So how do you fit monks into different cultural archetypes beyond the typical !asian cultures?

So how do you fit monks into different cultural archetypes beyond the typical !asian cultures?

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youtube.com/watch?v=lvkPLvoH1vI
ancientolympics.arts.kuleuven.be/eng/TC007cEN.html
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pankration
youtu.be/VYvqOfrs6CA
mythencyclopedia.com/Ca-Cr/Circe.html
youtube.com/watch?v=sqlIUPBeoKo
berserk.wikia.com/wiki/Mozgus
youtube.com/watch?v=hMGWWpyFGFU
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I made a tribal warrior kensei who specializes in maul, blowgun and whip. He focueses on heavy damage with maul+flurry of blows, with the blowgun to apply poisons from range and the whip because I couldn't really think of anything else that might apply.

All a monk is is a spiritual warrior who focuses mainly on unarmed combat and "peasant" weapons. Every culture has these and, with archetypes, you can expand even further. So, to answer your question; use your imagination.

Mine are basically Greco-Roman scholars and philosophers who are also pugalist because they believe in training the mind as well as the body.

They typically serve as tutors to wealthy sons and daughters looking to get into various positions within the Empire so it's not unusual that some Imperial official, though might work from a desk, could go toe to toe with some would be adventurer

There are unarmed fighting styles all over the world, OP.
Everyone--every culture, every place--had their own twist on "murder dude with hands."

For classic medieval fantasy style, you only need to describe it a bit differently:
youtube.com/watch?v=lvkPLvoH1vI

Flagellants

This is the thing I will never understand about the groupthink against being weeaboo. Any warrior would know how to fight in a number of ways whether it's stabbing a nigger with a sword or punching him to death. Wrestling, Boxing, and pugalisim isn't some exclusive trait of asia and having a knight who can brawl isn't going to make people think you love anime even though they are posting on a Tibetan Shadow Puppet board.

Basically this. People imagine kung fu and shit when you say "martial arts" but "martial arts" also includes chivalric jousting and swordsmanship and cane-dueling and boxing.

"Martial arts" just means "the arts of martial combat," not "shanghai hong kong egg fu yong fortune cookie always wrong"

That shit's gotta stop, because a disarmed knight punching a dude in the face with his plate mail glove is fucking awesome.

This is an example that comes out of 40k but I think my most memorable scene was in the Gaunt's Ghost book when one of the Tanith commanders was in brawl with a commander from another IG regiment (can't remember names, sorry) they talked about how one of the commanders was a champion boxer during his academy days and how the Tanith Dude was a fucking wrestler.

But hey, can't ruin the idea that western warriors of any sort or even modern day soldiers and fighters would sully their reputation by learning silly things like how to punch and kick and throw people.

Shit, that's fucking cool. And let's not forget about pankration, the ancient Greek art of weaponized gay sex: ancientolympics.arts.kuleuven.be/eng/TC007cEN.html

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pankration

Honestly, I really wish more people would go "yeah this guy used to box" about characters who use guns in fiction. It's a nice trait to be well-rounded as a person.

I blame DND for this because they made "punching" the eclusive realm of the monk but then they also made the whole perfection of body and mind thing exclusive to monks as well.

Frankly, there's no good reason why a fighter can't go from tearing assholes with his sword and when it breaks he throws it away and contines to redecorate colons with his fists if need be.

D&D is also under the opinion that people like Cu Chulainn are anime characters and that any fighter who can do anything remarkable like turn into some kind of thrashing wolf-beast in a spasm of fury and murder a small army is unrealistic and bad.

I fucking love bare-knuckle brawler character concepts. The movie Snatch stands out here. If you haven't seen it, go watch it, it's great.

Cu Chulainn IS an anime character thanks to Fate.

Cu Chulainn was pretty anime before anime was

>super powered evil side
>Fight autist
>harem protagonist

Don't forget Beowulf. What sort of weabo faggot wrestles a monster to death?

like so

I usually have it in my !Asia regions but also in areas controled by the churches of light where weapons aren't allowed to be used for religious reasons but still needed to defend themselves so learning how to fight with their hands came naturally.

And Odysseus. How could a single FIGHTER beat a whole ARMY with a lel so epic strategy about a wooden horse, were the Trojans just retarded? So inconsistent. And that's not even talking about how his muh waifu purity resisted all those hot women throwing themselves out him.

the problem of course is that Monks, at least in D&D, function off of the conceit of a mystic inner power that doesn't quite entirely work. Some editions have tried to make them psionics to mixed success. In my opinion, as a core class, Monks should be able to derive their abilities from everything from persistant training and expertise, to divine power, to magic. Just turned inwards to make them superhuman.

Monks are more snowflakes than Gunslingers.

Don't forget the Bow that only he could string and draw

>Veeky Forums based Monks
>Former farmer who learned to defend his own land
>Survivalist "Law of the Jungle" type that thinks Druids are wimps
>Ex-slaves who learned to kill with their hands since it was all they had
>Foppish honor-obsessed monks who willingly fight at a "disadvantage"

Imagine how vastly different the entire game would be if they didn't shoehorn the eastern window dressing with Ki. I mean, even in 5th edition they strait up say what the monk does is just another form of magic the same as wizards. If you just call it something that doesn't immediately trigger westaboos into autistic spasms then the idea of a knight who's so badass he can cut magical creatures because of his inner power instead of some magic sword the faggot wizard had to make for him (which he could still use, but still).

That said, his servent, who was a badass himself it seems, came really fucking close to doing it.

>>Ex-slaves who learned to kill with their hands since it was all they had
Well this is legitimately the origin of at least one martial art, Capoeira, which was developed to look like dancing so they could practice without anyone realizing they were training. Once masters got wise they outlawed it.

My favorite monk was a monk of Azuth who tattooed magical runes and spells to his body, and travelled to various locales strong with ambient magical energy or ley intersections to draw power into them. Training his body was just a way to make himself vigorous to withstand the ju-ju he was pulling in.

He also completely disregarded bitches and wanted to become one with the weave itself.

But now it's a weeaboo thing thanks to Death Note

>Desire to know more intensifies

I didn't realize this was a thing in Death Note.

>LUCHA
>LIBRE

...

L (the detective teenager) uses it when he fights. Which is very rare because that would take time away from everybody trying to outplan each other

Capoeira was also in Tenjo Tenge

Doesn't make it weeb.

>So how do you fit monks into different cultural archetypes beyond the typical !asian cultures?

Knights who train in mystical arts.

Guardsman order under special training against supernatural beings.

It's the role of the monks in society that's important.
Since they are based on martial artists their role is going to have to do with military, security forces, espionage etc..

Where are their arts taught?

>In not!Greece it's at the temple squares.
>In not!Rome it's the Arena and most Gladiators are monks.
>In not!Renaissance Italy it's Church monasteries and private merecenary companies.
>In not!MezoAmerica it's warrior clans out hunting for human sacrifices and slaves.
>In not!Russia it's roaming martial artists gifted by god or the communist party depending on the time period. Bonus points for Putin refferences.
>In the not!Wild West it's roaming Cowboys and Chink immigrants.
>In not!England it's every noble and their butler.
>In not!India it's a few of the REAL gurus.
>In not!Arabia it's the local organisation of thieves.

Christian monks used to have a martial tradition as well.
Many were required to know how to fight with a staff, mace or barehanded.

Ah that Nen Master fanart. Brings back memories.

I just combine Buddhist monk with Western monastic monks. They do the things monastic orders did like copying books, brewing beer and wine but also training their bodies and minds to have a closer relationship with their God, Immortal, Devil Patron. What have you. Most traveling proselytizers are Monks ranging from levels 1 to 3 in my games.

ANGRY PUNCHING MEN

Like so - youtu.be/VYvqOfrs6CA

the pugilist is i think by now the classic approach to having the western version of a monk.

>a disarmed knight punching a dude in the face with his plate mail glove is fucking awesome.
hexen's fighter had that, even if it was basically just doom's brass knuckles

hexen was pretty fuckin sweet

don't fluff your world's monks as weeaboo filth. I play a tetori monk in PF which equates to grapple monk. he's a pirate whose only claim to being "lawful" is he is perfecting the art of wrestling in hopes to one day emulate is childhood hero/ demi god LOS TIBURON SHARK OF THE LAND MASKED WRESTLER (yes I shamelessly copied it from the story about it. other than that very piratey, ie impulsive, stubborn, a general greedy whoremonger. note the DM is being very slack with the alignment system as I skirt it at almost all points in time. in my own world monks range from stereotypical monks all the way to a wide range of non standard concepts.

GURPS martial arts covers this pretty well. Knight training covers armed and unarmed combat, and grappling.

The line between militant chivalric orders and monastic orders was very blurry. Many people that took a monk's vows were in fact knights, and the monastic vows and virtues were a large part of the chivlric ideal.

>T H I C C monk girls
I knew I wanted this, I had just forgotten it.

Three words for you:
Zatoichi
Blind Fury

I once had a Norse Inspired monk

Dudes name was Gideon which in Hebrew translates to hewer sorta. He was a lumberjack who wrastled bears, drank good mead, loved to tussle, but was comfy in his cabin and didn't want no trable

Shit was cash

Simple, drunken boxer.

fnen a shit

Same calculators fit in our society

yeah, everyone knows f launcher was the best

Couple of questions
What part of "monks"? the martial art one? martial arts aren't an Asian only thing. The zen mentality, searching for mind and body perfection? discipline isn't an Asian only thing

Basically, OP, the point everyone is trying to make is that limiting monks to asian kung fu is like limiting barbarians to specific fringe tribes.
Pigeonholing classes because they have an evocative name is a failure of creativity, so don't do it.

>Weeaboo filth

A lesser concern of mine then people who fear anything vaguely asian at all.

I always make them the Thomas Covenant Bloodguard in everything but name.

Uh, what? He has 3 children with Circe
mythencyclopedia.com/Ca-Cr/Circe.html

>ywn never play a monk grizzled by hard labour
>ywn never suprise the party with your insight to writing, architecture and winemaking
>ywn never have to fight hand in hand with marauders from beyond the sea
>ywn never take part in clerical intrigue and uncover corrupt clergymen

R. A. Salvatore's Demon Wars Saga is pretty good inspiration for monks, even if they lean more on wizardry

Well considering 5th edition monks literally are muscle wizards ( just not very good ones) it's more than possible.

The idea that monks have to be lawful is fucking retarded anyways

Monks don't even have to be religious in nature. you could have them just have a moral code rooted in belief in the potential of humanity.

you could play a taxi driver who majored in Philosophy in College and took parkour as a way to keep in shape as a Monk.

a professional kickboxer who gives their fight money to charity/orphanages could be a Monk.

even a bookstore owner who enjoys trading stories/books/scrolls from faraway lands and learns poems and self-defense from their acquired trove.

...

>Thanks to Death Note

Nigger, nippies have had their hands on everything, every fucking thing, since before Takeshi Obata picked up a crayon.

But just because nips borrow shit from everywhere, does not mean that something is Weeaboo.

Are you going to argue that boxing, capoeira, and savate are weeaboo since we have Hajime no Ipo and Hitmonlee/champ/top?

Is Mike Tyson weeaboo since he has a pokemon named after him, and was in an ip man film?

Read up on the Golden Monk.
A chatolic monk who went full 007 during and after WW2.

>Have to dump str
>Deal laughable damage
>Meh CA and HPs not suitable for a frontliner
>Muscle wizard
Pffffhahahahahaha

>weeaboo filth
you are worse than the people you are condemning

just make monks buddhist ikko ikki priests or christian philosophers instead of the wuxia tier fist fighters they are initially portrayed as

Man it would be so satisfying to ruin someone's day with a BIG WHORE

I like to do D&D monks as, culturally, completely standard western christian monks to fit with the overall medieval theme. They spend their days getting up early and brewing beer and copying manuscripts interspersed with a lot of prayer and maybe singing hymns in four part harmony.

But at the same time they're ready to mobilize at any moment as the army of the lord and by god's grace and careful practice are prepared to storm a fortress and take out armored knights while armed with nothing better than sticks.

Having them as wrestlers could be fun.
>in peacetime, the order likes to let citizens see their ritualized fights
>a fair amount of them are skilled in perform and charisma
>tfw you see not!Shakespeare becoming a rising star by written word and wrassling

Like this

This. My monks are literate, copying manuscripts, working with the clergy. I shift the weapons from asian to more western in flavor. Club, light mace, the like,

I considered using "Ascetic alchemists whose bodies become stronger and stronger as they punch more and more magical things and get their blood on their skin".

Western wrestler franciscan-style monks.

A monastic order of wrestlers, they're all extremely buff and they drink fucktons of wine.

See this skull right here? Squeezed a bandit's head so hard with my leg lock that it just popped out.

>A monastic order of wrestlers, they're all extremely buff and they drink fucktons of wine.

A whole Monastery of Kevin Nash's

While it makes perfect sense, the panel 4-5 spot makes me laugh.
>Got your gun!
>Shooting you in the ass now

youtube.com/watch?v=sqlIUPBeoKo I have no idea if the game is good or not.

House rule, Improved Unarmed Strike is a free class feat for any class with full base attack bonus.

If we're talking about the D&D monk class, it's a lot more than just "unarmed fighter" in terms of game mechanics.
Not every high-level unarmed fighter can teleport, for example.

Give them staves, go full friar tuck.

Just use the Christian ascetic tradition more often
Stylites, for example, were hardcore

I only know it because of Archer and Armstrong

Figher's should get to be muscle wizards

It just isn't fair.

>So how do you fit bards and druids into different cultural archetypes beyond the typical !celtic cultures?
>So how do you fit paladins into different cultural archetypes beyond the typical !carolingian cultures?
>So how do you fit barbarians into different cultural archetypes beyond the typical not-!greek cultures?
>So how do you fit clerics into different cultural archetypes beyond the typical !abrahamic cultures?
Why aren't there threads like these?

Source for the image?

Because most people can find a way to get around those on their own, and those influences aren't explicitly encouraged by the splatbook

>clerics aren't influenced by abrahamic religion
>druids aren't influenced by celtic culture
>paladins aren't influenced by medieval chivalry
Yeah, sure.

I too enjoy the Siamese cat in the Aristocats.

Pugilist. A general experienced fighter. Doesn't matter the specific fluff of the style they use, just that the end results are increasingly efficient as their skill level increases. Sure on one hand there's an increase in damage output, but that's also what weapons are for. The key is being well versed enough as a fighter to be familiar with and identify attacks in time to avoid them with marginally more effectiveness than your run of the mill NPC, and to exploit openings to gain extra attack opportunities, either as combos or extra reflexive strikes. You can be a wushu master, a karate black belt, a grecoroman wrestler, a bar brawler, or a feral wildman, but the bottomline effectiveness is all the same.

Father Mozgus from the Conviction arc of Berserk.
berserk.wikia.com/wiki/Mozgus

>he hasn't read ye olde fencing manuals
nothin personnel kids

Tell me why a pugilist would eventually end up immune to poison and aging.

Stop playing D&D.

Start playing Burning Wheel, Song of Swords, or Mutants and Masterminds.

She's cute. Are there a lot of female "monks"?

>The Bible states "Thou Shallt not Kill", so I just rough up my enemies until they're in wheelchairs

Because this board operates on a strict western/eastern cultural split and some people really don't like any mention of eastern culture in their games. You don't see people saying "none of that greek shit at my table"

Wasn't there a guy in the Bible who got into a wrestling match with an angel and got made a saint because God was so impressed by his wrestling skills?

Israel is named after that guy.
I think it was in a dream though

I make them Benedictine-style Monks who have a tradition of martial discipline due to being commonly in monasteries away from help and needing to be responsible for their own self-defence.

Jacob I believe

She's cute. Are there very many female monks? I mean I guess Sororitas count, but I can't think of many others.


That movie was nuts.

>and was in an Ip Man film?
That was a great scene.

Played in a old West campaign as a dapper gentleman who knew barritsu.

He is too manly to be struck down by weak tricks like poison, and he cannot die until he is defeated fairly.

youtube.com/watch?v=hMGWWpyFGFU

God is such a jobber