Feat
Ki Strike
The blow goes through the armor instead of into it
The Monk pushes blue mana down the arm at the moment of contact. The blow lands on the body rather than on what the body is wearing: it ignores DR entirely.
Spend 1 Ki point and place a spell token in the tick where the strike happens. The token is what limits this, not the Ki—the Monk has only two spell actions a round for most of his career, and every one spent here is one he cannot cast with.
Scaling
One Ki covers more of the tick as the Monk's discipline grows.
| Monk level | Attacks in that tick that ignore DR |
|---|---|
| 3 | 1 |
| 5 | 2 |
| 7 | 3 |
| 9 | 4 |
| 10 | every attack in the tick |
This is what lets an unarmed dwarf threaten a knight in adamantine plate, and it is the reason a Monk is worth bringing to a fight against something armored, entrenched, or dead.