D&D 5E 5th edition monks

[Don Durito]

When I think of slow twitch muscles I don't think of roofers and fencers I think of Marathon runners and Tour De France cyclists.

And in 5E I would probably treat that kind of endurance as Con (Athletics)

 

[Garthanos]

But if you want explosive power generation you need muscles with fast-twitch fibers. And they are built with weight Training.

One stat call it Fortitude and divide your points in it between str/con activities ... but there is a reason not to shoot for realism.

 

[Garthanos]

When I think of slow twitch muscles I don't think of roofers and fencers I think of Marathon runners and Tour De France cyclists.

One is just a more extreme distribution of the other.

 

[generic]

Maybe ask some Asian people if people have ever assumed they know martial arts, and if they’ve ever been bullied or harassed because of it. It’s quite common. Perhaps especially so in America? Regardless, the stereotype exists and causes harm whether you live in a place where it’s frequently happening or not.


They’re not specifically coded as anything. They are very loosely based on Western folklore, but they are not presented as explicitly European. You could maybe argue that the Druid is vaguely Celtic, but the actual Celtic mythological influences in the class are minimal. Monk is the only Class with a sidebar about reskinning weapons to fit a certain cultural aesthetic. It’s the only class that has a feature named for a concept from a specific religion. It is clearly coded in a way that other classes are not. That coding is racial and not cultural because the Monk’s influences are a vague pan-Asian mishmash, not any particular culture (though Indian influences are conspicuously absent). It’s textbook orientalism.


I think that would be a problem, if barbarians were more modeled after any particular real-world groups. Like, if they were black coded, or Native American coded, or otherwise coded in a similar way to how Monks are Oriental coded, yeah, that would be more egregious.

I have to disagree with you on this.

Monks are not, in any way, 'Asian Coded" in 5E, and they have not been thought of as such in other editions, in my experience. Perhaps, I have experienced something apart from the norm, but I have never seen a direct attribution of Monk abilities to elements of Asian culture or 'code' or somesuch. This is mostly because real-world ethnicities don't exist in fantasy worlds. Well, okay, enough of that pedantry, even I recognize the value of having ethnic diversity in your fantasy world.

The part which you mention, the origin and theme of Monks, is based not on, in 5E, at least, a specific racial or ethnic stereotype (Tieflings are shown as Monks, and so are Gnomes, and others Non-Humans). Also, nowhere in the 5E Monk do I recall seeing a sidebar that tells you that you have to 'reflavor your weapons' or somesuch. In fact, the very idea that martial arts akin to those practiced in many Pan-Asian cultures (I have trained in Wah Lum Tam Tui myself) are intrinsically connected to those racial and ethnic groups seems like a kind of strange argument, especially because it reduces culture to nothing less than race.

Moving on to our other points, if we use your rubric for determining cultural influences in the classes, Druids are most certainly Celtic in origin, and are 'insulting to traditional Celtic beliefs'. Furthermore, the Bard is very clearly coded to Celtic and Old Anglo-Saxon culture as well.

 

[Jd Smith1]

I have to disagree with you on this.

Monks are not, in any way, 'Asian Coded" in 5E, and they have not been thought of as such in other editions, in my experience. Perhaps, I have experienced something apart from the norm, but I have never seen a direct attribution of Monk abilities to elements of Asian culture or 'code' or somesuch. This is mostly because real-world ethnicities don't exist in fantasy worlds. Well, okay, enough of that pedantry, even I recognize the value of having ethnic diversity in your fantasy world.

Very true. The Ranger is a blatant rip-off of Tolkien, and an insult to Americans since the title originates from the noble frontiersmen who rescued captives from Indian raids, and likewise an affront to Native Americans, whose ancestors suffered at the hands of brutal white settlers using that title and who raided their camps.

Paladins could be viewed as an insult to existing religious organizations which are direct descendants of crusader knightly orders, upon whom the class is (very loosely) based upon.

And so forth. If you want to be offended, it's not hard to find an excuse.

 

[generic]

Very true. The Ranger is a blatant rip-off of Tolkien, and an insult to Americans since the title originates from the noble frontiersmen who rescued captives from Indian raids, and likewise an affront to Native Americans, whose ancestors suffered at the hands of brutal white settlers using that title and who raided their camps.

Paladins could be viewed as an insult to existing religious organizations which are direct descendants of crusader knightly orders, upon whom the class is (very loosely) based upon.

And so forth. If you want to be offended, it's not hard to find an excuse.

Of course, this is not to say that there can be no opportunity for offense, or for diversity in D&D. But, this argument, that Monks as a class must be repealed because they are 'intrinsically linked to Asian culture' or something is silly. If we abide by that rubric, then, logically, Paladins are (as you said) mocking of crusaders, Barbarians certainly based on stereotypes of Gaul individuals from olden times, akin to the way that the Wizard is a classically European conception of a magician that arose in the late 17th century as a defined concept.

One can extrapolate infinitely.

 

[Garthanos]

Monks are not, in any way, 'Asian Coded" in 5E

Uses the word Chi / Ki without using Life force or similar western analog.

 

[generic]

Uses the word Chi / Ki without using Life force or similar western analog.

Druids are said to have 'circles' - Celtic

Barbarians fly into a 'rage' - Traditional Western (and otherwise) principle of battle-rage

Bards are basically just the classic Celtic Bards

Paladins 'smite' their foes - Word of Old English origin

Rangers are very clearly a rip-off of (as Jd Smith1 said) both Aragorn and early American colonizers/settlers (whichever way you would like to put it)

I don't see why using a word of foreign origin to represent a concept is racist.

As I alluded to earlier, I have dabbled in a very traditional branch of Chinese Martial arts that originated in the Shantung province, IIRC. The concept of Chi is not just 'life force', and it's reductive to say so. The word 'Ki" (Japanese) represents a concept that is ideal for the Monk's ability set.

 

[Garthanos]

Uses the word Chi / Ki without using Life force or similar western analog.

When I rewrote the Monk in 4e the mention of chi is sparse and mentioned as flavor text only for how the martial artist views the martial power source more clearly as a distinct energy but is otherwise drawing on the same resource and inner energies as the Fighter does when he digs deep.

 

[Garthanos]

I don't see why using a word of foreign origin to represent a concept is racist.

Me neither but pretending it isnt directly referential is lying.