Your monk's fighting style (conceptual)

[Sindal]

Hi yall
9
So we've got another 'just for fun' question that's also partially also a request for ideas

I haven't had the chance to play a monk yet but may in the future. With that in mind

"If your played a monk, what is their fighting style(s)? More punches? More kicks? Headbutts and tailwhips? Based on a real life style like jujitsu or more of a ruff tumble brawler sort?

If your not playing a monk, what kind of fighting style do you think you'd go for?"

The fella I've been dreaming up is a bugbear who was basically a farmhand. Not sure where he learnt how to fight yet but so far I want him to be a kicky boy (open hand...or open foot in this case). Thered not a lot of media about bug bear martial arts. Any ideas?

Let's hear it guys

[solidork]

I really want to play an Aarakocra Open Fist monk and just go absolutely hog wild with the descriptions of kicking butt with arms, legs and wings.

I've got a little animation in my head where three goons try to pincer my monk from the front and both sides and he just takes out the front guy with two quick staff blows and then thrusts his wings straight out away from his body, sending them both flying back 15 feet. Imagine lifting off the ground a bit for the highest of bicycle kicks, right to the face! Blocking blows with your wings with patient defense! It would be cool, is what I'm saying.

[Talsin]

Hi yall
9
So we've got another 'just for fun' question that's also partially also a request for ideas

I haven't had the chance to play a monk yet but may in the future. With that in mind

"If your playing a monk, what is their fighting style? More punches? More kicks? Based on a real life style like jujitsu or more of a ruff tumble brawler sort?

If your not playing a monk, what kind of fighting style do you think you'd go for?"

The fella I've been dreaming up is a bugbear who was basically a farmhand. Not sure where he learnt how to fight yet but so far I want him to be a kicky boy (open hand...or open foot in this case). Thered not a lot of media about bug bear martial arts. Any ideas?

Let's hear it guys

I find my Monk's style to be very dependent on background. Subclass helps, but it's not everything.

As far as your bugbear farmhand - Maybe he developed his own version of Taekwondo after watching the various beasts of burden (Horses, Oxen, Steeders etc.) bucking, kicking, and stomping any mundane annoyance.

[TyGuy]

From time to time I think about playing Kung Fu Panda /animal style wushu inspired characters.

Orange tabaxi with black stripes, open hand monk. Lots of ferocity, claws, kicks.

Crane looking aarakocra, sunsoul. Evasion, balance, hit and run, throwing knives of chi (radiant punches), whipping motions.

Yuan-ti pureblood, kensei. Long sword, maybe MC rogue for sneak attack, striking vitals.

Tortle, open hand. Lots of blunt movements, defensive, sturdy footing.

Bugbear, drunken master. Uncoordinated tumbler, acrobatic, cliche drunken fighting, prop master (channel Jakie Chan's drunken monk)

[Vogie]

I currently play 2 different monks in the various FLGS games:

My Drunken Master Monk has a soldier background, and his fighting style is basically Krav Maga
My Sun Soul Monk is effectively a firebender, using Shaolin-style Kung Fu



If you're going a kick-based, I'd probably use Open Hand - your flurry of Blows is so intense you can make them flat-footed (can't take reactions), kicked backwards, or literally knocked on their ass.

[Misterwhisper]

I have played 3 monks:

One was a straight up gentleman boxer, he closed on people, stuck on them and swarmed them with flurries of punches. Open hand style. Never once used disengage. Rarely used stunning fist unless I knew they had a bad save.

One was a brawler type wrestler. Dms guild subclass built on str and con. Punch, grapple, jump and slam, flurry of ground and pound.

Last was an agile drunken master monk who slipped and jumped around pinballing the battlefield.

[Amechra]

I played a knife-fighter Drunken Monk whose "techniques" came from her natural speed and agility. As a Kenku, she had hollow bones, so stuff like slow falling and wall-running weren't outside the realm of imagination.

[NoxMiasma]

I have a kenku Kensei with a bad leg, and his first Kensei weapon was his crutch (it’s a quarter staff) and I’ve always pictured his fighting as using the crutch as a prop so he can do cool spinning kicks with his talons - actually works pretty well with the mechanics of how Kensei parry works!

[Misterwhisper]

I have a kenku Kensei with a bad leg, and his first Kensei weapon was his crutch (it’s a quarter staff) and I’ve always pictured his fighting as using the crutch as a prop so he can do cool spinning kicks with his talons - actually works pretty well with the mechanics of how Kensei parry works!

So you took Kensei and picked a weapon any monk can use as a Kensei weapon, to use it less than a normal monk would?

[NoxMiasma]

So you took Kensei and picked a weapon any monk can use as a Kensei weapon, to use it less than a normal monk would?

Look, the damage dice are exactly the same, and I had a mechanically supported monk who would block a blow with the crutch, and then spin kick whoever tried to hit him with his bird talons. It was great fun and the +2 AC is pretty dang good regardless of needing to use at least one unarmed strike.

[Amechra]

So you took Kensei and picked a weapon any monk can use as a Kensei weapon, to use it less than a normal monk would?

He was using it, though - he was using it to block attacks, giving him +2 AC.

And as a kickstand, obviously.

[firelistener]

Always been a fan of open hand, and played a human like that who was sort of a mash-up of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. I had him do all that stuff about not wanting to fight and "avoid" combat. Of course, once initiative got rolles or someone did something evil, I would rush in and do those noises Bruce Lee did in the movies. My favorite thing to do was jump behind enemies and then knock them towards our fighter.

[Edwin Briar]

So you took Kensei and picked a weapon any monk can use as a Kensei weapon, to use it less than a normal monk would?

Isn't that the misconception about the Kensei? The Kensei-Monk gets proficiency with calligrapher's or painter's supplies to help visualize how the class is supposed to work. The weapon is an extension of the body that leads the flow of ones movements into the ideal position to defend afterwards. The motions are more fluid and elegant due to the use of the weapon as an additional joint of a limb, an additional leg or simply as a counterweight. At least this is how I envision the Kensei to fight.
You could paint by simply dipping your fingers into the ink and apply it to the paper, but a brush allows for more precise and diverse strokes.

[Finieous]

The fella I've been dreaming up is a bugbear who was basically a farmhand. Not sure where he learnt how to fight yet but so far I want him to be a kicky boy (open hand...or open foot in this case). Thered not a lot of media about bug bear martial arts. Any ideas?


Just made a bugbear monk. In my mind, Muay Thai would be an appropriate martial art for bugbears. It's brutal, which is important, lots of striking (with everything) to take advantage of long-limbed feature. BJJ if you want to do more grappling, but that doesn't seem to work as well with long-limbed (I can grapple you with reach, but when my turn is over the grapple is broken).

In a real D&D game, monk fighting looks more like horseless jousting than any martial art, so best not to think about it too much.

[Whiskeyjack8044]

I have two pretty flavorful Monks. One is a Advanced Golem Prototype (Warforged) that a famous Gnome Artificer built as a Bodyguard/Proof of Concept. He moves very robotically and jabs are like a Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robot. His left arm is basically like a Jackhammer. Imagine the "Go to sleep" scene from Age of Ultron when you flurry of blows. Aslo his "fingers" are darts that are spring loaded.

The other is a "Lawyer" from a culture that settles everything with trial by combat. The plaintiff and the defendant appeal to the "jury" who decide what advantages or disadvantages the combatants get (if you seem super guilty they may decide you have to fight unarmored against a fully kitted opponent). Lawyers plead your case and fight in your stead. A Kensai (Rapier), he will take any case because he is sure he can overcome any disadvantage that's imposed on him. He fights recklessly with lots of flurried jabs, always arguing and berating his enemies while "making his point". He fights more like a duelist than a Monk.

[JellyPooga]

I've always wanted to play a Lizardfolk Brawler type; either Barbarian/Rogue or Monk (either way unarmed). All tail, jaws and claws with a healthy dose of grapples in there. The build is conceptually an ambush predator (croc-style), who'll grab their foe from hiding, drag them to a an advantageous position (e.g. away from allies, into deep water, etc.), then go to town on them in the most brutal manner possible. The additional speed Monk (and/or Rogue) offers makes this viable in theory, but I'm not sure how effective it would be in actual play.

[CollectorOfMyst]

So, I only ever played him for a couple of sessions (almost a year ago now), but I had a human monk named Lupin Ro'Meave, who was a soldier. I've been thinking about him a lot, recently, and I imagine he was very balanced in that he would do a lot with his staff, and kicks and punches. Admittedly, I also imagine him wearing very minimal armour (teetering on the edge of 'armoured' but not quite), so there would have been bracers, greaves, a metal plate over his heart...

But then again, I also thought of him as the athletic and acrobatic sort. So a lot of using aerial hits?

[erok0809]

I played an Air Genasi Sun Soul monk once. I admittedly didn't alter too much of his fighting style with the Sun Soul part, just made his arms and hands glow before he used the radiant bolt things, but his fighting style was mainly using a quarter staff and kicks for his unarmed strikes, with the wind that constantly was around him helping his strikes move faster, helping him move and dodge faster, cushioning his falls, etc. He even very briefly phased into air as a reflex as fluff for evasion. His quarterstaff was a hollow metal tube, and he could push air through holes in it to make it move faster in spots for stunning strike too. I basically made an airbender with less control and less ranged air capabilities. It was awesome.

[Gryndle]

I try to let the character dictate how I view his fighting style...monk is one of my favorite classes, so I've played it more than any other so far. I am a lifelong practitioner of Japanese jujitsu/budo, mizuon luohan kung fu and aikido, so some times I go all out for the eastern mysticism, but for the most part I try to keep that from having too much influence of my characters.

Savah was a Wood Elf Drunken Master monk (levels 1-14) played through the two Rise of Tiamat books. I had loosely based him off of the character Pocket from Christopher Moore's FOOL. Savah was a mildly insane jester that lived to make others laugh or bleed. His fighting style was all acrobatics and preposterous moves, using his stick puppet (quarterstaff) to correct people when they needed it. Even picked up magic initiate for vicious mockery and a few other goodies (not for effectiveness so much, but for thematic effect).

Khozmar was a perfectionist mercenary that used his profession as an excuse to utilize and sharpen his skills. 1/2 Elf Kensei Monk (levels 6-17, replaced a Hexblade that got killed). Longbow, long sword. His style was always more calm brutal precision, practical and tactical, but he wasn't completely heartless. Typically he negotiated for the highest possible payment (and retired as my richest character since 2nd Ed AD&D), but he wasn't above doing a job he believed in for basically nothing, though technically he always demanded some sort of payment. He was asked to rescue a young lady from a pimp by her younger sister, and accepted a "pretty pink pebble" as payment (that pebble would become his prized possession, as it reminded him that he was more than just a killer for hire, regardless of what others might think of him), and he defended a farm from bandits for a copper piece. Which began a running joke, that if he was moved by a potential employer's story, or was working for friend, the price would be a copper piece. On the other hand, in one of our later string of adventures the group was hired by the king of a small isolated nation, and Khozmar negotiated the payment...a plot of land, construction of a small keep, and a yearly stipend.

Iwan was a Shade (converted from 4E) shadow monk, that I pretty much played as pure ninja. played him for only a few sessions though. Not much to say about him, he was mechanically solid but I never got a real feel for him as character.

[Derpldorf]

I once had a Kensei that chose Darts and Scimitar as their starters and snagged the Light Crossbow at later levels. He was a diplomat at heart, always trying to find a nonviolent resolution or mutually beneficial deal or contract. Aggression was his last resort however should such a thing inevitably occur he preferred to use a bolt over 30 or so feet or a dart under 30 and over 5 or so feet. He hated being in melee range, absolutely hated it. Oh he could sliceydice and punchyface with the best of them, but he despised it and would always disengage as quickly as possible unless there was literally no other option.

As for style, it was competent, efficient and utilitarian. None of that flashy martial arts junk here, no siree bob, none at all. If you drove him to actual combat he wasn't trying to impress you, or scare you, or dazzle you or whatever... he was trying to kill you in the most efficient way possible.

[AttilatheYeon]

I have a hill dwarf kensai who is a master of Tae Kwon Drawf 😉

[viaFAMILIAR]

I'm currently playing a VHuman, shadow monk 4/rogue 1/hexblade 2. Stunted, I know. Ability scores as follows: 14, 20, 14, 10, 16, 13. He's got expertise in athletics/perception and the alert, athlete, mage slayer, mechanically enhanced(+1 strength/AC) feats. DM likes giving us extras. He also gets a +1 proficiency/AC and can use/cast uncanny dodge, mirror image, enlarge 1/day each. Some magic items acquired are: shortsword +1, dagger of warning, and a stone of good luck. I plan to cap monk @6 then MC battlemaster 4. That's right, my 4th MC lol. From there possibly cap rogue @2/5 and warlock @3. Wanted feats include observant(wisdom), resilient(wisdom), and tough.

As for my favored fighting style, I'd say I'm experimenting with versatility for some decent effect. I've learned using illusion in combat yields poor action:effect, and it's ok taking a turn to apply buffs/debuffs. Last night I used the environment for cover/concealment to get in close and tie up at least one hostile in melee every turn. Applying hexblade's curse made up for the loss of potential dps in turn 1. I've yet to use mage slayer and can't wait to reaction sneak attack a grappled and prone caster.

[ImproperJustice]

I had a human Drunken Master that I characterized as a surfer, who used a very fluid and watery based style of combat. Often seeming to almost lazily work his way around his opponents.

By contrast, I later ran a homebrew Simian type character (reflavored Tabaxi), who was a Kensei Monk / Trickery Cleric who was basically the Monkey King, and fought with a staff.
He would run around making doubles of himself and generally be a giant distraction and was enormous fun.

[Nagog]

With the Bugbear's extra reach (and therefore I imagine fairly large, lanky builds) I'd go for a grappling style. Combining the power of a monk with the Tavern Brawler grapple on an unarmed strike and with the strength of a Bugbear, you'd have a powerful Bear Hugger. XD

My monk is a Druid/Monk Hybrid, and he typically fights in 2 styles, depending on the encounter: Standing his ground with a Healing Spirit at his back (he has good Con for concentration), or throwing around spells like Spike Growth or Entangle and using his movement/acrobatics to harass those inside it and maneuver around it. Area Control shenanigans and the like.

[Evaar]

I haven’t had a ton of chances to play Monk but when I do I usually like to describe the attacks as based on precise taps delivering far more deadly force than obvious - a la serpent style, gentle fist, five point exploding heart technique type stuff. I feel like this works very well with Open Hand’s capstone.