D&D 5E Would you allow this if you were the DM

[Bagpuss]

I have my thoughts, but I want to see what you folks think before I post my own thoughts.

I'd allow it, but keep calling him "Po" and ask if he want's any dumplings. and say things like "Who's a big cuddly panda?"

 

[MoonSong]

Edit: One of the huge selling points for any edition is that it resets the content in the world back to a manageable level. The world of D&D 5E isn't assumed to contain anthro-bears, Goliaths, or even Genasi! At least, not just yet. Since there are only the core books, the world is a much more core-oriented one. It's a refreshing change of pace.

As of today, that's no longer true.

Not to further degrade the original discussion (which I find very interesting), but when did pandas become bears again?! Don't you think they should have had a press conference or something to alert all us old folks who were always told they were like a large raccoon?

Giant Pandas are bears, just bears ridiculously close to raccoons some of the most ancient kinds of bears.

 

[SkidAce]

Yes? I mean, at this point, D&D is a reflection of itself. Everything in the Monster Manual is... everything from the most popular Monster Manuals from previous editions.

Once, long ago, vampires and werewolves were different legends. By now, they are inextricably linked such that the presence of one (in any given media) practically guarantees the existence of the other. It's all just generic fantasy by now. Mummies, golems, orcs, goblins, vampires, sphynxes, manticores - all generic fantasy.

Furries aren't quite generic fantasy yet, though. You can't assume that D&D must allow furries, before they release a supplement for it. And we're not playing GURPS, where you can build anything - D&D includes a lot of very specific stuff, but the things that aren't in there (like furries), just aren't part of the game. A bear using martial arts is entirely out of genre for D&D.

There are rakasta in D&D. Rakasta

There are also bear people called Urskans in the Frostburn 3.5 book.

 

[DEFCON 1]

For me, I couldn't care less about the mechanical implications of the combo. The very first thing I'd be asking and witnessing as the player created and played the character would be who this character is, why did it start as a monk, and where/when/why did it become a druid? If there's an actual story as to why this character is multi-classing druid and monk, and why/how often this character would shapeshift into an animal form and then try and do martial arts... then sure, I might allow it. So for instance... if the person made a monk who was studying and focused on a particular animal style of martial arts-- crane style, monkey style or whatever-- and eventually wanted to progress to the point that they could eventually wildshape into that animal... that's awesome to me, and then I'd work to allow combining wildshape and martial arts.

But if the person wants to play and *is* playing a druid and only wants to multi-class into monk purely to get a mechanical benefit from it... then forget it. There are dozens of mechanical benefits you can already pick up in the game... you aren't going to cherry-pick a more powerful one off of another class and flush away the entirety of the class's fluff just to do so for the additional power. That's not how I role.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

I prefer to err on the side of NOT underestimating bears when they also have human-level intelligence, but hey, suit yourself; your table follows your rulings.

Which is the point of the topic at hand. This is an area where the DM is in charge of interpreting the rules, and there are two obvious camps for it. It seems like a pretty even split, so far.

 

[Mallus]

There are rakasta in D&D.

And they were introduced in what, the "Isle of Dread"? So 34 years ago.

As for Bear-style (druid) kung fu... I'm fine with it. Seems extraordinarily, well, D&D.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

The bear is AC 11 (natural armor), per PHB p.304. That is with a Dex mod of +0, so its' "wearing" 1 point of natural armor. As a DM I wouldn't allow the Monk's Unarmored Defense ability as it is meant to be used while not wearing armor. :>

Since the bear cannot take it off, its not wearing armor. Its like the monk AC stacking with Mage Armor and Warforged plating. Furthermore, its hardly overpowered, and makes thematic sense. The monk level doesnt represent some tranquil meditation, it represents giving yourself into the more feral form of combat and practicing your natural strikes.

Also, I present Terrible Ted.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrible_Ted
Terrible Ted (born 1949 or 1950[1]) was a Canadian professional wrestler and American black bear, who wrestled for various North American promotions from the 1950s into the 1970s.

That's right, the fact that he was a bear is listed SECONDARY to him being a bear. That's how much of a professional Ted was. Now imagine if he had a human brain.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

Not to further degrade the original discussion (which I find very interesting), but when did pandas become bears again?! Don't you think they should have had a press conference or something to alert all us old folks who were always told they were like a large raccoon?

Mostly when people looked at them, and then raccoons. Real answer, 1985 when they ran some genetic tests.

D&D relevant factoid - Demogorgon should no longer be described as having 2 baboon heads, as Mandrills are now their own genus.

 

[Kikuras]

Didn't we already come to the conclusion that this was a non-issue due to the fact that multiattack is not taking the attack action, and thus does not allow for the extra martial arts attack?

And are we really having the 'It's not realistic/It's not logical' debate? Magic missile is neither realistic OR logical, however because it is a function of magic, it is accepted. The same should apply for wildshape, as it is a function of magic. I hate the monk and druid classes as much as the next guy, but I don't think there's any call for unwarranted restrictions just because the concept of combining the two is even that much more strained. Furries have infiltrated, as have the pie-eyed anime. Time to accept it and move on.

 

[Mercule]

I'd allow it (as bounded by other rules, i.e. multi-attack).

BUT... I'd make the PC use the skill training rules to be able to do martial arts in beast form. Training for each form is separate. No matter how closely related, it's still a whole new body. Heck, when I hurt my foot, this fall, I had to relearn balance in my upper forms even after I felt totally healed. An extra couple hundred pounds of ursine mass is really going to do a number.