Monk

Monks were religious ascetics and practitioners of a mystical energy as ki as a means of both self-defense and offensive power. Monks ability to manipulate ki was often mediated by their own psionic ability. Due to their special training monks were as capable in combat as fully armed warriors typically were, striking with as much lethal power as many fighters, rangers, or rogues. Additionally, most monks were capable of affecting their enemies in other ways.

Sabuti Shanardanda was a notable monk from Amn during the Era of Upheaval. Danica Maupoissant was another notable monk studying at Spirit Soaring (Edificant Library). Grandmaster Kane was an incredibly powerful monk of the order of Ilmater, one of the companions of Gareth Dragonsbane who assisted him in defeating the evil witchking Zhengyi.

Culture
Monastic traditions appear to have originally arisen in Amn and Calimshan simultaneously, though traditions from Kara-Tur and other material planes immigrated to Faerûn and may have originated earlier. Most monastic orders were devoted to the worship and internalization of the ideals of a god, though others were not and it wa not required for the practice of a monk’s lifestyle, since a monk’s power most often came from within, rather than from divine sources. The gods most commonly worshiped by monks tended to be champions of virtue like Bahamut, deities of battle such as Tempus, or those who required of their followers a disciplined lifestyle. Monks of Ilmater, Shar, Yondalla (among the few halfling monks) were also common, and members of the Shining Hand were devoted to Azuth.

Monks usually lived in monasteries, which could be found throughout all of Toril, though most commonly in Amn, Calimshan, Damara, Kara-Tur, the Lake of Steam, or Silverymoon, as well as Mulhorand prior to the Spellplague. Some monasteries were located in reclusive mountains; others operated in city slums. Wherever they were based, monks rigorously trained their bodies and minds towards perfection, enabling them to defend themselves with their bare hands and certain specialized weapons. Due to the discipline imposed by this training, all monks were of a lawful temperament. However, monasteries, and the monks that resided within, varied in morals. Good monasteries were servants of the people, protecting them from bandits and other threats. Evil monasteries, on the other hand, were often tyrannical bastions, ruling the surrounding lands through fear or serving despots as spies and assassins. Most monks adhered to neither extreme, however.

Most monks came to their individual monastery at an early age, either as orphans or as members of starving families. As a result of their young induction, relatively few monks felt any close connection to their previous families or friends, and instead looked to their fellow monks as their family. Other monks came from a different background, most often within cities where masters of an order set up schools to teach the fighting style and traditions of his or her order to prospective students.

Most monks were humans or half-humans such as half-elves or half-orcs, the latter in particular being well-suited for a physical rigors of a monk’s life. Elves also make capable monks due to their natural agility and perceptiveness. However, dwarves, in spite of their hierarchical and orderly culture, found the concept of the monk distasteful or bizarre and as a result few chose such a path. Likewise gnomish and halfling monks, with the exception of stronghearts, were not particularly common. And among the more savage humanoids such as orcs or goblinoids monks were an utterly alien tradition.

Abilities
To monks, the body was a wonderful and little understood thing, capable of amazing feats that most would consider impossible. Through the use of various meditation techniques, monks gained complete mastery over their body and harnessed its power in wonderful ways. Such abilities were wide and varied: they could support themselves on a single extended finger for an indefinite period of time, shatter bones, wood, stone, and armor with a single blow of their hand or foot, break solid stone with their head, move with unnatural speed, dodge and deflect incoming missiles such as arrows, leap incredibly high and far, control rapid movements of their body with perfect precision, achieve strength far beyond that of persons of similar body build, and make themselves perfectly rigid and immovable.

Monks’ psionic mastery of martial arts did not require them to fight without armor, although they did gain benefits from eschewing it for an unarmored defense, acquiring a unique ability to sense and avoid attacks, sometimes enhanced by their experience and ability to perceive or intuit danger. Monks often used only their bare hands as weapons, delivering powerful blows that grew stronger as the monk's training progressed. Monks were also trained in the use of clubs, daggers, spears, slings, shurikens, and quarterstaffs. Of these, monks could use their unarmed strikes, clubs, daggers, staffs, or spears as implements to enhance their psionic powers, known as disciplines. Some monks were also trained in the use of crossbows, handaxes, nunchaku, kamas, or sianghams and, in particular, preferred the use of kamas and sianghams, which were small enough and specialized enough to allow them to use their unarmed techniques. Monks could enhance these attacks with implements such as magic weapons or ki focuses.

As melee combatants, monks were more or less equivalent to warriors in skill and deadliness, learning a number of techniques that gave them an edge over their armed foes. Monks could also learn to stun their opponents and as they grew more experienced some monks learn a number of other methods, becoming capable of deflecting missile attacks or killing a foe with a single blow.

All monks were unusually focused and many were difficult to charm or enchant. Monks could also use this focus, as well as their psionic power, to affect their own body in unusual ways. With a little training, for instance, monks could become adept at using their surroundings to slow their descent when falling to nonlethal speeds. They could also gain an affinity with their surroundings, taking on some of its characteristics (for example, becoming like stone to escape the effects of a fireball). Likewise, some monks could purify their body, gaining immunity to common illnesses and the ability to heal themselves at will. With additional training, some monks learn to halt their aging, speak with any creature, become immune to poisons, or gain an unusual degree of resistance to virtually all supernatural effects.

Monastic traditions
Though all monks shared a great deal with one another, many were divided into slightly specialized traditions that differed in the particular martial art style they focused on during training. Two of the most frequently espoused traditions are listed below.

Centered Breath monk
Frequently found in remote rural areas, monasteries that taught the Centered Breath tradition placed an emphasis upon mental perfection and acuity, calmly anticipating enemy actions and countering them with psionic energy. Centered Breath monks were soft-spoken ascetics, who preferred solitary study to combat training, honing their psionic abilities through discipline and quiet contemplation. Some Centered Breath monasteries even swore themselves to a vow of silence, allowing members to speak only for one hour a day.

Through such dedicated study Centered Breath monks acquired a number of unique abilities. Among the most basic of these was the centered flurry of blows discipline, which involved hitting an opponent rapidly in order to shift them a short distance. Additionally, Centered Breath monks - who were often less physically powerful than other monks - could use their considerable mental powers to regulate their own body, increasing their fortitude.

Stone Fist monk
While some monks emphasized the importance of mind over body, adherents of the Stone Fist tradition believed that true spiritual perfection began with the mastery of the body. Training themselves to supernatural levels of agility and strength, Stone First monks were master athletes, who often offered their services as laborers or artisans to local communities when they weren't training. Stone Fist monasteries where therefore more likely to be found in towns or villages than the remote wilderness, though exceptions did exist for those monasteries whose members sought to test themselves physically against climatic extremes, such as a desolate tundra or an active volcano.

The harsh training of the Stone Fist tradition made its adherents both more agile and more powerful than other monks. Moving swiftly across the battlefield, Stone Fist monks favored such disciplines as the stone fist flurry of blows technique, which landed a series of quick and devastating blows on enemies. Stone Fist monks' physical mastery also gave them a degree of resistance to efforts to sap their will, making up for their shortcomings in mental training.