If you're like me you might find it hard to really get into RPing a wise, stoic monk who has spent years training in a monastery. I gathered a list of 100 sayings, proverbs and truisms from Zen/Tao/Shinto collections to make a cultural mishmash of insights your enlightened monk can share with his or her party.
Dropping a perfectly timed "Contentment is the greatest wealth" during contract negotiations or "From a withered tree, a flower blooms" after a long and bloody combat encounter has made my character a lot more entertaining for my group.
I have started using these with my monk, and I am loving it! So much fun flavor to occasionally drop one these sayings, and get the sideways glance from my fellow adventurers...XD
If you're like me you might find it hard to really get into RPing a wise, stoic monk who has spent years training in a monastery.
I rarely play monks like that... Playing a Bajie is almost always more interesting that playing an Abbot.
My current Monk is an Aarakocra raised from birth by Gnomes. He works hard, parties harder, has no filter, continues to party even harder, will strand you on top of a mountain peak, and parties harder.
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You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
Any ideas how to convert these sayings in street/ghetto/ebonic language for my character?
Great idea for how to do that: don't. 🤦♂️
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You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
I go with things like "Rule #1: Do not act incautiously when confronted by a smiling wrinkly old bald-headed man!"
That or you were the monastery's lowly scribe, got sent on a courier job. Wound up seeing some crazy s***, you take to drinking. By level three, you have drunk yourself into way of the drunken master and you have mild PTSD.
Thank you so much for this amazing idea! I added it to my character for the rest of a short campaign and it went over so well! I also realized that you could do much the same thing with well timed interlocutions of Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies, especially when first confronted with a puzzle or obstacle. The original card set is very pricey, but there are lots of free apps that do a random OS pull for you, or you can go to this website and just refresh when you need a new one. Oblique Strategies.
My monk is a novice at the monastery, so I will often lead with: "my master says..." or "Stangar the Placid (or, you know, insert your own famed monk name) said..." This was my character's introduction to society after being cloistered for his entire life, so the idea of only speaking in proverbs and aphorisms, sometimes poorly chosen, sometimes expertly so, was really really fun to play with. My DM and co-players also loved this new direction, and had their own fun with being alternately intrigued and exasperated by the obtuseness of the exercise.
This sounds like a fun thing for one of my (...now just realizing probably too many) monks, just rolling a d100, and spouting whatever comes up regardless how relevant it might seem... and make no explanation of why it makes sense to say it at the moment.
EDIT: I think I might augment some of those with Inspirobot first. "Teaching a monkey to trap a friend is not as annoying for the friend as it is to the monkey." (I made a poster of that and put it in my office. It's fun to see people pretend to understand it.)
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
I'm going to follow your lead...but then take a hard left turn. I'm going to make a list of sayings that start out sounding reasonable and at the end make no sense whatsoever. More Zen-like that way. :)
"Though a butterfly may land on a lion's shoulder, water still flows downhill!"
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
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If you're like me you might find it hard to really get into RPing a wise, stoic monk who has spent years training in a monastery. I gathered a list of 100 sayings, proverbs and truisms from Zen/Tao/Shinto collections to make a cultural mishmash of insights your enlightened monk can share with his or her party.
Dropping a perfectly timed "Contentment is the greatest wealth" during contract negotiations or "From a withered tree, a flower blooms" after a long and bloody combat encounter has made my character a lot more entertaining for my group.
Here's a sample:
Check it out:
Musings of the Old Masters
Ooo, yes this will be fun. My monk is designed to troll my DM and this will help.
Karmafleet is recruiting.
About to start Dragon Heist and rolled a monk. This is solid gold. Thank you!
These are great! Now I want to play a monk who only speaks in proverbs ;)
Really fantastic idea.. and very well put together. Thank You!
I have started using these with my monk, and I am loving it! So much fun flavor to occasionally drop one these sayings, and get the sideways glance from my fellow adventurers...XD
Thanks for putting these together!!
This is wonderful! Thank you very much!
That's why I don't play monks that did that ;). My koans are more like 'the mouth that doesn't shut itself gets punched'. I play Ken, not Ryu.
Noice, definitely giving this a try
Odo Proudfoot - Lvl 10 Halfling Monk - Princes of the Apocalypse (Campaign Finished)
Orryn Pebblefoot - Lvl 5 Rock Gnome Wizard (Deceased) - Waterdeep: Dragon Heist (Deceased)
Anerin Ap Tewdr - Lvl 5 Human (Variant) Bard (College of Valor) - Waterdeep: Dragon Heist
I rarely play monks like that... Playing a Bajie is almost always more interesting that playing an Abbot.
My current Monk is an Aarakocra raised from birth by Gnomes. He works hard, parties harder, has no filter, continues to party even harder, will strand you on top of a mountain peak, and parties harder.
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
Any ideas how to convert these sayings in street/ghetto/ebonic language for my character?
Great idea for how to do that: don't. 🤦♂️
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
I go with things like "Rule #1: Do not act incautiously when confronted by a smiling wrinkly old bald-headed man!"
That or you were the monastery's lowly scribe, got sent on a courier job. Wound up seeing some crazy s***, you take to drinking. By level three, you have drunk yourself into way of the drunken master and you have mild PTSD.
Thank you so much for this amazing idea! I added it to my character for the rest of a short campaign and it went over so well! I also realized that you could do much the same thing with well timed interlocutions of Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies, especially when first confronted with a puzzle or obstacle. The original card set is very pricey, but there are lots of free apps that do a random OS pull for you, or you can go to this website and just refresh when you need a new one. Oblique Strategies.
My monk is a novice at the monastery, so I will often lead with: "my master says..." or "Stangar the Placid (or, you know, insert your own famed monk name) said..." This was my character's introduction to society after being cloistered for his entire life, so the idea of only speaking in proverbs and aphorisms, sometimes poorly chosen, sometimes expertly so, was really really fun to play with. My DM and co-players also loved this new direction, and had their own fun with being alternately intrigued and exasperated by the obtuseness of the exercise.
This sounds like a fun thing for one of my (...now just realizing probably too many) monks, just rolling a d100, and spouting whatever comes up regardless how relevant it might seem... and make no explanation of why it makes sense to say it at the moment.
EDIT: I think I might augment some of those with Inspirobot first. "Teaching a monkey to trap a friend is not as annoying for the friend as it is to the monkey." (I made a poster of that and put it in my office. It's fun to see people pretend to understand it.)
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
This is really cool man, something every person that plays a monk would appreciate.
I'm going to follow your lead...but then take a hard left turn. I'm going to make a list of sayings that start out sounding reasonable and at the end make no sense whatsoever. More Zen-like that way. :)
"Though a butterfly may land on a lion's shoulder, water still flows downhill!"
Totally ripped off from a German videogame:
"Everything will work out fine in the end. If it's not fine, then it's not the end."
One of my own:
"When in questionable doubt, ask doubtable questions."
(A will-it-blend of "When in doubt, ask questions.")
Another of my own:
"You can talk to people who won't listen, but they won't listen."
(Duh.)
Ross Scott's Gordon Freeman from Freeman's Mind:
"Morality is for people who don't have other people trying to kill them every five minutes."
Don't remember the source:
"Going insane is fine. Sitting next to someone going insane... not so much."
Another from me:
"Dogs wear their emotions on their butts."
Another from Ross Scott's Gordon Freeman from Freeman's Mind:
"Occam's Shuriken: If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas."
Another of mine:
"Those, who think they know what's best for everyone, most likely don't."
Another of mine:
"Solipsists only have themselves to blame."
What would you have on your Monk's random "wise" quips table?
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
you should look at the paladin section in acquisitions incorporated
I am leader of the yep cult:https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/off-topic/adohands-kitchen/82135-yep-cult Pronouns are she/her
I don't have that source.
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.