RPG Superstar 2010 Top 32
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I’ll be starting to run the STAP in a few weeks and am busy preparing the first few sessions, getting the characters to meet and so on. One player wants to play a Monk with Vow of Peace and Vow of Poverty. Fair enough, said I, let's give it a whirl.
The Poverty I can handle, but I’d like some tips on the Vow of Peace from DMs who have had experience with it. The players who find themselves in a zen-like state as Savage Pirates charge them will probably have plenty to say to the player, but I’d like some tips on handling the mechanics and descriptions and general keeping-the-game-flowing ideas.
get very familiar with grappling and tripping rules :) also tangle foot bags, nets, bolas.... He will still be an active combatant, just not a LETHAL one, which may actually work out to a saavy groups advantage. KO'd bad guys are easier to interrogate:) Also as a DM, work in more oportunities for him to take out crew served weapons like balistas or pots of boiling oil. Emphasize the monks role as a mobility platform for scouting, etc. and don't make him regret his choice by maing every bad guy a would-be suicide bomber type who has to be killed in order to save the fluffy bunnies. Occaisional tests of his committment are fine, but making the poor player always have to second guess his actions just gets old fast. Paladins suffer from this too.
There was Great Throw in OA that lets you toss an opponnent 5 feet for beating thier grapple check. not sure if that got updated, but I'm sure you could house rule it.
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My personal feeling is that this character could become a spotlight hog. The monk's vows could potentially come into conflict with the rest of the party's preferred method of action quite often. The other players may find themselves constantly having to accomodate the monk's character, which isn't the dynamic one usually wants in a party.
Depending on the dynamics of your particular group, however, this may or may not be a problem.
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RPG Superstar 2010 Top 32
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That's going to be interesting. There's a wizard who plays it smart, and a rogue who likes diplomacy. There are also two barbarians....
How exactly have you guys played the whole Aura thing? The whole group - if they're in the area - will also be constantly chilled out, right?
In the STAP, I'm wondering how to do the whole sea voyage...
The thing I don't like about Vow of Peace: "You must not cause any harm to any living creature (constructs and undead are not included in this prohibition)."
It should be extended to "You must not cause any harm to any living creature that is not irredeemably evil (constructs and undead are not included in this prohibition)."
Careful, because now you open the door for selective observance of the vow, which sort of defeats the whole thing. "Irredeemable" is a very un-Zen concept.
RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32
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Careful, because now you open the door for selective observance of the vow, which sort of defeats the whole thing. "Irredeemable" is a very un-Zen concept.The thing I don't like about Vow of Peace: "You must not cause any harm to any living creature (constructs and undead are not included in this prohibition)."
It should be extended to "You must not cause any harm to any living creature that is not irredeemably evil (constructs and undead are not included in this prohibition)."
I agree here. The idea of the vow is that it IS very restrictive and very Buddhist-like. The idea is that inflicting harm on ANYTHING taints your spirit with violence. Destroying things that aren't alive isn't an issue, but living things have feelings and can be hurt.
I would think that if the monk does only subdual damage, then he wouldn't be breaking his vow. I've heard plenty of stories about how Buddhist monks and what not knocked someone out in self defense.
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RPG Superstar 2010 Top 32
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Yeah, though a monk who's taken a vow of peace joining in a combat doesn't feel right either. Three of them chop bloody chunks out of their enemy, and the monk jumps around in the middle of the blood and guts, carefully making sure his blows are only to the temple.
He seems just as violent - though in the rules he isn't.
Am I really going to have to rewrite every single encounter in case the monk is there? Suspicious NPCs will actually be relaxed etc.
Am I really going to have to rewrite every single encounter in case the monk is there? Suspicious NPCs will actually be relaxed etc.
Yup. Welcome to being a DM;)
and really, is it so bad to have your party try to talk their way through things before they go in swords a'flashin?
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RPG Superstar 2010 Top 32
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No, not really. Just haven't DM'd for a while and I've been looking forward to some bad-tempered, sneaky, suspicious NPCs. Now there's a permanent chillout zone walking around I'll have to rethink my evil plans slightly. Okay, more than slightly! It's going to end up a cross between Pirates of the Caribbean and Monkey now - what was the priest called? Tripitaka?
I'm still looking forward to it - just can't quite visualize the whole effect of the thing. Gonna be interesting...