Monk (5A)

Starfox's 5th Edition Fan Page

Monks are united in their ability to magically harness the energy that flows in their bodies. Whether channeled as a striking display of combat prowess or a subtler focus of defensive ability and speed, this energy infuses all that a monk does.

You must have two of Dexterity, Strength, or Wisdom with a score of 13 or higher in order to multiclass in or out of this class.

Monk Class

The Monk

Level	Proficiency Bonus	Martial Arts	Ki Points	Unarmored Movement	Features
1st	+2	d6	–	–	Unarmored Defense, Martial Arts
2nd	+2	d6	2	+10 ft.	Ki, Unarmored Movement
3rd	+2	d6	3	+10 ft.	Monastic Tradition, Deflect Missiles,
4th	+2	d6	4	+10 ft.	Ability Score Improvement, Slow Fall
5th	+3	d8	5	+10 ft.	Extra Attack, Stunning Strike, Focused Aim
6th	+3	d8	6	+15 ft.	Ki-Empowered Strikes, Monastic Tradition feature
7th	+3	d8	7	+15 ft.	Evasion, Stillness of Mind
8th	+3	d8	8	+15 ft.	Ability Score Improvement
9th	+4	d8	9	+15 ft.	Unarmored Movement improvement
10th	+4	d8	10	+20 ft.	Purity of Body
11th	+4	d12	11	+20 ft.	Monastic Tradition feature
12th	+4	d12	12	+20 ft.	Ability Score Improvement
13th	+5	d12	13	+20 ft.	Tongue of the Sun and Moon
14th	+5	d12	14	+25 ft.	Diamond Soul
15th	+5	d12	15	+25 ft.	Timeless Body
16th	+5	d12	16	+25 ft.	Ability Score Improvement
17th	+6	d20	17	+25 ft.	Monastic Tradition feature
18th	+6	d20	18	+30 ft.	Empty Body
19th	+6	d20	19	+30 ft.	Ability Score Improvement
20th	+6	d20	20	+30 ft.	Perfect Self

Class Features

As a monk, you gain the following class features.

Hit Points

Hit Dice: 1d8 per monk level

Hit Points at 1st Level: 8 + your Constitution modifier

Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d8 (or 5) + your Constitution modifier per monk level after 1st

Proficiencies

Armor: Light armor, medium armor.

Weapons: Simple weapons, martial melee weapons.

Tools: Choose one type of artisan's tools or one musical instrument

Saving Throws: Strength, Dexterity

Skills: Choose two from Acrobatics, Athletics, History, Insight, Religion, and Stealth

Equipment You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:

• (a) a shortsword or (b) any simple weapon
• (a) a dungeoneer's pack or (b) an explorer's pack
• (a) 10 darts or (b) leather armor

Unarmored Defense

Beginning at 1st level, while you are wearing no armor and not wielding a shield, your AC equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Wisdom modifier.

Martial Arts

At 1st level, your practice of martial arts gives you mastery of combat styles that use unarmed strikes and weapons. You gain the following benefits while you aren't wearing heavy armor or wielding a shield:

• You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the attack and damage rolls of your unarmed strikes and monk weapons, which are shortswords and any weapons that don't have the two-handed or heavy property.
• You can roll a d6 in place of the normal damage of your unarmed strike or weapon. This die changes as you gain monk levels, as shown in the Martial Arts column of the Monk table.
• When you use the Attack action with an unarmed strike or a weapon on your turn, you can make one unarmed strike as a bonus action. For example, if you take the Attack action and attack with a quarterstaff, you can also make an unarmed strike as a bonus action, assuming you haven't already taken a bonus action this turn.

Certain monasteries use specialized forms of the monk weapons. For example, you might use a club that is two lengths of wood connected by a short chain (called a nunchaku) or a sickle with a shorter, straighter blade (called a kama). Whatever name you use for a monk weapon, you can use the game statistics provided for the weapon on the Weapons page.

Ki

Starting at 2nd level, your training allows you to harness the mystic energy of ki. Your access to this energy is represented by a number of ki points. Your monk level determines the number of points you have, as shown in the Ki Points column of the Monk table.

You can spend Ki points while you aren't wearing heavy armor or wielding a shield.

When you spend a ki point, it is unavailable until you spend an action to perform the Dodge action. When you spend an action to perform a Dodge (not when you use Patient Defense or ways to do a Dodge as anything but your action), you draw all of your expended ki back into yourself. This restores your Ki points to their maximum value. When you spend an action to Dodge in combat, as a part of this action, you can also make a Wisdom (Insight) as if it was a knowledge check regarding the situation at hand. The DM gives you information based on the result of your roll, like any other roll to remember information. This represents a flashback or inspiration related to your teachings and discipline.

You can spend these points to fuel various Ki features. You start knowing five such features: Flurry of Blows, Ki-Fueled Attack, Patient Defense, Swift Defense, and Step of the Wind. You learn more ki features as you gain levels in this class.

Some of your ki features require your target to make a saving throw to resist the feature's effects. The saving throw DC is calculated as follows:

Ki save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier

• Flurry of Blows Immediately after you take the Attack action on your turn, you can spend 1 ki point to make two unarmed strikes as a bonus action.
• Ki-Fueled Attack If you spend 1 ki point or more as part of your action on your turn, you can make one attack with an unarmed strike or a weapon as a bonus action before the end of the turn.
• Patient Defense You can spend 1 ki point to take the Dodge action and make one unarmed strike as a bonus action.
• Swift Defense You can spend 1 ki point to take the Dodge action as a reaction.
• Step of the Wind You can spend 1 ki point to take both the Dash, Dodge, and Disengage actions on your turn as a bonus action, and your jump distance is doubled for the turn.

Unarmored Movement

Starting at 2nd level, your speed increases by 10 feet while you are not wearing medium or heavy armor and not wielding a shield. This bonus increases when you reach certain monk levels, as shown in the Monk table.

When using unarmored movement, for every 5 ft. of unarmored movement bonus, your horizontal jump distance increases by 2 ft. and your vertical jump distance increases by 1 ft.

At 9th level, you gain the ability to move along vertical surfaces and across liquids on your turn without falling during the move. You must still end your turn in a position legal without this ability, or you suffer the normal effects.

Monastic Tradition

When you reach 3rd level, you commit yourself to a monastic tradition. Your tradition grants you features at 3rd level and again at 6th, 11th, and 17th level.

• If your monastic tradition allows you to cast a spell or effect that does damage but is not a weapon or unarmed attack, you add your martial arts die to the damage inflicted. This can sometimes work out to being twice your martial arts dice.
• If your monastic tradition allows you to use spell that require concentration, the spell lasts 1 minute beyond the time you concentrate, up to the spell's normal duration.

Deflect Missiles

Starting at 3rd level, you can deflect the missile when you are hit by a ranged weapon attack. When you do so, you gain resistance to the damage.

You can spend a reaction to catch the missile if it is small enough for you to hold in one hand and you have at least one hand free. If you catch a missile in this way, you can spend 1 ki point to make a ranged attack with a range of 20/60 using the weapon or piece of ammunition you just caught, as part of the same reaction. You make this attack with proficiency, regardless of your weapon proficiencies and the attack deals your martial arts die in damage plus any effects on the missile.

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can't increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

Slow Fall

Beginning at 4th level, while wearing no or light armor and not wielding a shield, you can use your reaction when you fall to reduce any falling damage you take by an amount equal to five times your monk level.

Quickened Healing

Also at 4th level, as an action, you can spend up to 3 ki points. For each ki point you spend, roll your martial arts die. You regain a number of hit points equal to the total rolled. You can use this ability once. You regain the ability at the end of a long or short rest.

Extra Attack

Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

Stunning Strike

Starting at 5th level, you can interfere with the flow of ki in an opponent's body. When you hit another creature with a melee weapon attack, you can spend 1 ki point to attempt a stunning strike. The target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or be stunned until the end of your next turn.

Focused Aim

Also at 5th level, when you miss with an attack roll, you can spend 1 to 3 ki points to increase your attack roll by 2 for each of these ki points you spend, potentially turning the miss into a hit.

Ki-Empowered Strikes

Starting at 6th level, your unarmed strikes count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.

Evasion

At 7th level, your instinctive agility lets you dodge out of the way of certain area effects, such as a blue dragon's lightning breath or a fireball spell. When you are wearing no armor or light armor and not wielding a shield and are subjected to an effect that allows you to make a Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage, you instead take no damage if you succeed on the saving throw, and only half damage if you fail.

Stillness of Mind

Starting at 7th level, at the start of your turn, you can end one effect on yourself that is causing you to be charmed or frightened. When you do so you cannot take an action on this turn.

Purity of Body

At 10th level, your mastery of the ki flowing through you makes you immune to disease and poison.

Tongue of the Sun and Moon

Starting at 13th level, you learn to touch the ki of other minds so that you understand all spoken languages. Moreover, any creature that can understand a language can understand what you say.

Diamond Soul

Beginning at 14th level, your mastery of ki grants you proficiency in all saving throws.

Additionally, whenever you make a saving throw and fail, you can spend 1 ki point to reroll it and take the second result.

Timeless Body

At 15th level, your ki sustains you so that you suffer none of the frailty of old age, and you can't be aged magically. You can still die of old age, however. In addition, you no longer need food or water. You also recover a level of exhaustion when you take a short rest.

Empty Body

Beginning at 18th level, when wearing no armor and not wielding a shield , you can use a bonus action to spend 4 ki points to become invisible for 1 minute. During that time, you also have resistance to all damage but force damage.

Additionally, you can spend 8 ki points to cast the Astral Projection spell, without needing material components.

Perfect Self

At 20th level, when you start your turn, you regain 4 ki points up to your normal maximum.

Monk Actions

The monk has a multitude of abilities that uses a bonus action or reaction, summarized here.

Bonus Action

• Martial Arts extra attack (0 ki)
• Flurry of Blows (1 ki)
• Ki-Fueled Attack (1 ki)
• Patient Defense (1 ki)
• Step of the Wind (1 ki)
• Empty Body (4 ki)

Reaction

• Swift Defense (1 ki)
• Deflect Missile (1 ki)
• Slow Fall

Monks and Armor

Some of the monk's features work differently in different kinds of armors, summarized here. Note that the monk starts with proficiency in only light armor.

No Armor

• Martial Arts
• Unarmored Defense
• Ki
• Unarmored Movement
• Deflect Missiles
• Slow Fall
• Quickened Healing
• Extra Attack
• Stunning Strike
• Focused Aim
• Ki-Empowered Strikes
• Evasion
• Stillness of Mind
• Purity of Body
• Tongue of the Sun and Moon
• Diamond Soul
• Timeless Body
• Empty Body
• Perfect Self

Light Armor

• Martial Arts
• Ki
• Unarmored Movement
• Deflect Missiles
• Slow Fall
• Quickened Healing
• Extra Attack
• Stunning Strike
• Focused Aim
• Ki-Empowered Strikes
• Evasion
• Stillness of Mind
• Purity of Body
• Tongue of the Sun and Moon
• Diamond Soul
• Timeless Body
• Perfect Self

Medium Armor

• Martial Arts
• Ki
• Deflect Missiles
• Quickened Healing
• Extra Attack
• Stunning Strike
• Focused Aim
• Ki-Empowered Strikes
• Stillness of Mind
• Purity of Body
• Tongue of the Sun and Moon
• Diamond Soul
• Timeless Body
• Perfect Self

Heavy Armor

• Deflect Missiles
• Quickened Healing
• Extra Attack
• Stunning Strike
• Focused Aim
• Ki-Empowered Strikes
• Stillness of Mind
• Purity of Body
• Tongue of the Sun and Moon
• Diamond Soul
• Timeless Body
• Perfect Self

External Links

• Treantmonk's Revised monk