Arcanopath Monk

Requirements

Base Attack Bonus: +4

Alignment: Any Lawful

Skills: Knowledge (arcana) 8 ranks

Feats: Deflect Arrows, Dodge, Improved Unarmed Strike, Mobility

Special: Must find the Monastery of Finithamon amidst the Ever-Changing Chaos of Limbo, successfully petition the sensei for membership, and have slain an arcane spellcaster or equivalent achievements.

Summary

A terrible hate burns in the heart of the arcanopath monk. While some may hate with all their hearts, impotently, the arcanopath encompasses their fury, and learns to use it. The arcanopath's meditations utilize the Rule of arcalos, and its methods of confronting a spellcaster. Once a monk begins to learn the art of the arcanopath, he can never expect safety in the presence of spellcasters again. But the reverse is also true.

Taking this prestige class does not invoke the special monk restriction - if a monk takes one or more levels of arcanopath monk, he can continue to take levels of monk without restriction, following the standard rules for multiclassing characters.

Role: DPS

Characteristics: Sure striking combatants that can disable the senses and faculties of foes

Source: Dragon Compendium

Game Rule Information

The Arcanopath Monk has the following game statistics.

Abilities: Wisdom for monk abilities and various auxiliary abilities, Strength to deal major damage in addition to the strikes

Alignment: Any Lawful

Hit Die: d8

Starting Gold: N/A

Class Skills

The Arcanopath Monk's class skills are Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), Spot (Wis), and Tumble (Dex).

Skill Points at 1st Level: (4 + Int modifier) × 4

Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Arcanopath Monk.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Arcanopath Monk is proficient with lub, crossbow (light or heavy), dagger, handaxe, javelin, kama, nunchaku, quarterstaff, shuriken, siangham, and sling. The arcanopath monk gains the same advantages for using a kama, nunchaku, or siangham as does a monk.

Student of Perfection: Arcanopaths are monks, though they meditate on alternative methods of achieving physical enlightenment. As such, an arcanopath monk gains the unarmed attack bonus, unarmed damage, AC bonus, and unarmored speed as if he were a monk whose level equaled his monk level + his arcanopath monk level. For instance, a 6th-level monk/1st-level arcanopath has an unarmed attack bonus of +5/+2 (as if he were a 7th-level monk). Those who manage to meet the requirements for this class who are not monks gain these abilities as if a monk equal to only their arcanopath monk level.

Clap of Deafness Su: The monk can use this supernatural ability once per round, but no more than once per arcanopath level per day. The monk must declare he is using the clap of deafness before making the attack roll (thus, a missed attack roll ruins the attempt). A foe struck by the arcanopath is forced to make a Fortitude saving throw (DC 10 + the arcanopath level + the arcanopath's Wisdom modifier), in addition to taking damage as normal If the saving throw fails, the opponent is deafened for 1 round. A deafened character has a 20% chance of spell failure when casting spells with verbal components (as well as suffering a -4 penalty on initiative checks and an inability to make Listen checks). Unless specified to the contrary, all spell failure penalties stack. Creatures immune to critical hits or sonic attacks cannot be affected by the arcanopath's clap.

Chop of Silence Su: The arcanopath of at least 2nd level can use this supernatural ability once per round, but no more than once per arcanopath level per day. The arcanopath must declare he is using the chop of silence attack before making the attack roll (thus, a missed attack roll ruins the attempt). A foe struck by the arcanopath is forced to make a Fortitude saving throw (DC 10 + the arcanopath level + the arcanopath's Wisdom modifier), in addition to taking damage as normal. If the saving throw fails, the opponent is rendered mute for 1 round. A mute character is unable to cast spells with a verbal component (and cannot communicate verbally). Creatures immune to critical hits cannot be affected by the chop.

Strike of Confusion Su: The monk of 3rd or higher level can use this supernatural ability once per round, but no more than once per arcanopath level per day. The monk must declare he is using the strike of confusion before making the attack roll (thus, a missed attack roll ruins the attempt). A foe struck by the arcanopath is forced to make a Fortitude saving throw (DC 10 + the arcanopath level + the arcanopath's Wisdom modifier), in addition to taking damage as normal. If the saving throw fails, the opponent has a 50% chance of spell failure when casting any spell (or attempting to use a spell-like ability) for 2d4 rounds. Unless specified to the contrary, all spell failure penalties stack. Creatures immune to critical hits cannot be affected by the strike.

Deflect Spell Su: At 4th level, the arcanopath monk learns to deflect incoming ray and energy missile spells. The arcanopath must have at least one hand free (holding nothing) to use this ability. Once per round when the arcanopath would normally be hit with a ray or energy missile spell the character can make a DC 20 Reflex saving throw (if the ray or energy missile has a magical bonus to attack, the DC increases by that amount). If the arcanopath succeeds, he deflects the spell. The arcanopath must be aware of the attack and not flat-footed. Attempting to deflect a ray or energy missile doesn't count as an action.

A ray is a spell that produces a ray effect.

An energy missile is a weaponlike spell that produces something physical that the spell projects or the caster can hurl, such as Melf's Acid Arrow or Produce Flame. Fireball, Magic Missile, and the like are not energy missiles.

Ki Strike Su: Beginning at 5th level, an arcanopath's unarmed attack is empowered with ki and is treated as if it were made of cold iron for the purposes of bypassing damage reduction.

Allseeing Eye Su: The 6th-level arcanopath gains the ability to see as if enjoying the effects of a permanent see invisibility spell cast by a 5th-level sorcerer. This supernatural ability functions continuously.

Slap of Forgetfulness Ex: The arcanopath monk of 7th or higher level can use this extraordinary ability once per round, but no more than once per arcanopath level per day. The monk must declare he is using the slap of forgetfulness attack before making the attack roll (thus, a missed attack roll ruins the attempt). A foe struck by the arcanopath is forced to make a Fortitude saving throw (DC 10 + the arcanopath level + the arcanopath's Wisdom modifier), in addition to taking damage as normal. If the saving throw fails, the opponent loses 1d4 arcane spells (or 1d4 unused daily arcane spell slots). The lost spells or spell slots are lost first from the highest-level spells the spellcaster can cast, but otherwise are determined by the creature struck. If the result indicates more spells lost than are prepared (or unused) at a particular level, spells at the next lower level are lost in the same fashion, and so on. Lost spells (or open spell slots) can be regained normally. Creatures immune to critical hits cannot be affected by the slap of forgetfulness.

Empty Hand Ex: An 8th-level arcanopath monk gains the ability to make melee attacks against ethereal creatures. Reflect Spell (Su): Starting at 9th level, when an arcanopath monk successfully deflects a spell he can choose to reflect it back at the caster. An arcanopath can use this ability a number of times per day equal to his Wisdom modifier (minimum once per day). A reflected spell is, in effect, cast back on the original caster, although the monk rerolls any necessary attack roll (associated DCs are unchanged).

Sundering Strike of Oblivion Ex: When an arcanopath monk of 10th level makes a successful slap of forgetfulness, he can automatically convert it to a sundering strike of oblivion once per day. In addition to taking normal damage and losing 1d4 prepared arcane spells (or 1d4 unused daily arcane spell slots), the foe completely loses knowledge of the lost spells. Spellcasters who lose knowledge of spells may later attempt a Spellcraft check (DC 10 + spell level + the arcanopath's Wisdom modifier) to regain each one. Failure indicates the spell is unavailable until the next time the spellcaster advances a level, at which time the spellcaster automatically relearns all her forgotten spells (as well as gains knowledge of new spells as normal for the class).

Table 1-1: Arcanopath Monk Progression

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special
1st	+0	+2	+2	+2	Student of perfection, clap of deafness
2nd	+1	+3	+3	+3	Chop of muteness
3rd	+2	+3	+3	+3	Strike of confusion
4th	+3	+4	+4	+4	Deflect spell
5th	+3	+4	+4	+4	Ki strike (cold iron)
6th	+4	+5	+5	+5	Allseeing eye
7th	+5	+5	+5	+5	Slap of forgetfulness
8th	+6	+6	+6	+6	Empty hand
9th	+6	+6	+6	+6	Reflect spell
10th	+7	+7	+7	+7	Sundering strike of oblivion