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Monk

"Your weapons are your weakness. Mine are not."

Role: Unarmed combat specialist. Channels inner discipline through fists, feet, and focus. No armor, no swords - just speed, stance, and willpower.

At a glance
Stat bonuses Agility +3, Willpower +3, Strength +2
Allowed weapons Staff, Dagger (rarely used)
Starting skills Unarmed Combat (6), Strike (5), Kick (4), Block (4), Meditation (3), Dodge (4)
Starting kit Wooden Staff (backup), Linen Robes, 2× Health Potion, Prayer Beads, Bandages
Best faction Temple of the Dawn - your discipline aligns naturally
Best merc team Shield & Sparks - the paladin's faith complements your discipline

First 30 minutes

You start poor and unarmored. Your hands are the gear.

  1. Train at the dojo. Ghelmyon has a small monastery wing near the Temple of the Dawn.

    walk to temple
walk to dojo
spar

    Sparring at the dojo is free SP for Unarmed + Block + Dodge - and you can't get killed there.

  2. Meditate every dawn. Restores stamina + buffs Willpower for the day.

    meditate

  3. Don't buy weapons. Spend your starter coin on food, water, bandages. Your hands are free; your body isn't.

  4. Skip combat with armored enemies until rank 3 Unarmed. Leather + bronze hands work on bandits + rats; not on plated knights.

Skills to focus first

  1. Strike (5 → 7) - your bread-and-butter. Punches scale with Strength + Agility.
  2. Block (4 → 6) - parry/redirect. Saves you from one-shots.
  3. Meditation (3 → 5) - stamina regen + Willpower SP. The Monk's "mana" is stamina; this is your potion.

After Unarmed rank 5, branch into Open Palm (block/control, defensive) or Closed Fist (burst, crit, intimidation).

Suggested merc team

Shield & Sparks - the paladin's holy buffs stack with your discipline; the tinkerer's traps cover your flanks. Monks dive in; your team needs to keep the enemies focused on you, not flanking past.

Quest or grind?

Grind dojo + meditate through Day 3. The dojo's progression chain trains Unarmed past rank 5 faster than any field fight.

Quest-wise: the Vigil (a Temple-adjacent monastic order) has a parallel questline that's a perfect Monk fit. You'll find it once you reach Temple neutral rep.

Mid-game arc

  • Hit Unarmed rank 5. Path unlock + access to monastery gear (focus beads, sash, wraps that buff strike damage without counting as "armor").
  • Reach Temple of the Dawn friendly rep. Monastery training hall + Vigil contact.
  • Pick Open Palm or Closed Fist. Both viable; very different combat flow.

Training & Practice

Where the work happens between adventures.

Head to the Temple of the Dawn - Dojo Wing (temple_dojo, off the temple's east colonnade). Talk to Master Eolen Thrace - he runs the floor, watches you spar, and decides which form you're ready to drill next.

How it works:

  1. /shift start at the dojo to take a 4-hour training shift. Eolen sets the day's program scaled to your rank - pad-work, partner drills, the silent hour on the cushion.
  2. Resolve tasks with the dojo's verbs: practice <form> for active drilling (credits Unarmed Combat), meditate to seat the work and clear the mind (Meditation), drill <partner> for paired reps that test Discipline under pressure. Each resolution credits SP plus a small stipend the temple keeps on hand for senior students.
  3. /shift end to close early (or let the timer expire).

Tier ladder (Eolen decides which you're ready for based on rank): easy → standard → challenging → esoteric. Higher tiers pay more and open harder forms; new students start with the basic stance work and earn the closed-room kata-drills by sweating through the easy ones clean.

Why bother:

  • Steady SP without the broken-bone risk of street fights.
  • Small stipend per resolved task (the temple's purse, not adventure pay).
  • Twenty clean shifts typically earn a referral letter the other monasteries honor - opens doors at sibling dojos in other cities.
  • Eolen teaches up to rank 70 in Unarmed Combat, Discipline, and Meditation.

Capstone - Inner Stillness

Unlocked at rank 30 in unarmed combat. Skip your next turn. Your following 3 attacks all auto-hit, auto-crit, and ignore range and cover.

You center. The world slows. When you move again, you move three times.

Once per day. The setup cost (skip a turn) is real, but the payoff is three guaranteed crits with full positional bypass. Use it on a boss with high defense.

See also