Centered

A Centered State of Being is a critical component of the Monk class. Several class-specific benefits are lost while a Monk is not Centered.

Requirements
To be Centered, a Monk must:
 * wear only a robe, outfit, docent (Warforged only), or nothing in his armor slot
 * Warforged Monks must also have a body type no heavier than Composite Plating
 * not wear a shield
 * wield only kamas, shurikens, a quarterstaff, handwraps, longsword (Feat Whirling Steel Strike required), shortswords (Ninja Spy Enhancement required) or nothing as weapons
 * not be encumbered

Penalties
Uncentered Monks can not perform the following abilities:


 * Fast Movement
 * Slow Fall
 * Monk-specific stances

Furthermore, the Monk's ki will rapidly drop to zero.

The Monk's Wisdom-based Armor Class bonus does not fully rely on the Centered state. This bonus has the same armor, shield, and encumberance requirements as Centered, but the Monk's weapons don't matter. A Monk still gets this bonus if he is Uncentered only because of his weapons. This is intentional: