Way of the Spirit

As ever, as I move towards the last, the mire grows deeper and less pleasant.  Instinctively, I know what is going to be simplest with these things and I always know what to leave to the end.  By the end, however, I am more than ready to have done with it.

This field, or "way," concentrates on what is known and what is felt.  I have no easy explanation for it.  There are four studies, or paths, upon which the monk can focus: calligraphy (meditative writing); insight (knowledge gained from within); mindfulness (heightened awareness from within); and tranquility (the discovery of inner peace).

I have accumulated 31 abilities for the field, more than any of the previous categories: 9 amateur, 9 authority, 7 expert and 6 sage. These were hard to invent and contain elements that are wholly unlike what one normally expects for D&D.

I will need to say some things about calligraphy.  I have been deliberately non-specific about the "characters" employed; I feel that in some religions these will be letters, in some they will be phrases and in others they will be iconographic.  Fundamentally, whatever the religion, I am treating them as the written word and not works of art.

These are not spells.  Calligraphy will not make much of a study for a player, I think, though one might be interested enough if they gain some skill as they move up levels.  The various characters must be written on either permanent structures, vessels or vehicles large enough to house persons or carry great weight, or upon expensive parchment.  The words must be written with a brush, not a pen, and large enough to take up a whole page or to be seen at a distance.  Finally, if the characters are written on parchment, it must be upon a specific sort of table that cannot be simply carried around in a backpack.  Such a table could be carried in a vardo, however (a wagon used as a home). The expectation would be that it takes time to set up to create calligraphy (in keeping with most of what I've seen when writing appears in a wuxia film).

At present, I don't have the niggling details sorted out for calligraphy yet, but then I don't have those details nailed down for any of the monk abilities.  This is just an overview.  As a limit, the character will be allowed to create one of any kind of calligraphy once per day, and will only be able to keep the power in as many calligraphy characters as the player or non-player has levels.

On the whole, I wouldn't describe the abilities below as particularly earth-shattering or powerful.  They are generally quite specific and much more useful for non-player characters than for players.  Still, it rounds out the monk and provides opportunities for game adventures.

Amateur Way of the Spirit

• Characters of beneficence (calligraphy).  Drawn on the surfaces of commercial buildings, wooden vehicles or vessels, these five characters will increase sales, lessen theft, reduce accident or damage, ease the effects of storms and help residents find their way home.

• Commune with magic (insight). The monk is able to detect the presence of magic in weapons and armor, sufficient to describe the base power of the weapon but not specialties or details that would require an identify spell.
• Sense attention (insight).  The monk will be made aware of any individual who is watching the party ~ spying them, where they are and how far away.  This will be known without the watcher's awareness.  Range is 120 ft, within line-of-sight.
• Sense vibration (insight). The monk will feel adjustments being made to floors and walls, indicating activity taking place, the danger of collapse or vibration caused by other sources.

• Resist fear or curse (mindfulness).  Provides a +3 saving throw against fear and curse spells and magic (including calligraphy).
• Wakeful sleep (mindfulness).  Enables the monk to remain semi-conscious while "sleeping."  The monk is considered awake for calculating stealth; if an individual comes within the range necessary to be detected, the monk may attempt to awake from sleeping by making a successful wisdom check.

• Meditation (tranquility). The ability to engage the mind at length while the body remains motionless. Does not provide the ability of inner sight (see below), but for each hour after sunrise spent in meditation, the monk gains a +1 modifier to a specific saving throw against magic or unnatural forces. Four hours of meditation would provide four +1 bonuses to four different saving throws that day.  The benefits of meditation cease when the sun rises again.
• Rested state (tranquility). The monk may replace 1/2 hour of required sleep per night with 1 hour of meditation.  Enables the monk to rise earlier and sleep less.  Typically, 6 hours of sleep are considered a minimum for two days, followed by one night of at least 8 hours of sleep.
• Smile (tranquility). A disarming, beautific smile that has the ability to compel aggressive others to seek parley.  If the monk wishes (it must be an expressed desire), the monk's outward aspect becomes passive.  Any aggressor moving into an adjacent combat hex must save vs. poison.  A fail indicates the aggressor will seek parley, even if all around others are fighting.  The monk, in turn, cannot take aggressive action either, but can defend, as can the former aggressor.  Can only affect creatures of average intelligence or greater.  Can only affect any given aggressor once.

Authority Way of the Spirit

• Character of speech (calligraphy). Drawn upon parchment.  When the parchment is crushed in the hand, sends a silent message to close ally of the monk, within line-of-sight (up to 240 ft).  Can be used once.
• Character of warning (calligraphy). Drawn upon a structure.  Promises all who see it that the consequences of improper entry or behaviour will bring bad luck (effectively, a curse).
• Characters of propriety (calligraphy). There are four characters of propriety. The first is drawn in the home, to preserve the family and keep them whole. The second is drawn upon gravestones, to remind the living of the dead and to keep their influence strong.  The third is carried on standards, to ensure loyalty and a strong union.  The last is drawn for students in schools and places of training, to ensure honesty and right thinking in knowledge.

• Commune with reliquary (insight). Determines the base nature of any magical item, including artifacts.  However, details and the degree of effect that the item has will not be known.
• Inner sight (insight).  Enables one hour of meditation per level.  During the time spent in meditation, the monk will be fully conscious of any change in the surrounding 20 feet (four combat hexes), meaning that by stealth the monk cannot be approached by closer than 5 hexes.  Does not provide other meditation benefits.

• Mind rest (mindfulness). Simulates the effects of rest in a shorter period, so that the monk may "rest" within a period of one third of a day, or eight hours.  This is done through contemplation (meditation is not necessary).  The full effects of rest are gained.  Mind rest can only be employed once per day.
• Close mind (mindfulness). Strengthens resistance against ESP, sleep and charm spells, providing a +2 saving throw against each of these.  The monk may make a wisdom check to effectively cease the benefits of ESP into the monk's mind.

• Master (tranquility). Provides the skill necessary to teach other monks right action and right thinking.
• Serenity (tranquility). Strengthened ability to dispel aggression.  Like smile (see above), the monk's serene appearance will affect all within six hexes, so that each must make a saving throw.  Most likely, if more than half fail, or if the leader fails, a general parley will occur.  Can affect creatures with low intelligence or greater.

Expert Way of the Spirit

• Character of alarm (calligraphy). Drawn upon a structure.  Promises all that the consequences of improper entry will do more than sound an alarm, it will predict the invasion so that the speedy arrival of allies will ensure conflict; further, it shall rose the wrath of the sleeping ancestors.
• Character of revenge (calligraphy). Drawn upon parchment, which is then burned.  Will call justice against a deservedly wicked and malevolent individual who holds public power, ensuring that there will be an attempt on the life of that person within ten days.  It does not promise that the attempt will be made by an assassin or that it will be successful ~ that is left to the gods.  But if the target is deserving, then an attempt will result.

• Cast eye (insight).  When the monk meditates, necessitating remaining in one place, the monk is empowered to "see" from any place that is within 10 hexes of the monk's body.  The monk can only watch from one position at a time, however, so the monk must declare what is being observed.
• Other world eye (insight).  The monk is able to see into the ethereal plane.  In my game, the "ethereal" is a dual world that co-exists with the prime material, but those in the ethereal plane may move freely about without being observed, while choosing or not choosing to observe the prime material.

• Banishment of fear (mindfulness).  Provides complete immunity from fear spells or magic.
• Spirit sight (mindfulness). Reveals the true nature of a creature, whether shape-shifted, possessed or something that might be an illusion.

• Freedom from mind  (tranquility). Empowers the monk to pass time without the notice of time.  Of questionable value in a D&D game for a player, perhaps, but nevertheless interesting and worth noting.

Sage Way of the Spirit

• Character of protection (calligraphy). Drawn upon a structure.  Promises that the building itself will act to repel those who would dare improper entry or behaviour in this place.
• Character of upheaval (calligraphy). Drawn upon parchment, which is then released from a high place upon the wind.  Has the power to raise an army of thousands, who will gather against a state that deserves to fall.  This army does not come under the control of the monk, but of the gods, and will succeed if the gods so choose.
• Script of the darkness (calligraphy). Enables communication back and forth with a demon of the underworld; the monk may gain information, but at a price: the demon is entitled to information about the material world, about which the monk must be forthcoming.

• Other world sight (insight).  Enables the monk to visually locate entities upon the astral plane. The monk must meditate to obtain this vision, and must have some object or personal experience associated with the entity being observed.

• Appeasement (mindfulness). Enables the monk to force out unwelcome spirits, mental invaders or demons seeking to possess the consciousness of the monk.  Provides complete immunity to ESP and makes the monk aware of clairaudience or clairvoyance when these are employed, either by spell or with a magic item.  The monk may make a wisdom check to disrupt either clairaudience or clairvoyance when they begin.

• Pass into the ethereal (tranquility). Enables the monk to pass into the ethereal plane at will. [effects on stealth may need special rules, at present undetermined].

And there we are.  That's a monkey off my back.

There would have to be more abilities than this, particularly in the higher levels.  This is all I can come up with in the space of, what, nine days? Seriously, nine days ago all I had were a few ideas, certainly not 98 separate abilities.  Whew.

Way of the Heart

No question about it, this was more complicated than the previous two. But I think I have it tamed now.

This field, or "way," concentrates on influencing the physical world, either through manipulating the body's intrinsic capacity or ability, or manipulating the physical laws of the universe.  There are four studies, or paths, through which this can be done:  breath (augmenting the body structure); blood (preserving the body); yin & yang (empowering the body without outside force); and the path of the dragon (altering the universe).

I really had no name for the last category.  I found myself pouring over lists of Chinese martial arts terms, searching for the right words; I picked this one because it is the name of the game, the dragon is a powerful symbol in martial arts and because I'm a huge fan of the 1981 movie Excalibur, in which "the dragon" is Merlin's allegory for the world itself.  So this fits nicely into west meets east for universality.  It isn't necessarily an Oriental description.

I have accumulated 28 abilities for the field, much more than the previous two categories: 11 amateur, 6 authority, 9 expert and 2 sage. These were easier to invent but difficult to categorize.  The edges of the categories are a little sloppy, but the distribution of the abilities is fair.

Amateur Way of the Heart:

• Amend self (blood).  With a short period of fifteen rounds concentration and relaxation, the monk may self-mend and restore a number of hit points equal to one's day's rest, once time per day.
• Resist fatigue (blood).  Enables the monk to act without the need of rest for periods up to 30 hours +2 per level, without the effects from forced march [requires updated forced march rules].
• Vitality (blood).  Reduces both the nature and degree of disease by a modifier of 1 point (a result of zero clears the body of disease altogether).

• Fleetness (breath).  If any of the monk's action points (AP) are used to move from one combat hex to another, the monk receives 1 AP to be counted in that round.
• Jump (breath).  Strengthens the monk's ability to leap further and higher than is ordinarily possible [requires a proper set of jumping rules].
• Scrambling (breath).  Skill at climbing steep terrains or urban environments, where handholds and ledges are common. See wiki.

• Interposing aura (dragon).  Creates a minor wall of force between the monk and others, protecting two sides of a combat hex.  Requires one complete round to put the wall in place, whereupon it will remain so long as the monk does not depart from the hex.  Can be replaced in another as often as desired, always at the cost of a round of concentration.  The wall cannot be passed through or attacked through with bludgeoning, hacking or hurled weapons; missiles and piercing weapons can penetrate normally.  The wall will dissipate the round after the monk departs the hex.
• Phantasmal figure (dragon).  Like the illusionist spell of the same name.  The figure is created from the life force, or qi, of the monk, in the space of one round and acts as described in the link.  One figure may be created per day.

• Backflip (yin & yang).  Enables the monk to retreat direction backwards from a combat out of a melee hex without the usual 1 AP penalty.  The backflip will retreat the monk two hexes (which must both be empty) as it incorporates two complete turnovers.  If the monk is able to perform a flying jump kick, the kick can be used in combination with the backflip at an additional cost of 2 AP.
• Drunken art (yin & yang).  Requires the character to be smashed/heavily intoxicated.  In this state, the monk will fight as well as they might sober, experiencing none of the attack die, dexterity or wisdom penalties for intoxication (although charisma and intelligence are affected).  Hit points and morale benefits are unaffected.  ["Don't make me drunk; you wouldn't like me when I'm drunk"].
• Healing energy (yin & yang).  Creates healing energy that can be applied to others.  Once per day, the monk is able to heal 1 point of injury damage per injury sustained, or 1 point per level of all other h.p. damage.  The monk cannot self-support with this ability.

Authority Way of the Heart:

• Fast (blood). Empowers the monk to sustain existence on less food than would normally be required, merely one quarter the amount needed by others.
• Purgation (blood).  Cleans poison from the body, calling upon the heart muscle to clean the blood and reduce round-by-round damage resulting from poison.

• Feign death (breath).  Permits the monk to slow the heart, taking a single shallow breath of air per minute.  State can be sustained for up to 45 hours without needing to eat, drink or sleep.  The monk is conscious throughout and can become active instantly.

• Lightened body (dragon).  Empowers the monk to push away from the earth, a distance of 2 ft. per level, so long as the monk is within arm's reach of a wall or can reach a fixed object at the height of the push.  If the body is lightened in other circumstances, the monk will fall once reaching the apex of the push (a possibility also if the object grabbed for requires a dexterity check).
• Protective aura (dragon).  Reduces the damage caused by magical and natural area effects by 1 point per die.  The aura protects the hex where the monk stands, so that up to two others in the same hex can likewise be protected.

• Controlled descent (yin & yang).  Character is able to fall short distances without harm.  The character will take no damage from the first 20 feet, if falling within arm's reach of a wall.  Speed of the whole fall is reduced to 10 ft. per second per round.

Expert Way of the Heart:

• Immunity (blood).  Provides immunity from disease.

• Animus (breath).  Enables the monk to attack from and defend two combat hexes simultaneously, provided both hexes are empty.  To others, it will appear as though the monk is two persons, as the body 'wavers' between the two hexes.  At the end of the monk's round, either hex may be designated as the destination hex without an AP cost.
• Death state (breath).  Enables a state of minimal animation; the blood slows, the organs of the body quiet, outward senses shut down.  The monk can hear sound but nothing else.  Appears that the monk is dead.  Can be sustained for one day per level. Requires three rounds to achieve animation.
• Inner breath (breath). Circulates air within the body, refreshing it without requiring the monk to breathe the surrounding atmosphere. The monk can therefore survive without air, underwater, buried underground or in a poisonous atmosphere for a period up to one day per full breath.

• Cloud (dragon).  The monk may breath out a cloud of obscuring cloud which will fill the combat hex and conceal the monk's movement for one round.  Requires 1 AP.  May be used again following either sunrise or sunset.
• Rise (dragon).  Enables the monk to tread the air above a solid surface, levitated to a height of 1 foot. Uneven surfaces may be run over without penalty and reduces the length between jumps by a distance of 2 feet (1 ft. per surface).  The monk's body is treated as if it is on solid ground with respect to defense, overbearing or similar effects.  Neither water nor living matter, such as tree limbs, can be risen over, but the ground beneath a growth of plants remains supportive.
• Wither flesh (dragon).  Enables the monk to modify one damage/level caused during combat to manifest as necrotic damage, withering the flesh.

• Blind Man's art (yin & yang).  When blind, the monk is able to fight as well as a sighted character.  The monk must actually be blind or the ability requires a blindfold (part blindness is distracting).
• Mastered descent (yin & yang).  Character is able to fall increased distances without harm.  The character will take no damage from the first 40 feet, if falling within arm's reach of a wall.  Speed of the whole fall is reduced to 8 ft. per second per round.

Sage Way of the Heart:

• Touch of death (dragon).  Also known as the quivering palm, kills humanoid creatures upon a single touch (saving throw against death permitted).

• Descent of the crane (yin & yang).  Character is able to fall any distance without harm, if falling within 8 feet of a wall.  Speed of the whole fall is reduced to 6 ft. per second per round.

UPDATE:

I have one more amateur skill, associated with the Way of the Stick, Path of the Fist.  The character is able to grab the opponent, drawing them close and Headbutting them, causing double ordinary open hand damage.  However, the monk will also receive 1d6 damage from performing this move.

Way of the Stone

I sense some trepidation as I move forward with this; that's understandable, the gentle reader can't guess where I'm going.  I trust that I'm on point, however, so I'll just move forward.

The Way of the Stone concentrates on defense.  There are four kinds of defense: can't be hurt, can't be moved, can't be touched and can't be seen.  I'm still struggling with category names for these.  For the present, in order, I will use pedestal (power to support), wall (impenetrable), moat (empty barrier) and smoke (ability to vanish).  That is, until something better comes along.

So far, I have accumulated 18 abilities: 11 amateur, 5 authority, 1 expert and 1 sage.  These are quite difficult to invent.

Amateur Way of the Stone:

• Correct stance (moat).  Posture, proper movement and relaxation improves the monk's ability to balk attacks.  Reduces natural armor class by 1 point.
• Evade missiles (moat).  Permits a saving throw against fired or hurled weapons.  Save vs. magic blocks or dodges weapon.

• Heightened balance (pedestal).  Retains the body's equilibrium against chance of falling.  See wiki.
• Root feet (pedestal).  If desired, the monk is not driven out of a combat hex when stunned, but holds position.  The skill also effectively increases the monk's weight 50% against overbearing attacks.
• Strength of the pillar (pedestal).  Increases the character's encumbrance limit by one point of strength.  The skill also enables the monk to bear twice their ordinary weight limit if the character does not need to move [beneficial if a roof support needs a little help].

• Back tumble (smoke).  If desired, if the monk is stunned and forced back a combat hex, the monk can choose to use this momentum to tumble back one additional hex away from the enemy.
• Camouflage (smoke).  The ability to proficiently disguise the body.  See wiki.
• Stealth (smoke).  Approach others without their knowing, without being seen or heard.  See wiki.

• Block pain (wall).  If the monk has sustained an injury, the limitations of the injury (arm, leg, back, etcetera made inoperative) can be ignored completely for 1 round per level of the monk, per week. No consequence results from this use, though the injury does reassert itself and must be healed normally.
• Correct fall (wall).  By relaxing the body, the monk removes 1 h.p. of damage per die when falling.
• Invigorate body (wall).  Counters the effects of cold.  Increases natural CLO when desired (+0.5), provides a +1 save against cold attacks and subtracts 1 point of damage per die of magical cold damage.

Authority Way of the Stone:

• Awareness (moat).  Provides heightened preparedness against surprise attacks.  Monk is surprised only 1 in 6.
• Mystic block (moat).  If the monk has been struck in the previous round and is not stunned, the monk may use their first attack in the round to "roll against the hit" rather than the enemy combatant.  The roll to hit equals the enemy's armor class; a successful hit removes damage from the last attack done to the monk in the previous round [if the monk was attacked twice, the second attack that caused damage would be removed but not the first attack].  Only one attack per round may be used to attempt a mystic block.
• Mislead (smoke). If desired, a monk that is fighting among others can discount themselves from being a target that round.  This will not reduce the number of enemy attacks, only that they will be directed at the monk's allies that are within reach.  The ability cannot be used if the monk fights alone.
• Harden sinew (wall).  If it is indicated that the monk sustains an injury, the monk is allowed a saving throw against magic.  Success indicates that the injury does not take place ~ however, the monk will still receive any hit point damage in full that would have caused the injury.  Indicates the monk's increased ability to relax the body. 
• Purify body (wall).  Counters the effects of heat.  Reduces natural CLO when desired (-0.5), provides a +1 save against heat and fire attacks and subtracts 1 point of damage per die of magical heat and fire damage.

Expert Way of the Stone:

• Wisp (smoke).  Enables the monk to delude an opponent into believing that the monk has not shifted one hex to the left or right during combat.  The actual shift requires an ordinary action point cost and must be the last action taken by the monk that round.  The first attack by an enemy the following round will be wasted into the monk's previous position.

Sage Way of the Stone:

• Petrify (wall).  The monk turns to stone, obtaining a death-like state from which the monk retains awareness.  Requires 3 rounds to employ.  May be broken instantly.  While petrified, the monk is immune to combat attacks that would have no effect on stone.

As before, that's a start.  I'll be discussing the Way of the Heart with my next post.

Way of the Stick

At last, impatiently, I can get to the meat of this thing.  At least, to the first "field" or "way" that a monk has access to: the Stick.

This concentrates on attack forms.  So far, I have accumulated only 18 such forms: 10 amateur abilities, 6 authority abilities and 2 expert.  Nothing on the sage level, but I have plenty of time for that.  I would like more and this number of abilities, but at the moment I'm drained.

I've had to fit each of these ability ideas into the present combat system.  This is tricky and to be honest, I don't know how well any of this is going to work.  That will take game testing (and a lot of players correcting me when I forget what my own damn rules are ~ but that's why I write them down).

I've divided Way of the Stick into four studies, or as a monk would call them, "paths."  We have the hand and the foot (attacks originating with open hand or with kicks), the claw (weapon attacks) and fist (grappling attacks).  The fist represents the closed hand, which isn't used to punch, it is used to grab.

Amateur Way of the Stick:

• Improved dual-wielding (claw).  Reduces penalties for attacks with two weapons when using two daggers or bo sticks.  [exact reduction yet undetermined ~ likely +1 with either or both weapons]
• Rhythm speed (claw).  If any of the character's action points (AP) are used to attack with a weapon, the monk receives +1 action point to be counted in that round, after the attack has taken place.

• Disarm (fist).  Grasping the enemy's arm or wrist, or using the monk's grip on the weapon employed, the target's weapon is forced out of their hand.  Normal fumble rules apply.  Move must be called. Causes half open hand damage.
• Pin (fist).  Upon a successful open hand strike that stuns (by damage or target strike), the monk may declare that the opponent is pinned.  The stun indicates the monk has moved into the target's hex and grappled [proper grappling rules yet undetermined].  The opponent is then pinned and must make strength check to break free.  The monk can, with the next attack, cause grappling damage (1d4) without a roll to hit, strengthen the pin [lower the target's strength] or release the pinned target.

• Back kick (foot).  Enables the monk to strike with the foot at a target in a rear or flanking hex without changing facing.  Attack is performed at -2 to hit.  Cost is 2 AP.  Damage equals open hand attack.
• Kick practice (foot).  Enables the monk to break objects (see item saving throws) as a normal blow, without consequence.  Requires time to focus and breathe with rhythm; cannot be performed in combat.  Saving throw for items is increased 1 point per level of the monk.
• Snap kick (foot).  Kicks opponent as a primary attack, against the knees or torso.  Can be performed only if the monk has not been hit in the previous round.  Cost is 3 AP.  Damage done is twice normal open hand damage -1.  Thus a 2nd level monk performing a snap kick would cause 2d4-1. (1-7, average 4).

• Correct form (hand).  Open hand attacks are performed at one level higher with regards to the number of attacks per round.  Thus a 2nd level monk would attack 5 times every 4 rounds, rather than once per round, but still do normal damage for 2nd level.
• Hammer strike (hand).  Striking outward with both hands with a 3 AP cost.  If the blow hits, regardless of whether the opponent is stunned or not, the target will be knocked back one combat hex.  Adds 1 damage to normal open hand attack.
• Target strike (hand).  In an open hand attack, if the monk hits five points higher than the amount needed to hit the target's armor class, the target will be stunned, regardless of the damage done.  Achieved through having hit an acupressure point.

Authority Way of the Stick:

• Deft eye (claw).  The monk cannot cause friendly fire with thrown or fired weapons.
• Weapon art (claw).  The monk adds one damage to all weapon attacks per four levels acquired.
• Seize weapon (fist).  If the target is employing a one-handed weapon, the monk can perform a move more intricate than disarm, gripping the target's wrist and taking the weapon from the target's hand. Move must be called.  Requires a -3 to hit modifier.
• Throw (fist).  Upon stunning with the open hand, the monk may declare an intention to "throw" the opponent.  If so, the opponent is moved to a hex that would normally be on the monk's flank or rear. The destination hex must be empty.  The opponent takes no additional damage [but is still stunned]. Uses remaining AP for that round.  The monk's facing may be in any direction following the throw.
• Flying jump kick (foot).  The monk moves one hex, jumps, kicks the opponent with both feet.  Must be the monk's first attack that round.  Cost is 4 AP (including movement).  Monk gains +1 to hit. Damage done is twice normal open hand damage.
• Sweep (foot).  Upon stunning a target, the monk may expend 2 AP and sweep the opponent's legs out from under.  Does not require a 'to hit' roll.  Causes no damage, but attacks against the stunned, now down target are made at +2.

Expert Way of the Stick:

• Throwing art (claw).  When employing stars or throwing knives [need to be added to the monk's choice of weapon proficiencies], the character will be able to hurl/throw objects at a cost of only 1 AP each (up to the monk's number of open hand attacks per round).
• Correct effort (hand).   Open hand damage is caused at one level higher than the monk's present level.

Well, that's a start, anyway.  I'll be discussing the Way of the Stone with my next post.

Core Monk Abilities

I have decided to retain four "core" abilities for the monk class that all monks possess and improve in, regardless of what sage abilities they've chosen to pursue.  These are armor class, number of attacks, open hand damage and number of proficiencies.  Here's a breakdown for the 17 levels that a monk can attain:

I wrote on Friday that back in the 1980s I had adjusted the monk's starting natural armor class from the Player's Handbook "10" to "8."  Now I'm adjusting it again, to "9," to create an ability for monks who want to concentrate on defense (they can improve the armor class listed on the table above by 1 point or even 2).

The AD&D rules have always limited the monk's weapon attacks to 1 per round.  I'm making adjustments to the weapon damage bonus in the PH (and making it a different sage ability), so now I can improve the number of times a monk hits per round with a weapon.  The list given is, in fact, the number of attacks a fighter can perform per round ~ so the monk is not better than the fighter in this regard.  But as I said in my last post, the monk is a fighter, so this is fair.

The open hand attacks per round are higher; this is intentional, as I prefer the monk to turn to their open hand rather than concentrate on weapons.  This, I have found in the past, is something that happens automatically as the open hand damage increases.  I hope that additional open hand/martial arts abilities that I will add with the sage abilities will encourage players to consider non-weapon attacks sooner.

Finally, proficiencies.  Monks are limited to staves, jo sticks, bo sticks, clubs, daggers, hand axes, javelins, pole arms, spears and crossbows.  The non-proficiency penalty for a monk is -3 to hit.

The Monk's Nature

I am nearly at the point where I'm ready to start coughing up abilities.

At several points there has been some discussion about, as Maliloki put it, "world-building" monk abilities: social skills, knowledge of history or literature, animals, plants, etcetera.  The original Player's Handbook had monks talking to animals and plants, for example.  We're used to tropes where monks are able to talk to birds or sense the emotional status of the surrounding natural landscape.  The Chinese term "jianghu," which describes the hermit-like nature of the monk, means literally "rivers and lakes."  This would seem to suggest a druidic root to the monk's background.

However, just as I mean to consider the monk a universal class and not one based on Eastern mythology, the druid is also a universal class and not based on Western mythology.  The descriptions of jianghu will apply as well to druids as to monks.  Druids are also hermits.  Druids can also manipulate qi.

As such, I want these classes distinguished from one another.  I rush to point out that there are three other means by which a monk can gain skills as a cultivator, a social climber, a scholar or any one of the sage abilities ascribed to the other classes:

• First, the monk can have parents that possessed these skills and gave them to the monk.  This is part of my background generator.  It presumes you grew up around your father, that you gained his skills as a young child, and that today you're able to act upon those skills.  Since farming is a very common thing for your father to have had as an occupation, this explains all the western monks who have formed colonies to cultivate vinyards and farms.  Too, a monastery only needs one "farmer."  The rest of the participants will learn to farm as they spend their years tilling and tending the plants.  There's no need to create a sage study that will cover something that can be done as a virtual laborer.
• Second, the monk may have the opportunity to cross-train due to their high wisdom.  This, too, is part of the background generator.  It is a random chance, but if it is gained by the correct roll against the character's wisdom, the character can take any study from any class and include it in their own sage abilities.  Thus, some monks will have history, alchemy or literature in their knowledge base, as well as a potential knowledge of plants, animals or anything else.  We have to ask the question, do all monks need this as part of their class construction?
• Finally, the monk may choose to be multi-classed.  I know this isn't acceptable in the player's handbook but I have no limitations on mixing classes, whether a character is human or any other permissible race.  Therefore, a character can be a cleric-monk, a druid-monk, a paladin-monk, a mage-monk or what have you.  This means a full slate of sage abilities from the alternate class, so that many monks who have chosen more than one class would be well versed in druidic, clerical, magical or bardic fields of pursuit.

Remember that eventually the monk, as it improves, gains ALL the amateur studies associated with the class.  As they get really high level, they'll get all the authority levels for all the classes as well.  Are all monks musicians?  Alchemists?  Historians?  I don't believe that they are or that they should be.  I want the monk class to be distinct and not watered down with a lot of abilities that really ought to be the domain of other classes, that shouldn't in turn have to compete with the monk.  The druid should feel that the druid is the center of attention where plants and animals are concerned.  The monk should be the center of attention where focus on the body as a unique and profound fighting style is concerned.

Like recently where I have begun treating the assassin as one of the fighter class, I feel that the monk, too, is properly a "fighter."  Not a spellcaster and not a thief.  I have chosen to strip most of the thieving abilities from the monk, with the exception of stealth and climbing.  Likewise, I have also chosen to strip those abilities that are magical in nature, such as avoiding magical damage or speaking with plants and animals.

The monk is properly a creature that has spent so much time concentrating on the methodical training necessary to accomplish the monk's feats that they are virtually unschooled where it comes to the outside world.  This, too, is a trope ~ and I believe the more definitive one.  It is true that a monk is always cast as someone with wisdom (mostly Kant-derived wisdom, but hey, it's the movies and television), but the bigger  descriptor is someone who just doesn't "get" the world.  "Why do ordinary people act so strangely?"  This is written on the face of every monk who finds that they are cast out into the world.  This is just as true with the European monk as it is with the Asian.

So I intend to cripple the monk by making them the best fighter and combat artist in the game ~ but the worst social component in a party.  Not uncharismatic, necessarily, but not the character with the answers about how this bridge works or what rocks are these, what is the local law here or can I mend a pair of shoes.  For these things, I want my monk to be surprised, confused, and unsure about how to react.

Do look at the comic below.  I will have a new one when Saturday begins.

Qi

I feel I'm getting steadily closer to a monk sage ability structure ~ I do not think there is going to be anything like the sort of leap that pulled together the bard, but the bard really did lack any meaning or connection to the idea of adventure whereas the monk does not.  We have all grown up on Chop Sockey in one form or another.  We're comfortable with the way of the loner warrior who challenges authority and adventures into the heart of darkness.

Before we can talk about that structure, however, I feel I should address the matter of qi.  I can't imagine an educated, present-day RPGer not knowing what this is, but I've linked it.  Apart from its association with martial arts, qi derives from the much older concept of atman, which is fundamentally the breath entering and leaving the body.  Stop, take a breath, and imagine that you have no modern concept of what is happening to the body (because we are going back thousands of years in human knowledge).  The emotional sense you have as breath enters, how a deep breath will seem to expand your consciousness, your energy, giving you life, filling you with the essence of the universe (as the source of the breath comes from outside the body) ~ that is atman.  It possessed a mystical quality that any person alive can experience, IF the effort is made to clear the mind and concentrate on the purely physical experience.

It is this experience that seems to give evidence that there must be gods, there must be a greater force in the universe outside ourselves, not because everything was made by something but because we are right now being kept alive by this force.  Breathing is life.  The absence of breathing is death.  This clear distinction is universal.

Qi, too, is defined as breath, or more figuratively as "material energy."  The body functions more powerfully as the amount of oxygen that can be taken in and burned off increases, so that martial arts focuses on breathing in order to strengthen the body and prolong endurance.  The imagination then carries this forward to where a body immensely strengthened can perform seemingly impossible feats, even magic, merely through comprehensive and committed training of the body.

Qi is almost perfectly designed for point-buy systems where the amount of qi can be measured and spent according to how much you have and what you wish your character to do.  A good example of this (and one I can find that everyone can read) is Palladium's Mystic China.  In it, the character calculates their "chi points," then spends tem according to what the character wants to do.  I hate this sort of system, but I appreciate the work behind this particular rule set ~ and I'll be stealing from it without hesitation.  I'll go through the book with a fine toothed comb, get rid of the chi buys, then redesign the abilities so that they are toned down and made into something that won't unbalance my game.

I have no interest in limiting the monk through any point system ~ though it has been recommended to me through the years.  I intend to limit it the way all the classes are limited; though the monk is going to be tricky.

In the early levels, a character will gain that one amateur study that will enable them to do a few things.  This will be limiting.  But I have found that by the time a character reaches 6-8th level, they are typically an amateur in everything, even outside their fields.  This is because the character gets 1d4-1 points (an average of 1.5) per level even in the unchosen studies.  1.5 x 6 is 9.  10 points are needed for becoming an amateur, so that by 7th the average for every study makes it better than average that the character will acquire that study.

The path from 1st to 7th level is, then, a rapid accumulation of very minor abilities, which as a group can be quite beneficial.  In creating those abilities, this must be kept in mind.  An amateur ability cannot be very important, else a whole pile of them will greatly overbalance the challenge needed to make the game work!

We don't expect the players to have a core set of super-powers and be ignorant about everything else.  We expect the character will have a core set of super-powers AND have a fair knowledge about everything else.  Trying to manage something like this with a point-buy system would be crazy.

Conversely, there are also games where a character has "positive" qi and "negative" qi, obviously confusing the concept of qi with karma.  My recent post about monks being evil was intended to emphasize that I won't be playing with any of that, either.

Therefore, I have no intention of making either qi or karma into game elements.  Qi would just be another version of the crummy point-buy system that created munchkins with 3rd edition, whereas karma is just another version of alignment.  Neither have any place in my game.  I felt I should make that clear.

The Monk's Four Fields ~ Sorta

As I turn the monk over and over again in my thoughts, I find myself settling on the same four fields of endeavor, all of which were mentioned in the previous post.  I have no name for these.  I don't want to use either Chinese nor modern designations, which seems to leave out everything.  But that said, we have this:

• Hostile or forceful action, fighting, combativeness or aggression: those abilities that apply directly to attack and damage, either in terms of how the fighting is done or how effective it is at reducing an enemy.
• Resistance to the above, defensiveness, resiliance: those abilities that sustain the monk against the enemy, from hit points to saving throws, avoiding attacks or the reduction of the damage taken.
• Consciousness of the self, things that apply to the body and mind of the monk: healing, meditation, inducing catalepsy, limitations, patience, equilibrium, fearlessness and fortitude - it is what causes monks to be deliberate enough to take careful actions, such as moving stealthily, that others cannot.
• Awareness of the universe, that which applies to everything else, consciousness of all that is happening: that which keeps the monk from being surprise, that which makes the monk able to see the world as a construct rather than a sense of physical laws, as these laws can be broken (completely stolen by many films, not just the first one that the reader thought of just now).

I've been dissatisfied with the above, however, because they seem so murky ~ but also because they lack sub-categories, which I need to make the sage system work.  Every field has a group of studies, and every study has a group of abilities.  It's all well and good to say that a monk can scale the corner of a wall in three jumps like Jackie Chan, but what study does it fit in?  What other abilities does that study include?  What makes it distinct from other studies?  And does it belong in Consciousness, which enables the power to come from within, or does it come from Awareness, knowledge the world's laws can be overcome with training?  Perhaps it is resistance, as it is certainly a defensive movement in a crisis.  How do we know?

It is the categorization here that is the struggle.  Not what abilities does a monk have, but how do we separate them out so that we limit the players at low levels to just these abilities and not those.  We're not going to give the player everything.  Especially since "everything" will include a lot more than was conceived of in the original book, just as I have done for the other classes.

The Wuxia page from wikipedia has a useful list, which I will reorganize without the least respect to the original page (so the reader better follow the link if a legitimate list is wanted).  I am thinking only of my game, not a faithful representation of actual Wuxia.  Using the Chinese names:

• Zhaoshi: real life Chinese martial arts, using a variety of weapons, intending for attacking the enemy and causing damage, but obviously also for defense and resistance against attack.
• Qingdong: the physical capacity to exaggerate ordinary human limitations, enabling monks to circumvent gravity, fly, possess impossible balance and bring force to bear without the need of a solid platform from which to strike.
• Neigong: internal skill and function, to possess superhuman strength, speed, stamina, durability, healing, control elemental forces, dodge or catch arrows and thrown weapons, break stones and bricks, shadow-blending, chasing down a horse, this sort of thing.
• Dianxue: the use of super-precise attacks to kill, paralyze, stun or even manipulate characters by targeting their acupressure points with bare hands or weapons.  These techniques can be used to halt wounds, relieve pain, remove fear or restore consciousness.

This is a more precise list, but it is heavily weighted towards Neigong, whereas it would be better if the four fields had more balance (that is, the "power" field wasn't immediately obvious).  The second proposed list gives a better idea of what the studies might be, however ~ so if it were possible to somehow mix the first list of four fields with the second list, then come up with meaningful, somewhat game cool-sounding field names, I think I could start working on a list of studies and thereafter abilities to fit under those studies.

This is as far as I've gotten in my thoughts so far.

Monks Can Be Evil

Picking up the monk again.  I think I've been overlooking an important cultural perspective, that being Wuxia.  This is the centuries old tradition of martial arts warriors roaming the breadth and length of China, fighting evil, pursuing romance, overcoming horrible childhood tragedies and following the codes of loyalty, honor and duty.

I don't mean to say that those codes are something that should matter to the players.  I have been opposed to "appropriate behaviour" for a given class since it was first put in place for the paladin, thereafter becoming a major set piece of the corporate game forever after.  If you want to play a cavalier, a barbarian or whatever, you must behave according to these precepts that absolutely deny you any freedom of will or purpose.  It has always been nonsense, no matter how many people like the code.  Codes, even in the real world, can always be broken ~ and it never ends in losing our knowledge or our ability.

This is, in fact, a fundamental conflict in Wuxia: that the evil master in the story is just as capable, just as dangerous, as the honorable master.  In the stories, for the protagonist to win, there must always be some other thing that compromises the evil master: a minion of the evil master, a helper of the honorable master, circumstance . . . and most commonly someone sacrificing their lives in order to win.  Most often, the evil master is killed at the cost of the honorable master, producing a zero-sum gain that is treated as a bittersweet victory.  Yes, Li Mu Bai is dead, the romance is shattered, but the evil has been stopped.  Everyone else may now live in peace.

I have no interest in restraining any character in my world with such melodrama ~ if they want to pursue it, that's fine, I'll create that adventure and give it the nuance it needs.  But that has to be a player choice.  Wuxia likes to teach that the ambitious master must always be taught in the end that true satisfaction demands a quest of peace, love, family or the simple life, lived simply.  I have zero interest in that for D&D characters.  As monks wandering the world, having adventures, they should not be held back, but allowed to act as they will.

It is my role to give them their abilities, not to dictate how those abilities should be used.

This is why I hesitate to pursue things like the monk eschew attachment and gaining pleasure from the real world.  That is a trope. That is not the freedom to adventure.  The literature is full of proof that monks can be evil, that they can still be tremendously able yet interested in acquisition and power.  Just because the stories all insist that these people must die in the end doesn't mean role-play has to work that way.

Players should be free to be as evil ~ or as good ~ as they personally desire, without paying an penalty regarding their ability whatsoever.  The danger comes from combat against the other, not the player's agenda against moral-making rule systems.

The Monk

At last, the monk.

Each time I plunge into one of these sage abilities posts I feel self-conscious.  I'm know I'm writing about something that certainly applies to only my world, so that for the gentle reader these posts are merely academic.  Many have said some wonderful things, expressed their support, and I am grateful.  Yet this is still seems a voyage that I strike out upon alone.  I wrote many posts about the bard, struggling that out, with a lot of good advice and help from others.  Now I mean to do the same thing with the monk.

That is because I am even less clear about the structure underlying the monk than I was about the bard.  The monk is a functional mess.  It is a splatter mess of martial arts, religion, eastern mythology and game mechanics.  It is part cleric, part thief, part spellcaster, with an unclear agenda and a murky social status within the D&D game world.

For the most part, I've been able to ignore that.  Monks are hard to roll and are usually not taken when the rolls are sufficient.  Since the year 2000 my campaigns have included only three of them.  And only one is active right now.

So what is it?  What defines the monk?  Rather, how do we want to define it.  I'm just not sure.  I will interject here and say that the monk has always been my favorite character.  In terms of combat prowess, I think it holds its own.  But I'd like to give the class a motivation that doesn't depend upon any one culture's honor code or martial arts discipline.  Why?  Because that presses the monk into existing as a stereotype that has to fulfill a cliched game role.  I'd rather my players felt they could design their own monk, their way, without needing to be buddhists, ninjas or some other form of Oriental stock character.

Let's start with how the original player's handbook defined the class.  The monk wasn't allowed to gain strength benefits from the 15 or better strength the monk had to have, or armor class bonuses from the 15 or better minimum dexterity.  This was a way to limit the class.  The character started with a 10 AC that improved as levels were gained, so very slowly.  The character had 2d4 hit points, a little better than a cleric. We used to apply constitution benefits per hit die, so if the monk had a constitution of 15+1, the +1 was applied to each die 4.

The monk also got "open hand," which meant causing damage with the open palm, matching the kung fu martial art that was popular in the 1970s, the way of the open hand.  If the monk scored 5 or more higher on the attack die above what was needed to hit (against humanoid opponents), then the opponent was "stunned" for 1-6 rounds, effectively knocked unconscious.  As well, the monk got a +1/2 hit point bonus per level to damage caused with hand-to-hand weapons.

The monk also got a saving throw as a defense against missile weapons, had thieving abilities (except pick pockets), a very slight, steadily improving chance to not be surprised (-2%/level) and, starting with third level, a series of other abilities that included speak with animals, falling from various distances without taking damage, minor healing and, ultimately, the infamous "quivering palm" that would enable the monk to outright kill someone by touching them once reaching 13th level.

I remember the monk was pitifully weak back in the early 80s, something that had been noticed by others.  There was a Dragon magazine article about the monk that made some suggestions, some of which we adopted for my campaign at the time.  Specifically two: we raised the starting AC to 8, then had it progress at the same degree per level, just 2 better than the book stated; and we changed the hit dice to a d6, so the monk started with 2d6.  Those two changes smoothed out the character and made it work.

Yet here I am now, bent on restructuring the monk with sage abilities.

Part of the sage ability practice is to spread the original abilities of the class around to various fields and studies, then set it up that the character doesn't start with all of those.  Clerics, for example, don't necessarily start with the ability to turn undead.  Oh, every cleric gets a watered down version of the ability, but if you don't choose dweomercraft as a study, you can't turn the really big, dangerous things.  With the sage abilities I've defined, not all thieves have a special ability to sneak up on opponents and if you don't study backstabbing, you get a watered down version of that too.  If an assassin doesn't study murder, then its a watered down version of assassination.  And so on.

So what we want is a monk that doesn't necessarily have all the abilities that the monk character does in the original game.  In turn, IF the monk specializes in one of those abilities, then they will ultimately do it better than the book states.  The sage abilities do take away, but they also give more and more.  With high level, you more or less get lots and lots.

My first problem is this.  How to take the small pile of monk abilities that existed previously, divide them up logically, then add more abilities that aren't described.  Remember, we're not talking about random chance skills, like in 3e and later editions.  We're talking the monk can absolutely do these things, with no fail possible.  Those are more difficult abilities to come up with, because we don't want to break the game.

I have a mess of ideas on that front.  What I don't have is the organization.  I can imagine fields called the path of the stick (combat), the path of the reed (defense) or the path of enlightenment (meditation) or the path of knowledge (clarity) . . . but these seem trite.  Combat and defense are easy, but meditation and clarity are difficult if we don't want to drift into religion and telling players what to think.

I've spent a bunch of time reading Buddhist texts lately and I am convinced that the earlier steps of Buddhism form a rational philosophy, but the later steps of Buddhism proceed to go right up its own ass.  I can see more clearly why there is a discrepancy about whether or not Buddhism is a religion or a philosophy. It is a philosophy . . . in the beginning.  But if you manage to convince yourself, the available option to start taking things totally on faith are right there waiting for you ~ making it no different than any other religion you must accept on faith.  It is all very disappointing after a degree . . . particularly as Buddhism has its blind, fundamental pundits just as Christianity or Islam does.

I had hoped for a path there for developing the monk, as I had stumbled across some very interesting things when I wrote my mantraism post last year.  Unfortunately, no.

So now I don't have a rational structure for the monk, not yet.  I'd like four clear, easy to define categories (fields) that would each offer a meaningful option to a player who chose to take a monk character.  Fighting, yes, with either an offensive or defensive option, along with a more religious (practical) set of skills, the meditation path, and finally a set of challenge-the-reality of the universe options, such as being able to fall without taking damage, a la Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.  If I can get these fields sorted, I'm sure I can conceive of the abilities that should fit within them.

Never Has the Tao Been More Tao

Following yesterday's post about shamanism and animism, I followed up with a game version of mantraism, on the wiki.  Mantras are the basis for most modern Asian religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and so on - and believe me, that is a long, deep rabbit hole that the average reader does not want to go down.  Eastern theology gives headaches to people who spend their lives studying it.

Still, I want to write about my work on mantraism (which I'll refer to without posting here), since I found it a brain bender for about eight hours yesterday.  I'll write about the trials and about some of the serendipity that arose from the content.

Job one was to make the content as simple as possible.  It would do no good to attempt an accurate representation of the use of mantras for game play, first because I don't want to spend the next ten years sussing it out and second because if I did it wouldn't be any good to players who didn't want to spend a year learning how to play it.  Any game rule has to be something that can be grasped in one or two sessions of explanation - which means throwing out considerable amounts of theology and nuance.  On the whole, that doesn't matter - no one playing D&D is attempting to obtain enlightenment . . . we're not being honest to the source material, we're being honest to the world we're building.  Priorities matter.  Therefore, if something in the content doesn't match up with what a real Buddhist or Jain believe, fuck it.

That said, we do want it to be recognizable as mantraism.  Whenever possible, we want to ascribe the correct definitions to things, even as we simplify them or leave out details that give them more nuance.  Throughout the wiki page, when I describe what something is, such as japa, reincarnation or the paths of accumulation or joining, these are directly from the source material.  I'm not making this stuff up - the reader should feel free to do their own research.

The value in adapting source material is that we can exploit the originality of that material without having to invent something from whole cloth - and at the same time, people familiar with the material can identify touchstones that are familiar and pleasant. The only people likely to be annoyed are true believers - who, I will say, are unlikely to be role-playing.  An actual Buddhist role-playing would be something like a Islamist taking a job painting Mohammed characters on store windows for Ramadan.  This joke will be clearer to those who understand Buddhism.

This is a fine line to walk already - the third element in the mix is that the content must be made practical for gaming.  That is, it must have some kind of effect that players can identify.  Mantraism is different from the religions I posted yesterday because, though it is the primitive form of philosophy that preceded the enlightenment of the east some 2766 years ago (the actual origin is contested - some argue it began with Hinduism and others that it existed for thousands of years before Hinduism) in that mantraism remains a fundamental basis for later religions.  This means that if a player chooses to be a Buddhist in my game (and I've had two of them in the last 8 years), what I write about Mantraism now has to also apply to what the character believes later.

Why does that matter?  Well, to me it matters because I haven't had a strong fundamental basis for how a Buddhist cleric would function.  What would matter to a Buddhist?  How would adventuring fit into the mix and how would the cleric perceive the long game where it came to increasing in power, focus and purpose?  Two days ago, this would have been very hazy and difficult to describe.  After the work I did yesterday, however, I suddenly find it crystal clear.  Right now, I think it would be possible for a player with no comprehension at all about Buddhism to quickly master the principles I've laid out and feel consequentially different from believing in a western-based faith (and most religions in D&D, whether those of the real world are played or not, are based on western polytheism or monotheism).

Note that I keep talking about Buddhism and not Hinduism, which is also mantra based.  That is because my Hinduism rules is yet going to need work.  Buddhism is much more an offshoot of mantraism - and it was mantraism that I outlined yesterday, not full on Buddhism.  That advancement will come later - but for the moment, everything that I've written about mantraism also applies to Buddhism, so in a sense we are talking the same thing.

So, the mantraism page on the wiki describes three basic points: 1)  thoughts empower action; 2) japa enables right thought; and 3) right thought places the individual upon a path that creates character class and produces game abilities.

1) In D&D terms, thoughts empowering action is equivalent to saying that thoughts empower magic. That is what we are talking about, yes?  Mantraism isn't a religion, it is a magical format that has magical effects.  This is the fundamental purpose to having a religion in D&D, that it creates some sort of power that interests the fantasy role-playing motif.  Without a magical effect, religion is utterly useless to the game except as fluff.  We don't need fluff, we need a principle that the players can play - so religion must be a form of magic.

2) Japa is the repetition of mantras.  If you're looking for your keys, you're wandering around the house saying, "Where are they?  Where the fuck are they?  Where are they?  Where are they?" - over and over.  This is a pattern that every human betrays in times of stress and in every culture.  Mantraism recognizes this biological constant and attempts to ritualize it: screaming about the keys helps you find the keys (theoretically), so we only ask that you scream about the keys with these exact words in this exact tonality this number of times.  That is japa.

3) As I proceeded along in my research, I discovered a strange serendipity arising.  The number of mantra repetitions, for instance, being 108 according to the source material.  How curious it was that 108 repetitions would take 15 minutes, when 15 minutes has been established for literally decades as the time it takes for a cleric to relearn a 1st level spell in my very old Vancian-based system!  How interesting it was that I seemed to be establishing a logical basis for the monk character traits as well as a form of non-spellcasting cleric!  How marvelous it was that the actual description of the Buddhist stage of supreme attribute helped define what a monk's abilities ought to be, more accurately that the clumsy telling of the original AD&D handbook.  I'd never heard of the four stages of the Path of Joining until yesterday and yet they fit right into my game system like a glove.

In particular, I enjoyed the meaning behind the Path of Accumulation.  At first, I resisted the description, since I supposed we were talking about some form of religious acquisition - but in fact we are talking about exactly the sort of acquisition that murderhobos in D&D like to do.  Players can be Buddhist and hack-slash lords at the same time, because mantraism and Buddhism begin with admitting that most persons are going to be involved in material accumulation - says so right on the tin.  This puts everyone on the First Path - including non-believers like you and me, who are merely members of the lesser stage.  One has to love an all inclusive religion like this.  EVERYONE is a Buddhist.  So the next time some effete says that we don't 'understand' Buddhism, we can spit right into his face and answer, "I understand fine for someone on the first path."

Nice.

I cut mantraism off at the end of the Path of Joining because I want it to remain primitive (it is designed for tech level 6, some readers will remember).  At a later time, I see that I will have to plunge into Buddhism again, completing a set of rules for the remaining three paths above the second - but later.  I'm resting for now.