September 1981 Dragon Hes got a lot to kick about! by Philip Meyers Practical experience with monk char- level’s worth of experience points, just as acters reinforces the conclusion. In this if the monk had been energy-drained. A Of all the character classes in the author’s experience, there seem to be wealthy fighter who has been struck by a AD&D™ game, the class of monks is the two ways for a monk character to survive wight can pay a large sum for a Restora- most difficult to qualify for. A monk must to reach upper levels. The first is for the tion spell. The defeated monk has no have exceptional strength, wisdom, and monk to acquire a powerful magic item such option. In effect, this limits the dexterity, and — if he or she wishes to that offsets one or more of the monk’s monk to 7th level, or at best means that survive for very long — constitution. weaknesses, like a Ring of Regenera- the monk will ultimately need 2 or 3 times The odds of rolling up such a charac- tion, Bracers of Defense AC 2, or a Cloak as many experience points as listed, ter, even using the various “cheating me- of Displacement. The other way is for the since the luck of the die will invariably thods” listed in the Dungeon Masters monk to cower at the back of the party, cause the monk to be defeated a number Guide, are not favorable. Given this, one avoiding combat wherever possible. This of times. Worst of all, the monk may have would expect a monk to be a powerful means the monk is generally useless to stand off challenges by NPC monks, character indeed. At first glance this and, aside from opening a few locked and who can say how many Superior would appear to be true. The Grand Mas- doors now and then, does nothing be- Masters will be out looking for the char- ter of Flowers can reasonably claim to be sides siphon off experience points from acter who finally makes it to Master of the most powerful fighter around, able to more deserving characters. Neither of Dragons? inflict 128 points of damage in a single these situations is wholly satisfactory. In essence, then, the monk is a useless round. This superiority, however, is more Of course, one can always argue that, character at lower and middle levels, and theoretical than real. In actual practice, once the monk finally does make it to the is extremely difficult to maintain at upper the monk is the weakest of the character upper levels, the long wait was worth it. levels. The player with visions of Bruce classes, not the strongest. An 8th-level monk is just about competi- Lee or David Carradine dancing in his or The sources of a monk’s weakness are tive with 8th-level characters in the other her head is in for a big letdown when many. First, monks are severely handi- classes, and is clearly superior to an 8th- such a player tries to run a monk capped in armor class. The Novice starts level thief, or even a 9th-level thief. character. at AC 10, is denied the use of any armor, However, it is by no means certain that The idea of a character class of martial and receives no armor class adjustment the monk character will ever get to 8th artists is undeniably a good one, and for dexterity. This situation fails to im- level, even should he or she honestly monks deserve a place in the AD&D sys- prove for a long time — at 5th level the earn the 200,001 experience points re- tem. But how, then, can monks be made hapless monk is a mighty AC 7. quired. This is due to the requirement competitive and (if possible) more in- As for hit points, the average 1st-level that a monk of this level or higher must teresting? monk with a 16 constitution has 9 hit fight and defeat the present title holder It is possible to cure the defects in the points. The extra hit die at 1st level is not in order to advance in level. Thus, every present system without changing the na- enough to allow the monk to keep up time the player-character monk attempts ture of monks at all, as the following with clerics, fighters, or even thieves, for to advance in level beyond the 7th, the suggested system demonstrates. very long. At 5th level the monk with a 16 character must ran a basic 50% chance First, in place of Tables I and II on page constitution has an average 25 hit points, of losing and failing to achieve the level. 31 of the Players Handbook, use the re- where the cleric has 32½, the fighter 37½, Worse still, the price of defeat is a full vised tables given herein. and the thief 27½. (No one should play a monk with a constitution of less than 16; the figures will humiliate. the monk.) MONKS TABLE I: EXPERIENCE POINTS AND LEVELS The multiple attacks with open hands 6-sided dice for accu- that are supposed to be the monk’s forte Experience Points Level mulated hit points Level Title are still negligible at 5th level, becoming 0—1,500 1 2 Novice appreciable only at 6th level, where the 1,501—3,000 2 3 Initiate of the Rudiments monk receives 3 attacks every 2 rounds. 3,001—6,000 34initiate of the Elements Fighters are, however, quick to catch up; 6,001—12,000 45Initiate of the Principles at 7th level they also acquire this ability. 12,001—25,000 56Brother The spell-like powers of monks are 25,001—40,000 67Disciple laughable when compared to the spell 40,001—70,000 7 8 Disciple of Secrets abilities of clerics or magic-users. Just 70,001—110,000 89Disciple of Mysteries as the 6th-level magic-user is acquiring a 110,001—160,000 9 10 Immaculate second Fireball with which to destroy 160,001—220,000 10 11 Master the enemy, the 6th-level monk is learn- 220,001—400,000 11 12 Superior Master ing to feign death. 400,001—650,000 12 13 Master of Dragons The ability to stun or kill an opponent 650,001—900,000 13 14 Master of the North Wind is next to worthless at low and middle 900,001—1,150,000 14 15 Master of the West Wind levels because the monk’s chance of do- 1,150,001—1,400,000 15 16 Master of the South Wind ing it is so small, and because the monk’s 1,400,001—1,650,000 16 17 Master of the East Wind awful armor class and hit points prevent 1,650,001—1,900,000 17 18 Master of Winter the character from spending too much 1,900,001—2,200,000 18 19 Master of Autumn time in melee. Also, monks advance 2,200,001—2,500,000 19 20 Master of Summer more slowly in level than any other char- 2,500,001—2,800,000 20 21 Master of Spring acter class at middle and upper levels. 2,800,001+ 21 22 Grand Master of Flowers 7 Dragon Vol. VI, No. 3 MONKS TABLE II: MONKS ABILITY TABLE otherwise very large, and against crea- Effective Open hand Open hand Special tures with a natural armor class of 0 or Level Armor Class Move attacks/round damage abilities better. 1 6 15” 1 1-4 A 2: A monk’s thieving abilities are limit- 2 5 15” 1 1-6 B ed to Moving Silently, Finding (but not 3 4 16” 1 2-7 C removing) Traps, Hiding in Shadows, 4 3 16” 3/2 2-7 D Hearing Noises, and Climbing Walls. 5 3 17” 3/2 2-8 E 3: Single combat as a means of ad- 6 2 17” 3/2 3-9 F vancement is not required until the monk 7 2 18” 2 3-9 G reaches 12th level, and then only if the 8 1 18” 2 2-12 H title is occupied (see below). A monk 9 1 19” 2 3-12 I who loses a challenge loses 100,000 ex- 10 0 20” 5/2 3-12 J perience points and cannot challenge 11 0 20” 5/2 4-13 K again for 1 year. 12 -1 21” 5/2 4-16 L 4: At 10th level a monk’s hands and 13 -1 22” 3 4-16 M feet become the equivalent of +1 wea- 14 -2 23” 3 5-17 N pons for purposes of determining what 15 -2 24” 3 5-20 0 creatures they can do damage to. At 18th 16 -3 25” 3 4-24 P level they become the equivalent of +2 17 -3 26” 4 4-24 Q weapons. (Moral: You can’t karate-chop 18 -4 27” 4 6-24 R an iron golem.) 19 -4 28” 4 5-30 S 20 -5 29” 4 8-32 T Upper-level advancement options 21 -5 30” 4 6-36 U Monks can be either lawful good, law- ful neutral, or lawful evil. The Players Special abilities 100% chance of success, usable once a Handbook makes no mention of separ- A: The ability to feign death, as the week, maximum duration 1 hour per lev- ate monastic orders for these alignment present monk ability D: el of the monk.