BerzerkerUnit
2021-09-19, 06:49 PM
Here's a thought for monks:
Monk Temples or Solo Masters can give you a quest. If you succeed in said quest, you can initiate into another Monk Tradition. You could also have Scrolls/Manuals that teach such things.
Ki is finite. Exceedingly finite. So handing out additional features that burn it is generally going to be more options, not necessarily more power, but may present a path to more power by offering edge case interactions.
Example: Empty Hand and Mercy- now your flurry of blows can not only heal, but also push an ally out of the way when it does, or prone an enemy that also takes additional poison damage (or necrotic, I don't know mercy that well).
the # of magic items monks get real use out of can be counted on 1 hand (excluding weapons which generally serve other martials better anyway), so this would kind of fill that gap.
I'd say limit it to 3rd level techniques or initiating into other traditions opens up which one you can "self teach" at later levels but more quests are needed to unlock later features at similar levels.
An Astral Self Monk 5 finds the Scroll of Shadows. He can spend X amount of downtime mastering the Shadow Monk techniques. Now he has some Shadow spells. Great utility, not so great for combat, but he has his Astral Arms for combat. That's good stuff. At level 6 he can choose to pursue either the Way of Shadow or Astral Self on his own, but will need to find a Master or Scroll if he wishes to learn the later techniques of the other tradition.
I think this presents some real options to bring monks back up to par (which statistics consistently bears out, they do not meet, particularly when weak subclasses like Sun Soul are on the table).
It's almost Gestalt, but only for monks/martial artists for whom "stealing techniques" is such a common trope.
If anyone can think of any immediately broken combos, pls let me know.
Monk Temples or Solo Masters can give you a quest. If you succeed in said quest, you can initiate into another Monk Tradition. You could also have Scrolls/Manuals that teach such things.
Ki is finite. Exceedingly finite. So handing out additional features that burn it is generally going to be more options, not necessarily more power, but may present a path to more power by offering edge case interactions.
Example: Empty Hand and Mercy- now your flurry of blows can not only heal, but also push an ally out of the way when it does, or prone an enemy that also takes additional poison damage (or necrotic, I don't know mercy that well).
the # of magic items monks get real use out of can be counted on 1 hand (excluding weapons which generally serve other martials better anyway), so this would kind of fill that gap.
I'd say limit it to 3rd level techniques or initiating into other traditions opens up which one you can "self teach" at later levels but more quests are needed to unlock later features at similar levels.
An Astral Self Monk 5 finds the Scroll of Shadows. He can spend X amount of downtime mastering the Shadow Monk techniques. Now he has some Shadow spells. Great utility, not so great for combat, but he has his Astral Arms for combat. That's good stuff. At level 6 he can choose to pursue either the Way of Shadow or Astral Self on his own, but will need to find a Master or Scroll if he wishes to learn the later techniques of the other tradition.
I think this presents some real options to bring monks back up to par (which statistics consistently bears out, they do not meet, particularly when weak subclasses like Sun Soul are on the table).
It's almost Gestalt, but only for monks/martial artists for whom "stealing techniques" is such a common trope.
If anyone can think of any immediately broken combos, pls let me know.