Infamous 1e Class Guide: Monks

 Introduction

The Monk class in Infamous is possibly the most terrifying of the first classes, as it is not quite like any of the other classes. It serves many of the utility purposes filled by a Thief, later on providing the immense power a Fighter desires to make use of. They also have a whole slew of powerful abilities and talents that are unique to the Monk. To play a Monk, one must always have a lawful alignment, and while many Monks are lawful good, there are many neutral and evil monks as well. In addition, the Monk must have no less than 15 in Strength, Wisdom, and Dexterity. A Monk must also not have less than 11 Constitution. The Monk character is designed in concept to be an enlightened warrior who has undergone rigorous and unrelenting physical and spiritual training. Monks are masters of the martial arts, skilled in combat and doctrine.

The Strictures of the Monk

First of all, since all Monks are lawful in nature, the disciplines and practices of the Monk's code cannot be ignored by a Monk character. There are many restrictions which go against the way of monastic tradition, and these restrictions must be followed for the Monk character to keep all the abilities and benefits gained from the class.

Firstly, all Monks are forbidden from wearing any sort of armor. Armor is far too restricting on movement, and hinders growth in the art of dodging and deflecting attacks as a Monk does.

Similarly to the Paladins, a Monk must not retain an excessive amount of wealth gained throughout the adventure. A Monk may not possess more than 2 magical weapons, and never more than 3 other miscellaneous magical items. A Monk may not hoard too much wealth, as only enough money to support the Monk's modest needs, as well as support henchmen and followers, may be kept at any time. The rest must be donated to a religious institution of some form, which does not directly benefit a character in the party. (You cannot donate to the Cleric.) Note that the magical items which are usable by Monks include all kinds of magic weaponry unless otherwise stated. Rings are also allowed for a Monk character, but other than that Monks are only allowed the use of miscellaneous items which are usable by Thieves.

As stated hereafter, Monks do not gain any Strength bonuses, whether to hit, or to damage from using open hand attacks. This is because the open hand fighting style in nature does not employ the use of strength, and rather is related to striking precise points on the defender's body which cause damage through locking up muscles and joints in the target's body.

Until attaining the Master rank, Monks may not hire any henchmen or hirelings of any sort. The exception to this is that a 6th level Monk may hire helping hands on a temporary, one adventure basis. At this level, only 2 henchmen may be acquired, and these may only be Fighters, (but not Paladins or Rangers,) Thieves, and in the case of an evil Monk, Assassins. For each level after the 6th (and since Master is reached at 7th level, these may become permanent henchmen should the individuals choose,) one additional hired hand may be gained.

Lastly, there are only a limited number of Monks beyond 7th level. There may only be 3 Masters of Dragons (8th level Monks) in each area of the world. The abilities gained from being an 8th level Monk will only be temporary, only lasting for around a singular adventure, until one of the other 8th level Monks must be defeated in hand to hand combat, without any weapons or magic. This must be done again for each of the levels after, as only a single Monk of each level hereafter can reside in an area at a time. The loser of one of these battles loses exactly enough experience points to place him or her at the level below the level at which the duel was conducted. Your Monk will know where to find a Monk of the following level in the event that a duel is necessary. If the Monk you must fight is not challenged and fought within a timely manner, being within 1 month of reaching your level, you will lose the experience points necessary to drop to the previous level once more. Note that a duel is unnecessary if no Monk of higher level is in the area.

If these strictures are followed exactly, the Monk will gain a set number of followers upon reaching 8th level. Once this is reached, 2-5 1st level Monks will join the character if a monastery is constructed as a headquarters. These Monks will gain experience and level up in adventures they participate in, just as a player would. In addition, up to 2 additional 1st level Monks are likely to join the character for every level after the 8th. The monastery in question is a building specially constructed by the character once 8th level is reached. Up to this point, wealth up to a maximum of 250,000 gold pieces may be retained in order to finance the construction of this building. Obviously, sufficient funding may be held hereafter in order to maintain the monastery. 

Note that Monk followers require no pay or upkeep of any sort, as they are self-sufficient.

 Open Hand, and Other Combat

The signature ability possessed by all Monks regardless of level is their unique open hand strikes. These unarmed strikes attack using the same table as normal fists, however unlike typical fist attacks, a first level Monk is capable of attack but once per round with one of these strikes. These attacks are not affected by a Strength bonus, whether used to-hit or on the damage roll. These attacks deal 1-3 damage by default, and are likely not your best option at the earlier levels. However, even at low levels an open hand attack has a unique interaction when rolling 5 points over the minimum "to-hit" which allows the Monk to stun a target. This stunned effect lasts 1-6 rounds, and prevents them from moving, attacking, casting spells, and other things. Treat all attacks made against a stunned target as if made from behind, only treat all typical to-hit bonuses as +4 instead of the normal +2. This also means that should a Thief attack a stunned target, the attack will automatically be treated as a backstab.

At the earlier levels these open hand strikes are not especially powerful, and are generally used for a last resort or when non-lethal damage is preferred. In most cases, a lower level Monk would make better use of one of the weapons available. More specifically, Monks are able to make great use of the polearms that are listed as available weapons. Of the available polearms, most of the time a halberd would be your best weapon available as a Monk. Unlike with open hand strikes, weapons used by Monks will benefit from all available Strength bonuses. In addition, a Monk will add +1/2 hit point of damage per level, meaning at level 2 you will be dealing an additional +1 damage with all weapons, +2 at 4th level, etc. Note that this bonus does not apply to open hand attacks. Monks will attack using the same combat table as Clerics and Druids, making them fairly accurate. Eventually your open hand attacks will be fast and strong enough to make using weapons almost completely obsolete.

Beginning at 4th level a Monk will deal gain an additional attack when using open hand strikes, once every 4 rounds. This means that on a Monk's 4th round of consecutive open hand attacks, an additional attack can be made. 6th level monks will gain this additional attack every other round, allowing for even more attacks. It is also worth noting that by this point the damage dealt by a Monk will be over double what it was at 1st level, increasing to 2-8 points of damage each attack. The number and damage of your attacks will continue increasing as you gain additional levels.

Monks will make saving throws using the same table as Thieves, though have unique circumstances regarding certain situations. All non magical missiles (referring to arrows, bolts, daggers, javelins, etc.) permit a saving throw to be made by the Monk even if they would normally beat the armor class. This unique saving throw is made with the same specifications as a save vs. petrification or polymorph. If this saving throw is made, the projectile will have been successfully dodged or deflected by the Monk. In other respects, the Monk's discipline will allow the character to avoid damage entirely if a saving throw is made. This includes saving throws against damaging spells, such as a Fireball. Monks of 9th level or higher will sustain only 50% of the original damage of an attack, even if the saving throw is failed.

Thief Skills as a Monk

A Monk has a wide range of abilities that are incredibly useful even outside of combat. At 1st level, the Monk will have several of the abilities available to a 1st level Thief. These abilities include:

• Opening Locks
• Finding and Removing Traps
• Moving Silently
• Hiding In Shadows
• Hearing Noise
• Climbing Walls

These abilities are performed using the same table available to Thieves, and will increase in ability as the Monk gains levels. Dexterity bonuses will apply to skills where applicable. In general, due to the character being Human, and requiring other stats in addition to a good Dexterity, it is not necessarily advised that the character be using these abilities early on, if a Thief is available. Making these rolls (aside from Climb Walls) is likely to put the character at risk. Climb Walls is actually more reliable skill on a Monk, partially due to the fact that a Monk character is always Human, and will not have lower than the base chance. This is also because of the Monk's ability to avoid taking damage by sliding down a wall. Beginning at 4th level, a Monks may fall up to 20 feet in distance if within 1 foot of a wall, without suffering any damage whatsoever. A Monk of 6th level may fall 30 feet while within 4 feet of a wall, and a 13th level Monk is able to maneuver his or her body to the point where any distance can be fallen without any damage taken, as long as the character is within 8 feet of a wall. Of course, this means the Monk must make contact with the wall from time to time in order to successfully slow the fall. In addition, other vertical surfaces may be used to slow a fall. This includes tree trunks, cliff faces, and many other surfaces that provide a surface for the Monk to jump off of.

Special Abilities

A Monk gains many special skills and abilities as levels are gained, many of which give the Monk a whole new role that can be filled in the party. One of the primary reasons this class can be so complicated to play is that so many of these abilities are gained, all of which must be written down and remembered in order to successfully play the class. Forgetting one of these abilities could very well cost your character, or other characters in your party, so make sure you remember each of these before the game begins. It is strongly advised that all of these be written on a character sheet.

At 3rd level, the Monk gains the ability to Speak with Animals as a Druid would, by means of the 1st level Druid spell. This can be done once each day, where the Monk is treated as a Druid of identical level as a Druid would be in performing the ritual to use this ability. This is accomplished through the Monk's deep connection with the spirit realm, allowing spiritual communication with an animal.

Monks of 4th level and higher are capable of masking their own minds in order to prevent ESP and other mind-reading. This brings the success chance of an ESP spell down to 30%, and for each level after 4th, the success chance of reading the Monk's mind drops 2% further. As such, ESP would have a 28% chance of success against a 5th level Monk, 26% against a 6th level, etc. This ability does not apply to other psionic abilities such as Psionic Blast, and only applies to ESP like talents.

5th level Monks are completely immune to all diseases, due to the character's immense bodily training and discipline. Monks of this level also become immune to the Haste and Slow spells available to Magic-User's, as their body's rhythm becomes steady to the point of these spells having little to no effect on a Monk.

A 6th level or higher Monk gains the ability to lower his or her body temperature and heart rate, in order to appear deceased. This is accomplished by means of self-induced catalepsy, and can be accomplished and maintained perfectly for 20 minutes for every level of the Monk. By this, a 6th level Monk has 120 minutes (or 2 hours) each day which can be spent on this state of false death. This can be used for a variety of things, as having a corpse on-demand can be very useful to a party. The Monk is capable of feigning death in combat, while the rest of the group retreats in order to potentially do some information gathering behind enemy lines. This can be used to get the party into certain areas, for example: Say the party wants to enter a church in an evil area. Normally, if the church is closed to visitors, perhaps this would be very difficult. However, seeing as most evil churches in Farvion have a deep interest in death, bringing a corpse into the church for some form of ritual may be permitted.

Monks of 7th level or higher are capable of healing personal damage on the body, equal to 2-5 hit points (1d4+1) once per day. This number increases for each level after the 7th, meaning an 8th level Monk can heal 3-6, a 9th level Monk can heal 4-7, etc. While this healing may not seem like much in comparison to a Cleric's healing magic, this additional heath gives the Monk a form of super-regeneration. Normally, without any Constitution bonuses in play, characters cannot heal more than 1 point each day naturally. This increases the Monk's survivability greatly, significantly reducing the time it would take to fully heal without the need for magic.

At 8th level, the Monk gains the ability to Speak with Plants as a Druid would. This can be done once each day, and is accomplished through the Monk's deeper understanding and connection to nature, through the spirit world. Much like with Speak with Animals, the Monk is treated as a Druid of identical level for purposes of this ability.

A 9th level Monk gains a 50% resistance to all spells related to beguiling, charming, hypnotizing, and suggestion. This is to say that the Monk will roll the percentile dice to determine if one of these spells is successful. If under 51% is rolled, the Monk is unaffected. This resistance increases with level, in increments of 5% for every level after the 9th. This is to say that a 10th level Monk resists these magics 55% of the time, 60% for an 11th, etc.

Monks which are 10th level or higher gain a form of resistance against telepathic and mind blast attacks, such as Psionic Blast which causes all forms of these attacks to be made as though the Monk had an Intelligence of 18, (higher, if it was somehow higher without this ability,) making such attacks far less effective against the character. This occurs through the Monks immense mental discipline and training.

At 11th level, all Monks become completely immune to all forms of poison, whether ingested, applied through weapon, lethal poisons, paralyzing poisons, etc.

At 12th level, Monks are fully immune to the effects of Geas and Quest spells. These spells create a link to the character's mind, which the Monk is able to shield against.

The Final Ability

 

The final ability gained by Monks is acquired at 13th level, and is almost certainly the most powerful and terrifying skill a Monk has access to. This is the fabled attack known as the "Quivering Palm" which enables the Monk to set up deadly vibrations in the target's body, causing the target's heart to stop. The Monk has perfect control over these vibrations, and can decide exactly when this death takes place. There are a few restrictions on how exactly this ability may be used.

The first restriction on this instant kill strike is that it may only be attempted once per week, and the Monk must touch his or her victim within 3 rounds (minutes) of declaring the target. The second is that it is ineffective against creatures only harmed by magical weaponry, and has no effect on the undead. The third dictates that the attacker cannot have more hit dice than the Monk, and if the attacker does have fewer hit dice, their hit point total may not exceed double the Monk's current hit points if the kill strike is going to succeed. 

Lastly, the command to die, given after the vibrations are created, must be given within a time limit, or else the vibrations will eventually wear out and dissipate on their own accord. This time limit is one day for every level of the Monk, meaning at 13th level the Monk need not give the death command until 13 days have passed, at the maximum. This can be used during interrogation, setting up these deadly (and painful) vibrations in order to get a victim talking quickly. This can also be used whenever capturing a character for interrogation or as a hostage, as you may use this ability in case they escape you somehow. Overall, this ability is undoubtably very powerful, and it's no wonder it isn't given to the character until 13th level.

The Monk's Proficiencies

While a Monk begins the game with only 1 proficiency, and the skill taken as the character's background, the Monk will gain 1 proficiency every other level. Obviously Strength, Wisdom, and Dexterity proficiencies are recommended for the Monk, and Constitution proficiencies are also desirable. Firstly, polearm weapons can be taken using these proficiencies. It is recommended that at least one be taken, and more specifically the halberd. Halberds are the most powerful weapon usable by a Monk, though a Spear's double damage on charge could be useful at higher levels.

As for skills, Alertness and Spatial Sense are useful as Wisdom proficiencies. For Strength, Intimidation is especially useful in this circumstance. Other than these, it is reasonable that the character would want to take proficiencies relating to constructing and maintaining the monastery to be constructed later. Most of the proficiencies used for this are Strength based, so that shouldn't be a problem. In general, you'll be able to take several proficiencies as the game goes on. The only issue with the proficiency gain is that 17th level is the maximum for a Monk, so there is a limit on how many can be gained through levelling up. It may be worth finding characters to teach you other proficiencies.

Conclusion

Monks are a very powerful class indeed, and should not be taken lightly. While you have many useful abilities at the earlier levels, it might be better to let the other members of your party take over on things such as disarming traps and opening locks, though your limited ability as a Fighter gives you enough ability to fight on the front lines with your comrades. As you level up and become stronger, you'll grow steadily more and more powerful in your open hand attacks, in your immense movement speed, and your skill at avoiding damage. All your abilities are very powerful, and should not be taken lightly. Use your talents wisely, and as you become stronger, use your mastery of the battlefield as such. Await your access to the legendary Quivering Palm, and be prepared to use it whenever necessary. You are a Monk, and you'll be just about the scariest thing around. Again, use your skills wisely. Despite all your talents, you aren't invincible. Play around your party, use your skills in combination with the group's. You have the ability to become the strongest link in your party, the backbone that keeps the group alive alongside the Fighters.