No its not at all, I already explained how that class ability functions in practice, it doesn't need to invovle intercourse of any kind. Just open the mouth and suck in the glowing Sexual Ki energy in.
Way of the Succubus Monk
No its not at all, I already explained how that class ability functions in practice, it doesn't need to invovle intercourse of any kind. Just open the mouth and suck in the glowing Sexual Ki energy in.
S
Sunseeker
Guest
Then don't ask us for advice because you clearly aren't listening to anyone.
jaelis
Oh this is where the title goes?
Haven’t been able to decide if you are teasing or really don’t see the point. But if you are really looking for advice, mine is not to bring this topic up with players you don’t already know well. And definitely not with people you work with.
gyor, I find it painful to watch you twist in the wind like this. The lesson you should be learning is that this is a sensitive topic that really bothers some people so you should be very discrete in how you approach it. For example, crack open your Monster Manual and re-read the actual succubus/incubus entry; I'm pretty sure it doesn't explicitly mention sex even once.
As a thought experiment, I have re-written your class in a way I find a bit more workable:
Monastic Tradition: Way of Kama
Desire can be a powerful force. Monks of the Way of Kama learn to draw forth desire from the hearts of creatures, incorporating it into their own ki and using it to influence emotions and transfer life energy. These worldly monks encourage each other to indulge their physical urges, and have a reputation as hedonists, tempters, and vile manipulators; but many are good-natured, seeking to help others find true pleasure.
Focus of Desire
Beginning at 3rd level, you may calculate your armor class for Unarmored Defense as 10 + your Dexterity modifier + either your Wisdom or Charisma modifier (your choice). The saving throw for your monk special abilities is 8 + your proficiency modifier + either your Wisdom or Charisma modifier (your choice).
Draining Kiss
Starting at 3rd level, you can use an action to extract life energy from the mouth of a creature within 5 feet. The victim must make a Wisdom saving throw, taking 1d6 psychic damage per 2 monk levels on a failure, or half damage on a success. A surprised target has disadvantage on the saving throw. A willing target has advantage, and can't be reduced to less than 1 hit point by the damage.
When you use this ability, you gain 1 ki point for every 5 points of damage your target takes, up to your maximum number of ki points.
Ki Addiction
Beginning at 3rd level, you must use your Draining Kiss at least once per day or suffer a level of exhaustion. This exhaustion can't be removed by any means until you use your Draining Kiss at least once.
Charming Touch
At 3rd level, you can spend 1 point of ki to innately cast charm person without any components, but with a range of touch.
Life Energy
At 6th level, you can spend ki points to cast the following spells innately, without any components: command (touch only; 2 points), cure wounds (2 points), revivify (5 points), spare the dying (0 points), suggestion (touch only; 3 points). Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Blow Kiss
Starting at 11th level, the range of your Draining Kiss increases to 60 feet, and you can use it even on creatures without mouths.
Malcanthet's Blessing
At 17th level, you can use your action to manipulate the life energy of creatures of your choice that you can see within 60 feet. Creatures affected must make a Wisdom saving throw, suffering 10d6 psychic damage on a failure, or half damage on a success. For each enemy affected, you may spend 3 ki points to cause yourself, or a different creature within 60 feet that you can see, to heal 5d6 hit points. Each creature can only be affected by this ability once per use, either taking damage or healing (but not both).
Once you use this ability, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.
OK, I still find this a little bit cheesy, but that's the best I can do.
As a thought experiment, I have re-written your class in a way I find a bit more workable:
Monastic Tradition: Way of Kama
Desire can be a powerful force. Monks of the Way of Kama learn to draw forth desire from the hearts of creatures, incorporating it into their own ki and using it to influence emotions and transfer life energy. These worldly monks encourage each other to indulge their physical urges, and have a reputation as hedonists, tempters, and vile manipulators; but many are good-natured, seeking to help others find true pleasure.
Focus of Desire
Beginning at 3rd level, you may calculate your armor class for Unarmored Defense as 10 + your Dexterity modifier + either your Wisdom or Charisma modifier (your choice). The saving throw for your monk special abilities is 8 + your proficiency modifier + either your Wisdom or Charisma modifier (your choice).
Draining Kiss
Starting at 3rd level, you can use an action to extract life energy from the mouth of a creature within 5 feet. The victim must make a Wisdom saving throw, taking 1d6 psychic damage per 2 monk levels on a failure, or half damage on a success. A surprised target has disadvantage on the saving throw. A willing target has advantage, and can't be reduced to less than 1 hit point by the damage.
When you use this ability, you gain 1 ki point for every 5 points of damage your target takes, up to your maximum number of ki points.
Ki Addiction
Beginning at 3rd level, you must use your Draining Kiss at least once per day or suffer a level of exhaustion. This exhaustion can't be removed by any means until you use your Draining Kiss at least once.
Charming Touch
At 3rd level, you can spend 1 point of ki to innately cast charm person without any components, but with a range of touch.
Life Energy
At 6th level, you can spend ki points to cast the following spells innately, without any components: command (touch only; 2 points), cure wounds (2 points), revivify (5 points), spare the dying (0 points), suggestion (touch only; 3 points). Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Blow Kiss
Starting at 11th level, the range of your Draining Kiss increases to 60 feet, and you can use it even on creatures without mouths.
Malcanthet's Blessing
At 17th level, you can use your action to manipulate the life energy of creatures of your choice that you can see within 60 feet. Creatures affected must make a Wisdom saving throw, suffering 10d6 psychic damage on a failure, or half damage on a success. For each enemy affected, you may spend 3 ki points to cause yourself, or a different creature within 60 feet that you can see, to heal 5d6 hit points. Each creature can only be affected by this ability once per use, either taking damage or healing (but not both).
Once you use this ability, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.
OK, I still find this a little bit cheesy, but that's the best I can do.
Tales and Chronicles
Jewel of the North, formerly know as vincegetorix
Really not bad and with way more bon goût. I'll try my hand:
Way of Sensate
Erudite of the Senses
Starting when you choose this tradition at level 3, you learn to replicate the effect of some spells. As an Action, you can spend 2 Ki points to cast Enthrall, Calm Emotion or Charm Person as a level 2 spell. You also gain the Friend cantrip.
Seize the Heart
At level 6 you learn to feed on the raw emotions. As an action, you can focus your will on all creatures Charmed by you within 30' to literally grasp their hearts. The targeted creatures must succeed at Wisdom saving throw against your DC or be restrained until your next turn. On subsequent turns, you can use your action to extract Ki energy from a creatures restrained by this feature if the target fails a Wisdom Saving throw. You get 1 Ki per HD of the drained creature and it can be drained for the next 24. This features count as an attack for the purpose of Enchantment spells.
Courteous Training
Your calm is welcomed in social situation. You are trained in 2 social skills of your choice and creatures have Disadvantage on Insight checks against you.
Sacred Discretion
During a long rest, you can use cast one of Dream, Zone of Truth or Private Sanctum as a ritual without any material component. Once you use this feature you cant use it again until you take a long rest.
CapnZapp
Legend
With all due respect, the topic of why violence gets a free pass while sex does not remains a valid topic.
Why is your version okay while gyors isn't. Your ability still lets the Monk murder people.
(Though only unwilling ones actually die. Wtf? It is a perfectly acceptable position to argue this is more perverse than anything.)
I'm not trying to single out you, 771.
What I'm saying is that some Americans seem unable to even comprehend a different world-view where violence is not normal, while sex is; where violent sex is heinous, but outright murder is at least as bad.
Capn, I get what you are saying, but I think that for many players, the game is not fun when it's dealing with horrible things that actually happen to people.
1 in 6 women in the US will be sexually assaulted at least once during her lifetime. That's 1 in 6 women you know personally; 1 in 6 that are sitting at your gaming table.
How many of your friends have been murdered, or were victims of attempted murder?* By swords and crossbows? If it's anywhere near 1 in 6, you need to move to a more peaceful place. How many have been murdered by supernatural energy drain?
And for many women, this isn't an abstract fear, either. They've had to protect themselves from creepy dudes. I can understand why they wouldn't want this topic to come up at the table, or be comfortable with the concept of a "heroic rapist." And it varies by person; I know there are many women who love the show Lost Girl, which is fairly explicit in its depiction of Bo's backstory.
I worded my version that way, in the hopes of letting each table decide whether the Draining Kiss implies sexytimes, or not. Maybe the "willing target" is under the covers with the monk... or maybe they are just standing 5 feet away, teeth gritted, willing to give up a little life energy for a pal. Maybe the "surprised target" is the victim of a nasty sexual deception under the effect of charm person... or maybe the monk just pops out of the shadows and hits them with the energy drain.
It's the same as with vampires. The vampire's bite can be an allegory for many things, from rape to rabies. The rules shouldn't say which. They should just say how it works, and let each table decide what it means.
Now, I might not have succeeded. Some topics are just inherently upsetting, no matter how discretely you try to portray them. But that's what I was going for.
*(These are rhetorical questions; if you actually have lost someone to murder, I'm very sorry.)
1 in 6 women in the US will be sexually assaulted at least once during her lifetime. That's 1 in 6 women you know personally; 1 in 6 that are sitting at your gaming table.
How many of your friends have been murdered, or were victims of attempted murder?* By swords and crossbows? If it's anywhere near 1 in 6, you need to move to a more peaceful place. How many have been murdered by supernatural energy drain?
And for many women, this isn't an abstract fear, either. They've had to protect themselves from creepy dudes. I can understand why they wouldn't want this topic to come up at the table, or be comfortable with the concept of a "heroic rapist." And it varies by person; I know there are many women who love the show Lost Girl, which is fairly explicit in its depiction of Bo's backstory.
I worded my version that way, in the hopes of letting each table decide whether the Draining Kiss implies sexytimes, or not. Maybe the "willing target" is under the covers with the monk... or maybe they are just standing 5 feet away, teeth gritted, willing to give up a little life energy for a pal. Maybe the "surprised target" is the victim of a nasty sexual deception under the effect of charm person... or maybe the monk just pops out of the shadows and hits them with the energy drain.
It's the same as with vampires. The vampire's bite can be an allegory for many things, from rape to rabies. The rules shouldn't say which. They should just say how it works, and let each table decide what it means.
Now, I might not have succeeded. Some topics are just inherently upsetting, no matter how discretely you try to portray them. But that's what I was going for.
*(These are rhetorical questions; if you actually have lost someone to murder, I'm very sorry.)
CapnZapp
Legend
I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt, and ignore the above attempt at justifying rape as worse than murder, because it happens more often.
Thank you for not going there.
Your use of the term "worse" seems to imply some moral ranking, which wasn't where I was going, and which has little bearing on role-playing games, which are often escapist fantasies with very loose and questionable depictions of morality.
But, for a lot of people, rape is worse than murder to depict in a game, because rape is a very present danger and murder is very remote.
One of the most useful tools for understanding gender issues is to imagine a comparable racial issue. Would you support a PC class that held slaves? Since PCs murder all the time, and murder is clearly bad, what would be the problem with a slavemaster PC?
If these are things you want to explore in your games -- great! I'm actually going to run a game in about a half an hour where one of the PCs is a slave. For that group, it's interesting, not triggering. And I've played in games with strong sexual themes, and no-one ever brought up rape. It's fine.
I just don't think you should be critical of people for not wanting to explore sexual issues, simply because other people and cultures are less sensitive. Instead, I think it's important in a game with broad appeal like D&D to be extra sensitive to things that make people uncomfortable. Because those people might have very good reasons for being uncomfortable about it.
But, for a lot of people, rape is worse than murder to depict in a game, because rape is a very present danger and murder is very remote.
One of the most useful tools for understanding gender issues is to imagine a comparable racial issue. Would you support a PC class that held slaves? Since PCs murder all the time, and murder is clearly bad, what would be the problem with a slavemaster PC?
If these are things you want to explore in your games -- great! I'm actually going to run a game in about a half an hour where one of the PCs is a slave. For that group, it's interesting, not triggering. And I've played in games with strong sexual themes, and no-one ever brought up rape. It's fine.
I just don't think you should be critical of people for not wanting to explore sexual issues, simply because other people and cultures are less sensitive. Instead, I think it's important in a game with broad appeal like D&D to be extra sensitive to things that make people uncomfortable. Because those people might have very good reasons for being uncomfortable about it.
CapnZapp
Legend
I am not.
"not wanting to explore" is not how I'd characterize what has been going on in this thread. Let's leave it at that.
