Monk = __________ Striker

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Sorry, but monks should be ki. I know there are people out there who hate and loathe eastern flavor, but they aren't the sort who choose to play monks in the first place.

Martial arts =/= ki. The ability to throw someone and grab their weapon away from them isn't a magical ability. People can literally do that in real life.

Although Ki may feel a lot like some arcane and mystic force of nature, it's mainly an higher level of skill one achieves trough deep training of his body, breathing and concentration skills (think ie to Shaolin). DnD is not real world, so supernatural abilities coming from deep training is no problem, or at least this is how I look at it.

Fighters, rogues and other martial characters do not have any such quasi-magical abilities. Magic belongs with the magic classes, and shouldn't be shoe-horned into every class.

 

[Satori]

IMC, Monks have always been affiliated with a religion, and serve as the "Rogues" in a temple comprised of non-alignment specific Paladins and Clerics.

Hence, Divine Striker.

 

[Orius]

I'm sort of agreeing with the Martial/Divine crowd here. I don't really see the need for a power source that will largely end up being relegated to Asian fantasy tropes, especially if those tropes can be modeled with other power sources.

Also, I don't think that's the way WotC is going either. In the past, D&D campaigns kind of build worlds like Robert E. Howard's Hyboria -- the campaign world was set in a pseudo-European culture with a Middle Eastern culture on its frontier and Far Eastern and Indian cultures beyond that. Just look at the Realms for a more or less good example of that. Though Faerun shoehorns in some culture types illogically, Zakhara and Kara-Tur kind of fall in that mold, and there's even Maztica across the sea to further the real world parallels.

However, I get the impression that WotC is trying to move away from that sort of worldbuilding and trying to make settings that don't adhere as clearly to real world parallels. Some of that was visible in even core 3e with the presence of the monk (with a non-Asian iconic) and exotic non-European weapons, not all for the monk either. I doubt they'd use ki as a power source if it's something that going to be perceived as Asian only. I think this has to do at least in part with D&D's creative team moving from Lake Geneva to Seattle.

 

[Greenfaun]

Personally, in my desire to scratch the itch of home-brewing a monk I'm seriously considering dividing the concept into two classes.

The first ("Martial Artist") would be a Martial Defender, but a very controller-y defender, or maybe just a controller depending on the criteria for the classes. Basically a class who specializes in battlefield-control moves and mowing down fields of mooks. Tripping, disarming, grappling, throwing, improvised weapons, throwing one mook into another AS an improvised weapon, that sort of thing. They'd have to be tough enough to mix it up in melee, but only with light armor, relying on mobility and defensive powers and excellent reflex defenses. For weapons they'd use polearms, chain weapons, staffs, and of course fists and feet.

The other would be a straight-up full-speed-ahead fantasy monk. We're talking Wuxia and wire-fu out the wazoo. Divine Striker would be the role (primal could also work, perhaps) because making it overtly magic will free the monk from the conflicted design-space that killed it in 3.5. They would use enhancements to the flow of their life-force (ki in some places) to give themselves freaky powers, and use their control of others' life force to do far-out attacks like stunning, sickening, or paralyzing with a touch. Maybe even the Five-Finger Exploding Heart technique in a higher tier.

I won't know how to do it till I get my hands on a copy of the rules, so I'm not going to do it anytime soon if at all. But that's where my head is on the subject.

 

[Gloombunny]

Personally I love the idea of Ki as an energy source next to arcane and divine. To be more clear here is how I see the currently known power sources:

Martial: The strength of the body.
Arcane: The power of Magic.
Divine: The power of belief.
Primal: The force of Nature.
Ki: The might of the soul?

Martial isn't just the strength of the body, though. Warlords' tactical and inspirational powers are based on intellect and social influence, but they're still martial.

And I wouldn't really call ki soul-based, if it's anything like real-world conceptions of ki.

 

[Aria Silverhands]

We still need a martial unarmed combatant. To fill that role in a medieval standard fantasy setting that doesn't include oriental stuff.

 

[Gloombunny]

I don't think monks should be classed as divine because, even though monasticism is generally a religious thing, the kind of kung-fu monk archetype the D&D class has always been based on is not seen as getting its power from a god or gods. A character can be religious without being granted divine power. Like druids - they're primal, not divine, but that doesn't mean that you can't have a community of elves whose religious leaders/priests are druids.

 

[Kaffis]

Monks seem like a natural candidate for divine. Yes, it's a specific, narrow subset of divine, but it features many divine hallmarks:

They are held to a code/lifestyle to demonstrate their beliefs.
They accomplish amazing acts through their will and faith (the monk's faith happens to direct itself inward; in modern terms, monks represent more New Age-y religions and teachings that harken back to old stuff).
They gather with others of their order to learn, carry out their lifestyle, and spread the example of their teachings to the surrounding communities.

I don't think it's a stretch, and I think it's better to call it a divine following that preaches ki-like practices and tenets, than to invent a new power source that will only have, basically, one class. More martial takes on the monk as martial artist already belong in fighter -- heck, the revealed PP for fighter already has a very eastern flavor to me.

 

[hong]

I suspect that monks will be psi strikers, and psi will take on the role (ahem) that ki played in 3E. It'll be a continuation of the trend seen in the PsiHB and XPH, with its wuxia-ish feats.

Which I can live with, as long as they ditch the snot.

Please, WotC, ditch the snot. Oh, and the new age crystal stuff too, if possible. ThaADVANCEnks!

 

[Aria Silverhands]

Anything to do with psionics will be cut right out of my campaigns. If it wouldn't ruin the book, I'd cut the damn pages out as well. Monks as psionic characters is just ridiculous. They're not psionic.