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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tzarevitch" data-source="post: 1406427" data-attributes="member: 1792">Personally, I dislike the barbarian and I have never been fond of monks outside of an Oriental Adventures setting. First of all, the name "Barbarian" is derogatory (the class should properly be called "berserker") and I think the 1st edition holdover of all of them being illiterate savages is stupid. The problem is that the work has social connotations, and all of them are very negative. Go up to someone on the street and call him a "barbarian" and see what happens. Call someone that in many eastern countries and you'd better be prepared to run. I also think the class has no reason to exist as a separate class. I think that Rage should've been a feat (rage 1/day per feat devoted to it) not a class ability. That alllows you to modify a fighter into a berserker by taking the feat and still leaves you with a better berserker than the barbarian.  As for monks, I think that is another with a name problem that is a holdover from 1e. I like the class but the name irritates me. They they are martial artists specialists, not merely "monks". Yes some monks are kung fu, shaolin-style martial artists but most of them aren't, not even in the eastern religious traditions. The name also sees use in general english as a cloistered religious personality and this leads to a lot of confusion. ("Is he a member of the Monk class or is he an actual monk?")  I refer to them as Physical Adepts a la Shadowrun because that is closer to what they are. The basically channel magic through their bodies to give themselves special abilities. I find renaming them and viewing them this way tends to make them easier to explain in most settings. That being said, I never disallow players from playing those classes. I relize full well that the issues I have with these classes are mine alone so I never block players from using them or plot against those who do unless the setting dictates it. That does not hold true for prestige classes however. Some of them I loathe and will not permit in my games, but that is another story. Tzarevitch</blockquote>

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