What's a good flavor/concept for a Mercy monk?

[Greywander]

Mercy Monk is fluffed as some sort of plague doctor type of thing, which doesn't really make sense to me, as plague doctors simply don't fit the monk aesthetic or mechanics. I thought maybe some kind of grim reaper or psychopomp character would fit better, particularly with the more mystical elements of the monk. But after thinking about it some more, a reaper would work better as a Grave Cleric, or some kind of warlock with the Speak with Dead invocation (Celestial, Hexblade, or Undying would all fit in different ways, depending on the type of psychopomp you want). It just seems weird to have a psychopomp character who doesn't have any access to Speak with Dead, or certain other death-related spells and abilities.

I suppose there are many types of psychopomps, though. But maybe there's another concept that would fit a Mercy Monk better than a psychopomp?

If we think about it, you get some medical-related proficiencies, you can touch people to heal them, and you get a smite that sickens people. Your capstone is being able to bring back the dead. Hmm, this actually sounds perhaps more like a paladin, but fast.

Monk is just in a bit of an awkward space conceptually because they're not spellcasters, and without spells it just doesn't work so well for a lot of concepts that lean into the supernatural. At the same time, monks get a lot of mystical abilities, such as Tongue of the Sun and Moon, or Empty Body, so they don't really fit with completely mundane concepts, either.

[Skrum]

IMO, monks are anime. Just think about what anime characters do, and that's monks. Rarely are there overt spellcasters, but even fighters have semi-mystical powers.

But - 5th edition mechanics are pretty general. Even monks. My recommendation would be to imagine the character you want, consider what types of mechanics you'd need to represent that character well, and then look for the class that comes closest. And reskin as necessary. In my experience, this creates much more fun characters with much more flavor than starting with the class mechanics and trying to make a character out of that.

[Greywander]

But - 5th edition mechanics are pretty general. Even monks. My recommendation would be to imagine the character you want, consider what types of mechanics you'd need to represent that character well, and then look for the class that comes closest. And reskin as necessary. In my experience, this creates much more fun characters with much more flavor than starting with the class mechanics and trying to make a character out of that.
True. This is how I landed on a Kensei Monk for a more swashbuckler type of unarmored warrior. It's a bit anime, and some of the mystical abilities don't make a lot of sense, but you can kind of handwave them away. Also, a concept I had for someone who was a living weapon works surprisingly well as a Drunken Master, with the ability to redirect enemy attacks into another enemy, or to make a series of many attacks against many enemies.

Sometimes, though, especially when looking at a class or subclass for the first time (which was what happened here), you kind of want to try it out, but you're not sure what to do for a character concept. I think I psychopomp would still work, but it would be less the Grim Reaper and more of a Bleach-style shinigami (which includes pure warrior types).

[Dr.Samurai]

The orc god Yurtrus is a god of death and disease. His followers are usually outcasts of the orc tribe, but his priests have a protected status.

Among his followers is a monastic order called the Brotherhood of the Scarlet Scourge. These monks bleach their hands white and dip their long finger nails in blood before entering battle.

I have a concept of playing an orc healer and follower of Yurtrus, who has learned the skill in medicine and healing, but also channels the necromantic powers as well.

[Ir0ns0ul]

Like Kenshiro from Hokuto no Ken, a master of Hokuto Shinken who kill enemies by striking at their pressure/vital points in the body.

[Abracadangit]

Hard agree -- the plague doctor mask always struck me as off-putting, tonally inconsistent, and silly. No offense to anyone who likes it -- if you do, enjoy yourself -- but it always struck me as one of the designers noting that Bloodborne or Darkest Dungeon was popular, and being like "Note to self: plague doctor masks are cool."

When this subclass was first announced (in a UA, I think?), I always imagined it as the perfect setup for an all-pressure-points fighting style character. Bonus points if the character fights exclusively with finger jabs, or with unarmed strikes refluffed as acupuncture needles (not piercing damage, I know, but the visual is too cool). You've got acupressure techniques for the healing, nerve strikes/death touch arts for the necrotic, and the rez move at the end is like the ultimate acupuncture technique, or something. You're even proficient with herbalism kits, so you can brew some foul-tasting traditional medicines out of fungi and tree bark! There's actually a consistent thread in kung fu folklore of fighting physicians (see: Wong Fei Hung, among others), where their combat ability was augmented by their medical know-how. I initially thought this subclass was supposed to be an homage to that theme, so imagine my surprise when I saw the plague doctor masks later.

Some other concepts that could work:

-- Ben-from-Carnivalesque lifeswitcher, who moves life energy around between organisms; your necrotic abilities are lifestealing to fuel your healing abilities for later
-- Plant-person who can generate healing via internal floral magic (i.e. your allies' wounds scab up with petals/leaves/vines, which promptly fall away to reveal the wound has disappeared), but they can also generate their own supply of toxins/venom/death spores which can infect enemies with a touch

Lot of room for creativity with this one. But no plague doctor mask for me, thanks.

[Psyren]

I always thought of Mercy Monk as a new take on the 3.5 Shadow Sun Ninja from ToB, what with the whole punch people with negative energy and poke allies with healing.

[qube]

I have a character that's a former druid (statwise he's a monk with magic initiate(druid) ) with an affinity for fungal creatures.

Mercy monk fits him perfectly.
(To be fair, the mask only makes sense because he might want to hide his identity - nothing todo with plague docter )

[KorvinStarmast]

Hard agree -- the plague doctor mask always struck me as off-putting, tonally inconsistent, and silly. Likewise. It is excised from any monk I play, and as DM it's not encouraged though if a player wants to they can surely do that.

My Mercy Monk concept is probably a multiclass (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=24807763&postcount=6):
Mercy Monk 11
Peace Cleric 9
... run around naked, wearing a mask, alternately beating things up and healing them.
Alignment: Lawful Silly. :smallsmile:

[Nidgit]

Perhaps a character that sees themself as a conduit/siphon for pain, only healing with their right hand and hurting with their left? The Mercy monk in particular has a lot of duality themes you could work with.

[Man_Over_Game]

You could blame it on some kind of affliction, either a disease or some kind of spiritual anomaly. It causes your character to have overwhelming life energy and you must expel it to survive. You're searching for a cure or a way to control it before it causes you to explode. It'd be a good excuse for a mask, since you might be unsure whether it's contagious or not, or perhaps it causes something to happen to your face (such as light beaming from your eyes or mouth).

I dunno, just a cool thought I had.

[Greywander]

My Mercy Monk concept is probably a multiclass (https://forums.giantitp.com/showsinglepost.php?p=24807763&postcount=6):
Mercy Monk 11
Peace Cleric 9
... run around naked, wearing a mask, alternately beating things up and healing them.
Alignment: Lawful Silly. :smallsmile:
That's... actually not a bad idea. Especially for a psychopomp character, though I'd probably go Grave Domain to fit the theme better (maybe Death or Twilight; I'd need to check the domain features). Though that does mean missing out on some of the higher level monk features, notably Diamond Soul and Empty Body.

[jaappleton]

There's an old Playstation 2 title.

Tenchu 3. A game about ninja assassins.

In this game, there's a hidden playable character named Tesshu.

Tesshu was a town doctor who was secretly an assassin, utilizing his knowledge of anatomy to deliver precise strikes into his targets, often by driving acupuncture needles into precise points and killing them instantly.

That's what I think of when I think of a Mercy Monk.

[Psyren]

There's an old Playstation 2 title.

Tenchu 3. A game about ninja assassins.

In this game, there's a hidden playable character named Tesshu.

Tesshu was a town doctor who was secretly an assassin, utilizing his knowledge of anatomy to deliver precise strikes into his targets, often by driving acupuncture needles into precise points and killing them instantly.

That's what I think of when I think of a Mercy Monk.

Man I loved that guy :smallbiggrin:

[Sindal]

My bugbear mercy monk wears a variety of masks.

He makes them himself out of wood, emmulating various animals like cats or dogs. They break somewhat often, when he has to headbutt people.

He wears masks because he's a bugbear, and is trying to look less 'monstrous'. You can still tell he's a bugbear, but he hopes people often up a bit when they see a pretty mask instead. Or at the very least they jsuf think he's some hermit. Better that then ran out of town.

He himself doesn't know how his mercy powers actually work. In reality his body has just been exposed to just enough life and death energy that he can manipulate it (from being a farmhand). That and the farm he worked on wasn't the safest place from the odd monster. If he thinks it really loud in his head, it happens.

If he's healing, he will use his hands. If he's using harm, he will use feet. He finds it easier to channel the energy if he separated his body that way.

If he's punching you and using harm, you have made him 'very' angry

[jaappleton]

Man I loved that guy :smallbiggrin:

Oh so you're the other person that played it? XD

[Segev]

Make sure you have sleight of hand so you can smoothly swap masks for different expressions.

https://i.gifer.com/1uVm.gif

[Psyren]

Oh so you're the other person that played it? XD

One of my favorite stealth games.


Make sure you have sleight of hand so you can smoothly swap masks for different expressions.

https://i.gifer.com/1uVm.gif

Now there's a gif to make me feel old...

[KorvinStarmast]

That's... actually not a bad idea. Especially for a psychopomp character, though I'd probably go Grave Domain to fit the theme better (maybe Death or Twilight; I'd need to check the domain features). Though that does mean missing out on some of the higher level monk features, notably Diamond Soul and Empty Body.
Maybe go 15 /5? You'd get diamond soul. Sort of depends on what you want to use your cleric stuff for. I wanted to be able to eventually raise dead, but you can do the poor man's 'raise dead' by first using gentle repose + the preparing revivify at level 5. Lots of options there.

[Segev]

Now there's a gif to make me feel old...

But your monk will feel happy Happy HAPPY!

[animewatcha]

Something that I was mulling around. Mercy monk in a strahd-esque campaign with the death-touch dark gift. Idea being that a monk of the Raven Queen created so that can 'death touch' portals and such to Domains of Dread and what not to destroy them. IIRC, domains of dread disrupt the natural afterlife cycle by making souls be trapped within the domains of dread.

[KorvinStarmast]

Mercy monk in a strahd-esque campaign with the death-touch dark gift. Idea being that a monk of the Raven Queen created so that can 'death touch' portals and such to Domains of Dread and what not to destroy them. IIRC, domains of dread disrupt the natural afterlife cycle by making souls be trapped within the domains of dread. Our CoS group just met a monk, Way of Mercy.
Player was finally able to get a break from RL madness. I wonder if he's doing that.

[animewatcha]

It can be used as a 'hook' or something to attract main npcs to the party. 'How is it that this group is releasing souls from this domain? Both friend and foe." Something like that.

[Foolwise]

Lot of room for creativity with this one. But no plague doctor mask for me, thanks.

The mask doesn't need to be a plague doctor. Use Vega from Street Fighter as an example. He hides his face behind a mask to protect his "perfect" face from bruises and scars. In some games his vanity is so extreme, he gets a power boost if his mask is broken/lost during a match.

Or if role playing a vain character isn't your bag, the founder of the monk's order had healing powers so great, thousands of sick people would seek their aid. He went into seclusion to train others with the stipulation that the acolytes must always don the mask while use his healing techniques. The mask could bear the order's symbol.

But if you don't want to use a mask at all, that's cool too.

[JLandan]

I have a mercy monk with a 2 level dip in Death cleric for the cantrips and channel divinity. He is a kenku from a cult of harbingers of death; because he's a crow. His mercy mask conceals his true face which is exactly like his mask, which freaks people out. and since he's a scary necrotic dealing bird, his name is Hitchcock.

[Greywander]

One concept I just thought of is an ascetic, which already closely align with the monk concept, but also a leper (or similarly afflicted). Leprosy was pretty gross, so I could see wearing a mask to hide your disfigurement, less for your own sake and more for the sake of others who just don't want to see that. As far as I understand leprosy, it sounds similar to certain traits normally associated with undead, namely the inability to feel pain, deformity, and eventually your extremities rotting and falling off. Sounds like a good conceptual fit for someone with special powers related to life and death. You're basically a diseased, but still living person, gifted with the power to heal or harm, either pulling illness and suffering out of someone else and into your own body, or expelling it from yourself and into your hapless victim.

That could be a fun character to play. Would be interesting for social situation, though, since most people avoid lepers like, well, like the plague.

[RickAsWritten]

I have a character that's a former druid (statwise he's a monk with magic initiate(druid) ) with an affinity for fungal creatures.

Mercy monk fits him perfectly.
(To be fair, the mask only makes sense because he might want to hide his identity - nothing todo with plague docter )


You could blame it on some kind of affliction, either a disease or some kind of spiritual anomaly. It causes your character to have overwhelming life energy and you must expel it to survive. You're searching for a cure or a way to control it before it causes you to explode. It'd be a good excuse for a mask, since you might be unsure whether it's contagious or not, or perhaps it causes something to happen to your face (such as light beaming from your eyes or mouth).

I dunno, just a cool thought I had.

Both of these are cool ideas and coalesced into a neat character idea for the Mercy Monk. Take the Chef feat with Custom Lineage and be an ent/treant/wood woad. The special treats from the feat can be flavored as fruit that you grow when you are resting, and the healing and harm from Mercy could be healing sap and poisonous thorns that are part of your body.

[T.G. Oskar]

I always thought of Mercy Monk as a new take on the 3.5 Shadow Sun Ninja from ToB, what with the whole punch people with negative energy and poke allies with healing.

Nah.

Weapons of Legacy had the Scales of Balance, which had the fluff of a Monk trying to master life and death, with a half of a lifetime acting as a healer and the other acting as an assassin before finding balance. When I saw the Way of Mercy Monk, I definitely thought of the Scales of Balance and the fluff behind it.

In fact, I'd love to play a Way of Mercy Monk with the Scales of Balance quarterstaff. That'd be so friggin' awesome!

[animewatcha]

Between the 'dragon hoard' items of Fizban and 'awakening states' from Critical Role, you should be able to build it.

[Snowbluff]

I always thought of Mercy Monk as a new take on the 3.5 Shadow Sun Ninja from ToB, what with the whole punch people with negative energy and poke allies with healing.

I'm with you on that one. It was my immediate thought, even SSN than even the Shadow Monk. :smallbiggrin:

[Psyren]

Nah.

Weapons of Legacy had the Scales of Balance, which had the fluff of a Monk trying to master life and death, with a half of a lifetime acting as a healer and the other acting as an assassin before finding balance. When I saw the Way of Mercy Monk, I definitely thought of the Scales of Balance and the fluff behind it.

In fact, I'd love to play a Way of Mercy Monk with the Scales of Balance quarterstaff. That'd be so friggin' awesome!

I'd say it's possible that both rules elements had the same fantasy source.


I have a mercy monk with a 2 level dip in Death cleric for the cantrips and channel divinity. He is a kenku from a cult of harbingers of death; because he's a crow. His mercy mask conceals his true face which is exactly like his mask, which freaks people out. and since he's a scary necrotic dealing bird, his name is Hitchcock.

I'd have gone with "Edgar" or "Poe" :smalltongue:

[Foolwise]

I'd have gone with "Edgar" or "Poe" :smalltongue:

That's so....

[JLandan]

That's so....

I thought about it, but Poe's raven didn't attack anybody. Hitchcocks's birds were quite vicious.

[stoutstien]

I thought about it, but Poe's raven didn't attack anybody. Hitchcocks's birds were quite vicious.

I'm just a poe boy. Nobody loves me.

[MadBear]

I'm playing a Harengon Mercy monk right now. I'm thinking of him as a full on Chakra/Reiki hippy. His whole aesthetic is using the natural world (healer feat) + Chakra points to either help/harm people.

So kinda a blend of
https://static2.cbrimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/neji-8-trigrams-128-palms.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=963&h=481&dpr=1.5
&
https://i0.wp.com/www.lifeofanarchitect.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/haight-hippie.jpg

[KorvinStarmast]

I'm just a poe boy. Nobody loves me.
he's just a po' boy,
from shop sandwichy

:smallsmile: