on perfection of their body rather than studying.

Combat: The Arcane Monk likes to "Magic Up" and then run into battle, using his Flurry of Blows to incapacitate his enemies.

Advancement: Some Arcane Monks choose to become Enlightened Fists.