You might have noticed a gigantic reload of monks came in maybe an hour or so ago. You might have noticed that, if you're currently a monk, you're confused as hell.

The Monk Forum Committee have been working on redesigning the specs for a few months to all fit in with a new, unified system- momentum. The basic changes are as follows:

1. Punches are considerably slower. (Bye, PPK)
2. You can now use KATA PERFORM to execute a single form at a time.
3. Every time you strike an opponent, your momentum increases. Your momentum is represented on your prompt as '#mo' at the very end. (IE: 1mo is momentum level one). Systems might need some updating to accommodate this one
4. Momentum will fade a single level every time the monk fails to hit someone for 5 seconds.
5. Each momentum level grants you more ka to use in your forums, unlocking the monk's more deadlier abilities and complex forms. The ka cost list can be found in AB KATA FORMS (I think).
6. Grapples are now two-handed, kata or otherwise.
7. Some moves will kill your momentum by one level. These abilities will say so in their AB.
8. If you queue up kata forms, they'll still attempt to automatically execute once you stand/writhe/etc.
9. There are six levels of momentum. A monk can ordinarily only reach 5. They can spend 5 power to 'boost' a form up a level. They can boost a form up by two levels. Level 6 typically has an instakill in it, but it costs power to reach.

If you try to execute a form in a kata string without having the momentum for it, you'll be stopped. Make sure you have a few aliases to get your momentum back on track, or you'll start fumbling over the keyboard like I did.

You will want to go through all your forms and start pruning ones you don't need or ever use, because there's a lot of skill changes here. Several of the moves will now give different afflictions depending on where they strike. No, I don't think any of these afflictions are new, they're just new to the Monk's arsenal.

One of the major new afflictions everyone will want to watch out for- Mangle. I think every Monk spec (unsure of Emofist) is able to give the affliction. Remember when your leg got the crap beat out of it in Achaea, and you had to apply restoration and THEN mending to stand up again? Yeah, it just moved over here. Casilu says any limb can be mangled, so I guess watch out for your offense, too.

Thanks for the info, that is really helpful.

/elect Furien Dreamweaving Fixer-Man

Isn't this pretty much the system that Haj planned for the mud he was coding before it got shut down? Sounds an awful lot like what he had posted on their forums, at least.

No, I can mangle any limb.

Don't forget, ninjakari now have a modifier that can prevent stancing or parrying, and another that can cut tendons

Mangle isn't a new affliction...

Sweet, no more ruptures. Hated having wounds and ruptures.

Okay, so, since so much has changed:

I'm currently looking for a Nekotai, Ninjakari, Tahtetso, and Shofangi to get lines from. I can probably compensate for your time, if you want. Also, I have a private manse, so no worries about getting caught with an enemy, it will be handled in an OOC fashion.

Thanks, and some people please take me up on this offer.

I guess one of the other monks might have had it already, I don't know. I just remember never finding it since I came from Achaea.

Curing an amputated limb always renders the limb mangled. I believe Bonecrushers can directly mangle as well.

I thought Nekotai and Ninjas could too at five ruptures.

Nekotai have the 'most difficult' mangle.

Shuyin will post all lines on forums when gathers them all.

Edit: nevermind, found what I was looking for.

It's been done with every skillset so far!

Excuse me, but can anyone explain to me why in the nine hells we need to work up momentum for BASHING?!

Sure, I can script myself something for bashing that will take care of using the extra momentum in forms all on its own. But seriously, do you want to be the one to explain forms PLUS momentum to a novice straight out of the Portal? NOTHX. Yay, entry requirements.

'Add On:

Max Ka is apparently influenced by your level in the spec. However, it is not listed anywhere what your max ka is if you are NOT trans in your spec. So yeah.. how can we find out about that?

And ESPECIALLY how much ka do novices start with and HOW exactly are we supposed to explain momentum to them?

AB kata forms help file leads you to believe everyone has 250 Max Ka which can be used in your opening kata. Took me several attempts to get a working opening that was not too complex.

Virtuoso ninjakari / kata skill and all I get is a 50 Ka opener. Basically a punch and nothing else. Not sure how you build to 250 opening by trans.

As of right now, I would have to trial & error max Ka's for each momentum level in 25 or 50 Ka increments (meaning start with 50, then 75, then 100, etc. and build until it is too complex). Lots of work.

An "active" help file or table that changes with your sill level would be helpful!

50 opening ka at virt sounds harsh. This basically means that novices who don't even have mastery won't be able to use kata forms AT ALL.

Is this honestly supposed to be this way?

PS: And yes, your actual ka levels should be shown somewhere.

A 'changing' AB file is not possible, already asked.

We (Nejii and I) believe this is an oversight and will be fixed - one point of momentum was that people not Transcendant in their respective specs would be less screwed.

In other words max ka should not scale to level of spec at all? (I'd love that actually. Someone bug it if that's the case!)