The Monk Class

[Falkon Swiftblade]

Well I see Armor being brought up a lot on here, but really how many RPG's do you fight against enemy's that are armored? Most of them you're fighting beasts that have no armor. It's a little different than playing Solid Snake, and trying to punch through a tank, versus punching a elephant or a hill giant in the gonads. With few exceptions, I think the fighter monk could open a whammy, especially since the player is typically the one wearing armor.

[Arundor]

The game is still being fleshed out, if we voice our discontent loudly enough the monk class just might not be made at all.

 

In that case, I will loudly voice my great pleasure and excitement about the Monk class. I absolutely do want unarmed and unarmored kung-fu monks to be one of the skill selections available to them.

 

I get that some people have a problem with kung-fu monks. However one of the stated goals of PE is to provide diverse character development options, so I think it's reasonable to hope that you could build a "shaolin style" monk or a different non-traditional style monk based upon your skill choices. I just want the unarmed martial arts to be one of those options.

Edited October 8, 2012 by Arundor

[cyberarmy]

 

 

In that case, I will loudly voice my great pleasure and excitement about the Monk class. I absolutely do want unarmed and unarmored kung-fu monks to be one of the skill selections available to them.

 

I get that some people have a problem with kung-fu monks. However one of the stated goals of PE is to provide diverse character development options, so I think it's reasonable to hope that you could build a "shaolin style" monk or a different non-traditional style monk based upon your skill choices. I just want the unarmed martial arts to be one of those options.

 

Supporting monks 7/24.!

[Falkon Swiftblade]

I really hope they make a good monk class. I've played a lot of monks in games, and I think most of the time they leave me wanting more. Kind of like Batman games. Although holy moly if they had Batman AC combat with monks, dear jebus it would be awesome. I know it won't happen in this type of game though.

[septembervirgin]

How about monks ala Name of the Rose? I can see a bunch of scholars whose job it was to investigate supernatural events, learn if and why the deities were angry, and also to investigate infraction within the clergy. Sort of monastic detectives instead of Inquisitors.

[Ywerion]

I admit I am a sucker for the Warrior Priests of Warhammer universe, and let us not forget Robin Hood's memorable Friar Tuck, and those crusading priests I think swored to not shed blood so they was swinging some sort of clubs or maces I think. These are types I would love to see, now the asian type of monk, well as long as it is in character - it is not forced and, it feels like part of that part of the world I don't mind. But I totally do see what you mean, it is fact that this type of old shaolin-like monk in fantasy settings is there for too long and it got stereotyped and also sorta annoying. While Im theorizing that PE world will be mostly if not purely set in Middle Age Europe setting, why not have monks more corresponding to this image. If they are supposed to be zealous fighters why not have only followers of one or two gods be hand-to-hand fighters, while followers of other gods with different wiev are less so prejudiced to weapon usage or aren't allowed by their fate to use edged weapons? On the last note as long as doesn't get over too omplicated, it would be fine, but if I get in final product that old fashioned asian-martial-art monk that plays great in a outstanding game I don't really care about such imho minor issues. No offense ment.

Edited October 9, 2012 by Ywerion

[Falkon Swiftblade]

How about monks ala Name of the Rose? I can see a bunch of scholars whose job it was to investigate supernatural events, learn if and why the deities were angry, and also to investigate infraction within the clergy. Sort of monastic detectives instead of Inquisitors.

 

never played that game, but I like the idea of the monk being sort of a xfiles detective person who uses his knowledge of the entities and a sort of mystical ghostbuster maybe.

[Falkon Swiftblade]

I think this is a Kungfu game coming out soon, The heavy Asian theme would probably not be appropriate for this game, but I like the animations if you click on each hero. http://kfgame.ru/ It's in Russian, so google translate is your friend.

[junk11]

How about monks ala Name of the Rose? I can see a bunch of scholars whose job it was to investigate supernatural events, learn if and why the deities were angry, and also to investigate infraction within the clergy. Sort of monastic detectives instead of Inquisitors.

 

never played that game, but I like the idea of the monk being sort of a xfiles detective person who uses his knowledge of the entities and a sort of mystical ghostbuster maybe.

 

It's a novel..and a movie..with Sean Connery...

[sollus]

As far as I am concerned I would like to see a monk as a class who is devoted to perfection of mind and body & soul, in this case a selfish pursuit which has associated reputation and inflection on your characters personality. I would want to see the classic wise/teacher rendition of a monk dropped/left out.

 

In terms of magic, the monk would focus their magic inwards to improve core stats and potentially development of psychokinesis and related skills such as barriers of compressed air/ blades of air, manipulation of objects

[Falkon Swiftblade]

True story: when I was in middle school, I went to school with this kid who may have had telekinesis powers. I remember sitting at the table with him and we would set books up across the table from each other, and he would stare at the books for a few minutes while rubbing his temples or chin, then in one swift motion he sort of brought his hands from his head towards the books at the opposite side motioning to it, and the books would usually flip over, and sometimes fly off the table. These were text books and not flimsy things. He didn't know how he did it, and I know it wasn't with a string or wind or anything like that, something similar maybe related to a force push move would be a cool move.

[rjshae]

The experience I've had with playing Monks is that they dish out a lot of damage, but they take a lot as well. Being a front-line character, they often take more damage than anybody else in the party, steadily draining healing resources. Thus, while they look interesting and have a lot of bells and whistles, they aren't always an optimal character over the course of a long campaign.

 

That won't matter as much, of course, if they use some sort of autohealing function...

Edited October 10, 2012 by rjshae

[AGX-17]

I want to play a Monk character who spends his days transcribing ancient texts by hand, while wearing hair shirts and making pretzels for the orphans under his charge.

[Osvir]

This is all I can say about the Monk class really:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRSzBzgVEUA&feature=related

Towards the end o.o Monk's are in balance with their essence, with their physical being. Watching this guy move (in comparison with the average joe in yellow) you'll understand what I'm talking about. I always feel that Monk's in games get portrayed as some sort of "earthy" hard hitters. Again, I wish to endorse the Vagabond manga (it is absolutely fantastic), displaying an absolutely great display of realistic monks.

 

There's also Avatar: The Last Airbender, every monk is on a path to find all four elements within him-/herself in a sense. Which feels like one of the moralities of Avatar Aang's journey ^^

 

EDIT: I can only one thing which also this video so very well displays in the early seconds of this video:

 

"It will be broken"

Edited October 10, 2012 by Osvir

[Aedelric]

I want to play a Monk character who spends his days transcribing ancient texts by hand, while wearing hair shirts and making pretzels for the orphans under his charge.

 

I am for that! :D

[FlintlockJazz]

To stop derailing the other topic, we can discuss the pro and con's of the Monk class here.

 

Personally I am completely against a stereotyped Asian kung-fu fighter with spiritual overtones. The archetype has been done over and over again, in many varying settings and in most cases when set within a high fantasy medieval world it often feels and looks out of place.

 

How can this be addressed? In European culture monks traditional are peaceful, tend herb gardens and wear habits dedicating their lives to god. But the crusades changed that and we had the likes of Hospitilars, warrior monks who took vows to fight zealously for god and heal the wounded. A much more likeable monk archetype in my opinion.

 

 

Are you for kung-fu monks or against?

 

Edit - Good suggestion was flagellants.

 

I agree with pretty much this entire post, as cool as kung fu monks look in kung fu films they just seem out of place in this setting to me and would like to see european style monks for once (which ironically would be quite unusual for a standard fantasy setting). The new Chanters class in fact would fit European monks well I think, as real life monks collected and preserved many books and sang hymns.

[FlintlockJazz]

Actually I've been thinking about it and I think the biggest problem I have is the lore behind the class: fighting monks is pretty much a Asian thing and developed from the society at the time and its religious beliefs. I would rather see it adapted to the way the society its supposed to be from, so for instance instead of being developed by monks it could be developed by slaves much like capoeira was developed in the real world. This would probably mean that they would no longer be actual monks but then as chanters are pretty much bards with their singing I see nothing wrong with altering the fundamental features of a class like that.

[Aedelric]

You are replacing one martial arts with another FlintlockJazz, how is that better?

Edited October 10, 2012 by Aedelric

[ogrezilla]

I think he's saying the class could be the same mechanically, but the backstory and lore would be different.

[Aedelric]

I see, I do not think that solves much, fist fighting mages and sword wielding paladins while semi-naked is insane. A different martial arts does not fix that discrepancy, regardless of background and lore.

[Osvir]

You are replacing one martial arts with another FlintlockJazz, how is that better?

 

You edited your post entirely! I wanted to respond xD now I'm trying to recap what you wrote....

 

What I meant is, that is kind of what I want to see about the Monk class (My own personal preference). A Zen type Monk. Oft times I feel the Monk in games are portrayed as some Chaotic brawlers. Monk's being swift, balanced and moving "with" the flow and motion, through the path of least resistance.

 

I am a trainee of Tai-Chi myself, and I would like the Monk to be predominantly a Zen Martial Artist and not a Bruce Lee/Chuck Norris Brawler only like they are generally today in video games (am I the only one to feel this way?). Additionally, with this being said, why not being able to evolve your Monk Class as it progresses? One might be more towards the Bruce Lee standard, one more towards the Tai-Chi, one with the Staff (Monkey King style) etc. etc.

[Aedelric]

You edited your post entirely! I wanted to respond xD now I'm trying to recap what you wrote....

 

Yea, turns out I accidentally clicked a different video, but I caught my mistake early.

Edited October 10, 2012 by Aedelric

[Ashram]

Having monks who use both unarmed attacks, weapons, with an asian flare is not unthematic. This is a unique fantasy setting. I haven't read a dev diary post that says they are carbon copying european medieval times and using that for everything. Using the logic of the OP (sorry), each class is somewhat stereotypical. The studious mage....the sword and board fighter....the priestly healing class....the ranger with their bows and arrows and maybe some puppies for support. These "stereotypes" are just things that we as roleplayers have grown accustomed to over the years.

 

What I like about this project is that it seems that the devs are challenging some of those stereotypes with statements like wizards can wear full plate and swing swords and such. That's great news. However I don't want to see monks some kind of european weird, silent, soup kitchen, omni omni hummina hummina secluded second hand priest. I want something different, explosive, engaging, and fun to play. The best way to do that, especially with all of the synergies of soul, is to take the asian flare for what a monk is. Use that as the baseline and then challenge the stereotype by allowing the player to branch and do different things. Maybe an armor wearing monk....maybe one that focuses more on Chi or soul power and can do physical manifestations like Street Fighter, maybe one that specializes in weapons, other more intellectual, etc. Have a slew of styles that can be branched into. But having something that does not start with something as amazing as what asian monks are like as a player class would just plain stink. If you want to have a second rate priest hybrid with something else....start out as one.

 

See how enjoyable and/or different from the other stated classes a non asian style incarnation of monk would be. It would end up being worse than the worse monk class in any game to date I bet.

Edited October 10, 2012 by Ashram

[Aedelric]

They are challenging the stereotypes I grant you that, many classes seem to have a nice twist. Monks on the other hand, we know little and what we have seen fit exactly with the stereotype we know and many wish to avoid, even the lovely wallpaper they released reinforces this view.

[Tsuga C]

I've never cared for the martial art monks as a class. I remember playing one NWN1 module where my PC was paired up with a gold dragon companion and we were up against a shuffling old man who turned out to be the main bad guy (or one of them; it's been a while since I played that module). He was a monk and watching him punching and kicking at my gold dragon companion was absolutely preposterous. This only served to reinforce my dislike of the monk that I've held since AD&D. They just strain my sense of credulity too much.

 

If this thread had a poll, I'd be voting against monks in the strongest terms possible.