Monk fix

[dman11235]

MONK

   
My body is my weapon, and you would be hard pressed to take it away from me.  What are you using, a pitiful piece of iron?

-Elan the traveling monk, demoralizing his opponent.

A common archetype in all media, the monk is a martial artist master of his own body.  He uses his own body as a weapon, armor, and shield.  His ability to control his own body has granted him the ability to execute great feats of strength and dexterity.  The wisdom displayed by a Monk is rarely equaled, and almost never overtaken.  When a question of wisdom or philosophy comes up, these are the ones you would seek out, often on top of mountains.

MAKING A MONK
Monks are speedy characters who tend to work with little support.  They exist as a counter to traditional adventurers, relying on themselves, rather than protective gear.  If you were to run across one out in the wilderness, you might feel concerned for their safety.  But do not fret, they can easily handle themselves.
Abilities: Wisdom is the most important ability score for monks, as it provides them with defense, offense, and utility.  Dexterity is also important, due to their lack of armor, and it provides aid on other important statistics.  Constitution is important as it is for any character.  Strength is less important, though it is a nice thing to have in order to provide an extra kick to attacks and combat maneuvers.  Intelligence is not very necessary, and charisma is less so, though both can provide support.
Races: Humans take nicely to this class, with their huge amount of adaptability.  There is a proud tradition of halfling monks in the caravan, known for their willingness to take on the stronger wild animals with their bare hands.  Few dwarves take up the mantle of monk, due to a love of metal, and general refusal to hit anything with something else.  The githzerai developed their own fighting style in order to fight off their illithid owners, relying on the monk's mental resistances to escape the mind control.  Elves tend to be too wimpy to try and fight with this style.
Alignment: A monk can be of any alignment.  Most monks, however, are lawful.  The training required to perfect the abilities a monk has usually takes a large amount of discipline.  Some others do develop the skills to advance as a talented monk however.  It is far from impossible.
Starting Gold: 5d4(12.5)
Starting Age: As fighter.

Class Skills
The monk’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Autohypnosis (wis) Balance (Dex), Bluff (cha), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Heal (wis), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Survival (wis), Swim (Str), and Tumble (Dex).

Skill Points at 1st Level: (6 + int)x4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 6 + int

Hit Dice: d8

Level 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

BAB +0 +1 +2 +3 +3 +4 +5 +6/+1 +6/+1 +7/+2 +8/+3 +9/+4 +9/+4 +10/+5 +11/+6/+1 +12/+7/+2 +12/+7/+2 +13/+8/+3 +14/+9/+4 +15/+10/+5

Fort +2 +3 +3 +4 +4 +5 +5 +6 +6 +7 +7 +8 +8 +9 +9 +10 +10 +11 +11 +12

Ref +2 +3 +3 +4 +4 +5 +5 +6 +6 +7 +7 +8 +8 +9 +9 +10 +10 +11 +11 +12

Will +2 +3 +3 +4 +4 +5 +5 +6 +6 +7 +7 +8 +8 +9 +9 +10 +10 +11 +11 +12

Special Abilities Bonus Feat, Flurry of Blows, Unarmed Strike, Ki Strike (wis to attack) Bonus Feat, Evasion, Fast Movement Still Mind, Ki Strike (Wis to unarmed damage), Abundant Step Slow Fall, Ki Strike (magic) Purity of Body, Erratic Advance Bonus Feat Wholeness of Body, Abundant Step Deep Perception (blindsense) Ki Strike (alignment, ghost touch, overcome hardness) Bonus Feat Diamond Body, Abundant Step       Diamond Soul Bonus Feat Abundant Step Deep Perception (blindsight) Timeless Body, Tongue of the Sun and Moon Freedom of Thought Empty Body, Abundant Step Perfect Self

US +1 +1 +2 +2 +2 +3 +3 +3 +4 +4 +4 +5 +5 +5 +6 +6 +6 +7 +7 +7

AC 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 6

speed +0 +10 +10 +10 +20 +20 +20 +30 +30 +30 +40 +40 +40 +50 +50 +50 +60 +60 +60 +70

Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Monks are proficient with all simple weapons, hand ax, kama, nunchaku, sai, siangham, shuriken, net, and bolas.  The monk is not proficient with any armor or shield.

Unarmed Strike: At first level, the monk gains the Improved Unarmed Strike feat as a bonus feat.  In addition, the monk's unarmed strike does more damage than normal, as presented on the class table.  As this is a straight bonus to damage, it is multiplied on a critical hit.

Armor Bonus: A monk gains a bonus to his armor class equal to his Wisdom modifier.  In addition, he gains a bonus as listed on the class table.  This is an untyped bonus, and applies even when flat-footed and against touch attacks.  The monk loses this bonus while he wears any armor or uses a shield.

Bonus Feat:  At levels 1, 2, 6, 10, and 14, a Monk gains a bonus feat, chosen from the following list.  You must meet all the prerequisites for the feat unless otherwise noted.

Flurry of Blows (ex): A monk chooses from the following options when he first takes this class.  The choice cannot be changed once made.  Whenever a monk makes a full attack or an attack action, he can use these abilities.  He can use these abilities with any weapon he is proficient with.  A monk loses these abilities while he wears any armor or uses a shield.

Flurry of Blows: At level 1, the monk may make an additional attack, but every attack made that round takes a -2 penalty.  At level 9 they may make a second attack when using Flurry of blows and at level 18 they may make a third attack.  At level 5, the penalty is reduced to -1, and at level 9 the penalty goes away.  All additional attacks made using Flurry of Blows are made at the monk's highest base attack bonus.

Decisive Strike: A monk with this version of Flurry of Blows does not gain additional attacks.  Instead, they make fewer attacks that deal greater damage.  At level 1, the monk deals 1.5 times damage until his next turn.  At level 9 this increases to double damage and at level 18 it increases to 2.5 times damage.  This requires a full round action, during which the monk makes one attack.  At level 12, the monk may make a second attack at a -5 penalty.

Debilitating Strike: This version of Flurry involves not more attacks, but a chance to hinder your opponent.  At the end of their turn, the monk forces all opponents they successfully hit to make a save (DC 10+1/2 class level+wis) or be shaken until the start of the monks next turn.  This is not a fear effect, so creatures immune to fear can still be affected by it.  Every successful hit after the first increases the DC by 1, and for every alignment component that differs the DC is increased by 4 more.  At level 9, the target is entangled as well.  At level 18, the target is flat-footed in addition to the other conditions.  These are not stunning based effects, and as such they can affect those normally immune to stunning.  A monk that chooses this gains a bonus use of Stunning Fist per encounter every three levels instead of every 5.

Fast Movement (ex): This feature adds a +10 enhancement bonus at 2nd level, and increases every 3 levels thereafter, providing a +70 enhancement bonus at level 20.  This bonus applies to all forms of travel the monk naturally possesses.  So a monk with the Overland Flight spell cast on him would not add the bonus to the flight speed, but a monk with a swim speed due to race would add the bonus to his swim speed, and a monk with wings grafted on to him would gain the bonus to his fly speed.  A monk loses this bonus while he wears any armor or uses a shield.

Still Mind (su): Your supernatural calmness makes it harder to detect you based on thoughts.  Any effect that detects you based on your mind and any attempt to read your mind take twice as long as normal.  For effects that are continuous (such as Mindsight), the effect has a 50% chance of failing to detect you.

Slow Fall (ex): At level 4, a monk gains the ability to fall from any height safely.  Whenever a monk falls, he takes no falling damage upon landing, regardless of the distance fallen.  Other issues from falling from great heights, such as oxygen deprivation or the heat of re-entry, are still an issue however.

Ki Strike (ex): At first level a monk may use Wis instead of Str on all attack rolls made with weapons he is proficient with.  At 3rd level a Monk adds his Wis modifier to damage made with weapons he is proficient with. At 4th level, all of a Monk's attacks are treated as magic for the purpose of overcoming DR. At 10th level they count as both aspects of his alignment for the purposes of overcoming DR, as Ghost Touch weapons, and they always ignore the hardness of inanimate objects.  At level 16 they count as all mundane substances for the purposes of over coming DR, and they deal normal damage to all inanimate objects.  A monk loses this bonus while he wears any armor or uses a shield.

Purity of Body (ex): At 5th level, a monk gains immunity to all diseases and poisons, including supernatural and magical diseases.

Erratic Advance (ex): Starting at 5th level, when charging, the Monk may charge along any path. He also is no longer required to move to the closest square from which he can attack the target of his charge nor in the most direct path available.  A monk loses this bonus while he wears any armor or uses a shield.

Wholeness of Body (ex): At level 7 a Monk gains the ability to heal his own wounds.  As a standard action, he can heal an amount of damage equal to his class level times his wisdom modifier a number of times per day equal to his constitution modifier.  At level 14 he gains fast healing 1, or his existing fast healing increases by 1.

Deep Perception (ex): At level 8, a Monk's connection to the world around him deepens.  He gains blindsense out to 10'.  As he increases in level, his perception abilities strengthen, and this range increases by 5' per class level beyond 8.  At level 16 he gains blindsight out to half the distance of his blindsense (round down).  He still gains blindsense out to the normal distance, so a level 16 monk would have blindsight out to 25' and blindsense out to 50'.

Diamond Body (ex): At 11th level, Monks gain a measure of protection from physical harm.  They are no longer subject to ability drain.  Instead, any effect that would cause ability drain instead causes ability damage.  In addition, ability damage heals at a rate of 1/ability/hour.  This does not apply to self-inflicted ability drain, such as the cost of casting a vile spell.

Diamond Soul (su): At level 13, Monks gain spell resistance equal to 10+class level+1/2 other levels+their wisdom modifier.  They may raise or lower their spell resistance as a free action at any time, allowing them to benefit from beneficial spells cast by others.

Freedom of Thought (ex):  A 17th level or higher Monk can re-roll any failed save against a Mind-Affecting effect, though the second roll must be kept.  You must choose whether or not to re-roll before the outcome is determined

Abundant Step (Ex): Monks have trained themselves to move so quickly and with such precision that no effort or force is wasted, including even that pulling down their weight. Starting at 3rd level and every 4 levels thereafter, this training allows them to, with a successful Balance check made at the beginning of a movement that requires it, move across steadily more difficult surfaces that would otherwise be nearly impossible.  A monk loses this bonus while he wears any armor or uses a shield.

At 3rd level, Monks can walk or run over difficult terrain with no penalty. They can also run through and over branches, fences, thin ice, the shoulders of a crowd, and other stiff objects that could not normally hold their weight with a DC 15 balance check.

At 7th level, Monks can walk or run up vertical surfaces or across liquid surfaces with a DC 20 balance check for a number of consecutive rounds equal to their Dex modifier. At the end of this time, if they are not on a solid, flat surface, they fall and/or sink. At this level they also are no longer required to make Balance checks for surfaces over an inch in width and are not hindered (though they can still be blocked) by, nor do they take damage from, even magically enhanced terrain, including wall spells and harmful effects like lava.  So you could walk up a Wall of Blades without taking damage, but you could not walk through it without taking damage, and you can pass through magically enhanced difficult terrain with no restriction, but are still blocked by solid objects and would have to go around (or over) them.

At 11th level, Monks can walk or run up vertical surfaces or across liquid surfaces indefinitely, and treat them as solid, flat surfaces with an upright orientation. Monks can walk or run through the air (in any direction of their choice, including straight up) and across ceilings (or other surfaces that would orient them upside down) with a DC 35 balance check for a number of consecutive rounds equal to their Dex modifier. At the end of this time, if they are not on a solid, flat surface with an upright orientation, they fall to the ground. At this level, the Monk also can no longer be tracked due to physical signs of his movement (footprints, broken twigs, etc), as he leaves none.

At 15th level, Monks can walk or run through the air and across ceilings indefinitely. This gives them the equivalent of a flight speed with perfect maneuverability equal to their land speed.  In addition, he becomes able to slip between dimensions.  With a DC 40 balance check, a monk may teleport as per the Dimension Door spell, except as noted here.  This takes a standard action, and the distance traveled is 5' per class level.  Every time the monk uses this ability, the DC increases by 4, and the DC increase resets to 0 after an hour of not using this ability.

At 19th level, the monk can teleport as a standard action at will, without needing to make a balance check.  You may use this teleportation as a swift action with a DC 45 balance check.  Every time you attempt to teleport as a swift action, the DC increases by 4, and the DC increase resets to 0 after an hour of not using this ability.

Perfect Self:  A 20th level Monk has so attuned himself with the underlying flows of the world around him that he becomes a part of them. His type changes to outsider, with subtypes based on the aspects of his alignment. He also gains DR 10 overcome only by weapons that oppose both aspects of his alignment. If a Monk is neutral in one or both aspects of his alignment, he chooses one extreme instead for purposes of this ability. Unlike most outsiders, though, a Monk can still be resurrected.

PLAYING A MONK
Monks are martial artists, pure and simple.  They lead a simple life, with few possessions, and focus on perfecting themselves, rather than changing the world.
Religion: Monks typically follow deities not associated with specific races, such as Obad-Hai and Boccob.  Deities that embody alignments are favorites for members of this class.
Other Classes: Monks enjoy the company of those that share similar interests.  Self-sufficient classes, such as the Wizard and the Rogue are favorite companions, but classes that benefit from helping others are also welcome allies, such as Clerics.
Combat: Monks are fast, hard hitting melee paragons.  Use their speed to close the gap between them and weak targets, hitting fast and hard.  Monks with Decisive Strike tend to focus on attacks of opportunity, trading in large numbers of attacks on their turn for attacks off of their turn.  Monks with Debilitating Strike focus on shutting down the defenses of opponents and preventing them from making effective action.
Advancement: Physical and mental training are how to increase your power with these abilities.  Most options for advancement outside of the class include martial classes and psionic classes.  Both offer an advancement of the monk's unique ability, and aid them in their quest to perfect their own body.

Monks like feats that benefit their fighting style.  Those with Debilitating Strike take the Stunning Fist feat chain to compliment their debuff hits.  Those with the Decisive Strike ability focus on feats that let them make more attacks of opportunity, such as Improved Trip and Karmic Strike.  Those with Flurry of Blows focus on abilities that let them hit and not be hit, such as Spring Attack and Weapon Focus.

MONKS IN THE WORLD
I tell ya, you've never seen a fighter quite like these guys.  No weapons, no armor, but they can take you out right quick.

-Carl Silverstriker, human infantryman.

Monks are viewed as a detached sect in society.  They tend to keep to themselves, so some do cultivate an aura of suspicion.  Most of the societies know of an order of monks nearby, or even as a part of society.  As contradicting as it sounds, some orders of chaotic monks have been formed, mostly in the wilderness, and meetings are not mandatory.
Daily Life: Most monks have a daily meditation ritual, for the sharpening of their mind.  However, every monk has a different ritual, and some, particularly chaotic monks, meditate in such a way that does not in any way resemble a stereotypical mediation.
Notables:  Amber was a human monk who traveled with the halfling caravans centuries ago.  Her help in defeating numerous foes and her teachings to the members of that caravan led to the formation of Yondalla's Guardians.  It is not known if Amber ever truly existed or not. 
Organizations: The Monks of T'shuva are an order of lawful monks who practice their art high in the mountains.  There, the ponder the existence of the deities, attempting to find ways to communicate with them on a familiar level, rather than a spiritual one or through spells.  They are noted pacifists, however. Yondalla's Guardians are an order of halfling monks who are charged with protecting the caravans from the dangers of the wild and from bandits.  They are very good at hiding, and some even boast magical and psionic abilities that aid them in protecting their charges, so most bandits know to stay away from even seemingly unguarded caravans.  They allow other classes into their ranks as well, but the majority  of the organizers are monks.

NPC Reaction
Most of the time an NPC will give a monk an odd look, if only for the typical outfit.  Since monks tend to wear very simple clothes and no armor, even while wandering the wilderness, this is not a common sight.  Monks tend to have distinct philosophies which might clash with the region they are in, in which case a closed mouth might be advisable, especially in areas where oppression is common.

MONKS IN THE GAME
This class works well in any setting where pseudo magical abilities are common.  In most typical fantasy settings this class will fit in perfectly.
Adaptation: If you need to adapt this class to a lower magic setting, consider altering the more magical abilities, such as Diamond Soul and Perfect Self.
Encounters: A typical encounter with a monk will exist on a larger scale than is typical for melee combat.  Monks like using speed to catch opponents in tactically vulnerable positions.  It would not be a bad idea for the monk to have another ally available, though a single monk should be able to at least run away if things go south.

[dman11235]

Feats and Such

This class is designed to work with the feats listed here.
The system found here is designed with this class and the above feats in mind.

[dman11235]

Reserved for good measure.

[dman11235]

And one more for good luck

[xaotiq1]

THIS is a Monk worth playing! Thank you Dman. Now to find a DM that will allow it.

[EjoThims]

Looks a bit familiar... 

I likes, as I said. 

And adding to Rewrite Comp soon as I do another update there.

[Jackinthegreen]

Still has the 20th level trap barring the monk from gaining buffs that only affect humanoids.  Think you could change it to say the monk can benefit from or ignore spells and abilities as he sees fit?

[dman11235]

Actually, that's part of the point.  He's now immune to things like Dominate Person, but can't benefit from Enlarge Person.  Part of the class is gradually becoming an outsider.  Although that's a good point, I never thought about spells and effects that only affect humanoids.  I'm not sure that it is really a problem however.  What effects are "humanoid only"?  Almost all of the ones I can find are actually harmful, rather than helpful buffs.  Only one I've found was Enlarge Person (and company).

[dman11235]

Slight modification: unarmed damage progression is now granted by the Improved Unarmed Strike feat.  I will be posting the enhanced IUS and feats that key off of it in the second post shortly, and the Monk now grants additional damage at levels where he used to gain US damage boosts (excluding level 1), and I'm thinking it won't be based off of damage dice.  Probably static amounts, +1 per dice at 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20?  That's 2d10+10 at level 20 base, and if you're large it's 4d8+20, huge is 6d8+30, that might be too much....maybe just straight +1 at each level, making it +5 at 20?  Thoughts on good, low level damage for this?  It will be straight +1 at those levels for the time being.

[Braininthejar]

Interesting. No alignment restriction means that now one could have a monk/barbarian/fist of the forest if he wanted to.
I see quivering palm is gone. A pity, since it is rather iconic but your monk gains a ton of other stuff and implementing quivering palm here would not be feasible (it would have to be a feat beyond "freezing the lifeblood" and who can afford so many feats?)

I have some questions concering this version:

1 Still mind is mentioned in the chart only - I assume it is the same as the core version?

2 Slow fall - Does he fall at normal speed and just suffers no damage? The name suggests otherwise but then he wouldn't heat up on re-entry.

3 Ki strike - what exactly constitutes "special monk weapons" (most importantly, is unarmed strike a special monk weapon? The chart sais "WIS to unarmed damage" but the ability description doesn't mention that) What are "all mundane substances" (I am assuming wood/stone/metal except adamantine?) Also, level 16 ki strike missing from the chart.

4 Does debilitating strike work on creatures immune to critical hits? What about abilities that interact specifically with the shaken condition? Does it stack with being shaken as a fear effect ( I mean for double the penalties, not for frightened)

5 Abundant step. It mentions running or walking, which means the speed is not a requirement for the ability to work. Can a monk not move and still stand on water/stick to the wall? If not, is a 5 foot step enough? Does that mean a 7th level monk can stand on a pool of lava and suffer no damage? Same for air-walking. Can an 11 level monk stop in mid-air or does he have to keep "double jumping"? 

[dman11235]

Quivering Palm was a terrible terrible class feature.  It was the first thing to go (not the first thing changed, that was the unarmed strike proficiency ).  I might make a new feat call Quivering Palm eventually (utilizing Stunning Attacks) for alignment restrictions, no base class should have them, ever.  Alignment options, sure (think Incarnate), but restrictions (a la Monk, Barbarian, Bard, Knight, Paladin, etc.) do not belong on a base class, and usually shouldn't be used in PrCs.

1: Uh...I can't remember.....I think I got rid of it.  It's there because you need it as a prereq, but it's not a feature.  Here's what I'll do: I'll look into the feature and see if something needs to be there, but I believe that I'll end up adding a "feature" that basically says that the Monk qualifies as having Still Mind at that level.

2: It does exactly what it says, nothing more, nothing less.

3: I changed what it affected and forgot to change the wording.  Any instance that says "special monk weapon" or something similar should be "any weapon the monk is proficient with".  Will change shortly.

4: I specifically state that it is not a fear effect, and therefore it can affect creatures immune to fear.  As such, it cannot stack with fear effects.  Also, same bonuses don't stack.  I will make it clearer.  For the first part, I'll clarify, but it affects anything.

5: I'll make it more clear, but you can indeed do that.  However, do note that environmental conditions still affect you.  They just don't take damage or effects from touching the environment.  They can't swim in lava without taking damage, for instance, and walking through a fire is a bad idea.  Hmm, actually, I need to really reword this.  Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

[phaedrusxy]

I still don't know what you mean about the environment not harming you, but you still take damage from lava...

In the chart you list bonus feats, but don't actually list where they're supposed to be chosen from, if they need to meet the prereqs, etc.

[dman11235]

Okay, do not pay attention to the chart.  It has apparently not been changed from the previous version.

For the environmental damage thing, it's supposed to be just that you can walk on stuff, but if you try to walk on lava, you'll end up taking damage from contact with lava.  I'll change that soon.

[phaedrusxy]

Also:

are not hindered (though they can still be blocked) by, nor do they take damage from, even magically enhanced terrain, including wall spells and harmful affects like lava.

What does not hindered, but still blocked, mean? Isn't being blocked the main "hindrance" of many wall spells?

[dman11235]

It's supposed to be something like difficult terrain.  That's a hindrance, walls are a blockage.  I'll make it clearer.

[EjoThims]

Yea, hindered and blocked are separate conditions that apply to movement. And Dman, when I wrote it I intended for them to be immune to damage from treating it like a solid surface...

So one could run up a wall made by blade barrier or across a lake of lava without being hurt, but running THROUGH the blades or submerging in the lava would still apply damage.

[Braininthejar]

Quivering Palm was a terrible terrible class feature.  It was the first thing to go (not the first thing changed, that was the unarmed strike proficiency ).  I might make a new feat call Quivering Palm eventually (utilizing Stunning Attacks)

So, what exactly sucked about it? (apart from the fact that casters do it better) If you are considering it, it indicates that it wasn't the idea as much as the implementation.

( I still disagree on the alignment thing - some classes are defined by their assiciated personality type. But that is largely a matter of taste and as such, not discussable)

[dman11235]

First off, the obvious: it was a ONCE PER WEEK ability.  Not even once per day: once per WEEK.  This ability was also very easy to avoid (immune to stunning or crits?  You're immune.  Not immune to stunning or crits?  Oh no!  It's DC 20 or so!  At level 15!).  And not only that, but if you missed on the attack roll, your WEEKLY calss feature is wasted for a full WEEK.  The ability just all around sucked.  Now for why it was a terrible class feature on top of that: it was keyed off of Stunning Fist, effectively (followed similar mechanics), but was put into a class that didn't do anything with Stunning Fist, aside from give the feats as a potential bonus feat (you didn't necessarily take Stunning Fist).  So it was the first thing I cut.  Then the consideration for feat happened.  Well, it only started happening a couple days ago, when you first mentioned it.  The thing is just worthless.  The only way it can exist is if it's a feat keyed off of Stunning Fist, and I already have Freezing the Lifeblood, which is effectively a SoD.  A /encounter SoD.  It paralyzes you, which is prime CdG time.  So yeah, it might get added as a feat, but I'd sneak it in, and basically shove it to the side so no one notices.  So I probably won't make it.

On alignment: no, see, some CHARACTERS are defined that way.  Classes are not.  Classes define the abilities of a character, not the alignment or personality.  So instead of chosing a class and making your character around that, you choose a character and choose classes that fit that character.  This can involve alignment based abilities, but it should be done in a Cleric or Incarnate way, where you choose your ability based on alignment.

[Andion Isurand]

1a. Shouldn't Abundant Step be a supernatural ability... especially when defying gravity or teleporting?
1b. And instead of faster teleporting at level 19... how about allowing the monk to move their speed as a swift action once per round?

2. You should also include the clauses where the monk loses certain abilities whenever they take penalties for encumbrance.

3. For aquatic environments, I would give the monks the ability to hold their breath for a very long period of time.

4. What about abilities to avoid being slowed down or hindered?

5. An ability for Cold Resistance 5 might be helpful for monks that find themselves in arctic environments, monks that don't want to be weighed down by heavy garmets.

[zioth]

I like this monk! Of course, it would only work in a campaign that also had a more powerful fighter and a few other classes.

A few comments/suggestions:

The Debilitating Strike options are awkward. Entangled by what? Shaken how? If you want these things to be unresistable, it would be better to describe them without using the technical terms. For example, instead of saying shaken, say the opponent has a -2 to attacks and AC (or whatever shaken does). Instead of entangled, have the opponent be unable to move from its current position without a DC [whatever] strength check.

New movement forms: I have two problems with these. First, you encourage the monk to invest a ton of ranks in Balance, but then make balance checks unnecessary after a couple levels. So a patient monk doesn't have to invest in Balance at all. I suggest keeping the balance checks forever. Second, some of these effects feel pretty unmonk-like to me. Limitless flight? Standing still on water? What you might do instead (though it will be weaker) is to make this like the Walk on Walls psionic feat. You can walk across water, as long as you end your action on a solid surface. You can jump to great heights (effectively flying) as long as you end your action grabbing on to something. That way, you could retain your cinematic special effects without streching believability too far for this basically mundane class. Keep in mind that your monk can charge anywhere, and has a huge movement speed. That means he can move quite far on water, in the air, etc in one round. Let him charge and run anywhere he can move.

You might consider enhancing the mobility skills. Let the monk use the jump skill without the normal limits, and at some level, double the range of jump, allowing great leaps. Let the monk climb at full speed and take 10 while climbing.

Vision: Blindsight is great, but in my opinion, it doesn't fit the idea of a monk very well. What allows him to see invisible creatures? Instead, what if you gave the monk Blind Fight for free. Combined with Blindsense, this means there's only a 25% chance of missing. Add in tremmorsense, so the monk can detect enemy positions around corners and behind walls, and you have the super-senses monk you seem to be going for. If you're really stuck on blindsight, I might word it differently and call it something else: "Because the monk is so attuned to the terrain around him, he can precisely pinpoint the locations of his enemies. Within half the range of his blindsense, he suffers no miss chance due to concealment or invisibility."