D&D 5E New D&D WotC survey! On classes.

Tales and Chronicles

Jewel of the North, formerly know as vincegetorix
Same. I would lean more in this direction:

View attachment 143024

Earth monk. Fire monk. Airben--er, Air Monk.
This was how it was presented in the playtest:

You had the base monk, with the usual ki features. Then you had the archetypes Fire, Stone, Air, Heart and Water. Each one add special features based on ki usage. Heart Monks were the one who got Stunning Strike (only once per round in the playtest, by the way) and Quivering Palm.

Add to that Shadow monks (as per the PHB), Solar (XGtE/SCAG) and maybe a Force monk, using the mastery of force discipline from UA Mystic with ranged psionic attacks and you get an awesome class.

Then WotC fumbled it...:p
 

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This was how it was presented in the playtest:

You had the base monk, with the usual ki features. Then you had the archetypes Fire, Stone, Air, Heart and Water. Each one add special features based on ki usage. Heart Monks were the one who got Stunning Strike (only once per round in the playtest, by the way) and Quivering Palm.

Add to that Shadow monks (as per the PHB), Solar (XGtE/SCAG) and maybe a Force monk, using the mastery of force discipline from UA Mystic with ranged psionic attacks and you get an awesome class.

Then WotC fumbled it...:p
Seriously? This sounds great. Can these playtest files still be found somewhere?

🔥 🪨 🌪️ 🌊 💗
 

Tales and Chronicles

Jewel of the North, formerly know as vincegetorix
Seriously? This sounds great. Can these playtest files still be found somewhere?

🔥 🪨 🌪️ 🌊 💗
Yes, quite easily. They are still teorically under NDA-ish clauses because you werent supposed to share them during the playtest. But should you search on google for dnd 5e playtest packets and stumble upon some reddit links, you'll find them easily.
 

Mind of tempest

(he/him)advocate for 5e psionics
If they put both the monk's Martial Arts and Unarmored Defense into abilities a warrior class could choose and also made that class have a resource-based source for special moves I'd love it but I'm not sure the Monk would have anything left. Maybe a subclass of a psychic or something if you're focusing on the mystical elements.

Personally I'd like to relegate the mysticism to a few subclasses and rename it the Martial Artist. Though all the other classes are one word so it should probably be shorter somehow.
I want to make the martial arts a feat not something anyone can just add to avoid loss of the class.
If they put both the monk's Martial Arts and Unarmored Defense into abilities a warrior class could choose and also made that class have a resource-based source for special moves I'd love it but I'm not sure the Monk would have anything left. Maybe a subclass of a psychic or something if you're focusing on the mystical elements.

Personally I'd like to relegate the mysticism to a few subclasses and rename it the Martial Artist. Though all the other classes are one word so it should probably be shorter somehow.
I want to do the exact opposite. Make the mysticism more apparent. Monk is on D&D class that would actually want to be more magical than it currently is. Make them more blatantly supernatural and then let the subclasses focus on different forms of supernatural martial arts.
Same. I would lean more in this direction:

View attachment 143024

Earth monk. Fire monk. Airben--er, Air Monk.
look I am just come out and say it, the monk is a half caster, what the caster it is half is something we only know by proxy but mechanically likely would overlap with the psion and that is sufficient for me.
 

Tales and Chronicles

Jewel of the North, formerly know as vincegetorix
look I am just come out and say it, the monk is a half caster, what the caster it is half is something we only know by proxy but mechanically likely would overlap with the psion and that is sufficient for me.
Agreed. The monk is the Psionic gish class. At least 4e was honest with it!

All the psi-flavoured races are mainly presented as monks: giths, kalashtar and I bet there's even Illithid monks somewhere!
 

CleverNickName

Limit Break Dancing (He/They)
Honestly, I think there's room for all interpretations, if you make the "monk" a subclass for multiple core classes. Going back to my earlier post about how I wish all other classes were subclasses of only three?

As a subclass of Thief, you're describing a pretty good "ninja."
As a subclass of Mage, you're pretty close to my idea of a "bender."
As a subclass of Warrior, you're pretty much describing a "kickboxer."
 



Greg K

Legend
I can easily imagine a whole range of pugilist ideas (and I assume someone who actually knows something about fistfights or boxing can thing of a lot more). You have (easier) ability to knock someone out cold or prone with a punch. You can render someone briefly blind, deaf, or stunned by punching them in the head. You could even through in some throws and holds if you want to expand the idea into wrestling/judo
People would be suprised at what techniques boxers knew prior to Queensbury Rules becoming the dominant rules.

During the early 18th century, prizefighting was intended for the streets and ring. Prizefighters (a.k.a bare-knuckled boxers) were trained in boxing, wrestling, throws, groundfighting. Weapons such as swords, cudgel (and staff?) were also common. There were no rules so chokes, eye gouges, fish-hooking, head-butts, head control (similar to muay thai clinch) and hair grasping, elbows and forearm strikes, kicking, biting, scratching foot stomping (called purring when done with spiked boots), and hard throws were all legal. James Figg, the 18th century boxer and champions, fought a match where one round was sword & buckler, another round was bare-knuckle, and a third round was with a cudgel.

Later, in the 18th century, John "Jack" Broughton, a former student of Figg, introduced Brougton's rules after killing a competitior. Under his rules, weapons, eye-gouging, ground fighting, low blows, and certain throws (those involving clinching below the waste such 1 and 2 leg lift throws) were prohibited as was striking a downed opponent. He also introduced true rounds and the 30 second knockdown rule.

In the 19th Century, London Prize Ring Rules were built upon Broughton's Rules. New prohibitions included headbutting, biting, flesh tearing, kicking, and striking with a hard object in hand. Holds and Throws were still legal as were spiked shoes (with certain limitations).

Eventurally, Queensbury rules , the basis for modern boxing rules, replaced the London Prize Ring Rules. New prohibitions included wresting, the use of spiked footwear, and striking with anything other than the hand (presumably, prior to Queensbury, elbows, forearms, and shoulders were still legal)

(I am still trying to find out exactly when striking both the back of the head (rabbit punch) and the kidneys became illegal).

Today some elements of pre-Queensbury boxing are still incorporated by modern boxers (whom often use body positioning to hide the techniques from the referee). These illegal techniques include:
  • elbows and forearm smashes
  • foot stomps (a.k.a foot stepping, "toe pinning") to prevent opponent's from moving,
  • grappling: hold/clinch, head control (similar to muay thai head clinch)
  • head-butts
  • push/shove
  • tripping
  • vital striking: thumb gouging the eye, groin punch, kidney punch, rabbit punch (note: surprisingly, while the kidney punch is illegal in modern boxing, the liver punch remains legal).
Note: Some modern "Western" boxers may have been introduced to techniques similar to those in use prior to the Queensbury Rule via Philippine boxers or trainer. Western boxing was introduced to the Philipines around the time of the Spanish-American War and some claim that Filipino boxers incorporated techniques from Suntukan (Philippine Boxing (a.k.a Dirty Boxing)) into their boxing while others may have introduced it into boxing for MMA (e.g there has been some claims that boxer Muhammed Ali had incorpated some techniques into his boxing)
 
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Yaarel

🇮🇱He-Mage
There are two main kinds of Fighter. Each one can split into a separate base class.

Knight. The Knight is the heavy infantry, tank, sometimes cavalry, heavy armor, heavy equipment, often with aristocratic military training.

Skirmisher. The Skirmisher is the light infantry, athlete, sometimes artillery, light armor or no armor, relying on agility, speed, gymnastics, often unarmed combat with competitive stylistic training.

These classes correspond roughly to the Strength Fighter and Dexterity Fighter, except the Skirmisher uses Strength for agile physical stunts. Eachs class features can further develop the concepts.

Both the Knight and Skirmisher can serve as base classes for various subclasses. Different halfcasters lean toward one or the other. For example. Eldritch Knight and Paladin lean toward Knight. Monk, Barbarian, and Ranger lean toward Skirmisher.



Eldritch Knight and Paladin have many features in common. The Knight class consolidates and develops them. The subclasses focus on the magical concept. (Nonmagical Knight subclasses are also possible, such as Samurai and Cavalier.)

Likewise, the Skirmisher class consolidates the features that the Monk, Barbarian, and Ranger have in common. For example, probably every Skirmisher shoulf gain Unarmored Defense as a base class feature, and be deadly in Unarmed Combat. The subclasses focus on the magical concepts. The Monk is a magical concept, a kind of half caster, but moreso via subclass features rather than spell slots. As a Skirmisher (and unlike a Rogue), the Monk would be "tankier", with more hit points, and more able to hold and control the frontline of combat.
 
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