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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gansk" data-source="post: 5604499" data-attributes="member: 16383">This should be your basis for the Western monk.IMO, the original D&D Monk was based at least partly on this guy:<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_of_Assisi" target="_blank">Francis of Assisi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</a>St. Francis could speak with animals - which is one of the abilities listed for the 1e monk.St. Francis had no worldly possessions, like the 1e monk. So if you don't have any possessions, why would you be expected to fight with a weapon? Maybe the unarmed damage did not come from Eastern style martial arts, maybe it came as a gift from your deity to protect yourself in the D&D world?Here is another guy who could have inspired the 1e monk:<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antony_of_Egypt" target="_blank">Anthony the Great - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</a>This guy seemingly came back from the dead, which is another 1e monk ability (pretending to be dead while still alive). Basically the monks from early history went out into the desert by themselves and survived using their faith to guide them. In D&D terms, you would need to design a class with superior defenses (immunity to disease, elements, protection from energy, Wisdom bonus to all saves, etc) and not too much offense. Vow of poverty would be a must to maintain flavor. I've always wanted to design a class like this, but I have my doubts as to how much fun it would be to play.Maybe an NPC class?</blockquote>

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