Refluffing monk into Primal Warrior

[Snig]

Hey guys I'm refluffing/ renaming the monk class to something a little more fitting for my character inspired by Princess Mononoke. Aiming for Hunter Ranger 4 / Kensei Monk 16.

Features of the Monk class work perfect for an agile type Warrior, however for somebody raised in the forest by Wolves (San from Princess Mononoke), the flavor of the Monk is a little off.

Keep in mind this is not changing how any of the mechanics work just renaming some of the features and the class itself. I'll tell you guys what I currently have but I'd love to hear some better ideas or suggestions.

- Monk -> Warden
- Path of the Kensei -> Path of the Savage (really not sold on this one)
- Martial Art -> Primal Combat Training
- Ki -> Mana
- Flurry of Blows -> Furious Assault
- Kensei Weapons -> Savage Weapons
- Kensei Shot -> Savage Shot
- Way of the Brush -> Forager (replace painters supplies with herbalism kit with DM approval)

So that's as far as I've got. Let me know what you think and feel free to weigh in on suggestions!

[J-H]

RAW, if you want to benefit from your +2 agile parry, your Kensei has to make one of his two base attacks as an unarmed strike... and his Flurry of Blows is also unarmed strike. So it becomes:
Kensei weapon + UAS (main) + UAS (Flurry) + UAS (flurry/1 ki point).

Kensei is pretty meh as a class.

[Snig]

RAW, if you want to benefit from your +2 agile parry, your Kensei has to make one of his two base attacks as an unarmed strike... and his Flurry of Blows is also unarmed strike. So it becomes:
Kensei weapon + UAS (main) + UAS (Flurry) + UAS (flurry/1 ki point).

Kensei is pretty meh as a class.

I think this is a good tradeoff if you need an extra +2 AC. Seems perfectly fine too me.

[Vogie]

Kensei isn't what I'd think of the most savage as warriors - I'd instead suspect it'd be the LEAST savage.

However, I enjoyed playing a Drunken Master Monk, refluffed as basically a Krav Maga fighter, and that'd be probably the best for your savage. He'd be using simple weapons and/or shortswords, and be slippery as hell instead of using a weapon to block. Because FoB grants you the Disengage ability and grants even more movement speed. At 6, you'd be able to duck away from ranged attacks, then pop right back up with 5 ft of movement speed. Rename "Drunken Master" as you will - it's effectively "You get the Athlete and Mobile Feats for Free" class.

While you do lose the bonus damage to ranged attacks as a BA, the Archery fighting style, hunter's d8 damage amplification should augment that. You could even use a Hand Crossbow (as ranger gives you prof with martial weapons) and Crossbow Expert to be able to shoot 3 bolts a turn once you have extra attack (Attack, Extra attack, and Bonus action via Xbow Expert). However, you may've been going for Horde breaker, which'd give you up to 4 ranged d6 attacks a turn, but without the single d8 damage amp.

[Snig]

Kensei isn't what I'd think of the most savage as warriors - I'd instead suspect it'd be the LEAST savage.

However, I enjoyed playing a Drunken Master Monk, refluffed as basically a Krav Maga fighter, and that'd be probably the best for your savage. He'd be using simple weapons and/or shortswords, and be slippery as hell instead of using a weapon to block. Because FoB grants you the Disengage ability and grants even more movement speed. At 6, you'd be able to duck away from ranged attacks, then pop right back up with 5 ft of movement speed. Rename "Drunken Master" as you will - it's effectively "You get the Athlete and Mobile Feats for Free" class.

While you do lose the bonus damage to ranged attacks as a BA, the Archery fighting style, hunter's d8 damage amplification should augment that. You could even use a Hand Crossbow (as ranger gives you prof with martial weapons) and Crossbow Expert to be able to shoot 3 bolts a turn once you have extra attack (Attack, Extra attack, and Bonus action via Xbow Expert). However, you may've been going for Horde breaker, which'd give you up to 4 ranged d6 attacks a turn, but without the single d8 damage amp.

I'm pretty set on the class, just looking to reflavor it.

[JackPhoenix]

If you want to refluff things, do it. I don't see why would you need to rename anything, though. You'll get the flavor you want from describing what your character does, not from an ability name written on the character's sheet.

And if you tell your GM you're using "Furious Assault", most likely response will be "A what? Ah, you mean Flurry of Blows".

[Mjolnirbear]

Agree with Jack Phoenix. Refluffing isn't there to confuse the DM but make the character fit your concept. Use it for in-character acting and descriptions. Don't use it for mechanical descriptions.

The only time you need to rename class features is when, for example, you're playing a "thief" that's really an artificer and you and the DM don't want the rest of the party to know.

[Snig]

Agree with Jack Phoenix. Refluffing isn't there to confuse the DM but make the character fit your concept. Use it for in-character acting and descriptions. Don't use it for mechanical descriptions.

The only time you need to rename class features is when, for example, you're playing a "thief" that's really an artificer and you and the DM don't want the rest of the party to know.

Maybe you guys are right?

[Millstone85]

You could present the character as a full ranger, but one with many self-taught techniques that ended up focusing less on druidic spellcasting and more on the character's "breath".

[Snig]

You could present the character as a full ranger, but one with many self-taught techniques that ended up focusing less on druidic spellcasting and more on the character's "breath".

Actually not a bad idea