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The Unwavering Path
UNWAVERING
THE
INTRODUCTION
Monks and paladins, lawful professions at heart,
demand consistency of themselves more than any
other quality. Both classes adhere to traditions for the
sake of creating standards upon which they can always
count. From the repetition of exercise, meditation, and
prayer, both classes reinforce the strength of their
convictions, whether from within (the self) or from
without (the divine). As such, the moment their focus
changes to pursue a different path, for even one level,
both classes must forever abandon that profession.
These characters must make a lasting choice before
multiclassing, deciding if they have advanced far
enough as monks or paladins for their entire career.
PATH
A Multiclassing Quest for
Monks and Paladins
CREDITS
WHAT YOU NEED TO PLAY
The Unwavering Path
makes use of the information in
the three D&D core rulebooks—the
Player’s Handbook
(PH), Dungeon Master’s Guide (DMG),
and
M o n s t e r
Manual (MM),
as well as
Monster Manual II (MMII),
Monster Manual III (MMIII), Fiend Folio (FF),
a n d
Fiendish Codex I: The Hordes of the Abyss (FCI).
Design:
Kolja Raven Liquette
Editing:
Miranda Horner
Typesetting:
Nancy Walker
Web Production
Bart Carroll
Web Development:
Mark A. Jindra
Graphic Design:
Sean Glenn, Cynthia Fliege
and Jen Page
Based on the original D
UNGEONS
& D
RAGONS
®
game by E.
Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson and on the new edition of the
D
UNGEONS
& D
RAGONS
game designed by Jonathan Tweet,
Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Rich Baker, and Peter Adkison.
D&D, D
UNGEONS
& D
RAGONS
, and D
UNGEON
M
ASTER
are registered trademarks owned
by Wizards of the Coast, Inc. The d20 logo is a trademark owned by Wizards of the
Coast, Inc. All Wizards characters, character names, and the distinctive likenesses
thereof are trademarks owned by Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United
States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the
material or artwork contained herein is prohibited
without the express written permission of
Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
THE UNWAVERING
PATH (LEVELS 3–5)
“I never stopped being a monk, even after I discovered
the magic that flowed through my veins. Still, I had to
convince myself first.”
—The human Lornis Dareborn, monk/sorcerer
Monks and paladins often find themselves tempted by the
special abilities of other classes and prestige classes. They
see how many of these abilities can aid them in their fight
against the unruly forces of chaos. Straying from the monk
or paladin class, however, comes with a stern warning.
Once you follow another path, there is no turning back.
But what if a monk could take levels of sorcerer or a
paladin could take levels of rogue and then return to being
a martial disciple of justice or a holy defender of truth?
©2006 Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Made in the U.S.A.
This product is a work of fiction.
Any similarity to actual people, organizations, places,
or events is purely coincidental.
This Wizards of the Coast game product contains no Open Game Content.
No portion of this work may be reproduced in any form without
written permission. To learn more about the Open Gaming License
and the d20 System License,
please visit
www.wizards.com/d20
.
For more D
UNGEONS
& D
RAGONS
articles, adventures, and information,
visit
www.wizards.com/dnd
1
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LORE OF THE UNWAVERING PATH
Characters with ranks in Knowledge (arcana),
Knowledge (local), Knowledge (nature), or Knowledge
(religion) can research the Unwavering Path to learn
more about this quest. When a character makes a skill
check, read or paraphrase the appropriate information
from one of the following tables, including the informa-
tion from lower DCs.
If the character is looking for a way to ignore her monk
or paladin multiclassing restriction, use the entire table. If
the character had heard of the Unwavering Path specifi-
cally and wants to see whether she knows more about it,
reveal information only for check results of 20 or higher.
After getting information from a Knowledge check,
the characters should be able to learn more about the
Unwavering Path by consulting masters or priests who
keep track of the extradimensional anomaly, or by trying
to find individuals who were referenced in the informa-
tion they have gained. Such resources can reveal the
information for Knowledge DCs higher than the PCs’
check results, or any other information about the
Unwavering Path that you’d like the characters to have.
Knowledge (local)
DC
Result
10
Stories tell of adventurers walking into the ocean during
low tides, never to be seen again. Those few who return do
so minutes, hours, or even days later.
15
Whenever adventurers disappear into the ocean, locals
tend to stay away from the coastline for about a week. If
the adventurers do not return, something profanely evil
usually appears in their place.
20
Villagers who make their living fishing along ocean coast-
lines have heard of demons that emerge out of the
depths, shortly after lawfully minded adventurers disap-
peared into the same waters.
2 5
Several years back, during the lowest tide of summer, a
local boy named Thodun Daystorm, who had originally left
the community to become a paladin, returned home and
marched into the ocean on what he called a quest of self-
d i s c o v e r y. He was never heard from again. No more than
three days later, a winged creature, immolated with fire,
emerged out of the water in the same place where Thodun
disappeared and took off into the sky, laughing raucously.
Knowledge (nature)
DC
Result
15
Places located near the coastlines of oceans have portals
to an alternate dimension that can be opened for a short
time.
Knowledge (arcana)
DC
20
When the tides are at their lowest, those who know how to
open fissures in reality can travel through them into a
bridging dimension.
Result
15
During certain days of the summer months, directly asso-
ciated with low ocean tides, demons have crossed over
from the Abyss and inexplicably appeared on various
coastlines.
25
For about three days a month, during the season of
summer, when ocean tides reach their lowest points,
lawfully minded people can focus their spirit to open a
dimensional pathway that leads into another plane of exis-
tence between this world and the Abyss.
20
At certain times during an ocean tide, lawfully minded
people can open fissures in reality through which
outsiders from other planes of existence can enter the
Material Plane.
Knowledge (religion)
DC
Result
10
Former monks and paladins who abandoned their calling
have been known to become monks and paladins again.
15
There is a quest, that masters and priests never talk about
openly, called the Unwavering Path. The quest allows
people who were once monks or paladins to embrace
those callings again after pursuing different professions.
20
Those who seek the Unwavering Path must travel to an
ocean coastline during the lowest tides of summer and
meditate on their desire to become a monk or paladin
again. If they can create the needed state of mind, the
Unwavering Path opens for them and their companions,
which can then be walked along.
25
The Unwavering Path leads to an oppressively hot extradi-
mensional locality that bridges the Material Plane and the
Abyss, wherein demons test the faith of adventurers who
wish to become monks or paladins again. A gift is offered,
that if accepted, must be returned in kind before continu-
ing along the path.
30
Whenever a former monk or paladin dies while following
the Unwavering Path, or fails to return a demonic gift, the
demons that tested her are released onto the Material
Plane, free to murder and pillage as they are wont to do.
2
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What if their devotion to being a monk or paladin never
diminished during their exploration of other professions?
The Unwavering Path quest offers former monks and
paladins a way to test the strength of their convictions.
Those who know about the Unwavering Path
caution those who seek the quest to be certain in their
desire. Many who walk the path find themselves
trapped along the way, unable to move forward and
unable to double back. They must find a way to end the
journey or expire along the way. While the reported
methods for completing the quest have been similar,
those who successfully walk the path come back with
different stories to tell about their experiences, but also
are more confident for having endured them.
Characters can embark upon the Unwavering Path
in any part of the world where an ocean tide exists. The
cyclical ebbing and surging nature of ocean tides repre-
sents the fluctuating choices that people make during
their lives, some of which return them to where they
began. The path is an extradimensional anomaly that
monks and paladins, who still meet the alignment and
code of conduct prerequisites of their class, can open. A
character must first attain a meditative state of mind,
after which the path becomes apparent. The quest can
be a solitary one, but a character may also bring
companions along by instructing them how to proceed.
until willfully dispelled from her mind. A former
monk or paladin can instruct her companions on how
to follow the Unwavering Path. Once every member of
the party submerges underwater (walking normally)
they are simultaneously transported into a bridging
dimension between worlds.
The divine and profane magic that saturates the
bridging dimension redirects any attempts to teleport
into or out of it. Thus, whether the PCs arrive by magic
or on foot after traveling to a coastline, they come to
the farthest edge of an ocean tide.
Random Encounters
Entrances to the Unwavering Path may well be fraught
with chaotic creatures that have come to expect lawfully
minded adventurers to frequent the area, and so lay in
wait to ambush them. You can either roll once on the
table below or select one encounter that you prefer. The
listed creatures are chaotic in their alignment or behav-
ior and aquatic in their subtype. Creatures who know
how the Unwavering Path works can exploit the char-
acter’s lack of mobility or even attempt to force them off
the path (to be affected by the water normally).
The Water’s Edge Encounters
d%
Encounter
EL
1–10
Shark, Medium (
MM
279)
1
11–20
Squid (
MM
281)
1
21–30
Shark, Large (
MM
279)
2
THE WATER’S EDGE
A character can embark upon the Unwavering Path
from the coastline of any ocean that is either connected
to a mainland continent or island. For three days every
month, during the season of summer, when the ocean
tide reaches its lowest point, the Unwavering Path
opens for about 1 hour (1/2 hour on the day before and
after the lowest tide).
A former monk or paladin must travel out to the
farthest point of the tide, meditate for 15 minutes, and
succeed on a DC 15 Concentration check to create a
spiritual focus. This spiritual focus opens a fissure in
reality and grants the ability to see the Unwavering
Path, which appears as a straight line of luminescent,
ionized air leading directly into the ocean. The charac-
ter must negotiate over seaweed, shells, and stones
until completely submerged underwater (walking at
her normal height). During this time, the character
moves through the water as if affected by a freedom of
m o v e m e n t and water breathingspell. Those who move
into an adjacent 5-foot square on either side of the
Unwavering Path are affected by the water normally.
Once a character attains the spiritual focus needed
to sense the Unwavering Path, her awareness persists
31–40
2 ixitxachitl (
MMII
128)
2
41–50
Water mephit (
MM
185)
3
51–60
Ixitxachitl, vampiric (
MMII
129)
3
61–70
Sea hag (
MM
144)
4
71–80
Skulvyn (
FF
54)
4
81–90
Morkoth (
MMII
152)
5
91–100 Sirine (
MMII
185)
5
BRIDGING DIMENSION
The monk or paladin, and accompanying party
members (if any), are transported into an extradimen-
sional locality. Read or paraphrase the following text:
The smell of brimstone and sulfur are the first
sensations that reach you. Smoke hangs in the
bright orange sky of your new surroundings,
matched by a copper-red landscape of imposing
crags that impossibly lean and tower over the
firmament. The ground beneath your feet begins to
shake, rumble, and then violently quake as a long
narrow passageway opens before you, almost as if
an enormous axe blade cleft the mountain range in
two. Although difficult to see, an intense fire burns
at the opposite end of this newly formed corridor,
from which waves of heat pulse against your skin
and black smoke continually billows into the sky.
3
Although it may seem otherwise to the PCs, they have
not reached the Abyss yet. They are, however, very
close. The stink of tanar’ri is apparent here precisely
because demons regularly pass through this locality.
Any former monk or paladin who has not dispelled
their spiritual focus can sense the Unwavering Path
stretching through the newly formed corridor in a
straight line for about one mile.
Night and day do not exist in this bridging dimen-
sion, the temperature condition is “very hot” (see Heat
Dangers on page 303 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide) ,
natural healing is not possible, and magical healing
restores only one-half as many hit points. Untold evil
has been performed in this place, and so the detect evil
spell reveals a landscape that radiates strong evil. This
grows to overwhelming evil as the corridor is traversed.
If the PCs travel in any direction other than down
the mountain corridor, they must succeed on a
Fortitude saving throw every 10 minutes (DC 20, +1
per previous check) or be sickened for 1d4 rounds by
the ambient evil. For every 24 hours that characters
spend anywhere in this bridging dimension, another
Fortitude save must be made to avoid becoming perma-
nently sickened (DC 10, + 5 per previous 24 hours of
exposure). A restorationspell is required to remove this
condition. If already sickened, the character becomes
nauseated.
In addition, characters who attempt to climb or fly
over the corridor or crags encounter a thick choking
smoke 60 feet above the ground (originating from the
corridor fire) and must make a Fortitude saving throw
each round (DC 15, +1 per previous check). A character
who chokes for 2 consecutive rounds takes 1d6 points
of nonlethal damage.
Corruption Points: Alternatively, taint points may be
used for this locality (see The Taint of Evil and Tainted
Locations, pages 62 and 68 respectively of Heroes of
H o r r o r). In this case, characters automatically take 1
point of corruption for every 10 minutes spent traveling
away from the mountain corridor and make the same
daily Fortitude saving throws to resist taking 1d3 points
of corruption each 24 hours of exposure.
the corridor end (see Heat Dangers, page 303 of the
Dungeon Master’s Guide).
Note: PCs who turn around and double back along
the mountain corridor, after taking even one step into
the newly formed passageway, discover that the
passageway now stretches infinitely behind them into
the distance. PCs can literally walk forever in this
direction, but would have to cover that ground again if
they turn back. In addition, any character who
attempts to climb or fly out of the mountain corridor
encounters the same choking smoke 60 feet above the
ground.
Approaching the Corridor End: As the PCs near the
corridor end, read or paraphrase the following text:
The fire you originally perceived is revealed to be a
pair of burning wooden gates, each 10 feet wide
and 30 feet tall. Despite the intense heat generated
by the flames, the wooden gates, braced with metal,
are never truly consumed, continually billowing
black smoke into the upper corridor and sky. This
distraction, however, is nothing compared to the
creature, most certainly a demon, standing in front
of the gates, smiling calmly as you approach.
MOUNTAIN CORRIDOR
A character who walks down the one-mile long, 20-foot
wide corridor encounters the occasional skeleton that
looks to have died from heat exposure or starvation. In
some cases, pieces of metal armor litter the corridor
like bread crumbs that eventually lead to a body. The
temperature condition is “severe heat” within the corri-
dor, which increases to “extreme heat” within 60 feet of
4
The character level of a former monk or paladin and
accompanying party members (if any) determines the
demon or demons that stand before the gates. For
higher level characters, scale the encounters with the
former monk or paladin and their accompanying party
members.
Hand, and Use Rope checks until the damage to the
character’s hand is healed. A Fortitude save (DC 10 +
damage taken) allows the character to “tough it out”
and ignore this penalty. The PCs can make a Strength
check as a full-round action when attempting to open
the gate, but no amount of force will do so at this point.
D e v e l o p m e n t s : If asked how to open the gates, the
demon or demons will address the former monk or
paladin and open both of their hands (two demons will
each open one hand):
“To follow the path, accept my (our) gift.”
This statement prompts characters to make a single
Sense Motive check opposed by the Bluff checks of
each demon present. If the characters win, they receive
an unnerving feeling that the offered “gift” is double
sided, potentially resulting in harm.
A former monk or paladin who places her hands
into the hands of the demon or demons is immediately
infused with profane energy and must make a
Fortitude save to avoid becoming permanently shaken
(DC 10, + CR of demon or demons). A r e s t o r a t i o n s p e l l
is required to remove this condition. If the character is
already shaken, they are now frightened.
Once the infusion of profanity has been accepted,
the former monk or paladin now has a chance to open
the fiery gates with a DC 20 Strength check as a full-
round action. Touching or gripping either gate or
handle no longer deals any damage (but only these
burning gates and handles).
Characters who look through an open gate can see
only light disappearing into impenetrable darkness.
Depravity Points: Alternatively, taint points may be
used for this interaction (see The Taint of Evil, pages 6
of Heroes of Horror). In this case, former monks or
paladins automatically take 1d6 points of depravity for
accepting the infusion of profanity from the demon or
demons.
The Fiery Gate Encounter
Party
Party
Members
Level
Demon (CR)
1
3
Dretch (M M 42) or quasit (M M 46) (CR 2)
1
4
Rutterkin (FCI51) (CR 3)
1
5
2 dretch (MM42) or 2 quasits (MM46)
(CR 4)
2
3
2 dretch (MM42) or 2 quasits (MM46)
(CR 4)
2
4
Juvenile nabassu (F C I 48) or jovoc
(MMII58) (CR 5)
2
5
Babau (MM40) (CR 6)
3
3
Juvenile nabassu (F C I 48) or jovoc
(MMII58) (CR 5)
3
4
Babau (MM40) (CR 6)
3
5
Arrow demon (MMIII 34) or succubus
(MM47) (CR 7)
4
3
Babau (MM40) (CR 6)
4
4
Arrow demon (MMIII 34) or succubus
(MM47) (CR 7)
4
5
2 babau (MM 40) or palrethee (MMII
59) (CR 8)
T a c t i c s : The demon or demons are automatically aware
of any creature within 100 feet whose thoughts they
can detect, but must otherwise rely on Spot checks.
The demon or demons have been given the opportu-
nity to pass to the Material Plane, but must defeat the
PCs without engaging them in battle. The demon or
demons address only the former monk or paladin of a
party and make one statement:
“Beyond these gates lies your path.”
The demon or demons gesture toward the gates and
allow the PCs to approach uncontested. Any character
who approaches the gates notices letters carved into
the wooden surface beneath the flames. Characters
who succeed on a DC 10 Knowledge (religion) check
recognize these letters from the Celestial alphabet. Any
character who can read Celestial can decipher the
following text:
“Return any harm given before passing through
these gates alive.”
Touching the gates deals 1d6 points of fire damage
and 1d6 points of profane damage. Gripping either gate
handle to open a gate deals 2d6 points of fire damage
and 2d6 points of profane damage and imposes a –2
penalty on attack rolls, Climb, Craft, Disable Device,
Escape Artist, Forgery, Heal, Open Lock, Sleight of
ACTIONS AND OUTCOMES
Depending on the decisions made by PCs, the follow-
ing consequences may result.
• A former monk or paladin accepts the infusion of
profanity, forces one or both gates open, and walks
through.
This character finds herself in the Abyss, gains
nothing from the quest, and is greeted by a welcom-
ing party of demons who are accustomed to adven-
turers making this mistake. The Encounter Level of
this encounter should be “overpowering” (EL 1+
higher than the ECL of one character, EL 3+ for two
5
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