Mike Mearls Games
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Kung Fu Fighting
🕑 Added 2025-01-21 13:00:14 +0000 UTCAs I worked on the core four classes, I also wanted to make sure that the core game could support lots of different character types.
I've also been thinking a lot about bonus actions and actions. One of my objections to both is that they create a constrained design space that forces all classes to fit into them. You get your main thing (your action) and a minor thing that modifies it (bonus action). That structure makes sense for some characters, but is overly constraining for long-term design.
I went into the monk's design looking to do something very different. The monk gets two additional actions each round, flurry actions that they can use on their turn or at the start of another creature's turn. I loved the idea of a more fluid, agile character, one that plays very differently than the core characters.
This design comes with the potential to slow down game play, as it ramps up complexity significantly, but as a secondary character class I am OK with groups opting into it. The design might push things too far, but we'll see how things shake out.
I love that this approach enables class design that looks very different than existing classes. It develops options that feel more like deck archetypes in TCGs, a play experience that gives you a very different way to play the game.
As always, comments and criticisms are welcome!
Comments
Lojaan
The monk is a class that has always had a lot of problems. This is not surprising as it is based on a 1970s Western interpretation of a bunch of different Asian media squished together. This is reductive, and feels very retro and out of touch for 2025. Even the term "martial arts" just feels silly now as most people know that the term just means "learned method of fighting". Every martial class is doing martial arts. More so, "martial arts" is all about fighting with weapons. Using terms like "ki power" or anything similarly "Asian-ish" also feels terribly dated. If you are going to do a monk, then it would be best to be specific. Pick one trope and do that. Firstly, are you going for "real world", wuxia, xianzia or something else? This will hugely impact the type of abilities the class should get and when. Put anything "real world" into the fighter class. You just want to be good at mundane fighting with bare hands & unarmored? That is just a fighting style. Call it "brawler", give it a higher damage unarmed attack, and a perk like "use Wis mod or armor/shield to determine AC - whichever is higher". Put your grapple/trip/etc bonuses here if you have them too. Martial arts techniques like throws, sweeps & flying kicks are just maneuvers. For wuxia or xianxia either change "ki power" to "power" , or just use spell slots. Xianxia characters in particular have more in common with sorcerers than any other class so it makes sense. You can also drop any specific unarmed focus on these characters. They are just as likely to use weapons as fight unarmed. Characters should pick one weapon (including bare hand) and that would be the focus for their powers. Lastly, you gotta do something about the name. Monks are not monks so why are they called monks? The class most likely to be a monk is cleric. If you want to call it what it is, and this is the type of class you want, then the name you should use is "Cultivator". That is what they are called in the fiction. If you don't feel like Cultivators have a place in your world - that is totally fine! You don't need to include them. Making a viable unarmed/unarmored Fighter will make most people happy.
David Johnson
Oooo, very cool! Like legendary actions, but for a player... love it!
