I am taking my catfolk monk from a previous game. (discussion for build here if you are interested: https://paizo.com/threads/rzs43gb1?Catfolk-monk-build#15 ) And wanted to kind of reinvent him for future games, since he was rather basic for Roleplay. I think I came up with some good ideas, but I was hoping to hear what people have for unique monk backstories that isn't the standard, "They grew up in a monastery!" Feedback, suggestions, or other ideas are more then welcome! We have several weeks before the first session.
To familiarize you with the build if you don't check the link. He's based on the Catfolk monk favored class bonus, "Add 1/2 to the monk’s damage rolls with claw attacks and claw blades. A monk who selects this bonus at 1st level also treats claw blades as a monk weapon. If he is an unchained monk, he can use his style strikes with unarmed strike or claw blade attacks." Catfolk are also +2 Dex/Cha and -2 Wis, so a scaled fist is the way, since it replaces all Wis requirements for monks with Cha. Lastly, he's building off the claw blades, so he's going to take ascetic style to let him use ki strikes, stunning fists, scaling dmg dice, etc with the claw blades.
Now onto the meat and potatoes of this thread, his backstory. I wanted to do something substantially different from the typical monastery, and figure that monk hood isn't something that HAS to be from martial traditions and formal schools.
So I came up with him being an orphan/street urchin in a large crime-riddled city. He grew up eschewing material goods because he could never afford them, and learned quickly that having nice things just let to you being a target for thieves and criminals. He learned out of trial, error, many fights and tears and nights unconscious and bleeding in back allies his fighting style. What worked and what didn't was effort and pain.
He never got nice clothes or armor, as those signaled to others that you had items worth taking, so he learned to be aware of his surroundings and gained a Monk's AC bonus.
He never carried external weapons when younger, as any weapon you have can be taken from you and even worse, used against you. Often fistfights stay just that, leaving opponents knocked out in a gutter or ally, without their purse and bleeding, but alive. But once you introduced a weapon, others drew theirs, and what was a fight for some item, became a fight for your life. So he learned to fight with tooth and fist and claw, Only graduating to claw blades as an extension of his natural claws in his early teens. These blades were useless to any non catfolk, and easy to hide as they slipped over his already existing claws. A bit of paint and it blended in well enough to pass most cursory inspections. Thus he learned a monk's unarmed strikes, and the favored bonus for claw blades as he practiced both unarmed strikes and more lethal blades.
He learned how to move quickly in the backstreets, fleeing with stolen food or away from bandits, eventually gaining a monk's movement speed.
While he doesn't know what he has is Ki, he does know that he can focus his attention and awareness to a knifes edge for short bursts, performing what seemed to be normally impossible feats of agility or strength. He can only do so a few times each day, before the mental strain taxes him too much to be able to reach that state again before resting and recovering. Thus gaining monk's Ki powers.
I'm sure there's more I could work into it, but I'm assuming that he won't be starting a game anywhere outside of levels 1-5. So I think as is, thematically, it seems good an appropriate, though it may conflict somewhat with a lawful locked monk class. Though that depends on DM to DM. In this case, he will have a code of personal honor and his strict training regimen he follows, the former out of moral concerns, the latter because of his childhood of survival in unforgiving backstreets.
In any case, please let me know! Thank you for your time in advance for any feedback or other ideas you may like to give!
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Pick an aspect of the PC and focus on it to develop unique backstory elements. Don't be afraid to re-write the standard narrative for class or race either. For example, your PC traded out Low Light for Scent and Sprinter for Climber. This suggests they don't rely on their eyes so much as their sense of smell in concealment and they're naturally accustomed to vertical instead of horizontal spaces.
Focusing on just that alone you could say your catfolk hails from an area of super-dense jungle where the canopy is so thick that sunlight barely ever pierces it. In order to survive there, creatures would either have to be good predators based on sound or smell, or herbivores would have to live off of fungi or rare shade plants.
So... perhaps the catfolk clan in the area control a rare resource in the canopy. A group of Apsu-worshipping merchants that pass through the area routinely need protection and to procure the resource from the catfolk. After many years of this relationship, a sect of Apsu worshippers has evolved among the catfolk, the holy warriors of which are not paladins but claw blade wielding monks.
I personally like playing around with the races and class powers, comic book style. Perhaps your PC wasn't born a "catfolk" but instead was either a cat or a human, mutated into their current form by magic or alchemy. Heck, since you're a scaled fist maybe a dragon was involved, using its own blood and fleshwarping techniques to try and develop a better minion race than kobolds. Instead this monk was the only one that survived and the monk's "ki" abilities are actually draconic powers, similar to a sorcerer's bloodline.
Alternatively, don't be afraid to mine clichés. There's a reason tropes and clichés survive as long as they do; they're easy and versatile. Alternate "monk" type characters in fiction might be ninjas or disciplined gladiators; Batman going to train with the League of Assassins or Daredevil learning to overcome his blindness through martial discipline with Stick are both departures from the norm.
One of the things I suggest to my players is to use your starting Traits and level 1 Feats to try and define elements of your backstory. Your original PC had a trait to dodge and damage robots; I'm guessing that's not a thing for this PC anymore.
So, if you keep Monk Weapon Skill for example, this represents you doing +1 damage with 1 monk weapon which, for you, will be your claw blades. You also took Weapon Focus: Claw Blades. Well, "monk weapon training" doesn't have to be training in a monastery.
Perhaps a parental figure among the catfolk instructs all the young "kittens" in how to be more deadly with claw blades. Why is that? Why would a society of typically fickle and mercurial catfolk be so militant? What if you were descendants of an ancient, royal line exiled to this planet after your own planet was destroyed? You have had to become so much more war-trained after encountering The Mutants, other anthropomorphic animal types such as Slythe the Lizardman or Vultureman the Tengu, who all work for an ancient undead wizard. You and your catfolk kin hone your fighting skills to defend your mechanized castle, even as you mine Thundranium… sorry, I think I just ripped off the Thundercats, but you get the point.
Anyway, hopefully this gives you some food for though. Don't be afraid to give yourself a home and a family, or friends, or pets or whatever for your character to revisit sometime in the future, if even just for roleplaying sake.
I like everything you've come up with so far. Beyond the classic monastery trope, I think what really defines the monk class (flavor wise) is some level of focus and discipline manifesting in a state of physical/martial mastery. I think you've managed to capture that quite well with your descriptions. The only thing I can think to add, would be giving your character some relationships. These could be other orphans he looked out for, love interests, kindly shop keeps or mentors who offered the very occasional kind word or help, or long standing rivals on the streets. Once you've defined these relationships, giving some thought as to how his discipline served to facilitate his triumphs or failures in these interactions can help to flesh him out. These story elements can help you to more fully answer the "why's" of who he is, and why he joins the adventuring party.
This is background for my monk in Extinction Curse, which is 2E, but some of it might spark ideas.
Rahir is a tiefling who was born into the Bekyar tribe. The nonhuman part of his heritage makes him resemble a demonic ape, and he was intended to be raised as a sort of living idol for Anghazan's cult. He was rescued as a child and after some traveling to "civilize" him, he found work in a circus (part sideshow freak, part rigger, part bouncer) on the Isle of Kortos. He's big, and very strong, and almost everywhere he's ever been, an obviously armed tiefling would have drawn even more unwelcome notice. So he learned how to fight unarmed and unarmored, much of it self-taught ("the school of hard knocks," often literally). Despite hating his demonic ancestry--and what he almost became because of it--he fights best when emulating an ape (climbing, grappling, intimidating, etc.) and strives to perfect that style.
Alignment is less restrictive for monks in 2E, but Rahir does follow a personal code of supporting and protecting those who have earned his trust (mainly his circus community, these days, which includes the other PCs). Fiendish cults are one of the few things that truly terrify and enrage him, and he will do everything in his power to stop them from hurting anyone else.
Mark Hoover 330 wrote: Pick an aspect... Yeah, the robot trait was specifically for rise of the iron gods. I still need to look at traits to select some that fit, and a drawback or two. As far as the jungle setting, that was something that I hadn't considered, and though you MAY have ripped off Thundercats, I think with enough difference, it's just 'Inspired By'. But thank you for your feedback! I'll certainly be looking at perhaps a more tribal beginning, depending on the theme for the game, once GM gets it. So a potential urban or tribal background, each one viable. And on the topic of family, I actually usually try to avoid the orphan/The BBEG killed my parents! Trope, as I feel that happens way too often. But I think him having family he isn't aware of and discovering them during a campaign would be great fun. A loving aunt or grandmother who would have taken him in, if the could have found him. I'll have to get out my character building conspiracy board to fiddle with stuff, see what fits.
Sysryke wrote: I like everything you've come up with so far... Thank you! I spent a few days trying to think things out. And yes, I haven't quite gotten to relationships yet, as I didn't wanna jump the gun and start establishing all of this, and then as Mark put above, and move from an urban setting, to a jungle tribal town. Though I think just a little reflavoring should suffice for some/most of the important figures, I just haven't gotten that far yet. But trust me, it's certainly on the way! Though as this is still early, I like to have a few things for stuff that happened to him already, but it wouldn't fit to have, "Slayed the demon lord and saved the world" and he's level 1. As an extreme example, but hopefully it gets my point across. That I want stuff to fit what level he is, and how much time he's been doing things. I also like to ask the DM how best to fit me into the campaign, and adapt it to that.
Tim Emrick wrote: This is background for my monk... I plan on making him more of a dex-y monk thanks to his racial bonuses. And I had considered a circus/performer start for monk, as I heard a D&D story on Youtube about someone who went that route. But I didn't just wanna copy what someone else did. And I think it mostly depends on DM's interpretation of alignment. The way I typically view it is Good/Evil is if you do it for the betterment of others, or specifically for the harm of others. And Lawful/chaotic is more if you follow 'A' Law, be it the law of the land, of the country, a code of nature or a paladin creed, monk vows, etc etc. Or if you don't care about rules, and do anything and everything to get what you want, within reason. So I think a lawful bound monk should just have to sternly follow some code of living, even if it's not the law that you get arrested for breaking. A good example might be a Pirates or Thieves oath, You may break the law to steal things, but you have a code of honor you are bound to even still.
One last suggestion, and I know it's going to be a bit cheesy, but for more inspiration you might consider the opening montage to the 80's action/karate movie Bloodsport. You see fighters from all different walks of life, from a sumo wrestler to a French kickboxer to a native practitioner and so on.
In other words, there are lots of different sources to receive martial training than a monastery. Perhaps you hail from a society where sumo is both a sport and a culture, so you linked up with a promoter and trainers in order to compete for money and fame. Then again, perhaps you're part of an elite special forces unit of some military in the setting, and your martial skills reflect that training.
On Golarion I see Catfolk call themselves amurrun and mostly hail from city-states in southern Garund. One of these, Murraseth, is supposedly hiding a dread secret and there are layers of defense meant to keep outsiders at bay. Perhaps your PC was trained by the city as part of that disciplined defense.
Then again, there are catfolk living in Sorroclaan in the Fangard Forest. The folk of this settlement often go exploring the ancient ruins scattered around and beneath the roots of the ancient woodland. What if your PC was hired by a wealthy patron, trained by elite tutors and coaches from neighboring human settlements and such, meant to be an expedition leader and guard for these ventures?
Mark Hoover 330 wrote: One last suggestion, and I know it's going to be a bit cheesy, but for more inspiration you might consider the opening montage to the 80's action/karate movie Bloodsport. You see fighters from all different walks of life, from a sumo wrestler to a French kickboxer to a native practitioner and so on.
In other words, there are lots of different sources to receive martial training than a monastery. . . .
This reminds me of a particular bouncer...
Quote: All you have to do is follow three simple rules. One, never underestimate your opponent. Expect the unexpected.
Two, take it outside. Never start anything inside the bar unless it's absolutely necessary.
And three, be nice.
Then again, I'm not sure how he'd stat up... he could easily be some sort of intelligence or charisma based variant monk... or maybe another class with some unarmed fighting substitutions...
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I wonder if the bouncer would have the throat slicer feat... but never want to use it?
Anyway, yes, that's kind of what I was getting at though. Just b/c you're a monk, that doesn't mean you were trained in a monastery. Perhaps you were trained by the spirit of a dragon while incarcerated in prison; maybe a group of psychic NPCs used to connect you to a larger, psychic network where you'd "download" the ability to do martial arts and eventually you had to face one of them to prove your worth in a simulation of a dojo.
I really like the OP's focus on the Lawful alignment of the PC and building a kind of honor code around it. He wanted a circus background for his PC; perhaps there's a code amongst carnies and travelers, like if you see a sign with certain markings, that means the local village is safe harbor or that a farmstead is willing to share food, but the code dictates that you must repay this kindness with unpaid work.
I don't know. I just know that the names of the classes and the fluff in the books are just suggestions, starting points. Not every fighter is going to be the core book fighter; not every inquisitor has to model the Iconic PC. Heck, I've advocated many times that if your character has a "bloodline," consider a comic book origin: my PC has these weird powers related to undead because... they were exposed to weird radiation, they were implanted by Fleshwarping, instead of the Red Room for assassin training, I was put in the Dead Room for necromantic training, or whatever.
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