I know, I know. It's the main gimmick of the class, but something a little more grounded would welcome. Essentially a looking for a street fighter that's up to par with a monk, which is incredibly ironic. The main inspiration for this is one: MMA, and two: the Ryu ga Gotoku or Yakuza series, specifically Kazama Kiryu, the main protagonist and the various fighting styles shown within the franchise. I've thought of something by horribly butchering the monk class, but it's sorta weird. Overall, this is just a showerthought and if anything your input of any kind is welcome and encouraged!
First for this recipe you wanna strip the monk of every feature from 6th level and beyond (aside from the unarmored movement stuff if you want, ask your DM), and keep everything from 1st to 5th (Don't worry, this is fine). Then change the 4th level ability "slow fall" and your 3rd level feature "deflect missiles" into something into your liking that your DM agrees with. You might change "slow fall" into "safe fall", only being able to reduce or negate falling damage if you have the means to do so, like by quickly using rope or parkouring your way down safely. "Deflect missiles" could be turned into "Avoid missile", an all or none reaction to ranged attacks that all depends on a Dex save.
Secondly, to make up for every other missing feature you, get this, learn replacement features. I honestly have no idea how to optimize this and you'll probably have to work with your DM or GM on this. You could start by taking beginning features from the other 3 combat classes, the barbarian, fighter, and rogue, and then at higher levels specialize into one of their subclasses. You could be an angry brawler with a fighter's expertise or, a inquisitive boxer with fancy footwork to match. Another option is working with your dm to fix up some options you can go for. Maybe there is something a little magical in your fighting style and you and your DM can work out not only your features, but how this could work into your backstory and/or your character as a whole. Maybe you could go traveling around your DM's world, searching for warriors to teach you their techniques until you develop a fighting style uniquely yours! It's up to you, really.
At the end of all this, I've realized how crazily out of balance this could be. It could be very underpowered and not fun, or it could be extremely overpowered and be very fun, but not for everyone else. I've had the chance to try to do this in my campaign and in its early infancy it's quite appealing and in a way fun and challenging, which I can enjoy but may not suit someone else's tastes. Sorry if I sound a bit preachy, but the way I see it,the goal is to make a heavily flavored monk/streetfighter class, while in turn defining your character to their very core. You're not making a class for your character, but the way your character fights on a more complicated level. It's been really weird and kinda everywhere, but if you were able to read through all this, thank you for hearing me out!
I played a monk with the same mechanics but with different roleplay "labels" to those mechanics. He wasn't monstic and didn't tap into any inner peace or such nonsense. He was much more Kill Bill and far less Avatar: The Last Airbender. (Still, no weapons most of the time - occasionally, improvised weapons for funzies.)
So, I see that there's nothing wrong with taking the "magic" out of the Monk if you don't break the class when doing 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 know, I know. It's the main gimmick of the class, but something a little more grounded would welcome. Essentially a looking for a street fighter that's up to par with a monk, which is incredibly ironic. The main inspiration for this is one: MMA, and two: the Ryu ga Gotoku or Yakuza series, specifically Kazama Kiryu, the main protagonist and the various fighting styles shown within the franchise. I've thought of something by horribly butchering the monk class, but it's sorta weird. Overall, this is just a showerthought and if anything your input of any kind is welcome and encouraged!
First for this recipe you wanna strip the monk of every feature from 6th level and beyond (aside from the unarmored movement stuff if you want, ask your DM), and keep everything from 1st to 5th (Don't worry, this is fine). Then change the 4th level ability "slow fall" and your 3rd level feature "deflect missiles" into something into your liking that your DM agrees with. You might change "slow fall" into "safe fall", only being able to reduce or negate falling damage if you have the means to do so, like by quickly using rope or parkouring your way down safely. "Deflect missiles" could be turned into "Avoid missile", an all or none reaction to ranged attacks that all depends on a Dex save.
Secondly, to make up for every other missing feature you, get this, learn replacement features. I honestly have no idea how to optimize this and you'll probably have to work with your DM or GM on this. You could start by taking beginning features from the other 3 combat classes, the barbarian, fighter, and rogue, and then at higher levels specialize into one of their subclasses. You could be an angry brawler with a fighter's expertise or, a inquisitive boxer with fancy footwork to match. Another option is working with your dm to fix up some options you can go for. Maybe there is something a little magical in your fighting style and you and your DM can work out not only your features, but how this could work into your backstory and/or your character as a whole. Maybe you could go traveling around your DM's world, searching for warriors to teach you their techniques until you develop a fighting style uniquely yours! It's up to you, really.
At the end of all this, I've realized how crazily out of balance this could be. It could be very underpowered and not fun, or it could be extremely overpowered and be very fun, but not for everyone else. I've had the chance to try to do this in my campaign and in its early infancy it's quite appealing and in a way fun and challenging, which I can enjoy but may not suit someone else's tastes. Sorry if I sound a bit preachy, but the way I see it,the goal is to make a heavily flavored monk/streetfighter class, while in turn defining your character to their very core. You're not making a class for your character, but the way your character fights on a more complicated level. It's been really weird and kinda everywhere, but if you were able to read through all this, thank you for hearing me out!
I played a monk with the same mechanics but with different roleplay "labels" to those mechanics. He wasn't monstic and didn't tap into any inner peace or such nonsense. He was much more Kill Bill and far less Avatar: The Last Airbender. (Still, no weapons most of the time - occasionally, improvised weapons for funzies.)
So, I see that there's nothing wrong with taking the "magic" out of the Monk if you don't break the class when doing 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.
Yes yes yes...... and what could happen if you choose a Titan race with Monk Class ???
Can it be possible ???
My Ready-to-rock&roll chars:
Dertinus Tristany // Amilcar Barca // Vicenç Sacrarius // Oriol Deulofeu // Grovtuk