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<blockquote data-quote="mlund" data-source="post: 6194344" data-attributes="member: 50304">I have to concur with the bulk of what Celebrim wrote. That said, there's nothing wrong with some goofy nods to Orientalism - as long as it doesn't irradiate a ton of fertile design space like the Monk-as-class paradigm has for the last three decades. Monk is a Background - coming from a monastery. That's it. Maybe they taught Kung Fu there. Maybe they illuminated manuscripts. That's a setting / background thing.The combat / stunt abilities of the monk are Martial Arts. Those same Martial Arts from the Orentalism influence were taught to (and taught by) people who were not monks. Many dojo and family traditions passed on martial arts to people from many different walks of life.Someone mentioned martial artists from video game. Almost none of the signature icons of that genre are monks. They learned from teachers who most often learned from family members and never set foot inside a monastery. So I just wish the Monk would stop poisoning the well of Martial Arts in D&amp;D. You want to be Caine, go on. Here's the Martial Artist class, Aesthetic Tradition, and the Monk or Pilgrim background. Go nuts. Just don't stop Larry over here from playing his Dwarven Bear Wrestler or block out Joe's drunken boxer &nbsp;Marty Lund</blockquote>

[QUOTE="mlund, post: 6194344, member: 50304"] I have to concur with the bulk of what Celebrim wrote. That said, there's nothing wrong with some goofy nods to Orientalism - as long as it doesn't irradiate a ton of fertile design space like the Monk-as-class paradigm has for the last three decades. Monk is a Background - coming from a monastery. That's it. Maybe they taught Kung Fu there. Maybe they illuminated manuscripts. That's a setting / background thing. The combat / stunt abilities of the monk are Martial Arts. Those same Martial Arts from the Orentalism influence were taught to (and taught by) people who were not monks. Many dojo and family traditions passed on martial arts to people from many different walks of life. Someone mentioned martial artists from video game. Almost none of the signature icons of that genre are monks. They learned from teachers who most often learned from family members and never set foot inside a monastery. So I just wish the Monk would stop poisoning the well of Martial Arts in D&D. You want to be Caine, go on. Here's the Martial Artist class, Aesthetic Tradition, and the Monk or Pilgrim background. Go nuts. Just don't stop Larry over here from playing his Dwarven Bear Wrestler or block out Joe's drunken boxer Marty Lund [/QUOTE]

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