D&D 5E How might one monk grab and steal another monk's staff in combat?

[Flamestrike]

Specifically the PC in question is The Master of Locusts.

At one point at (I think) 1st level, the players were supposed to fight 4 monks and I thought "This is boring, I should make one of these monks cooler" and I invented the idea of the Masters. Well, not "invented" I took it from the old AD&D PHB where there were monks with level titles like Master of Flowers, and there were a limited number of them.

So I gave the head evil monk a couple of levels and said he was the Master of Locusts and explained to the player that if he could defeat him in single-combat, HE would become the Master of Locusts.

Mind you, this person has never played D&D before, he doesn't know I'm making this up. He thinks this is just how Monks work! Makes it feel more real to him.

He managed to deliver the killing blow to the guy (I didn't want to get too hung up on what "single combat" meant, killing blow was enough for me) and there was a cool cutscene where the demon-grasshopper tattooes on the bad guy burn themselves into the PC.

I gave him a Defile power I stole from 4E, he's used it twice in six months, once to little effect, once to EPIC effect. And I told him "there are other masters, and they'll want to challenge you."

That was months ago and he's been waiting every since. Now they're almost at the end of the first tier of adventures, about to fight the big bad guy they've been afraid of for five levels, and he's going to have some interesting lieutenants with him, including the Master of Crows!

The battle of the Masters, with the Staff and titles as stakes, will be epic.

Of course, the PC should have the chance to disarm back!

Thats actually how monks used to work.

Druids too.

Literally had to track down and asskick a higher level monk before you could level up.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Wow, talk about an awesome player. In my experience, most would be holding onto that overpowered magic item for dear life.

Since he suggested the idea of a dramatic way to rebalance things, you could ask him for additional ideas on the encounter, making it a collaborative effort.

Because he's being so cool about it, I'd definitely make sure a replacement (less-powerful) magic item heads his way later, too.

So the player in question read the DMG and came up to me and said "I think I shouldn't have this, it's way too much."

I said "No man, you earned it fair and square," and he suggested maybe there was a dramatic way we could balance things.

 

[Delazar]

Or maybe just temporarily "de-power" the staff until he's the right level for it. Maybe the evil monk will target the PC-monk's chest with the Five Finger Soul Draining technique, but the PC parries it with the staff, and the staff gets "drained"!

Now it's only +1, and it has 5 charges (recharge 1d4+1 daily), and it inflicts +1d4 per charge.

As the monk gains levels, the staff recovers its power, or maybe the Monk has to complete some mystical quests to "re-power" the staff.

 

[Rya.Reisender]

If a player doesn't want an item anymore because he considers it overpowered he should just drop it during combat (to cast a spell or because he has to jump into water or over a cliff). I'll then handle the stealing then.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Wow, I can't remotely agree with Shidaku here. It's the DM's prerogative to give magic items, and it's the DM's prerogative to remove those items if they begin to detract from the game. Yes, if it was due to a DM mistake, s/he should probably try to replace the item with something else cool, but taking it away isn't innately a "jerk move."

 

[SkidAce]

The OP did say in the first post that they both agreed, so it seems they just want to work it out mechanically in the story, so...no "jerk move" here.

 

[Rya.Reisender]

It would be a jerk move if you didn't tell your player beforehand, though.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[jrowland]

"How might one monk grab and steal another monk's staff in combat?"

No one read that title, and thought to themselves, "Self, that could be open to a bad interpretation."

Just me?

*crickets*

Alrighty then.

Low brow humor. Have some XP. 'Business Conduct Guidelines' be damned.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*