The adventurer’s handbook
Mobile martial artist
The Monk arrives without armor, regards the weapon rack politely, and asks where the fighting is. Years of discipline have made hands, feet, and an alarming degree of calm into sufficient equipment. Enemies tend to mistake this simplicity for poverty. The correction is usually delivered at close range, sometimes twice.
Use whichever is higher, Strength or Dexterity, for unarmed accuracy and damage. Spend Focus according to the immediate danger: another strike, a better position, stronger defense, or a chance to disable an enemy. Only one of these techniques fits into a turn.
Keep the abilities of earlier levels as you gain new ones. XP is experience; the figures below are cumulative thresholds from the beginning of an adventurer’s career.
0 XP
Unarmed 1d4, base AC 9, one strike. +2 saves against poison and paralysis.
2,000 XP
Unarmed 1d6, base AC 8. Focus 2; Flurry and Wind Step.
4,000 XP
Unarmed 1d6, base AC 7. Deflect Missiles.
8,000 XP
Unarmed 1d8, base AC 6. Patient Defense.
16,000 XP
Unarmed 1d10, base AC 5. Stunning Strike.
32,000 XP
Unarmed 1d12, base AC 4, two normal strikes. Focus 3; Ki Strike.
Use the higher of your Strength or Dexterity modifiers for unarmed attacks and damage, once per successful strike. Apply Dexterity and protective equipment to base AC once; lower AC is better. Gain +2 on saves specifically against poison and paralysis. This does not grant a bonus against every effect that shares those saving-throw categories.
You have 2 Focus per encounter, increasing to 3 at level 6. Flurry, Wind Step, Patient Defense, and Stunning Strike each cost 1 Focus. Choose only one of these techniques per turn, alongside your normal unarmed attack action. A genuinely new encounter restores Focus.
Add one unarmed strike to your normal unarmed attack action: two strikes total at levels 2–5, three at level 6. It does not add strikes to ordinary weapon attacks or other special actions.
Move or legally withdraw one area before or after your normal unarmed attack sequence. Blocked paths, capacity, and immobilization still matter; this does not automatically break through an enemy line.
Use your reaction to reduce one physical projectile hit by 1d6 plus your positive Dexterity modifier, possibly to zero. This cannot stop boulders, siege-scale projectiles, or magical projectile effects. It neither reflects damage nor grants an attack. You have at most one reaction per round.
Improve your descending AC by 2 until your next turn while making your normal unarmed attack action. Repeated activations do not stack.
Declare with your unarmed attack action. The first successful hit forces a save against paralysis; failure prevents actions and reactions through the end of the target’s next turn. Spend Focus even if every strike misses. Each enemy can face only one attempt per encounter across your entire party. Stun immunity applies, and a stunned target is not automatically hit or killed.
Unarmed attacks count as magical when checking weapon immunity. This grants neither an attack bonus nor silver properties. Each of your two normal strikes resolves separately.
An action is your main choice on a turn. A reaction answers a particular event. An encounter is one battle; a crawl includes all its rooms. Encounter resources return for a new battle, not by reloading a page or returning to the same fight.
AC measures armor defense; lower is better. THAC0 is the attack score needed to hit AC 0 before modifiers; lower is better. Saving throws resist hazards. The table shows the required unmodified saving-throw scores; lower is better. Class abilities and equipment can improve them.
| Level | THAC0 | Death / poison | Wands | Paralysis / stone | Breath | Spells |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 19 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
| 2 | 19 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
| 3 | 19 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
| 4 | 17 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| 5 | 17 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| 6 | 17 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |