Ever since the beginning, Monks have had a strange place in the world of tabletop role-playing games. They're a breath of eastern inspiration in a hobby whose aesthetic is dominated by European sensibilities. Realm of Runes draws from a wider pool of traditions than medieval Europe, as exemplified by the Hakas that Barbarians and Bards get access to, and so keeping the Monk as a core class is an obvious choice. Martial arts are mechanically and stylistically interesting, and having a class that puts them in the spotlight helps contribute to something for everyone.
Monks have had a divisive history, though. There's often a huge misalignment of expectations of what it should mean to be a fantasy martial artist. Whether that should mean a strictly unarmed variant on the Vanguard, a more mystical and enlightened variant on the Paladin, or even the high-fantasy and obviously magic abilities showcased in media like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
Realm of Runes uses its modular nature to make all of these archetypes available, to whatever degree you choose. Monks are always a class focused strongly on martial artistry in combat, with a flavoring of enlightened mysticism. You can then use class feats to opt-in to more exotic and magical abilities, either divinely or occult inspired. All Monks have the potential for just the right flavor of fantasy for you, and their Monastic Traditions give you a head start in the area you prefer to focus on.
MONASTIC TRADITIONS
At first level, Monks choose a Monastic Tradition. Unlike some other class specialties in Realm of Runes, these traditions are not exclusive. Rather, each one gives a class feat that has good synergy with that tradition's style as a bonus feat, freeing you up to dabble in the abilities of other traditions, or set up feat combos from the start that would be unavailable until higher level otherwise. Monks in Realm of Runes can choose one of four Traditions: Qi Mystic, Style Master, Unarmed Kata, or Weapon Kata.
The Qi Mystic Monastic Tradition gives you Awakened Qi as a bonus class feat. This feat provides access to the higher-fantasy aspects of the Monk, tapping into your life force, qi, to power magical exploits. Monks do not have spell slots, but awakening your qi gives access to Qi Powers, which are cast using Spell Points. When you gain Awakened Qi, you choose whether your magic is divine or occult in nature. If you choose the divine tradition, you must also choose and follow a deity like a Cleric. You can cast your deity's signature spells as Qi Powers, and can even get access to one of your deity's Domains. Divine qi uses Wisdom as its key ability when casting spells. If you choose the occult tradition, you instead gain access to a different set of exclusive abilities, including powerful effects when you open your chakras, and potent metamagic based on the Sacred Geometry of the universe. Occult qi uses Intelligence as its key ability, as opposed to Wisdom.
The Style Master Monastic Tradition gives you Immediate Stance as a bonus class feat. The monk class has access to a suite of stances, some based on emulating the style of animals, like Crane Style or Tiger Style, while others are more esoteric in nature, like Ocean Style or Wildfire Style. Each stance takes an action on your turn to enter, but once you're using it, it persists until you choose to stop. Each stance has exclusive abilities that you can use while in that stance, as well as special unarmed attacks with improved damage and different traits than the standard unarmed attack every character has access to. The Immediate Stance bonus feat from the Style Master tradition lets you enter a stance as a Free Action triggered by entering combat or starting your turn, so Monks of this tradition are always in a position to get the fullest use of these potent options from the start, and can cycle between many different styles as the situation evolves without sacrificing precious time to do so.
The Unarmed Kata Monastic Tradition gives you Powerful Fist as a bonus class feat. This feat improves the size of the damage die whenever you use an unarmed attack. This pairs well with the stances that provide exclusive unarmed attacks, but since it works with any unarmed attack, it also makes a great pairing for ancestries like the Goblin, Orc and Dhampir which have access to their own special unarmed attacks, or with those that plan to use magic to change form into different kinds of creatures. It also pairs especially well with one of the Monk's most iconic class features, Flurry of Blows, which is an action economy enhancer that lets you make two unarmed attacks at the cost of one action, both of which use your current Multiple Attack Penalty so they're both equally likely to hit.
The Weapon Kata Monastic Tradition gives you Monastic Weaponry as a bonus class feat. This feat lets you treat weapons with the monk trait, of which there are many diverse options, as unarmed attacks for all purposes. Want to use Flurry of Blows with a staff or nunchaku? Monks of this tradition can do that, and more, as they treat weapons as an extension of their very selves. As an added bonus, the Monastic Weaponry feat lets you treat weapons that have the monk trait as common (if they're more rare) and not exotic (if they're usually extra hard to learn), letting you easily pick up even the most specialized of martial arts weaponry, like the meteor hammer. If you also happen to pick up Awakened Qi, the divine variant lets you treat your deity's favored weapon as if it has the monk trait, making it easy to display extraordinary prowess with more than just traditional martial arts weapons.
FLEXIBILITY AND PERFECTION
Of all classes in Realm of Runes, Monks tend to feel pressure to improve all of their ability modifiers. Most unarmed attacks are also melee attacks, and so Strength is important for utilizing these abilities. Even for finesse attacks, which let you use Agility to attack instead, Strength is still added to damage, keeping it important. Agility is important for Reflex Saves and Armor Class. Endurance is important for Hit Points and Fortitude saves, both of which are important for a (frequently melee) primary combat class. Intelligence is important for skills and occult Qi Powers, Wisdom is important for Perception, Will Saves and divine Qi Powers. With so much pulling the Monk in so many directions, it's the one class that has a free ability boost as its class key ability. Wherever you want your Monk to focus, the class helps you out.
The Monk also helps make the most of less when it comes to your defenses as well, preventing you from feeling punished if you choose a broadly invested ability spread instead of a focused one. All Monks have expert initial proficiency in unarmored defense, helping traditional armor-eschewing Monks keep up with their peers in Armor Class. They also are able to use their class features at certain levels to perfect their technique with saving throws. Each time this class feature is gained, the Monk chooses one of its saving throws. From then on, that saving throw is always treated as one step better than rolled. So even if you fail your save, if you perfected that save it becomes a success instead. The Monk gets the opportunity to perfect all three of its saving throws over the course of its career, making it a surprisingly resilient class despite having a traditionally fragile appearance.
CLASS FEATS
Monk class feats fall into one of three general categories: qi abilities, stances and esoteric techniques. Qi feats provide new ways to use your Qi Powers, if you have unlocked them. These include exclusive Qi Powers available to all Monks like Wholeness of Body (which heals and removes status conditions) and Quivering Palm (which can cause a target's heart to explode), or perhaps Qi Repertoire, which lets you directly learn spells of your casting tradition as Qi Powers. Stance feats add entirely new styles you can utilize, or add additional functionality when using a style you already know. Crane Flutter gives you Parry and Riposte functionality while using crane style, while Ebb And Flow increases your resistance to a damage type each time you are subjected to it while using ocean style, and if you negate damage this way you can redirect it to a creature of your choice within reach. Esoteric technique feats add utility or quality-of-life abilities that may, or may not, be useful in a combat situation. Enlightened Linguist helps you speak and understand all languages, while Diamond Soul further improves all of your saving throws, and Wall Run lets you treat vertical surfaces as horizontal when moving, enabling you to use your extraordinary body control to easily reach difficult places or surprise flying enemies.
The Monk is an incredibly diverse class that easily stretches itself to suit any level of fantasy the user wants, without ever sacrificing versatility and utility. With a strong combat focus, especially on unarmed combat, most Monks are not dependent on gear, like weapons or armor, unless they want to be. This gives them an advantage, and makes them an excellent choice, in low-treasure adventures and also frees up their funds for using on the subject the design blog, which will explore magic items and the inherent latent magic all creatures in Realm of Runes possess which empowers them.
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