A monk by another name
- Thread starter Drew
- Start date
Mouseferatu
Hero
Interesting; I just did something similar in my campaign. A "monk" is just a member of any religious order that dwells in a monestary.
But I've also made the monk class in my campaign Western, rather than Asian. (My current homebrew doesn't have an Asian analogue anywhere near the current region.) Rather, the monk class are priests, just like clerics; they just focus their divine magic inward, generating the monk class abilities, rather than outward, in the form of spells. I've called them "ascetics."
But I've also made the monk class in my campaign Western, rather than Asian. (My current homebrew doesn't have an Asian analogue anywhere near the current region.) Rather, the monk class are priests, just like clerics; they just focus their divine magic inward, generating the monk class abilities, rather than outward, in the form of spells. I've called them "ascetics."
A Japanese Buddhist monk is called an O-bou-san. (O and -san are honorifics.) But the real 'fighting monks' of old Japanese (temple guards and martial arts trainers associated with the various religious orders) were called Sohei, but you can find them in the OA book as kind of oriental paladins.
--> OFF TOPIC \\> as I am typing this, there have been 4 strong earthquakes and a painting just fell off my wall. excuse me if I abandon the computer for a moment...
--> OFF TOPIC \\> as I am typing this, there have been 4 strong earthquakes and a painting just fell off my wall. excuse me if I abandon the computer for a moment...
seems to be okay now...6.8 in Niigata so there are probably some fatalities...--> back on topic...
A general Japanese word for martial artist is Bu-dou-ka, which means 'practitioner of the military arts' (lit. war-road-person) Could also mean a general soldier but generally that is Hei-shi.
Chinese I don't know. Alternatively, you could just make up your own word!
Drew
Explorer
I don't want to venture into the realms of house rules here on General Discussion, so I won't. However, I'm not looking to westerize my monks. The monk as presented in the PH represents someone from my homebrew world's asia-like country. I'm looking to make up a name for them, but I needed some place to start. The posts thus far have been most helpful.
I'll likely introduce a more western unarmed fighter type as well, either as a core class, prestige class, or a series of feats. We'll see. I like monks, but its really hard to fit them into the fluff of a standard western fantasy setting. They are designed so much like martial arts movie fantasy warriors that, for me, removing them from their asian roots makes them seem really out of place. It just seems jarring (and a little silly) to have a group of fantastic wuxia monks that follow St. Cuthbert.
I can make monks fit into the western part of my world, but its an ackward fit.
In any case, thanks for the class name ideas.
I'll likely introduce a more western unarmed fighter type as well, either as a core class, prestige class, or a series of feats. We'll see. I like monks, but its really hard to fit them into the fluff of a standard western fantasy setting. They are designed so much like martial arts movie fantasy warriors that, for me, removing them from their asian roots makes them seem really out of place. It just seems jarring (and a little silly) to have a group of fantastic wuxia monks that follow St. Cuthbert.
I can make monks fit into the western part of my world, but its an ackward fit.
In any case, thanks for the class name ideas.
I refer to monks by the specific role they play:
"Diplomats"
Members of one nation's diplomatic corps are trained in the martial arts and undergo esoteric treatments to gradually transform their bodies and make them resistant poison, disease, and other methods of assassination.
"Lodge Brothers"
In one of my largest cities there is an order of wealthy men believe in the supremay of teh human spirit and seek to develop theirs through study and rigorous exercise mixed with gentlemanly pugilism.
"Acrobats"
Basically, look at chinese opera to see the role that these guys play, using stage combat mixed with a bit of magic to perform superhuman feats.
"Diplomats"
Members of one nation's diplomatic corps are trained in the martial arts and undergo esoteric treatments to gradually transform their bodies and make them resistant poison, disease, and other methods of assassination.
"Lodge Brothers"
In one of my largest cities there is an order of wealthy men believe in the supremay of teh human spirit and seek to develop theirs through study and rigorous exercise mixed with gentlemanly pugilism.
"Acrobats"
Basically, look at chinese opera to see the role that these guys play, using stage combat mixed with a bit of magic to perform superhuman feats.
