1e Monks and Hierarchies

[LibraryOgre]

How many monk hierarchies are there in the world? Can a monk move between them, especially at the "challenge" levels?

[hamlet]

*shrug*

Depends on who's running the world.

In AD&D (at least by late 2nd edition) Greyhawk, Monks (and assassins for that matter) specifically belonged to the Scarlet Brotherhood and there was no other organizations to move to, not that the fanatic jerks would want to anyway.

In the end, I'd say it's really up to the judgement of the DM. If your moving between two relatively compatible, or believably close, organizations, then sure why not? As long as it doesn't become a habit. If you're trying to flit between ridiculously disparate groups, then maybe your character deserves a smackdown.

[Matthew]

Maybe there are as many as lawful alignments? So, lawful good, lawful neutral, and lawful evil?

[hamlet]

Could also be devoted to certain deities. Like in the OOTS continuum, it would make sense to have Monks working alongside the Paladins.

Or devoted to an ideal: like the Order of the Perfected Soul or somesuch.

[The Cat Goddess]

Maybe there are as many as lawful alignments? So, lawful good, lawful neutral, and lawful evil?

Actually, in the fluff it's mentioned that there are three of one particular level (16th, I think?)... one evil, one neutral, one good. And then one of the highest level.

I believe that there are 3 (or 9?) of each alignment for the level previous to that. There are even special rules about advancement. A good-aligned Monk could not advance until one of the higher level ones died. An evil aligned Monk had to kill a higher level Monk and take his place (or die trying). A neutral Monk had to defeat a higher level Monk causing him to lose XP and swapping levels with him.

[Matthew]

Actually, in the fluff it's mentioned that there are three of one particular level (16th, I think?)... one evil, one neutral, one good. And then one of the highest level.

I believe that there are 3 (or 9?) of each alignment for the level previous to that. There are even special rules about advancement. A good-aligned Monk could not advance until one of the higher level ones died. An evil aligned Monk had to kill a higher level Monk and take his place (or die trying). A neutral Monk had to defeat a higher level Monk causing him to lose XP and swapping levels with him.

Hmmn. Not sure what it says in Oriental Adventures, but in the Player's Handbook there are three monks of eighth level (blue, red and green) and one monk of each level above that. What Mark seems to be asking is whether this limitation is "per campaign world" or based on some other delineation. Presumably, it is not a limitation on the multiverse! A more permissive interpretation might be one per martial arts "school"; the Scarlet Brotherhood springs to mind as an organisation that supposedly contains a lot of monks.

[SimperingToad]

There are three 8th level (Master of Dragons) and but one of each higher level. When a player character monk gains sufficient experience points to qualify him or her for 8th level, the commensurate abilities are attained only temporarily. The monk must find and defeat in single combat, hand-to-hand, without weapons or magic items, one of the 8th level monks — the White, the Green, or the Red. The same must be done at the ninth and higher levels. The loser of these combats loses enough experience points to place him or her at the lowest number possible to attain the level just beneath the new level. The monk character will know where to locate the higher level monks; and he or she must proceed immediately to do combat or else lose experience points equal to the number which will place him or her at the lowest number possible to have attained the level just beneath that of the he or she should have sought out but did not. That is, the player character drops to 7th level in the above case and then must work upwards once again.

Followers: When a monk player character attains the 8th level of experience, he or she will gain a number of monks as followers upon defeating the monk which held the 8th level position that the player character has now gotten. He or she will attract 2-5 1st level monks if the player character has a monastery or monastery-like building to use as a headquarters. These followers may be worked upwards in levels of experience. The player character will attract 1 or 2 additional monks of 1st level for each additional level of experience the player gains.

While followers of a monk are as loyal as his or her other henchmen, they automatically leave service when they attain the level of Superior Master (7th).

All followers will be of the exact same alignment as the monk player character. If he or she changes alignment, the current followers will desert, but new ones can still be gained by advancement in level.

The monastery or monastery-like headquarters of the monk can be that of the character he or she defeated to attain 8th or higher level, or it can be a building specially constructed by the monk player character after attaining 8th or higher level...

Personally, I say scrap most of this. But if one insists on using standard AD&D rules, use RL for example purposes.

There are many schools in the world. Some of these are run by the same Master, or his students taught in the same system. Even within the same martial art system, such as Kuoshu (Kung Fu), there can be many styles (say for example, Celestial Mountain, Red River, or Black Tiger could all be different styles of the game-world martial art system known as The Way). Each style will be headed by one Master (or Grand Master, or Supreme Master) who teaches primarily at one school or possibly several, with lesser Masters he taught heading sister schools under the same style.

And yes, sometimes there may be two or more contenders for the title of being the heir to a particular style.