Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2010679" data-attributes="member: 18387">Review of The Quintessential Monk by Mongoose Publishing    The Quintessential Monk is the seventh book in Mongoose’s Collector Series.  Each book in the series takes a single class and goes into great detail with it.  The Quintessential Monk is a book that no monk player can be without.  It gives options to play many different types of martial artist from the pugilist to the spiritual.  The many options, feat, and prestige classes make it so that no two monks will look the same and many will be hard to pigeonhole as the classical Monk.      First, I should cover the art.  I’ve never been happy with Mongoose’s art.  I’d like to say this book is different, but it really is not.  Most of the pictures do illustrate certain style on the page or are of something relating to the topic being discussed.  The art doesn’t take away from the book or distract one from the text.  However, at the same time I don’t think it really added much.    The book opens up with a great introduction telling one what can be done with this book.  I highly suggest reading it as it will be the easiest way to decide if this book is useful.  Next, the book goes into character concepts.  These are archetypes that help define the monk.  Each gives a minor bonus along with a minor penalty.  Reading through this section should give one many ideas for the countless variety of monks there can be.  One use that I’ve found for this section is to help determine what concepts would fit into my campaign world.  I think that is the biggest problem people have with monks, and using this section that way should greatly help out.  As much as I enjoyed this section, I have to say that the non-human concept part left me wanting more.  Instead of providing additional concepts that would be unique to a race, it just suggests which of the other concepts would fit.      Prestige Classes are a staple in d20 books, and Quintessential Monk has many to offer.  Any monk character should be able to find at least one of these that fits him.  Overall they are well balanced, although some might be a little on the weak side.  My favorite is the Enlightened Scholar.  This prestige class one needs to be at least 15th level to qualify, and the abilities are deal with being extremely self-aware.   The Street Acrobat is another great one, and it would be a lot easier then most of the others to fit into any campaign world.      Next we get to alternate fighting styles.  This section gives ways to trade out a few of the core Monk’s abilities for other things like specific feats to define a different type of martial artists.  Again, this section is well balanced and shows that by trading out just a few abilities one can really alter the look and the feel of a Monk.    Tricks of the Trade deals with new options presented for the Monk character.  It goes into good detail on using pressure points, new grapple options, push hand competitions, the Lion Dance, and dirty tricks.  These new rules might be a little on the complicated side, but should provide another level of enjoyment allowing a Monk to expand upon whatever it is he does best.  Next this section deals with new uses for old skills.  The concentration skill has been greatly expanded upon allowing monks to use it to break objects.      Feats are another section most books seems to have, but unlike many these feats are rather specific and should help define the Monk even farther.  There are some simple yet ingenious ones like Elusive Grapplier and Finesse Trip.  Both of these allow a monk to use his dexterity in place of his strength for these types of maneuvers.  Many of the feats really fit a certain style be that intellectual, hand to hand, or weapon.  Then it covers new weapons and armor many of which have a very martial art feel.  It even has a few new magical items that should help any monk character out and provide something more useful then the run of the meal magical items.      Now that a monk is created and has all these options, one needs a place to use them.  Thus we get to the tournaments section.  It has some interesting ideas for different types of tournaments from Boxing to Sumo Wrestling.  Then after one has won a few of these the Renown option should be used.  Renown is a set of rules to determine how famous your character is and what chances of other people hearing of you are.      My favorite section is Martial Arts Traditions.  This section discusses what a student needs to do to be accepted by a teacher and even gives a few examples of test the student may have to undertake.  Once in a school the different ranks and hierarchy becomes important.  The section is a little on the small side but I think it can be used to base a few encounters or even an encounter featuring monks in a training environment.      Then there are the Legendary Forms.  These are ancient style that are not taught or learned in any easy manner.  They must be sought out and found on an ancient scroll, or locate a teacher that is in some impossible place to get to.  These forms offer an extra physical ability like a new attack option, or something more spiritual like a divination.  Each style has specific requirements, and then to learn one a character must spend experience as well as spend time learning it.      Now, that the monk has great Renown, won dozens of tournaments, acquired a legendary form or two, and taking advantage the other options it is time to settle down and build a monastery and become a teacher himself.  All the options for that are included here as well.    The Quintessential Monk is a great addition to anyone planning on playing or using the Monk character class.  My biggest concern is that is too many of the options are used for one character; it might be really easy to min max a powerful monk.  So, a DM should be aware of that and watch out for it.   I have a feeling the Patrick Younts, the author, is going to be a name we will be seeing great things from in the future.  This is an excellent book and a great addition to any Role Playing Library.</blockquote>

Verification