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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mad Mac" data-source="post: 2108009" data-attributes="member: 27873">The PHB Monk is a pretty good approximation of Eastern Myths, yes, with the exception of it's lack of weapon prowess. Even in mythology, there is no concept of the unarmed martial art master who sucks with weapons. Some rare heroes might prefer unarmed fighting (In the same way someone prefers the spear or 3-section staff) but that doesn't mean he doesn't know his way around a good blade. I brought this up because you kept coming back to the "But that doesn't work because they use weapons or armor when they can." As does the archtypal Monk/Martial Arts Master, which is why I pointed it out.  Some martial art styles and techniques are going to be hampered by armor, yes, but if you aren't marching off to war, no one walks around with armor anyway. If you are, you use a weapon. You could say much the same about Samurai, during battle everyone one wears heavy armor and most "duels" are armored wrestling matches with daggers. On the street, no one has armor, and the first solid strike with a Katana yields a win.   And that's really where the PHB Monk starts to make sense. He's not a knight, or a soldier, he's a wandering, aesthetic, mystic. He also makes an excellent spy or assassin.(And the Shaolin often were just that) He has absolutely no reason to burden himself down with armor or heavy weapons, which would only draw unneeded attention and suspiscion towards himself anyway. His training in unarmed techniques is enough to defend himself against bandits or street fighters. It's a sensible approach both in myth and history, but seems a bit out of place in D&D where you have bands of adventurers roaming around armed to the teeth.</blockquote>

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