overgeeked
Open-World Sandbox
Okay, so like most people who are interested in the monk class, I'm a big fan of martial arts and wuxia movies. One of the things that seems to be missing from the monk is the ability to lightness or light body kung fu... that bit in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon where the people just seem to kick off the ground and soar through the air. Wire work stuff, but a big part of the genre. With Step of the Wind your jumping is double for one turn for one ki. That sounds like a lower-level version of the same idea. But your jumping distances are way too low to pull this kind of wire work off. A STR 15 +2 monk would get 15 ft long jump and 5 ft high jump with a 10 ft run up. Even with that one ki point to double it, you're talking 30 ft / 10 ft. That's great, but it still falls short of what's typical for this kind of thing.
Looking at the subclasses there's an elemental monk discipline at 11th-level (Ride the Wind) that costs four ki to have fly on yourself for 10 minutes. But the open hand subclass is the one who's closest to the ideal of a wuxia wire fu character, so I took a look at their features. And wouldn't you know, sitting there like a turd in a punchbowl is Tranquility, their 11th-level feature that gives them sanctuary free after a long rest. Whoopty doo. But, since they're both 11th-level features, I thought I'd have a go.
So my house rule is drop the sanctuary for something like true wire work for the open hand monk. It's not straight up fly, so that's not quite right. But it's close enough with one exception, the wire work wuxia types need to touch something solid on occasion to keep moving. So here's my house rule...
Replace Tranquility (free sanctuary spell) with...
Lightness of Body
Beginning at 11th-level you have learned to make your body light as a feather. You can spend 3 ki point to cast fly, targeting yourself. However, you must end your movement in contact with a solid object or you will fall. You are so light that even the tops of trees are considered solid enough to hold your weight for the duration.
I think the 1 ki point reduction is reasonable considering it's not straight flight. So what would DMs here think of this if it were brought to the table?
Looking at the subclasses there's an elemental monk discipline at 11th-level (Ride the Wind) that costs four ki to have fly on yourself for 10 minutes. But the open hand subclass is the one who's closest to the ideal of a wuxia wire fu character, so I took a look at their features. And wouldn't you know, sitting there like a turd in a punchbowl is Tranquility, their 11th-level feature that gives them sanctuary free after a long rest. Whoopty doo. But, since they're both 11th-level features, I thought I'd have a go.
So my house rule is drop the sanctuary for something like true wire work for the open hand monk. It's not straight up fly, so that's not quite right. But it's close enough with one exception, the wire work wuxia types need to touch something solid on occasion to keep moving. So here's my house rule...
Replace Tranquility (free sanctuary spell) with...
Lightness of Body
Beginning at 11th-level you have learned to make your body light as a feather. You can spend 3 ki point to cast fly, targeting yourself. However, you must end your movement in contact with a solid object or you will fall. You are so light that even the tops of trees are considered solid enough to hold your weight for the duration.
I think the 1 ki point reduction is reasonable considering it's not straight flight. So what would DMs here think of this if it were brought to the table?
