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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Remathilis" data-source="post: 6763885" data-attributes="member: 7635">No. The Class is "Monk". Not "Generic Martial Artist with a hint of Mystical Powers". Monk means something. What exactly it means is determined by the setting of the game, and the setting of the game is determined by the DM. The player has the right to make a unique character within the confines of the setting, and not all concepts are created equal. But who decides this? If, as a DM, I say "Elven monks belong to the Lachrymae Shervarash..." then I'm allowing such as concept in my world/game. If I say "Elven monks all belong to the Wu-Shu Academy training under Raiden" and you want a Jason Bourne Style super-spy, then we're at a crossroads. Are you arguing that as the DM, I have no right to say "In my world, monks are X?" You keep assuming this is a mostly equal relationship here. Its not. I create the world. I set the scene. If I rule gnomes are 20 feet tall and eat nothing but hot-tar, MY word supersedes the PHB and arguing "that's not what the PHB says" isn't going to sway me. As the DM, I reserve the right to change anything in any of the books as long as a.) its applied equally to everyone (DM included), b.) Its informed before play begins (no surprises) and c.) it's done for the benefit of the game. I can ban dragonborn. I can add half-vampires. I can change how monks work, both mechanically and flavor-wise. I even can entertain ideas from players on other ideas, but I DO NOT have to accept them if the contradict my world. This is a semantics game more than a fluff-problem; Paladin and paladin are two different concept fighting for the same linguistic space. The easiest thing to do would be to rename the class in this situation "Paladin: In this campaign, non-peer paladins are known as partisans, as Paladin is a unique title. Those who enter such an elite group earn the right to said name." That said, most paladins in a 12 Peers are still going to be knights in service of the church, so aside from the class/title issue, things are fine here. Savage paladin's are ok by me, because you're not breaking the tenants of the class (a holy warrior in service of his Oath/God), just the expectation of the stereotype. Cultural changes are fine: I've seen Jungle Druids, Skald Bards, Pirate Clerics, etc. Kits/Backgrounds were built to twist stereotypes. What doesn't work it either cramming a round-peg into a square-hole (No monks in a 12 peers game) or warping the ideas beyond their borders or into other classes space (I'm a monk who thinks/acts like a rogue, except martial arts instead of sneak attack). Answered above. My setting, my final call. Let me give you a counter-example: I want to play a warlock, but I don't want to be hassled with the "make a deal with the devil" fluff, so I say "my warlock discovered he is the scion of a dragon. He was born with draconic power, which fuels his "breath weapon" (eldritch blast), "dragon scales" (mage armor) and "fiery blasts" (burning hands) and isn't beholden to any force to learn these powers." Is that okay?My answer would be no: your deliberately trampling another classes archetype (dragon sorcerer) and avoiding a major component of the fluff of other (warlock patrons). If you want eldritch blasts, make a deal with one of the four patron-types, if you want dragon breath be a sorcerer. Well, the one time I ran a brief OA game, I did ban paladins, druids, clerics, wizards, and bards because I had other classes (samurai, sohei, shamans, wu-jen) to replace them. That said, if I did it today, I'd probably rename some classes (such as changing paladin to samurai, or druid to shaman) to remove the more westernized ideas. I might even swap out powers for ones more appropriate to the setting/tales, or restrict subclasses to keep to theme. Then again, if I'm running OA and you roll in with a half-elf bard that is every bit the English Minstrel, guess what's not being allowed in that game? Answered. Weapons and armor do not make the man. Class identity is derived by skills known, the means they were acquired, and power-source that fuels them. You want to build an unarmed fighter with tavern brawler and grappler? Be my guest. But you're not playing a "monk" as anyone in the world would recognize it.</blockquote>

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