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Way of the Night Hunt

by Marc Saindon

Monk: Way of Shadow

This is Myoshiman ninjitsu. Way of Shadow in the Player's Handbook is presented as "team evil" martial arts, which you can pair off with a thieves' guild to create an evil ninja clan or a thugee group, or Cobra Kai... which isn't much original for me.

Instead, in Mystara "Way of Shadow" is from these Rakastas that are monster-hunters, going after things that bump in the night (and as a Monks, they bump back) so that when everyone wakes in the morning, they have a peaceful day (sort of like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but with cat-folk). Mioshyman immigrants to the lands of Yasuko have taught favored humans the ways of their nightly vigil. Since these don't have cat claws to fully benefit from the maneuvers, the Yasukan humans have adopted (like real-world Okinawans) farming tools as concealable weapons, such as turning grain flails into nunchakus and handles into tonfas.

Naturally, you could create splinter groups that have turned to the evil to have sought to fight, following new Yuan-Ti masters, for example.


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