Let’s imagine for a moment that some totally hypothetical person wanted to design a class around the “unarmed…

Let’s imagine for a moment that some totally hypothetical person wanted to design a class around the “unarmed…

Let’s imagine for a moment that some totally hypothetical person wanted to design a class around the “unarmed martial artist” class known predominantly in D&D as the Monk.  Let’s imagine that this person wanted to do a bunch of research on pop-cultural (video game, movie, tv, comic, music, novels, ancient chinese manuscripts) research into such a collection of tropes.  If that person had, at their disposal, a group of people with opinions, what might their opinions be regarding what pop-cultural monk-types should be examined?

Asking for a friend.

50 thoughts on “Let’s imagine for a moment that some totally hypothetical person wanted to design a class around the “unarmed…”

  12. even withing the category, there is lots of play.  supernatural? chinese ghost story is fun. Also the swordsman series.  Straight my kung fu is better than your kng fu?  the 5 deadly venoms, the five fingers of death, the temple of the 99 shaolin… ect

  13. Books: Water Margin

    Films: Iron Monkey, Legend of the Fist, Ip Man, Ip Man 2, Once Upon a Time in China, Once Upon a Time in China 2, 36th Chamber of Shaolin, Master of the Flying Guillotine (also known as One-Armed Boxer 2), Legend of the Drunken Master, and any of the assorted films from the Shaw Brothers Studio from ’68 to ’80. Most of those are pretty full of wire-fu (possible exception being Legend of the Fist, which I haven’t seen in about ten years). A grittier, more modern take would be the various Jet Li American/French films from the late 90s/early 2000s: Kiss of the Dragon, Romeo Must Die, The One, and, my personal favorite, Unleashed (also known as Danny the Dog in some markets).

    While not about monks (they are wuxia films, not kung fu), Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has beautiful choreography that clearly reflects the Buddhist transcendent philosophy and Hero, Zhang Yimou’s 2002 film starring Jet Li, has the best example of a fight taking place in the opponent’s heads before a single blow is struck that I’ve seen in film.

    Comics: The Immortal Iron Fist

  15. Two big monk archetypes come to

    mind:

    Pai Mei from Kill Bill Vol:2

    Uncle Iroh from Avatar

    Obviously there are other aspects or paths that can be taken. I’ve seen monks as healers in culture, advice dispensers, wizards, or general badasses.

    I think that would be the choices presented to the player.

  20. Just read David Guyll’s post and will riff on Kung Fu Hustle: check out Shaolin Soccer, also by Stephen Chao.

    The monk in 4e D&D didn’t sit well with me. Almost exclusively the monk’s attacks were magic (psionic) attacks; I joked with my friends that 4e made a martial artist who never just punched anyone. The other mechanics, with the multiple actions to a power, were pretty sweet. I just like my unarmed combatant to hit people with fists.

  22. Oh, and I totally forgot! Modern Thai cinema is where it’s at for brutal, fast, no-holds-barred martial arts action. Ong Bok has some absolutely sick fight scenes.

  24. Lots of the powers are melee but they aren’t weapon attacks. They’re implement. Which, to me and the rest of my gaming group, said that the monk doesn’t actually punch you with the Fist of Five Venoms (or whatever); he thinks poison at you through his ki focus. The monk is a melee caster, not a hand to hand bruiser.

    The monk has a better unarmed damage rating than any other class but it’s almost completely meaningless because very few of his powers actually use a weapon’s damage die. (There is a Paragon Path in the Psionic Power book that focuses on weapon attacks but it’s a very small minority for the class.)

  26. Joshuha Owen That’s a good one! Kung Fu was made to capitalize on the American popularity of bootlegged Shaw Brothers films.  The film version and Kung Fu: The Legend Continues are also good. Marshall Law, a CBS kung fu cop procedural from the early 00s starring Sammo Hung, is another good example of TV kung fu.

  27. Loved Kung Fu Hustle and some of the martial arts meets magic stuff in it. But for non-asian, Luke Skywalker in Return of the Jedi, I had him picked for a Lord level monk and Neo in Matrix 2.

  31. Like Guy Sodin, I strongly recomend the Immortal Iron Fist series of Marvel Comics (only 27 issues). It fits perfect in a mix of oriental and occidental stuff. 

  36. Non-Asian example of note: Never Back Down 2: The Beatdown has some great martial arts bits from Michael Jai White; it notably includes submission techniques in addition to strikes commonly seen in films.

  44. Here are some more non-eastern influence Monks/Warrior-Monks:

    ·         Jedi

    ·         Many comic characters (e.g.:  Wildcat, Thunderlord, NIghtcrawler)

    ·         The Bloodguard (Chronicles of Thomas Covenant)

    ·         Parker (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parker_%28fictional_criminal%29)

    ·         Aramis (3 Musketeers, a warrior studying to be a priest)

    ·         The Thirty (Drenai Series)

    ·         Friar Tuck (some versions of Robin Hood)

    ·         Monks of Mt. Angel (Emberverse)

    ·         The Monastics (Acts of Caine)

    ·         Abellican monk (Demon Wars Saga)

    ·         Archbishop Turpin (Chanson de Roland)

    ·         Thoros of Myr (Song of Ice and Fire)

    ·         Clergy of Derethi (Elantris)

    ·         The Rangers (Babylon 5)

  46. If you want some completely unconventional inspiration, look up “hakka” on YouTube. It’s a battle ceremony, not martial arts per se, but but I get chills watching them, and they are a distant cousin to kata.

  50. There are a lot of great sources in this thread! I want to contribute the Bodhidharma (or Daruma, or Dámó)  as a model for what a legendary monk is like, even though he wasn’t a martial figure. 

    This is a guy who was so obsessed with mastery that he traveled to a strange land. He was so sincere in his practice that he sat meditating in a dank smelly cave until his legs fell off. He is founder of Zen (or dhyana, or chan) Buddhism and he is damn impressive.

    http://www.purple.dti.ne.jp/kambe/BodhiDharma-IDS.pdf for some succinct stories of this bad motherfucker.

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