Calm Amid The Storm

Hidden Teachings of the Githzerai

By Bruce R. Cordell

Severe and serious, the githzerai tend toward somberness both in dress and personality. As a rule, githzerai are close-mouthed, keep their own counsel, and trust few outside their own kind. They speak their own language, but many also speak Common.

Githzerai Monasteries

To become a monk, a githzerai must first choose among the dozens, perhaps hundreds, of monasteries that drift among the chaos storms of Limbo. In fact, most monasteries are secret, hidden enclaves, and even discovering the existence of a given monastery can be an adventure in itself. Many githzerai monks are born in a monastery - far fewer join from the outside. Different monasteries boast different styles of operation, up to and including subtly different styles of martial arts training and meditation.

Monastery of Zerth'Ad'Lun

The monastery is built with the subjective gravity of Limbo in mind (any direction that you decide is down, becomes down). A forest of towers protrude from the generally spherical monastery. Within, winding stairs connect 'floors' with 'walls' and 'ceilings' (although all the surfaces are floors for those who don't mind adjusting their own subjective orientation). There are three Great Halls that are used for various aspects of zerthin traning. At any given time, at least one of the halls contains a mentor and a class of several githzerai students going through the forms of their martial discipline.

Another important aspect of zerthin is meditation. Thus, hundreds of tiny cells can be found almost everywhere in the halls of the monastery, each lit by dim candles and draped in sound-foiling fabrics. Here, the cenobites take advantage of quiet and solitude, perfecting their mastery of the Rule. Those who truly follow the Rule of zerthin develop abilities that monks from other monasteries are unfamiliar with. These special students are called zerth cenobites.

Zerth Cenobite

Taking this prestige class does not invoke the special monk restriction - if a monk takes one or more levels of zerth cenobite, she can take levels of monk without restriction, following the standard restrictions for multiclassing.

Requirements

Base Attack Bonus: +4
Knowledge (Outer Planes): 8 ranks
Feats: Improved Unarmed Strike, Deflect Arrows, Dodge, Mobility
Alignment: Any lawful
Special: Must find the Monastery of Zerth'Ad'Lun amidst the chaos of Limbo, successfully petition the sensei for membership, and complete a unique trial determined by the sensei.

Class Skills:

Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Progression:

Class Features:

Weapon and Armor proficiency: Cenobites are proficient with club, crossbow (light or heavy), dagger, handaxe, javelin, kama, nunchaku, quarterstaff, shuriken, siangham, and sling. The zerth cenobite gains the same advantages for using a kama, nunchaku, or siangham as does a monk.

Student of perfection (Ex): Zerth cenobites are monks, although they meditate on alternative methods of achieving physical enlightenment. As such, a zerth cenobite gains the unarmed attack bonus, unarmed damage, AC bonus, and unarmored speed as if she were a monk whose level equaled her monk level + her zerth cenobite level. Those who manage to meet the requirements for this class who are not monks gain these abilities as if a monk equal to only their zerth cenobite level.

Sense Fate (Ex): The character sometimes gets premonitions of the immediate future and can attempt to alter the perceived future in a limited fashion. Once per day, the cenobite is allowed to reroll one roll that she has just made. She must take the result of the reroll, even if it is worse than the original roll. If the zerth cenobite has levels of cleric with Luck as a domain power, this power is cumulative with that domain power.

Combat Foresight (Ex): The zerth cenobite's awareness extends a fraction of a second into the future, allowing her to better land blows against opponents. She gains a +1 insight bonus to her attack rolls.

Danger Sense (Ex): Presentiments of danger are more acute for the character. She gains a +2 dodge bonus to Reflex saves made to avoid traps and a +2 dodge bonus to AC against attacks made by traps.

Improved Foresight (Ex): The zerth cenobite's temporal awareness extends a fraction further forward. She has a +2 insight bonus to her attack rolls and a +1 insight bonus to her damage rolls.

Insight (Ex): With meditation, secrets of the future become clear to the character. Each day, the zerth cenobite gains a floating insight bonus of +2. That insight bonus can be applied to any ability check, skill check, or saving throw roll. The character can decide to add the insight bonus to the roll before or immediately after it is made. The floating insight bonus can only be used once per day, and like most bonus types, does not stack with other insight bonuses.

Ki Strike (Su): A zerth cenobite's unarmed attack is empowered with ki. The unarmed strike damage from such an attack can deal damage to a creature with damage reduction, such as a wight, as if the blow were made with a weapon with a +1 enhancement bonus. This ability does not stack with a standard monk's ability of the same name.

Time Step (Su): Once per day, the cenobite can step forward in time up to a number of rounds equal to her Wisdom bonus (always into the future, never into the past). In effect, the character seems to disappear, then reappear the appropriate number of rounds later. The monk reappears in exactly the same orientation and condition as before. For the zerth cenobite, no time has passed at all.

If the space from which the character departed is occupied upon her return to the time stream, she appears in the closest unoccupied space, still in her original orientation. Determine the closest space randomly if necessary.

Discerning Attack (Su): A zerth cenobite can see a foe's past hurts even if completely healed, and she has the ability to attack the creature and re-inflict those past wounds in the present. A discerning attack can be made against a creature damaged by the cenobite's unarmed attacks. The cenobite can use this supernatural ability once per round, but no more than once per zerth cenobite level per day. The cenobite must declare she is using a discerning attack before making the attack roll (thus, a missed attack roll ruins the attempt). A foe struck by the cenobite is forced to make a Fortitude saving throw (DC 10 + the zerth cenobite's level + the zerth cenobite's Wisdom modifier) in addition to receiving normal damage. If the saving throw fails, the opponent takes double damage (as if the attack had delivered a critical). If the cenobite strikes with a critical hit while using a discerning attack, the damage is tripled. Creatures immune to critical hits cannot be affected by the cenobite's discerning attack.

Timeless Body (Su): A zerth cenobite no longer suffers ability penalties for aging, and cannot be magically aged. (Any penalties she might already have suffered remain in place.) Bonuses still accrue, and the monk still dies of old age when her time is up.

Improved Insight (Ex): The cenobite's daily floating insight bonus increases to +4, and it can also be used for attack rolls.

Timeless (Su): Once per day, the zerth cenobite's personal sense of time increases so greatly that all other creatures seem frozen; however, they are actually still moving at their normal speeds. The zerth cenobite is free to act for a number of rounds of apparent time equal to her Wisdom modifier. Normal and magical fire, cold, gas, and the like can still harm her. While timeless, other creatures are invulnerable to the character's attacks; however, she can create spell or psionic effects and leave them to take effect when her timeless period ends. (These effects' durations do not begin until the timeless period is over.)

The character cannot move or harm items held, carried, or worn by a creature stuck in normal time, but she can affect any item that is not in another creature's possession. She is undetectable while the timeless period lasts. She cannot enter an area protected by an antimagic field, by protection from alignment spells (if they apply to the cenobite), or by magic circle spells.