Dotted across the landscape are monasteries – small, walled cloisters inhabited by monks. These monks pursue personal perfection through action as well as contemplation. They train themselves to be versitale warriors skilled at fighting without weapons or armor. Monasteries headed by good masters serve as protectors of the people. Ready for battle even when barefoot and dressed in peasant clothes, monks are able to travel unnoticed among the populace, catching bandits, warlords, and corrupt nobles unaware. By contrast, monasteries headed by evil masters rule surrounding lands through fear, as an evil warlord's castle might. Evil monks make ideal spies, infiltrators, and assassins.
The individual monk, however, is unlikely to care passionately about championing commoners or amassing wealth. She cares for the perfection of her art and, thereby, her personal perfection. Her goal is to achieve a state that is, frankly, beyond the mortal realm.
Monastic orders usually originate in civilized human lands. Among humans, the earliest monastic orders native to Faerun seem to have arisen in Amn and Calimshan simultaneously with some orders migrating from other worlds and the eastern lands of Kara-Tur. Unlike clerics and druids, monks do not necessarily have to choose a patron deity (although most do), nor do monks have to associate themselves with one of the schools listed in the Monastic Orders below. If your monk character belongs to a different monastic group, you should at least name it and place it in relation to the groups mentioned below.
Most Faerunian monks are capable of gaining levels in another class before returning to the way of the monk and gaining new levels as monks. The description in the Monastic Orders below specify into which classes an order's members can multiclass freely. The character may add levels of monk and any specified class without penalty. Violating these expanded limits (by multiclassing into a class not on the order's approved list) ends the monk's development as a monk, as described in normal rules. Some orders place additional restrictions on multiclassing, as brought out in their descriptions. If a monk violates any such restrictions, she can no longer advance as a monk.
Monastic OrdersDozen of monastic orders exist in Faerun. Most are small circles of no more than a dozen or so members, living in isolated monasteries in the wilderness. A few orders include hundreds of members and influence events across entire nations. Some of the prominent orders include:
Broken Ones (Good): Of all the popular deities of Faerun, Ilmater is the deity most associated with an order of monks who act purely in his name. The Broken Ones can freely multiclass as clerics, divine champions, arcane devotees, divine disciples, hierophants, and divine seekers of Ilmater. The Dalelands house no monasteries of great fame, but monks of Ilmater frequently travel through the Dales, sheltering in Ilmater's temples if they cannot find other lodging.
Dark Moon (Evil): Shar is worshiped by a powerful sect of monks who maintain open temples in lands ruled by evil overlords or hide among hills, back alleys, or the Underdark. Most of the Dark Moon monks are human, but occasionally they are joined by a half-orc, shade, or drow. The monks of the Dark Moon can freely multiclass as sorcerers, so long as their monk level and sorcerer level stay within two levels of each other.
Hin Fist (Neutral or Good): The halflings of Luiren turn their confidence into belief in the power of a single halfling to master herself and the world. Enterprising Luiren monks sometimes establish monasteries in the north. Although only halflings can study Hin Fist in Luiren, some Hin Fist monasteries outside Luiren accept exceptional gnomes and dwarves. Monks of the Hin Fist order can multiclass as fighters, rogues, of paladins (usually of Yondalla).
Long Death (Evil): The Long Death order worships the principles of death without caring much which deity currently owns the portfolio. They are more than willing to share death and its antecedent, pain, with others. Clerics of the previous god of death, Myrkul, chose to view them as part of their god's long-range plans. Kelemvor (the current god of the dead) views them as enemies, but is at least pleased they do not actively promote undeath. Velsharoon (the god of necromancy and undeath) wants to woo them, but has not figured out how. Monks of the Long Death may multiclass freely as fighters, assassins, and blackguards. This order is quite strong in Thay, though not with the sanction or cooperation of the Red Wizards.
Old Order (Neutral, Sometimes Good, Rarely Evil): Monks of the Old Order do not worship any deity, but are devoted to the philosophy espoused by a deity who is either now dead or has never existed on the Material Plane of Toril. The monks contradict themselves on this point, but the deity's identity isn't important to them, it's the message they care about. The Old Order never has huge monasteries, but has spread widely throughout Faerun. Monks of the Old Order can multiclass freely as rogues, sorcerers, and shadowdancers, but must maintain more monk levels than their combined levels of the other classes.
Shining Hand (Good or Neutral): The Shining Hand is one of the oldest monk orders of Amn, mixing faith in Azuth, and the practice of wizardry with monastic devotions. Amn's crackdown on the practice of wizardry has sent some Shining Hand groups underground and sent others out into the wider world. Monks of the Shining Hand can multiclass freely as wizards so long as their monk level equals or exceeds their wizard level.
Sun Soul (Good or Neutral): The allegiance of this widespread but disorganized sect varies between groups, some following Lathander, others Selune, and a few devoted to Sune. The Sun Soul order, along with the Old Order, is the most likely to have monasteries hidden in far flung wilderness areas. Members of the Sun Soul order can gain levels in one other class and still progress as a monk as long as their monk level is their highest class level.
Yellow Rose (Good, Neutral): Also known as the Disciples of Saint Sollars, this solitary monastery of Ilmater worshipers in the Earthspur Mountains of Damara is known for loyalty to its allies and destruction to its enemies. Greatly respected on matters of truth and diplomacy, the monks work hard to survive in their harsh remote sanctuary. The monks often travel with Ilmataran paladins, particularly from the Order of the Golden Cup. They may multiclass freely as rangers and shadowdancers.
Adventurers: Monks approach adventures as if they were personal tests. While not prone to showing off, monks are willing to try their skills against whatever obstacles confront them. Monks are not greedy for material wealth, but they eagerly seek that which can help them perfect their art.
Characteristics: The key feature of the monk is her ability to fight unarmed and unarmored. Thanks to her rigorous training, she can strike as hard as if she were armed and strike faster than a warrior with a sword.
Though monks don't cast spells, they have a magic of their own. They channel a subtle energy, called ki, which allows them to perform amazing feats. The monk's best-known feat is her ability to stun an opponent with an unarmed blow. A monk also has a preternatural awareness of attacks. She can dodge an attack even if she is not consciously ware of it.
As the monk gains experience and power, her mundane and ki-orientated abilities grow, giving her more and more power over herself and, sometimes, over others.
Alignment: A monk's training requires strict discipline. Only those who are lawful at heart are capable of undertaking it.
Other Classes: Monks are sometimes distant from others because they have little common with the motivations and skills of members of other classes. Monks recognize, however, that they work well with the support of others, and they prove themselves reliable companions.