Monk and Swordsage

[Achan hiArusa]

So like this (I'm still keeping the name though).

Oh, I forgot Ki Strike. It stays were it is as a monk.

4th Ki Strike (magic)
10th Ki Strike (Lawful)
16th Ki Strike (adamantine)

 

[Atlatl Jones]

I still want to see a competent unarmed, non-mystic fighter in 4e though, simply because the brawler is a valid fantasy archetype. And hell, beating up monsters with your bare hands is just fun. This is where "it's a game" comes in.

There's also a really good archetypal precedent for it: Beowulf always fought without weapons. However, he didn't do so because he was better at it than fighting with weapons, he did so because it was worse. He boasted that he was going to kill Grendel with his bare hands to show off his uberawesomenessitude, the equivalent of tying one hand behind his back or fighting left-handed.

 

[Merlion]

The only trouble I see with a totally "mundane" unarmed combantant in D&D is, as has been said, the fact that he would be rather ineffective against a LOT of supernatural monsters and other enemies. And I'm not sure how this could be solved without either a mystical or weapon-related answer.

Unless you dont count gauntlets as a weapon.

 

[GAAAHHH]

INEXCUSABLE!

 

[Someone]

What I'm hoping is that the monk will kill the swordsage and take his stuff.

I hope the swordsage kills the monk and dances on his grave. You can currently make a monk-ish character with a pure swordsage, but it's comparatively much more difficult to make a swordsage-ish character with a monk, which also has a much more loaded name.