Got the Crunch, Need the Fluff (Monk/Swash/Dervish)

[TheDarkSaint]

My group doesn't optimize and almost takes everything for flavor or simply remains uninterested in optimizing. The last game I played a wizard and got pretty bored with always have a "win" button. I want a challenge for myself, so while they are selecting Swiftblades and Druids, I want something different.

I want to have a Monk/Swashbuckler/Dervish. Nowhere close to optimal as I'm giving him a longspear and versatile unarmed strike. He'll dance in and out of combat, provoking attacks of opportunity to fire off his karmic strike while lashing out with combat reflexes with his longspear. If people get in close, he uses his knees and feet as slashing weapons to do fun dervish stuff. I'm looking far more for theme than I am raw blasty numbers.

We're also big on fluff....and I'm stumped. I have no clue how to transition a story from monk to swashbuckler. We're looking to start at level 5, so I want 3 levels of Cobra Strike Monk and 2 in swashbuckler. I'll take one more in swashbuckler when I level up and then off to Dervish.

Dancing has got to be a part of the backstory. He's boo-hoo ugly as Cha will be the dump stat. Any ideas? i don't mind refluffing a class a bit to make it work, but I'm at a stone wall with this one.

[Greenish]

You're asking for fluff, yet don't even mention the character's race or the setting in question. :smallconfused:

I mean, a person who pokes people with a spear and can kick could have just about any kind of fluff.

[Seto]

Is it really necessary to go from Monk to Swash and not the other way around ? I mean, starting as level 5, you could make a character who used to be a Swashbuckler, got into the monastic life in order to find peace and discipline, to escape an enemy, to wait a situation out, or for whatever reason, and just took on the adventuring mantle again and got out of the monastery on an important quest. So much easier to justify.

[jaydubs]

You are not a monk/swashbuckler/dervish. You are a Nimble Spear of Cantabile (or come up with your own name). The different classes are just different parts of your training, where you focus on unarmed combat, weapons-play, and footwork.

[Greenish]

You are the Red Viper of DorneFixed that for you. :smalltongue:

Oh man, now I want to build a longspear-user.

[TheDarkSaint]

Greenish, totally right. Should have put race and setting. Human, Forgotten Realms. We're looking to start a merc company with more neutral based characters.


And you totally nailed it with the Red Viper. Bravo! :D

[Shining Wrath]

Raised by cruel monks at the Monastery of Cruel Monks, he was forced to beg to fill the temple coffers, and was taught to dance as a busker (i.e., street performer). Since beggars were frequently robbed in the City of Cruel Monk Monastery, he was taught to fight unarmed. That's monk part of background.

He was badly beaten by a group of thugs despite his skills and his day's take stolen from him. As a result, his superior commenced beating him some more outside the temple, where the swashbuckling pirate Eddie Pedagogue saw this disgraceful behavior and rescued him, running a couple of Cruel Monks through in a most piratical manner. He spent several years aboard the Queen Alice's Vengeance, learning to swash bucklers and also to fight with the longspear (pikes being a very common weapon for pirates) and of course the scimitar. He also improved his unarmed fighting skills. Due to the numerous occasions he found himself surrounded after boarding a vessel, he has learned a lethal fighting technique (dervish) emphasizing rapid attacks.

Tiring of this life, he left the Vengeance behind and has joined a company of adventurers

[ReluctantDragon]

Raised by cruel monks at the Monastery of Cruel Monks, he was forced to beg to fill the temple coffers, and was taught to dance as a busker (i.e., street performer). Since beggars were frequently robbed in the City of Cruel Monk Monastery, he was taught to fight unarmed. That's monk part of background.

He was badly beaten by a group of thugs despite his skills and his day's take stolen from him. As a result, his superior commenced beating him some more outside the temple, where the swashbuckling pirate Eddie Pedagogue saw this disgraceful behavior and rescued him, running a couple of Cruel Monks through in a most piratical manner. He spent several years aboard the Queen Alice's Vengeance, learning to swash bucklers and also to fight with the longspear (pikes being a very common weapon for pirates) and of course the scimitar. He also improved his unarmed fighting skills. Due to the numerous occasions he found himself surrounded after boarding a vessel, he has learned a lethal fighting technique (dervish) emphasizing rapid attacks.

Tiring of this life, he left the Vengeance behind and has joined a company of adventurers

Next NPC background, done!

[DMVerdandi]

Well, this is easy because it is the swashbuckler, not the dread pirate.
Swashbuckler might well be known as a fencer.

Have the character be a martial arts enthusiast.
Unarmed/armed. That is the difference. Go bruce lee on em.

Have him be a clasically trained martial artist, and then suddenly, he sees the quickness and grace that a swashbuckler had, so he goes into a training hall and takes a few classes. Suddenly swashbuckler level one. Have him take a training manual of a fencing master along with him for extra levels. Finally he comes across the dervish, who's dance entices him so much, that he can't just leave it alone. He picks up that too.

He isn't bound by one style or another, he takes what he needs, and leaves everything else behind. That isn't a master of none, that is a master of practicality. Do what you love. Do you. Do...the dew:smallcool:
hnnnggg.