What if everyone was a monk?

[Particle_Man]

Picture a setting in which there is no other character class. No NPC classes, bloodlines, races as classes (except for monster HD as per the monster manual), gestalt, prestige classes, variant classes, or anything else I have forgotten. Everyone is a monk as per the PHB.

Every monster capable of gaining a class level, gains one - as a monk.

Spell-like and supernatural abilities would remain, but spells would not - so for instance dragons with listed spellcaster abilities would instead gain the equivalent in monk abilities.

Thoughts?

 

[kitcik]

What if everyone was a monk?

Excellent thread title

Picture a setting in which there is no other character class. No NPC classes, bloodlines, races as classes (except for monster HD as per the monster manual), gestalt, prestige classes, variant classes, or anything else I have forgotten. Everyone is a monk as per the PHB.

Every monster capable of gaining a class level, gains one - as a monk.

Spell-like and supernatural abilities would remain, but spells would not

Let me come back to this in a second.

- so for instance dragons with listed spellcaster abilities would instead gain the equivalent in monk abilities.

Thoughts?

Umm... equivalent monk abilities for spellcaster abilities? This is where you went off the rails.

Anyway, coming back to the question at hand, I think that most monsters are less dependent on spells than PCs, so you would have to adjust most/all CRs upwards. Many monsters would simply be undefeatable.

Presumably crafting doesn't exist, so no magic items?

That would make it even worse.

Everyone would be a VoP monk.

I guess, after a while, you'd really figure out howto optimize a PHB monk? Is that a worthy benefit from the hours of boredom?

 

[Sekhmet]

I was with you until you removed any possible variety from the monk class.
We all know there is more than one kind of Martial Art in the world, and more than one sect of monk. We remove such flavorful and mundane monk variants as the Drunken Master, the Thug, or the Henshin Mystic? What about the Pathfinder Monk?
They're all still monks, and all still more-or-less the same level of power as a straight up Monk, but the variety they offer is fantastic to a mundane-only world.

 

[Crothian]

Everyone would be Lawful alaignment. Just imagine how that will change the setting. I would use some variety of monks but get rid of the Vows as they were not very interesting. Heck, you might just wan to jump over to Oriental Adventures and just adopt that theme for the game instead of trying to force feed in the core books.

I like the idea and it is one I've thought about doing but never did.

 

[kitcik]

What if everyone was a monk?

You would be known as Particle_Bored.


(sorry, I couldn't help myself)

 

[Dandu]

Picture a setting in which there is no other character class. No NPC classes, bloodlines, races as classes (except for monster HD as per the monster manual), gestalt, prestige classes, variant classes, or anything else I have forgotten. Everyone is a monk as per the PHB.

Every monster capable of gaining a class level, gains one - as a monk.

Spell-like and supernatural abilities would remain, but spells would not - so for instance dragons with listed spellcaster abilities would instead gain the equivalent in monk abilities.

Thoughts?

The true nature of phenomena is emptiness.

 

[Deset Gled]

Game-wise, the monks is really designed to be a counter-class. That is, they're power is relative to the opponent they face. Without offensive magic, Evasion, Still Mind, Improved Evasion, and Diamond Soul become pretty worthless abilities. In a similar fashion, high speed becomes meaningless because it's only a benefit if you're faster than your opponent. And if everyone has high saves (even if spells existed), it can only lead to inflation on DCs, or a dramatic decrease in effects that require saves.

World-building-wise, things get really weird. You're going to have to explain why everyone knows how to use "exotic" weapons and no one knows how to use simple ones. Obviously, there are no classes left to craft magic items. But there are also no classes left with the Handle Animal or Use Rope skill; trade is going to get really difficult with no pack animals or sailing ships. There is no Open Lock skill and no knock spell, so locks get a huge bump in power. There are no healing classes (not even the Heal skill) but people are immune to poison and disease and can heal themselves once they get old enough. That means there's going to be a lot of dead kids, but very healthy adults (which will probably result in couples having a lot of children, but a lot less of those kids will survive). And since Monks stop aging at level 17, there's going to be no more old people (at least ones you can see), which means no retirement.

That's a heck of a world. It might be fun to visit, but I don't think I'd want to live there.

 

[Particle_Man]

Thanks for your comments,

Everyone being the same class would mean that the individuality would come from something else, but I don't think it would disappear.

I think I would leave the crafting feats, but only beings with spell-like abilities could access them. So there would be a rarity of magic items.

I agree, no vows. Anyhow, I am thinking the core only rules for this (phb, mm, dmg).

Monks can still take cross-class skills, so there would be animal handling, etc. Just less of it and not as many experts at it.

I think the monk weapons would be very common, so wouldn't be thought of as "exotic" in the setting.

The dragons don't get spells thing was to stop them dominating the game utterly, but I wanted to give them something to make up for what I took away and if *everyone* is a monk, that seems the thing to give them. Obviously dragons are still Big Cheeses, but at least they are not Big Cheeses with Time Stop.

One benefit - I don't think the game would be that hard to DM at high levels. Everyone would definitely be the same Tier!

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

Then I would not want to play the game. I cherish variety as one of the motivating factors behind my desire to play.

 

[Razjah]

If you go with the idea of monks having fighting styles from Unearthed Arcana, you can have different clans teaching different techniques. Even though everyone is lawful, they still have different opinions and may even go to war if they see no better option. This isn't really that variant, and if you seriously do this- the differences could be key.

I don't think dragons need the monk abilities at all, they will still be awesome. Plus you could always leave them with magic since the are Dragons.

You can make it work, and you end up with a wuxia world like a lot of Hong Kong films or films of similar style. Think Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Hero; and The Forbidden Kingdom. There a lot of other (better) films for inspiration.

The ramifications of a world where armor is useless is pretty interesting. Weapons still work, but fists eventually outdo everything with a lack of magic. So it is a world that truly values the "human" capacity for physical perfection- and most people can free run which is cool. Ladders are largely redundant, or only helpful with heavy loads.