I just got a wicked idea for monks in Lusternia. It's unique.. kinda. Basically, what would happen, is, much like Knighthood/BM/Crusher, you'd start with a basic skillset, and just get it up to master, using a simple attack until you specialize. The two specializations would be using fists or feet. They could have different stuff because obviously kicks and punches would have different effects on an individual. The other two skillsets are still being thought over. -I- think it'd be cool. Perhaps they could have a pet, too. They could transform as their third skill's specialization into say, a Phoenix or a Tiger.. that way you'd never have the exact same monk, over and over like in Achaea. Anyway.. thoughts, ideas, opinions?

You mean unique like the Kickboxer/Pugilism specialisations for Imperian's Monks? *grin*

Maybee.

Hehe, yeah I love monks. I'd love to see the class brought into Lusternia, but not unless it was very unique. The idea that I think would be nice, is instead of like in Achaea, and Aetolia ( not sure about Imperian ) is instead of 12 or some odd number of stances you have two, like you said, for example Phoenix and Tiger. Each one has very different attacks and stuff. The one thing that has sort of ruined the Monk classes in the previous IR Muds is the other skills that get pulled in with the class. If you could think of some skills that were actually really nice for rp and actual use for the class, maybe, might work to make a Monk class, and possibly a name other than Monk.

I don't want to see monks. I want to see a warrior guild that has an 'unarmed' specialization. Much more original to Lusternia, as opposed to the standard Kaido/Telepathy/Tekura ones from like, every other IRE game.

yes and no

Far-fetched possibility but an Assassin styled guild ( could be Warrior-Archetype or Assassin ) but with the option go with daggers/knives or unarmed? Just an idea.

I believe that there should be a base skill which will provide combos and such, say Tekura, that branches into two specializations, let's say the Way of the Dragon and the Way of the Tiger.

One branch, let's say the Way of the Tiger, would be a specialization of combo attacks. This will be based on a chance to execute a combo while normally attacking. For example, when a Monk executes a normal kick-punch-punch combo, there will be a 40% chance of a Triple Blows combo happening; striking lightning fast, the Monk manages to execute an additional punch. Linked to this combo will be more powerful combos; say, after a Monk has executed a successful Triple Blows, the Monk can execute special feats, which can be spar-only, and will take power.

I am going to illustrate this using examples:
Let's say Maedhros is the monk and that Riyo (Dookster) is the unforunate victim.

Maedhros hits Riyo with a kick, punch, punch combo.
The passive Triple Blows skill kicks in; Maedhros has gotten lucky, and the 40% has been succesful (awkward wording)
Maedhros hits Riyo with an additional punch, right after the original combo.
Maedhros now has a choice of power-consuming skills that he can use. Let's make up the skill Tiger Palm Strike, which will damage an enemy and knock him into an adjacent room.
Linking to his Triple Blows combo, Maedhros slams Riyo square in the chest with his palm, sending him flying to the northeast. Maedhros has used 5 power from executing the Tiger Plam Strike.

Of course, modifications will have to be made to ensure balance in power, as well as a balance in sparring abilities and bashing abilities. Perhaps the equilibrium or balance recovery time after executing a power-combo will be doubled, for example.

The second branch, let's say the Way of the Dragon, would be a spiritual specialization, perhaps involving a certain system I have concoted (with a bit of help from a game called Ragnarok Online, actually, with a lot of help):

The basis of this skillset will be Spirit Spheres. Almost all the Monk's skills will involve manipulation of these Spheres. It will take a small amount of mana, as well as a small equilibrium time (Note: SMALL) to summon one spirit sphere. While a Monk has spheres out, he will gain a certain Health/Mana bonus, as well as a small bonus to damage. The number of spirit spheres initially summonable will be 5, the limit rising to 10 upon Transcendancy (is that a word?) of the skill. The bonuses won't be large, obviously, to avoid overpowering this class.

Now that the basis of this skillset has been covered, skills will be obtained that will make use of these spheres, such as Throw Spirit Sphere; this skill will throw a Spirit Sphere at an enemy, causing damage based on skill level and intelligence. This will be the Monk's main bashing form of attack.

Some skills will be passive, such as Spiritual Relaxation; being truly at peace with the world through mental workouts, one will perhaps heal twice as fast while sleeping, as well as twice as fast while meditating. Perhaps the multiplication value can be toned down to offer balance; what I am offering are just suggestions.

Some skills can act as stances would, except as states of mind. Such as the Fury state of mind, where intelligence and constitution will be decreased by 2 and strength increased by 2, allowing for versatility. Another suggestion would be the Critical Explosion state of mind: by concentrating and calculating your blows, you will receive a bonus to your critical rate, however your equilibrium and balance will slow due to the concentration required. These are just two of many possibilities.

And finally, there can be devestating sparring attacks that would be performable only under certain circumstances. One example would be the Dragon Fist attack. To perform this feat, one must have at least 5 spheres summoned as well as be in a certain state of mind; perhaps the state of mind that these skills require will not have any positive affects besides allowing for these powerful attacks to be executed. The attack will cause massive damage as well as status afflictions, but the user will be drained of all his/her mana (or a good portion) as well as being drain of 25% of his/her health. These feats will take power, and another feat cannot be performed in succesion.

Example:
Maedhros has noticed that, while sparring Riyo, Riyo is nearing death. Wishing a quick finish, Maedhros gives it an all-or-nothing.
Maedhros initiates the feats state of mind, subtracting his strength and intelligence but allowing him to perform a devestating attack.
Maedhros has 10 spirit spheres surrounding him.
Maedhros hits Riyo with a devestating Dragon Fist (of course the descriptions would be better), causing massive damage and various status afflictions, at the cost of his mana and 25% of his health, as well as 10 power.
Maedhros notices with dismay that Riyo's Vitality defense has prevented Riyo from dying to the attack. However, Maedhros is Transcendant and still has 5 spheres with him, as only 5 were used in the attack, and his reserves quickly heal his power.
Upon regaining balance, Maedhros attempts to perform the feat again; however, his body and mind alike are exhausted from the first feat, and he cannot perform another one so soon after.

These are all that I can think of at the moment, I will perhaps come up with more if these ideas are valid and not completely far-fetched and un-usable .

What's the point in spar only skills?

Not all the skills will be spar only, and remember, this is only a skeleton of what it'd actually be if the idea was actually accepted. For example, the whole Triple Blows thing could work on a mob, just not with the feat linking it. While there will be far more spar-orientated skills than mob-bashing ones, that's what a lot of other skills are like.

Let's take Blademaster for example. You get a load of passive player-only skills, as well as one active skill that is player-only.
Against mobs you get....Blademastery?

It'd work like the classic IRE system, the more lessons you invest in the skillset, the more your damage goes up when using that skillset.

Drunken Boxing.

That would be awesome. Just like the Legend of the Drunken Master .

How about a skill like Brawling, to counterbalance Combat. Unarmed combat for the masses, in the style of Bar Fighting or stree wrestling or street fighting (no not streetfighter) The skills in general would do less damage than guild skills, and the Trans skill would be something like a chokehold that allows you to subdue a player. So instead of an instakill, its a insta poisonlock/prone type thingy.

I'd prefer to see More interesting weapons and abilities in knights, like using Staffs or Knuckles and axes and stuff before just "monk" guilds. cause unarmed combat should be for everyone.

oh man, that cracked me up, but it's a really good idea. What I would love to see, although it probably wouldn't happen. Is that skill set (in some form). But you wouldn't learn it with lessons, you would instead learn it by using what skills you have, and having them used on you. Each attack giving a tiny percent to increase your skill.

It could have some skills that are useful for combat very high, but alot just for roleplaying drunken brawling. Maybe 50 credits just to buy the skillset or something. But it would be neat to have a whole different learning style for it, esspecially considering the nature of the skill, I think using it, having it used on you, or being around people using it would be an excellent way to increase the skillranks.

It would be really cool to have some attacks you can use on people just to play around, I'm sure you all know what I am talking about...everyone gets drunk, a small bout of fisticuffs ensues, and then someone -always- has to pull out the weapons.

But then there wouldn't have to be as many credit purchases. And therefore, since IRE is a business after all, that's not gonna happen.

uh, yeah, hence why I said "It probably wouldn't happen" and followed up with an idea to make it profitable. Thumbs up on reading my post thoroughly.

I like the "Tiger-style" combo thing in theory, except that people would just automate it to hell using a system and take the fun out of it. A possible way to circumvent this would be to make basic unarmed combat a base skillset that you can choose using SKILLCHOICE after performing an honors quest (once they release the city of Fire, which is where I think any sort of martial arts belongs). The basic unarmed combat skill is to decrease the probability of having those combat moves succeed on you.

Something like "Ardrak demonstrates the ways through which the body can be manuevered in order avoid the weirding ways (aside: Mwuahaha, Dune reference ) of those who would seek to harm you.
Ardrak goes on to show you basic moves that may be used to set up devastating attacks on your person, and how to counter them." etc et al.

This miniskill would up your resistance to the "Tiger style" combo moves.... so that a monk uses it on you (his skill fires) and then it makes a check of your miniskill. If its a crit success on the monk's part, the combo goes through. If its within oh, let's say 10%+/-, you'd enter a grapple (a state in which neither of you can do anything without forfeiting and allowing the move to go through/be countered for damage and increased loss of balance) until it checks for +/- 10%

I think the idea for "Dragon style" is completely wrong, however. "Dragon-style" should focus on things such as the Dim Mak, which (irl) causes maladicts of a sort. Eg.

AB Dim Mak Sagestrike
Syntax: sstrike
By moving in close to your opponent, you may get inside his reach and apply the Sage's Touch, thrusting your fingers into your opponent's throat, cutting off his air supply. (dot asphyxiation damage and loss of balance)

Also, make Dragon-style dependant not on stance, but on distance control. Close moves would target the torso or head areas, while far moves would target the limbs. Changing distance would use balance, but (like the Serpents' illusion skill from other IRE games) you'd be able to use certain techniques directly after changing your distance. So, again for example

1000h, 1000m ex-
MonkA rushes toward you, knocking aside your guard!
MonkA thrusts his fingers into your throat, causing you to lose your breath!
1000h, 1000m e-parry legs
You cough as stars dance before your eyes!
900h, 1000m ex-
You are regaining balance and unable to do that.
(*MonkA regains balance here*)
900h, 1000m ex-parry head
You will now try to parry attacks to your head.
MonkA plants his foot behind yours and his palm strikes you in the chest!
You go flying!! (*This changes MonkA's distance from near to far*)
900h, 1000m, exp-

Obviously, you'd get a message if he failed the first distance change, something like, "MonkA tries to dart inside your guard, but cannot find an opening!"

Overall, don't make this a magical class at all. No Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon stuff Make it a straight physical class, the Tiger-style focused on damage with minor emphasis on ma (things like broken bones will suffice), whereas the Dragon style uses soft-taget strikes in order to maladict and cause less damage.

If IRE does decide to use this, it wouldn't be a bad idea to base Dragon-style off of a mix between Chinese Kempo and Dim Mak. Throw in some Judo for good measure.


EDIT: At the risk of making this a LONGER post , I had an idea: How to work power into the Dragon specialty.

1) Obviously, there are a lot of stereotypical "deathstrikes" in Dim Mak (it means poison hands, people). Trow a couple of these in, using power not as a powersource for strength per se, but for accuracy. You stop a person's heartbeat by pinpointing the nerves that lead from brain to heart and short-circuiting them. This requires close distance and some other conditional, and uses anywhere from 7-10 of your power whether its successful or not.

2) Manipulating the power of others. These moves allow you to do various things with a person's power supply, whether draining it directly, causing it to burn off (doing damage), or disrupting a link. In return, they drain your power. I'm thinking drain completely nullifies a targets power, but costs 70% of your own (with a minimum of 5). Useful for stopping insta-kills.

Oh please, can we leave monks alone? I don't think they're really apt for Lusternia, - maybe unarmed warriors? At least don't call them monks, scrap Telepathy, and stop with the whole Phoenix/Dragon/Tiger thing. We get it, okay? Monks like those animals. But it gets annoying.

I'm with Iggy, why is every monk an unarmed fighter, using martial arts? Here are a few definitions for monk I found in about uh, 5 seconds.

"A man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery."

"A male member of a religious community who has taken vows of poverty (having no possessions), chastity (having no sexual relations) and obedience (accepting the authority of his abbot). A monk is dedicated to a life of prayer and contemplation in a closed community - monastery."

"a male religious living in a cloister and devoting himself to contemplation and prayer and work."

I think the idea of zealots, which would be more of a physical and warrior type would be cool, invoking the powers bestowed in them by the god they follow in thier city Although it was sort of be a celestian thing, and it does kind of fit in with guardians. I propose any class named "monk" has nothing but the ability to meditate, and summon a book which they can write in =) (Yes I know Lusternia guides what we bring from the outside world, and moulds it into something new, but there -are- more adequate words to describe the class)

If it's the unarmed fighter thing you really want, it would be cool to see something from a lesser known fighting style, like capoeira. Instead of the totally cliched eastern martial arts styles. I did think the idea of being closer or further from your opponent was really interesting.

Monk == concept everybody who has played IRE games is familiar with. Of course it won't be called Monk in Lus.

Telepathy != power manipulation. Telepathy != Lusternia. Nobody is telepathic; even channels like gt/ct/etc are described as energy vibrations, aka aethyrwaves.

"Dragon" style, "Tiger" style == traditional Chinese archetypes that determined the philosophy behind combat. The Tiger was powerful and deadly, but rash and indecisive. The Dragon was weaker than the Tiger at first glance, but was crafty and patient, and in the end usually won. I used these archetypical concepts because they are central to everything about Chinese unarmed combat, i.e. Monks. Also, they were the syntax used by the first poster in the thread, and thus for ease of communication I kept his syntax.


Oh, a note about the differences in the styles and how one would come about becoming a monk. General unarmed combat would become a central skill, but would not be martial arts in any form. It would be, for lack of a better term, fist-fighting. It would also teach the basics of countering opponents using unarmed combat. Upon completion of a quest for the city that housed the "Monk" guild (specifically an honor quest), one would be asked by the Temple/Order/whatever to quit the secular life and become a monk. Agreeing would lose you any previous guildskills, transfer all the lessons from them into the Body/Melee/Unarmed Combat pool, and switch your guild. You would leave behind your previous life for the monastic environment.


Note on "Tiger" style: No insta-kill techniques. Instead, high-end Tiger-style techniques will deal ridiculous amounts of damage when they go through. This means the style will lend itself very well to bashing, but isn't the best at PvP combat in the traditional IRE sense. On the upswing, if you catch someone off-guard, you could *potentially* kill them in three or four rounds. Again, this plays into the style's lack of patience.

Note on "Dragon" style: Not very good bashers. It will take you forever to bash your way through this class, and so you'll want to focus on non-violent ego battles more for your levelling. Like the wise master who can win any argument. Very good, however, at PvP, as their techniques will primarily deal physical afflictions leading up to their insta-kills. I'd say give them three insta's, each with an increasing power cost (and an increasing chance of landing/harder to escape) but each with more strict guidelines on when they can be used..... a lot like Cabalists from Aet have to land Insanity and their physical aff in order to use Unravel. The increasing power cost would also offset the power management they receive as the other half of their skills. You have the choice between draining with 7 power (35% chance of landing) and then using your remaining 3 power for your lowest-end insta-kill (long-distance, 15% chance of landing, needs two afflictions to be used) or saving all 10 power for your highest-end insta-kill (short distance, 75% chance of landing, requires 4 afflictions).