Monk Thoughts

[SmootRK]

Anyone know of some simple rules for some of these special effects mentioned?

I would like the Monk character to be able to do a small variety of things that might include:
- stuns/disorient
- disarms or knockdowns
- cripple strikes (deaden 1 limb causing movement penalty, or loss of movement for both, loss of shield (off-hand), or even loss of main weapon)
- paralysis (like a hold person)
- nerve strikes that temporarily blind, deafen, or even render one speechless
- and of course a Quivering Palm (albeit will need a name change).

Perhaps they all simply work with same mechanic, yet the named effects are available at certain landmark levels... but where exactly to divide and assign these? I would love some additional ideas on this, including other interesting such 'special attacks/abilities'.

[Shonuff]

if you're interested, i got my breakdown for the 2nd edition monk I did, buddy of mine split the differing "styles" of martial arts up and added descritpions..

you may be able to reverse engineer the crunch to go with his fluff..

[Dimirag]

The rule of hitting 4 or higher than the opponent ac works goodbas you said. And its in line with the old monks stun system. Maybe give the effects at different levels and limit them to some specific hd rate.
I allows monks to parry/block/disarm while unarmed. No extra rules. They use the standard one (my standard rule that is) while nobody else can do such things. At high levels they can apply this to physical missiles.

[SmootRK]

if you're interested, i got my breakdown for the 2nd edition monk I did, buddy of mine split the differing "styles" of martial arts up and added descritpions..

you may be able to reverse engineer the crunch to go with his fluff..

Yes, I would like to take a look. Having other opinions on where to divide up these "effects" would be very helpful.

[Dimirag]

Have you thought on giving them an AC bonus or a natural AC so they have a passive defensive mechanism? This would help the fighters and clerics who loses their armor access and will help thieves and mu's to fight on close quarters without rapidly getting killed.

Another alternate route to the damage dice is to give them the same bonus as hunters/rangers but maybe limiting it against all humanoid or against opponent with a specific (or level based) AC or lower.

[SmootRK]

Have you thought on giving them an AC bonus or a natural AC so they have a passive defensive mechanism? This would help the fighters and clerics who loses their armor access and will help thieves and mu's to fight on close quarters without rapidly getting killed.

Another alternate route to the damage dice is to give them the same bonus as hunters/rangers but maybe limiting it against all humanoid or against opponent with a specific (or level based) AC or lower.

In fact yes. I had not uploaded my latest draft (still lacking the special maneuvers of stun etc.) Be up shortly on first post. Monk begins on p.13.

[SmootRK]

Any new thoughts on this? I need to get back to this so I can move on.

So I am thinking that the Monk can choose a special maneuver (stun, trip, disarm, others) from his choices (some given at higher levels). Only one such special in each round and against only one target (regardless of number of attacks) and just to make sure no chicanery about it, the first attack roll of his sequence determines whether or not the special maneuver works. If the attack roll is 4 above the necessary number needed to hit (or a natural 20), the target gets a saving throw (which? may depend on the special?); a target that fails the save (obviously) has the condition applied, and if the target succeeds on the save it still receives damage from the strike.

I need to work on the wording there, and also the list of such special attacks and when the monk has access to them (level).