Monk archetype

Windstep Master

Most monks are agile and fleet of foot, but few can rival a windstep master’s lightness of step. Windstep masters train in mountaintop monasteries and other holy houses dedicated to the wind, such as the Monastery of Unfolding Wind in Niswan. Monks built using Pathfinder RPG Pathfinder Unchained can also take this archetype.

Prerequisite: Acrobatics 5 ranks. Benefit: While charging, running, or withdrawing, you gain a +10-foot enhancement bonus to your base speed. This bonus also applies to your speed when calculating overland movement in any plains terrain. You lose the Elemental Master’s Handbook Elemental Master’s Handbook benefits of this feat while you are wearing heavy armor or carrying a heavy load.

Katapesh The canyons, deserts, and mountains of Katapesh are home to many strange wind-related phenomena. Near the border with Nex, a vast sandstorm rages throughout the year, sometimes reaching intensities capable of peeling skin from those unprotected from the flying sand. Within the Barrier Wall mountains in western Katapesh, a great canyon called the Painted Flutes contains wind-carved pillars that create hauntingly beautiful piping music when the wind blows around them. This unique feature attracts air elementals, bards, and jann.

Wind Song You have learned to play haunting, captivating melodies similar to those of the eerie Painted Flutes canyon. Like an echo, the wind carries the sound and magic of your music much farther than it would normally reach.

Prerequisites: Perform (wind instruments) 5 ranks; bardic performance or raging song class feature.

Prerequisites: Blind-Fight, Perception 5 ranks. Benefit: You ignore concealment (but not total concealment) caused by fog, rain, smoke, wind, and other gases or weather effects (including magical effects like obscuring mist), and you ignore up to –4 in penalties on Perception checks from such effects. You treat total concealment resulting from any such gas or weather effects within 10 feet of you as concealment (20% miss chance).

Niswan Ocean winds sweep over the bustling port city of Niswan, the capital of the Impossible Kingdom of Jalmeray. The many- tiered metropolis is known for its pagodas, silk banners, and numerous shrines, statues, and temples dedicated to the hundreds of Vudrani deities. One of Niswan’s three prestigious Houses of Perfection, the Monastery of Unfolding Wind, is famous for training its monks in secret techniques that allow them to move like the wind and to fight like djinn.

Hurricane Punch (Combat) Your fast strikes hit with the force of a hurricane, pushing your foes away.

Prerequisites: Str 13, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Unarmed Strike, Power Attack.

Prerequisites: magnetic infusion, magnetism Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance no You can repel or attract metal objects in a vast line with a magnetism so strong that there is no hope of escaping. This functions as repel metal or stone, except only for metal objects, and you can also pull the objects toward you instead of pushing them away. The effect lasts for 1 round, and the pulling version of the effect can’t pull objects into the air unless they are already airborne. You can accept 1 point of burn to increase the duration to 1 round per kineticist level you have.

Prerequisites: Two basic blast wild talents from two different elements, expanded element class feature, kinetic blast class feature.

Prerequisites: Kineticist level 7th, kinetic blast class feature. Benefit: While taking a move action to gather power, you can move up to half your base speed, and while taking 1 full round to gather power, you can move up to half your speed on the turn you begin the full round of gathering power. This movement provokes attacks of opportunity, and you can’t use Acrobatics checks or other abilities to attempt to negate them, as you’re concentrating on gathering power (nor can you use Acrobatics to balance, jump, or do anything else that requires a skill check). It’s harder to concentrate on gathering power while using this feat; if you take damage during or after gathering power and before using a kinetic blast that releases it (including from an attack of opportunity provoked by the movement), the concentration check DC to avoid losing the gathered power increases by twice the blast’s effective spell level.

Some intentionally infuse their own bodies with elemental energy, permanently imbuing parts of themselves with primordial forces. Once a commonplace devotion to elemental forces, elemental augmentations are now a rare art known to only a few specialists. Elementalists in Quantium command high prices to augment eager recipients with elemental energy, but not all have the requisite expertise— accidents are distressingly common.

Elemental augmentations affect a specific portion of the recipient’s body, aligning it with the designated element. These augmentations grant the recipient powerful abilities, but they often come with side effects as the recipient’s body becomes elementally unbalanced. The alteration is permanent; once a body part has been elementally augmented, the granted effect can be removed only by removing the augmented body part. Removal deals 1d6 points of Constitution damage and could have other effects as well, such as blindness or lameness, as determined by the GM. A body part that has been elementally augmented cannot receive another elemental augmentation, even of the same type.

An elemental augmentation must be crafted or purchased just like any other magic item, but it is inert until used to augment a willing recipient. Elementally augmenting a body part requires 1 hour, and the recipient must succeed at a DC 18 Fortitude save or the elemental energies fail to integrate with his body. Whether he succeeds or fails, the recipient takes 2 points of Constitution damage from the augmentation attempt.

ELEMENTAL AUGMENTATIONS The following are some common elemental augmentations.

BLAZING EYES PRICE 42,000 GP

Hurricane Punch (Ex) level 1

Replaces Stunning Fist.

At 1st level, a windstep master gains Hurricane Punch (see page 19) as a bonus feat, even if he does not meet the prerequisites. While using this feat, he doesn’t provoke an attack of opportunity, even if he doesn’t have the Improved Bull Rush feat.

At 4th level, while using the Hurricane Punch feat, the windstep master can bull rush a target up to two size categories larger. At 12th level, the windstep master’s target can be up to three size categories larger. At 20th level, the target can be of any size category.

At 8th level, when the windstep master uses the Hurricane Punch feat to successfully bull rush a creature, he can push the creature back an additional 5 feet. At 16th level, he can push the creature back an additional 10 feet.

This ability replaces stunning fist. Wind Step (Su): At 4th level, the windstep master’s steps become supernaturally light. As a move action, he can use air walk (as per the spell) up to a distance equal to his fast movement bonus. He must reach a solid, level surface able to support his weight by the end of his turn or he falls.

This ability replaces slow fall or the ki power gained at 4th level for an unchained monk.

Swift Ki (Su) level 4

Replaces Ki Pool.

At 4th level, the windstep master can spend 1 point from his ki pool as a swift action to sustain his wind step for 1 minute. During this time, the windstep master can remain airborne even if he doesn’t reach a solid surface. He can also spend 1 point from his ki pool as a swift action to increase his wind step distance by 20 feet for 1 round. The windstep master does not gain the ability to spend ki to increase his base speed by 20 feet for 1 round.

This ability alters ki pool.

SPELLS OF AIR The following new spells are intended for masters of air. The sorcerer/wizard spells below also belong to the air elemental school, which is described on page 142 of the Pathfinder RPG Advanced Player’s Guide; elementalist wizard spell lists are on pages 194–196 of the Advanced Player’s Guide.