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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pawsplay" data-source="post: 3544757" data-attributes="member: 15538">I'm not that concerned with high level fighters hewing through iron walls, particularly if they're wielding magical weapons, magically strong, enlarged, etc. That's quite a bit different than someone going "kiai!" and chopping a a frickin' adamantine wall in frickin' half with a battle axe looted off a dead derro. I'd at least like to see more than one chop. Not a monk hater. Not an Eastern influence hater... I've had shugenja in my games, and have used a disguised ogre mage as a villain.I am familiar with wire fu... not only am I well versed in crouching tigers, hidden dragons, and flying knives, but I used to watch an hour of Kung Theater every Sunday as a kid, I've read substantial amounts of martial arts history and myth, and I've read stories about Krsna killing people by throwing a chariot wheel. I'm actually quite a kung fu afficiando.However, that is not what I'm looking for from my D&D. The system does not support the style well without substantial modification... right off the bat, the relationship between BAB and naked defenses is backwards from the wuxia genre. When I started playing, I was engrossed by Elmore's art, by the history of the crusades, by various species of polearms, and so forth. Although formidable, and even superheroic, such as Conan's strength, Beowulf's bravery, Grey Mouser's agility, and Lancelot's prowess... such characters stretch but do not break the laws of reality. They are individuals of flesh and bone. When a warrior balances on the end of a blade of grass and kicks someone's head off, that's not agility, that's enlightenment.The D&D monk is not a wuxia character. He is closest to the protagonist of Kung Fu (starring David Carradine), a character with formidable skills who occasionally finds himself outgunned in terms of sheer firepower. Most of the monk's abilities are visually believable. At higher levels, they acquire a few miraculous abilities, mainly related to fighting monsters. The more esoteric abilities of very high level monks are those of many martial arts legends... not necessarily wuxia, with its wire-flying combat. A D&D monk is not likely to perform any physical feats beyond what an Erol Flynn character or Batman is capable of. The monk is capable of feats of mind over matter, but is no match even for a cinematic Jedi, much less Beatrix from Kill Bill.</blockquote>

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