OSR Class: Holmes-Style Monk

A fun coincidence: I have been thinking a lot about medieval monks, and so has Father Dave over on his blog.

Based on discourse he has begun on his blog, Blood of Prokopius, (which I recommend,) I connected the dots he laid out to create a different kind of Monk class. This Monk is informed largely by content from Holmes D&D and B/X D&D rather than that in 0e and in later editions. As such, it relies on a re-imagining of the Turn Undead table in place of spellcasting.

This class is strictly inferior to the Cleric class in many ways, but it also has a favorable XP progression. The concept is part Friar Tuck and part Cadfael. It could be re-skinned as an Eastern-style monk as well.

If you intend to play in a low-magic campaign or if you otherwise don't like the idea of a traditional Cleric, this might be a good choice for you to try out.

Here is a link to the Word file

Here is a link to the PDF

Here is a link to the XLS file

Here is the text of the class:

The Monk

A Monk is a holy warrior who uses his faith in God to explore the realm and to make it safe and sound for Men and their allies. He cannot use any weapon with a point or edge, for he has taken an oath against causing excess bloodshed. Furthermore, since he owes his strength to a higher power of some kind, he must act within the Lawful alignment, or be sanctioned in some way by that higher power. This means he must work on behalf of Mankind and its allies whenever appropriate. On the other hand, his faith in God protects him from attacks, lowering his Armor Class while unarmored and he performs special, powerful miracles called Wonders.

These are not always priests, but rather special individuals from inside and outside the Church who receive— and answer, a special calling from God. A monk is infused with God’s power in order to undertake great and necessary tasks here in the mortal realm such bringing succor to remote communities, solving mysteries, questing for holy relics, and assisting pilgrims.

The Prime Requisite of the Monk is Wisdom. He uses the Cleric’s Attack and Saving Throw charts.

Arms & Armor: The Monk may use Leather armor and carry a shield, but doing so negates his natural Armor Class bonus. He may wear a helm without penalty. He may use the following weapons: Quarterstaff, Footman’s Flail, Club and Sling.

Magic Items: The Monk may use any magic items available to the Cleric, so long as they are not kinds of magical weapons or armor they are forbidden to use. He may read Cleric scrolls, but not write them.

The Monk’s Class Abilities:

Wonder Working: Monks have the powerful ability to perform special actions called Wonders. As the Monk gains experience levels, he will be able to perform more kinds of Wonders.

Wonders have effects that are identical to spells cast by Clerics, or Magic-Users and Elves, but they are not spells.  Rather, they are extraordinary abilities. Anti-magic and Dispel Magic do not work against these Wonders, and they cannot be disrupted by hit point damage like a spell can when it is being cast. Use the spell descriptions to adjudicate these Wonders.

In order to work a Wonder, the Monk rolls 2d6. The Wonder works if this number meets or exceeds the target number for the Wonder in question (see Table 2.) More powerful Wonders are available at higher experience levels, and the ones granted become easier to use.

The Monk may attempt to work a Wonder once per Turn (10 minutes.) He may use each Wonder once per day. If the Monk attempts to work a Wonder and is unsuccessful, he may attempt to work the same Wonder later in the same day until it is successful.

Monks require some object of religious significance like a mirror, a cross or other holy symbol to use their Wonder ability; but the power to it is invested in he himself and not the object.

The Guided Hand: A Monk may substitute his Wisdom score for his Dexterity score at any time.

Smite: Starting at Level four the Monk may attempt to Smite. Three times per day, the Monk may make a special attack. This attack must be declared prior to rolling the attack roll. This attack gains a +4 to hit that stacks with any other bonuses, and deals double damage if it hits.

Armor of God: A Monk is a special creature, watched over by God. He has a naturally better Armor Class than other characters and that Armor Class gets better as he gains experience levels. However, if he wears armor or uses a shield, that bonus goes away.

Monster Hunting: Upon encountering a kind of monster for the first time, the Monk may make an Intelligence check on 1d20 to see if he has learned something about it in his catechism or travels.

Read Languages: The Monk has a 10% chance per experience level to read any non-magical writing. At level 8, he gains the ability to use Magic-User and Elf scrolls.

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