Monastic
However they are dressed, and whatever their fighting style, or the weapons they use, monastics are united in their pursuit of melee and thrown weapons, and the mastery of their minds and bodies. At first, they are purely physical, but then they move to nervous system attacks, then to the manipulation of their chi, and finally, graduating with the use of psionics.
Strike with the Mind
Monastics realise that its the mind that wins the battle. Its the mind that relentlessly pushes through training, heals the body, manages setbacks, learns weaknesses within themselves and their enemy, understands physics, and finally, directly taps into the underlying reality of the universe. After all, its all an illusion, the mind can master it, or it can be fooled by it.
Making a Monastic
Monastics never learn their skills by accident, or through unstructured experience: they are trained. In fact most are trained from childhood in a monastery, school, orphanage, cloister, or apprenticed to an adult in the trade.
Monastics are usually asceticists, being structured and disciplined, but the purposes for the training can vary greatly. It can range from a benign religious or philosophical devotion to a relentless pursuit of the art of killing. For the monastic character, you are the silent infiltrator, burglar and killer.
As you create your monastic character, think about how you came to be in your monastery, school, orphanage, or cloister. Were you plucked out of an orphanage, or left at the school gates? Were you trained because of your family’s ties to a religious organisation? Are you of high birth, but you are the youngest child, and so off to the monastery for you? Is your land, planet or habitat occupied, and to be a monastic is to be the ultimate resistance fighter?
Quick Build
You can make a monastic quickly by following these suggestions.
Choose Talents
Select the following 10 skills as talents:
Health, Energy, Focus, Strength, Perception, Resolve, Agility, Insight, Cbt-Melee, Cbt-Ranged.
Choose Background
Choose the infantry background to optimise your initial skill range.
Apply Ranks Per Level
At each level (including the first), you distribute:
- 4 ranks to the range of skills, and
- 4 ranks to the range of techniques
presented below.
The monastic's primary skill is Cbt-Melee. You should try to have at least half your level as ranks on this skill.
4 ranks spread to these skills
Strength, Perception, Resolve, Agility+BODY, Stealth+BODY|MIND***, Deceive, Investigate, Persuade, Survival
4 ranks spread to these techniques
Acrobatics (Agility), Parkour (Acrobatics), Calmness (Resolve|Insight*), Clarity-Save (Insight), Revival (Resolve|Survival*), Tenacious-Save (Resolve|Survival)
Dodge-Attack (Cbt-Melee|Cbt-Ranged**), Dodge-Effect (Cbt-Ranged), Evasion (Cbt-Ranged), First-Strike (Cbt-Melee|Cbt-Ranged**), Multi-Attack (Cbt-Melee|Cbt-Ranged**), Grapple (Cbt-Melee), Overbear (Cbt-Melee), Skirmish (Cbt-Melee|Cbt-Ranged**), Sniper (Cbt-Ranged), Vital-Harm (Cbt-Melee|Cbt-Ranged**)
Wpn-Blades-Short (Cbt-Melee), Wpn-Blades-Long (Cbt-Melee), Wpn-Clubs (Cbt-Melee), Wpn-Fistload (Cbt-Melee), Wpn-Poles (Cbt-Melee)
Wpn-Bows (Cbt-Ranged), Wpn-Crossbows (Cbt-Ranged), Wpn-Pistols (Cbt-Ranged), Wpn-Thrown (Cbt-Ranged)
* You can choose one skill to base this technique
** You can choose one skill to base this technique, if you need the technique under another skill, you must take the technique again, based on the new skill.
*** You can choose one aspect when putting your first rank on this skill, you must spend a rank on getting a second aspect.
After 3rd Level, you can also place ranks on the following skills & techniques
Action-Surge (Psimetabolism), Enervation (Psimetabolism), Preservation (Psimetabolism), Psi-Balance (Psikinesis), Psi-Flurry (Psimetabolism), Psi-Move (Psikinesis), Psi-Push (Psikinesis), Psi-Speed (Psimetabolism), Psi-Strike (Psikinesis), Psi-Stun (Psimetabolism), Telekinesis (Psikinesis)