The Imp is without question the most terrifying living creature most normal folk will see in their lives, and the sincere purity of her heart will only very rarely overcome that.
Dressed in the simple blue and white robes of the Master of Masters, standing well under three feet, the Tiefling retains few physical features of her Halfling ancestry save her diminutive stature. She is covered head to toe in thick, rough scales and her knees bend backward ending in cloven hooves. Pitiful vestigial wings adorn her back, her eyes are a sickly yellow, and horns top her head where locks of hair should be. A tail whips about languidly, seemingly with a mind of it's own.
And lastly her mouth. Half again too wide and lined with countless miniscule, razor-sharp teeth; made all the more horrifying by her cheery propensity to greet all she meets with a smile.
Background:
The pure-hearted wretch known as The Imp never knew a single blood relative. Born a tiefling of presumably halfing parents in the devil-bound nation of Cheliax, she was reviled by her homeland from birth. Most halflings in Cheliax are slaves, and most tieflings thought of as barely more than animals; and so it seemed the die had been cast for one of the most pitiful existences in the history of Golarion.
And for a time it was, though you might not be able to tell by speaking with her. When not maintaining deferential silence for the sake of her life, The Imp was almost cheery. Speaking often of her hope for a better tomorrow or a life beyond the borders of her infernal homeland, she possessed an inner core of hope as hard as adamantine.
One day in her 20th year, The Imp was scrubbing the floors in a temple devoted to Abadar. As fate would have it, a Paladin of Irori was visiting the temple in inter-ecclesiastical business. Eager to finish his time in the kingdom of devils, he stopped short as his divinely-aided intuition noticed The Imp. Sensing a confoundingly bottomless reservoir of hope and -even more fascinating- an incredibly powerful conduit of ki energy within the wretched little creature, his fascination got the better of him and he purchased her contract on the spot.
The Imp didn't fully processes that she was actually leaving Cheliax when they crossed the border. Once they had left her homeland behind, he introduced himself as Master Hesperian and offered to take her on as his pupil. The Imp cried for three days.
The Imp -she insisted on keeping the name- thrived under Hesperian's tutelage. He instructed her in the faith of Irori, began the rudimentary basic education she had been denied, and of course the paramount method of the Iroran pursuit of perfection: mastery of the physical, mental, and spiritual self through martial arts. In this she excelled greatly, her seemingly endless capacity for hope translating in to a confidence that easily surpassed her disadvantages. She didn't have a cruel bone in her body, but she approached battle with an unshakeable fierceness and determination.
Most impressive -and confirmation of Hesperian's intuition- she mastered ki as a bird mastered the air. Before long, she even developed her own ki technique, on Hesperian had never seen before: channeling powerful shockwaves of force through her deft strikes, she was often able to overcome the significant size advantage most opponents had over her.
Hesperian became concerned though. Mastery of the self, as taught by Irori, came from achieving ordered control and serenity - something The Imp's relentless optimism was anything but. Her discipline was not in question, but he worried without tempering they young girl's greatest strength could quickly become the instrument of her own failure to achieve enlightenment.
And so he bid her to walk Golarion. Having only known two extremes in life, she was to test herself and her beliefs against the multitudinous chaos that was the world: with all of it's heroes, villains, and everything in between.
Several months into her wanderings, she found herself heading north from Varisia towards the Lands of The Linnorm Kings. She was accompanying a small trade caravan that had come up short recruiting guards and was low on coin. Desperation made them somewhat more amenable to accepting the monstrous girl's help, and it was proven fortunate they did as The Imp successfully repelled several minor threats along the road to Trollheim. Before parting ways with the caravanners, she insisted on taking no pay and in fact, gifted them a portion of her savings (50gp) so as to ensure adequate protection was hired for the next trip. The Imp then spent several days exploring Trollheim.
She had more than a few difficult encounters, some even got a little scary. But she managed to diffuse, escape, or overcome them all. She had the magical cap Hesperian had gifted her to conceal her appearance somewhat, but she was determined to use it in only the utmost emergencies... if at all.
When the call went out from Chadoth's Tooth about their missing children, The Imp overheard discussion of it in a tavern. Determined to either recover and rescue the missing little ones or at least rid the small community of it's troubles, she slowly began the trek to the small island.
Unarmed Combatant:
You are considered to be armed even when unarmed—you do not provoke attacks of opportunity when you attack foes while unarmed. Your unarmed strikes can deal lethal or nonlethal damage, at your choice.
You do not provoke an attack of opportunity when performing a grapple combat maneuver. In addition, you receive a +2 bonus on checks made to grapple a foe. You also receive a +2 bonus to your Combat Maneuver Defense whenever an opponent tries to grapple you.
Hurricane Punch:
When you hit the same creature with unarmed strikes at least twice in the same round, you can attempt a bull rush combat maneuver against that creature as a swift action. You can also move with the target even if you have no movement remaining, but the distance you move can’t exceed half your speed.
Powerful Maneuvers:
You do not provoke an attack of opportunity when performing a bull rush, drag, overrun, or sunder combat maneuver. In addition, you receive a +2 bonus on checks with these combat maneuvers and +2 CMD against these maneuvers when they are used on you. If you attempt to overrun with this feat, targets of your overrun attempt may not choose to avoid you. Now a prerequisite for the relevant greater combat maneuver feats.
Dodge:
You gain a +1 dodge bonus to your AC. This bonus increases to +5 against attacks of opportunity caused when you move out of or within a threatened tile. A condition that makes you lose your Dex bonus to AC also makes you lose the benefits of this feat.
Deflect Arrows:
You must have at least one hand free (holding nothing) to use this feat. Once per round when you would normally be hit with an attack from a ranged weapon, you may deflect it so that you take no damage from it. You must be aware of the attack and not flat-footed. Attempting to deflect a ranged attack doesn't count as an action. Unusually massive ranged weapons (such as boulders or ballista bolts) and ranged attacks generated by natural attacks or spell effects can't be deflected.
Painful Collision:
When you bull rush an enemy into another creature, both creatures take 1d6 points of bludgeoning damage, plus an additional 1d6 points of bludgeoning damage for every 5 feet your original target has moved as a result of your bull rush. For instance, if you successfully bull rush a goblin 10 feet and it then collides with another goblin, both creatures would take 3d6 points of bludgeoning damage.
Persecuted Expatriate:
You were born in a nation that persecuted you for your heritage. Although you were under terrible duress, you escaped either with the aid of family or by your own cunning. You gain a +1 trait bonus on one skill depending on your fiendish heritage: devil (Sense Motive). That skill is always a class skill for you.
Wisdom In The Flesh (Climb):
Your hours of meditation on inner perfection and the nature of strength and speed allow you to focus your thoughts to achieve things your body might not normally be able to do on its own. Select any Strength-, Constitution-, or Dexterity-based skill. You may make checks with that skill using your Wisdom modifier instead of the skill’s normal ability score. That skill is always a class skill for you.
Class Abilities:
Proficiency:
Monks are proficient with the club, crossbow (light or heavy), dagger, handaxe, javelin, kama, nunchaku, quarterstaff, sai, short sword, shortspear, shuriken, siangham, sling, spear, and any weapon with the monk special weapon quality. When wearing armor, using a shield, or carrying a medium or heavy load, a monk loses his AC bonus, as well as his fast movement and flurry of blows abilities.
AC Bonus:
When unarmored and unencumbered, the monk adds his Wisdom bonus (if any) to his AC and CMD. In addition, a monk gains a +1 bonus to AC and CMD at 4th level. This bonus increases by 1 for every four monk levels thereafter, up to a maximum of +5 at 20th level.
Flurry of Blows:
At 1st level, a monk can make a flurry of blows as a full-attack action. When making a flurry of blows, the monk can make one additional attack at his highest base attack bonus. This additional attack stacks with the bonus attacks from haste and other similar effects. When using this ability, the monk can make these attacks with any combination of his unarmed strikes and weapons that have the monk special weapon quality. He takes no penalty for using multiple weapons when making a flurry of blows, but he does not gain any additional attacks beyond what’s already granted by the flurry for doing so. (He can still gain additional attacks from a high base attack bonus, from this ability, and from haste and similar effects).
Hurricane Punch:
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.
Unarmed Strike:
At 1st level, a monk gains Improved Unarmed Strike as a bonus feat. A monk’s attacks can be with fists, elbows, knees, and feet. This means that a monk can make unarmed strikes with his hands full. There is no such thing as an off-hand attack for a monk striking unarmed. A monk can apply his full Strength bonus on damage rolls for all his unarmed strikes. A monk’s unarmed strikes deal lethal damage, although he can choose to deal nonlethal damage with no penalty on his attack roll. He can make this choice while grappling as well. A monk’s unarmed strike is treated as both a manufactured weapon and a natural weapon for the purpose of spells and effects that enhance or improve either manufactured weapons or natural weapons.
Evasion:
At 2nd level, a monk can avoid damage from many area-effect attacks. If a monk succeeds at a Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, he instead takes no damage. Evasion can be used only if a monk is wearing light armor or no armor. A helpless monk does not gain the benefit of evasion.
Fast Movement:
At 3rd level, a monk gains an enhancement bonus to his land speed, as shown on Table 1–2. A monk in armor or carrying a medium or heavy load loses this extra speed.
Ki Pool:
At 3rd level, a monk gains a pool of ki points, supernatural energy he can use to accomplish amazing feats. The number of points in a monk’s ki pool is equal to 1/2 his monk level + his Wisdom modifier. As long as he has at least 1 point in his ki pool, he can make a ki strike. At 3rd level, ki strike allows his unarmed attacks to be treated as magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. At 7th level, his unarmed attacks are also treated as cold iron and silver for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. At 10th level, his unarmed attacks are also treated as lawful weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. At 16th level, his unarmed attacks are treated as adamantine weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction and bypassing hardness. By spending 1 point from his ki pool as a swift action, a monk can make one additional unarmed strike at his highest attack bonus when making a flurry of blows attack. This bonus attack stacks with all bonus attacks gained from flurry of blows, as well as those from haste and similar effects. A monk gains additional powers that consume points from his ki pool as he gains levels. The ki pool is replenished each morning after 8 hours of rest or meditation; these hours do not need to be consecutive.
Racial Abilities:
Small:
The Imp is a Small creature and gains a +1 size bonus to her AC, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, a –1 penalty on combat maneuver checks and to her Combat Maneuver Defense, and a +4 size bonus on Stealth checks.
Scaled Skin (Electricity):
The skin of these tieflings provides some energy resistance, but is also as hard as armor. A tiefling with this trait gains electricity resistance 5 and also gains a +1 natural armor bonus to AC. This racial trait replaces fiendish resistance.
Prehensile Tail:
Many tieflings have tails, but some have long, flexible tails that can be used to carry items. While they cannot wield weapons with their tails, they can use them to retrieve small, stowed objects carried on their persons as a swift action. This racial trait replaces fiendish sorcery.
Vestigial Wings:
Some tieflings possess a pair of undersized, withered, or stunted wings like a mockery of those of their fiendish forbearer. Sometimes these wings are leathery, like those of a bat. Other times they are covered with a scattering of black, red, or violet feathers. Rare manifestations can take even more bizarre forms. These wings do not provide the lift required for actual flight, but do have enough power to aid flight attained by some other method, and grant a +4 racial bonus on Fly skill checks. This racial trait replaces skilled.
Maw or Claw:
Some tieflings take on the more bestial aspects of their fiendish ancestors. These tieflings exhibit either powerful, toothy maws or dangerous claws. The tiefling can choose a bite attack that deals 1d6 points of damage or two claws that each deal 1d4 points of damage. These attacks are primary natural attacks. This racial trait replaces the spell-like ability racial trait.
Darkvision:
Tieflings see in the dark for up to 60 feet.
Languages:
Common, Infernal
Gear:
Monk's Outfit, Cap of Human Guise, Potion of Cure Light Wounds (Lvl 1) x2, Handy Haversack [In Haversack: Cooking Kit, Various Cooking Ingredients, 50' Silk Rope]
