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| From Wikimedia Commons. Publicity Still in the PD, if you need an illo of a Monk |
At 13th level, the Monk achieves mastery of his Martial Art and the secrets of Ki, earning the power of The Deadly Vibration.
To use this ability, he makes a series of special attacks, aimed at three specific Pressure Point within a single victim. He must hit all three Points in the span of three rounds.**
The attacks themselves will do no damage. When all three Pressure Points have been hit, then a disharmonious vibration will be set into motion, resulting in the victim's death in 1d3 rounds. The victim's body will try to right itself and he will receive a Saving Throw vs. Death. If successful, the Monk may not try to use this ability on the same opponent again, for a period of one day.
A lesser form of the Deadly Vibration may also be used, which will, if the victim fails his Save, merely result in Paralysis. The paralysis will take effect immediately and last 2d6 Turns.
Neither form of the power may be used on undead, or creatures which may only be hit by magical weapons. The Deadly Vibration may be used at the Monk's discretion.
*I was going for a more or less generic sounding name for this ability, as I'm not tying the class to a specific setting and have no particular Monkish Flavor in mind, beyond that suggested by the picture above.
**At 13th Level, this Monk makes two attacks per round.
I love the idea of the Monk. Really dislike the AD&D & AEC implementation.
I, too, have always loved the *idea* of the monk, but the class always felt totally out-of-place is a pseudo-European knights-in-shining-armour/Tolkien/Arthurian setting as D&D defaults to. The name never helped either - you say "monk" and people see St Francis or Friar Tuck, not Kwai Chang Caine.
ReplyDeleteYou can make a decent monk out of a fighter using Akrasia's fighting styles house rules. I think the one that let's you do d6 damage with bare hands and swashbuckler together basically make a monk.
ReplyDeleteI will say one thing about the AD&D monk: Playing it is fun as shit! I would always purposely taunt people and try to draw missile fire so I could knock them arrows out of the sky with my ninja kicks and such.
Martial Artist might be a better name, but everyone's so used to the Monk.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reminding me of Akrasia's fighting styles. :)
I really like the Blackmoor-inspired (though I came to it via NOD #1) mechanic of monks using a saving throw to dodge missiles. I expanded that, along with stealing some stuff from the B/X halfling for some musings on a monk class.
ReplyDeleteOh, and this one too:
ReplyDeleteThe most interesting consequence of this exercise in seeing classes as different ways to solve problems is the abilities it leads to for monks. Evasion is deflecting missiles and having saving throws to dodge or block attacks that would otherwise hit. It should also allow counter-attacks, or using the enemy's attack against them (where it would make sense narratively). This ability fits the source material really well. It is dangerous to attack a monk, because the monk can use your own strength against you or use the opportunity to strike at your weaknesses.
I've got the Crouching Tiger... thing included, but I've spent the past couple of hours taking a break and trying to decide if its too much cheese! The dodging missiles thing is also in LL. Where the Monk can dodge Magic Missiles as well. Not sure I like that last.
ReplyDeleteDamn. That save needs to be at -2, at least, or by the time he gets it at 13 level, it'll only ever be effective against goons. That's what I get for not sleeping.
ReplyDeleteDodging Magic Missiles is akin to martial artists dodging bullets - and we see that in wuxia and kung fu movies all the time. Of course, you're also getting to Neo territory as well ;)
ReplyDeleteIt's been a while since I've looked at the Magic Missile rules, but exactly how fast do they fly to the target? Maybe it's a case where the magic-user is aiming the missiles where he thinks the monk is at, but the monk isn't there any more. Further, you could say that it's not because the monk moves faster than a magic missile (or bullet, or whatever), it's that the monk is generally more efficient at dodging and weaving, zig-zaging around.
ReplyDeleteHell, he could be deflecting the MM's with his Ki power. In fact, I like that!
ReplyDeleteI dunno, I kind of liked "the Quivering Palm". "The Deadly Vibration" sounds like a garage band name. You're already committed to a certain broad aesthetic with the monk class in any case, there's no sense in making things sound boring.
ReplyDeleteI think Western Monks should illuminate manuscripts and brew beer. Eastern Monks should jump up in the air really high and kick a dude's face, then land so as to avoid stepping upon a butterfly that just fluttered past.
ReplyDeleteThat is, if you have a game with Paladins and Clerics and Druids, then you need Beer Monks. If your game has Samurai and Ninja and Wu Jen, then you need Kick Monks.
(If your game has Droids and Wookies you need Jedi Monks)
I tried a simple approach on asian themed monks. Maybe you'd like to check it out:
ReplyDeletehttp://the-disoriented-ranger.blogspot.com/2011/11/kicking-it-my-take-on-monk-class-in-d.html
I like your idea too, though!