If they follow a god, probably not on Athas. The only real monks mentioned in any sort of canon material are the monks of Nibenay (the city, not the sorcerer king). I don't believe they follow much of anything other than mastery of their art.
I've got levels in it for my epic githzerai that I am currently playing.
Originally posted by Dawnstealer
The only real monks mentioned in any sort of canon material are the monks of Nibenay (the city, not the sorcerer king). I don't believe they follow much of anything other than mastery of their art.
Mentions some in Raam too as well as the villichi convents.
In d20 Oriental Adventures, they come from the Rokugan Campaign setting.
They do not follow gods, but do follow the teachings of Shinsei (the Shintao), which is basically as philosophy of self-perfection. (the default monk philosophy, in essence).
However, I would personally not allow them in dark sun, simply because they are WAY to oriental for my tastes, with all their animal tatoos which are very oriental symbols that don't quite fit athas, unless there all reworked.
Even if they're in the Complete Warrior, it would be like allowing the Samurai as a Dark Sun base class.
Personally, I'm always appalled when I read through D&D boards and see the class combination people take, interspacing medival european, medieval japanese, ancient chinese, primitive african and medieval norse classes, with no regards for organisations whatsoever, just abilities. I can't believe DMs allow those.
Examples:
Cleric 7/Paladin 2/Monk 2/Tattooed Monk 9
And if that's not bad enough, look at the level progression:
1 Monk Endurance, Stunning fist (b), Improved Grapple
2 Monk Combat reflexes (b), Evasion
3 Pal Weap Fin., Smite Evil 1/day, Det. Evil, Aura of Good
4 Pal +1 to charisma, Divine Grace, Lay on Hands
5 Clr Domains: Luck (free re-roll 1/day), Travel.
6 TM Tat: bellflower, Power Attack
7 TM
8 TM Tat: Tiger, +1 cha
9 TM Feat: Divine Might
10 Tm Tat: Wasp
11 TM
12 TM Tat: Mountain +1 cha, Divine Vigor
13 TM
14 TM Tat: Ocean or Lion
15 Cleric Freezing the Lifeblood
16 Cleric +1 Cha
17 Cleric
18 Cleric feat: Sun School
19 Cleric
20 Cleric +1 Cha.
Monk then paladin then cleric then tatooed monk then cleric!
Or how about the Samurai/Monk/Psychic Warrior/Iaijutsu Master/Elocator?
And my new all time favorite:
Bard1/Ftr2/Rng2/Bard1/Bladesinger10/Bladedancer1/Spelldancer1/spellsinger1/spellsword1
Some people did NOT get the point of ROLE PLAYING Games...
P.S.: All of the above ''builds'' are taken from the character optimisation board of Wizards of the Coast
I don't like dealing with these either.
Originally posted by Shei-Nad
Some people did NOT get the point of ROLE PLAYING Games...
Or perhaps they simply have a different point of play than you do? Seems silly to get all worked up because some people maximize character ability as part of their strategy because they like playing for the challenge rather than limp-wristed acting (sorry, being extreme to make a point).
I've enjoyed both sorts of play.
Originally posted by greyorm
I've enjoyed both sorts of play.
I think the reason Shei and I are so vocal about it, well at least me anyways, is because we've had nothing but one type of gaming most of the time we run. That's mostly our faults I agree, hence why we are trying to fix that, or at least I am.
Now, when we play hack and slash, we play hack and slash, and don't try to fool ourselves, unlike many (if not most) D&D players I've played with when I wasn't DM, and from what I hear, I suspect that Hack and Slash / minmaxing is the main theme of D&D players, or even the D&D system, when you think about it. In the PHB, there's about a paragraph on roleplay, and a huge chapter on combat.
Anyways, one is not better than the other, of course, they're just different, but I get annoyed when people talk more about stats than in-character real, real quick when I play RPGs.
I got bitter over the hack-and-slash-can't-roleplay-to-save-his-life mentality real quick with other players I gamed with a few years ago, but it really came true with everquest. Man, that game should have some sort of court interjection to call itself a Role Playing Game. Its THE uber-min/maxing game their is, period. Roleplaying there will ACTUALLY get you tells like: ''Why are you talking like that?''
Anyways...
"Uh, I've got like stone for skin, and I'm holding 2 big stone mauls, one in each hand and full plate armor."
What's really funny though is that his characters are designed to be the best at combat numerically, but somehow always end up being killed or left in the dust by some of our more established well-thought out characters. Of course, that point he blames on us having really powerful magic items. While his character only has +5 armor, and 2 +5 weapons :P
and that player was about to have a stroke when he found out that he actually had an ietm of that magnitude.
My players go like this "DUDE! a metal weapon!!!!" and if it's magical too they think i've lost my damn mind.
:D
And it was Forgotten Realms! The Realms that are better left Forgotten ;)@zerpentor: exactly, thats the way to play. If you hand out items sparingly, they appreciate them all the more.
Originally posted by DisruptorX
Monks(as in the wotc d&d class) are unique to oriental culture, therefore have no place in Darksun.
Heard this all before.
Still doesn't float with me.
Plenty of ways to change the flavor text of the class and some of the abilities it gets to make it fit.
"Open your mind Quade."
You come to me and give me a good explaination of why your character is a Monk, on Athas, and his history and the like, and I juist may let you play a Monk in Dark Sun.
You explain to me how your character came to be able to spontaneously cast divine magic without needing to prepare them, and if it is a good enough reason, then I may let you play a sorceror in Dark Sun..
Yes, Dwarves (in normal sense) are typically anti magic, magicless and the like, but you want to give me a reason why your Dwarf wants to be a wizard, then have at it.
However, you must roleplay the hell out of that character. The minute it seems like the class choice is being taken for granted, then all bets are off. Borys might have just heard of this new Magic casting character and taken a personal hatred to the idea that someone can spontaneously cast spells without preparation, and come by to snack.
Now, I am not to consider Monks, Sorcerors or the like a standard common occurance, but I have nothing against a rare specimen showing up here and there.
Originally posted by NytCrawlr
Heard this all before.
Still doesn't float with me.
Plenty of ways to change the flavor text of the class and some of the abilities it gets to make it fit.
"Open your mind Quade."
It takes alot of tweaking to break past the "fists of fury" achetype the monk represents;)
Originally posted by NytCrawlr
Heard this all before.
Still doesn't float with me.
Plenty of ways to change the flavor text of the class and some of the abilities it gets to make it fit.
"Open your mind Quade."
Agreed. It does need sme balancing adjustments to the abilities, as Athas isn't filled with all of the magical equipment than your typical D&D campaign setting would have that normally balances the differences. And then there are the monk orders talked about in Ivory Triangle. as well as the monastic-like training/teachings of the Villichi Convents.
Originally posted by bigaxe
I don't know how this became a min/max thread, I just wanted to be able to know if Tattoo monks follow a God, which I found out they don't, so thanks. I personally think it 's how you play your character, not what classes you take that defines your characer. I trust the guys at wizards and dragon magizine to define the rules of what is allowed; ie, no barbarian monks, you can have a monk in DS, etc. after that point I leave it up to my DM.
To answer your question no they don't have to follow a god like many other classes. If you look at the monk in it's oriental flavor generally speaking they believe in self-enlightment and the spiritual essence of perfect themselves. However I think the DnD interpretation of monks are skilled martial artists. A good way of trying disassiocate monks with the asian feel is think of other types of martial arts. Some good examples I think that would work in Athas are Kappa wayan(spelling way off) a very acrobatic kick culturally based in Brazil. Wrestling is another good example, also boxing. Hope that helps
Originally posted by DisruptorX
It takes alot of tweaking to break past the "fists of fury" achetype the monk represents;)
It's not that hard, sheesh.
Take a look at what I did.
http://www.crimsonsun.org/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=140
It's not 3.5 yet either.
Plan to modify it once I digest XPH more.
Originally posted by Malkaf
If you look at the monk in it's oriental flavor generally speaking they believe in self-enlightment and the spiritual essence of perfect themselves.
Minus the oriental part, how does this not fit in with Athas, which is a very high psionic world and psionics on said world are all about perfecting the mind with the body (Will and the Way)?
Fits right in for me.