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View Full Version : Zen archer in Golarion: Fluff not crunch



ProudGrognard
2013-12-03, 04:11 AM
Greetings to all,

so I have been scouring the internetz for some information on zen archers on Golarion. I am not talking about builds and guides, I am talking about the actual information on their presence, history etc in Golarion. It seems that there is nothing at all on that.

Now, I am one of these players that likes to create a bit of the world with their characters. I am always buggering DMs to approve this or that background info. So, provided that there indeed no info on the subject, what could we do with zen archers on Golarion?

The easy, boring way is to have them in a monastery, contemplating the universe and meditating by shooting arrows. That is the easy way out. How could it be done otherwise?

Heliomance
2013-12-03, 05:49 AM
I am always buggering DMs

O_o

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--4B2yr_FcOM/UHdKibKu_kI/AAAAAAAAFeU/Ii9VunihGdk/s1600/not+what+you+think+it+mean.jpg

Doorhandle
2013-12-03, 05:52 AM
edit: Just saw that. HAHA! INNUENDO!

Perhaps a group of militants: A secretive religious order, who neverless feel the need to meddle in larger political affairs to ensure the greater good. Perhaps they believe nirvana is only attainable when there are walls guarded by strong men with bows?

Or perhaps they're closer to non-Buddhist monks and use bows because their god uses bows? Erastil would be a great god for this, as he's the lawful good god of the hunt, who's favoured weapon is, in fact, the longbow.

Or on a sillier bent, maybe enlightenment brings a predisposition for using bows, rather than bows being one possible path to enlightenment.

ProudGrognard
2013-12-03, 06:06 AM
O_o

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--4B2yr_FcOM/UHdKibKu_kI/AAAAAAAAFeU/Ii9VunihGdk/s1600/not+what+you+think+it+mean.jpg


But, but, but.... (http://tinyurl.com/2hrdan)

ProudGrognard
2013-12-03, 06:08 AM
edit: Just saw that. HAHA! INNUENDO!

Perhaps a group of militants: A secretive religious order, who neverless feel the need to meddle in larger political affairs to ensure the greater good. Perhaps they believe nirvana is only attainable when there are walls guarded by strong men with bows?

Or perhaps they're closer to non-Buddhist monks and use bows because their god uses bows? Erastil would be a great god for this, as he's the lawful good god of the hunt, who's favoured weapon is, in fact, the longbow.

Or on a sillier bent, maybe enlightenment brings a predisposition for using bows, rather than bows being one possible path to enlightenment.

These are nice. The problem is that Zen archer is being put forward, mechanically, as ...well zen enlightenment. My problem is to also account on how they achieve all these abilities of the monk, without being eastern monkish.

Doorhandle
2013-12-03, 06:17 AM
These are nice. The problem is that Zen archer is being put forward, mechanically, as ...well zen enlightenment. My problem is to also account on how they achieve all these abilities of the monk, without being eastern monkish.

Perhaps take a realist approach as far it applies to DND. The monk's abilities do not come form enlightenment, but from hard work and determination, like a fighter or wizard.

Gadora
2013-12-03, 06:17 AM
For a cleric or other divinely inspired character, it might be that they don't actually have great skill with the bow, but, instead, Zen Archery represents their connection to their patron manifesting a passive guidance of their arrows, by their deity.

Apologies if this makes no sense. Clarity is kind of hard at three in the morning.

ProudGrognard
2013-12-03, 06:50 AM
Again, all these are great ideas. I especially like the idea of ki as another source of power: Monks have their ki which they harness, their own internal life energy, which they learn to control through self discipline and deep internal awareness. For most monks, this comes through regimented meditation and training in monastic orders. But there is nothing to say that all monk paths are like that. For example, a monk could be epicurian, hedonistic, philosophical or whatever else would orient him towards self-awareness and harnessing of his ki.

Hmm. I like it.

(As a sidenote, I would dearly like to see some PrC for fighters, or even archetypes, which play onto this. Back in the mists of time, someone named Aelrynth had done so for his homebrew world).

As for their role in Golarion, are there any other ideas?