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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ZombieRoboNinja" data-source="post: 5986942" data-attributes="member: 54843">First off, just because previous editions jealously guarded the monk's turf doesn't mean 5e has to do the same. Stick in a "Zen Warrior" theme so fighters can use a good Wisdom score, or a "Pugilist" theme so they can punch hard.I also don't think the 5e monk should be dead-set against multiclassing like the 3e version. Let me drop a few levels of rogue into my monk to make him more ninja-tastic, or a few levels of fighter to make him more skilled at on-the-fly tactical adjustments in melee with a couple combat superiority dice.But my point is that there's enough to the monk class to be worth working into its own design, with its own unique combat mechanics. He's not just "a fighter, but ASIAN," he's unique in his mobility, resistance to spells, and later on, in his mystical attributes. Don't like the Okinawan karate vibe? Well, the default paladin is an idealized Knight Templar and the default bard is a god-knows-what. But we all seem fine agreeing that those classes can/should be flexible enough to fit other related themes. And here's another chance for 5e to differentiate: make a couple backgrounds like Acolyte and Apprentice for those who want "traditional" monk backstories, and you've opened things up for other kinds of martial artists. You seem fond of saying that monk abilities would make a good theme. (And in your defense, they've made it pretty clear that there will be "advanced" themes going from level 6-10, so we're talking 6 feats, not 3.) But here's the thing: there are a lot of different kinds of unarmed enlightened warriors I might want to play. If I have to use up my first theme just to make sure he can walk around bare-fisted with no armor and not get eaten by the first bugbear he encounters, that's not a lot of room for flexibility. Even if I get a little flexibility in choosing fighter powers, there are only going to be so many that are appropriate (or even possible) for an unarmed fighter. Every monk ends up looking almost exactly the same.Compare that to a monk class that offers its own unique combat mechanics, and still has the flexibility offered by choice of theme and background, along with whatever internal flexibility the class has. (And I expect the class will have "styles" to choose from, so you can play a soft-style Tai Chi guy or a hard-style karate guy or even a ninja or Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon swordsman or whatever.) PLUS, we're supposedly going to have some kind of 3e-style multiclassing, adding even MORE flexibility. To me, that sounds a lot more "liberating" than breaking up the class into its component parts.</blockquote>

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