Thanks for the insight into the thought process behind some of these design decisions, Kenji. Unfortunately for both of us, you've opened the door to a conversation that excites my most insufferable sensibilities. Please forgive me for the crimes I am about to commit against this thread.
Kenji wrote: ↑Tue Apr 11, 2023 1:46 am
The initial approach is to make the Mind discipline similar to European monastic monks who excelled academically in terms of printing and crafting.
This particular point of inspiration stands out to me because, from what I know and have read about European monastic monks and the Catholic doctrines that have historically informed their practice, their mastery of craftsmanship and printworks is inexorably tied to their spirituality. The great works of art they are known for were committed as acts of faith and dedicated to the God they worship. The invention of chartreuse* and the illustration of the Book of Kells and the construction of the Sistine Chapel all required incredible skill and training, yes, but the skill and training were never the point - devotion is what drove these acts of creation, and I think that comes through when you look at the Mind Discipline and see it's a bit disjointed. The real-world inspiration behind this aspect of its design is really better suited to the Spiritual Discipline.
Obviously, any "monk" you pick up for inspiration from the real world is going to come with some kind of heavy religious overtone, so I don't wanna rag on the idea too much because there's no way around the fact that WotC made Shaolin warriors a big deal and now it's gotta be everyone's problem. Worse still, I feel like the best real-world religious orders that could serve as alternative inspiration for this branch of the class tree (Sufism in Islam and Kabbalistic Judaism, two very academically-oriented practices within their respective faiths) never get called "monks" in the real world so it's a hard sell to suggest them as inspiration for any D&D monk design. I'm struggling not to launch into what will inevitably be an unhelpful tirade about academia amongst the theologians. There's simply no way to win in that arena. God bless you for trying.
So, I'll set aside real-world inspiration to instead draw attention to the "tagline," so to speak, for the Mind Discipline: Attain Enlightenment. We should probably define what "enlightenment" precisely means if we want to build a branch of the class that urges its pursuit. I obviously don't know when to shut up, so I'll give it my best shot!
Enlightenment is an achievement marked by revelation, self-discovery, and a transcendence that rises beyond the trappings of social conditioning. It is the coming of awareness to some deeper truth that is otherwise hidden behind a curtain of noise. In Eastern philosophy, enlightenment is attained through mindful meditation, rejection of the distractions of materialism, and the quiet lifestyle of a reclusive ascetic. In the Western perspective, enlightenment is associated with keen insight, mastery of many fields of study, and the pursuit of transcendental experiences. Broadly speaking, Eastern enlightenment is considered more internalized and revelatory, while Western enlightenment is considered more active and experiential. All this established, I do have some vague and probably unhelpful ideas for ways to incorporate these principles into the class design:
Towards the Eastern practice:
- Some manner of activated self-cast remove fear/clarity/mind blank effect, to emulate the stillness of mind granted by meditation (ideally able to be used even if under the effects of some CC)
- To play off the anti-materialism idea, some kind of buff or boon granted by traveling light and not having a lot of carry weight or occupied inventory slots (admittedly probably not a good idea if Gravity Orbs don't get changed, if it's even possible to begin with)
- Reintroduce the Tongue of Sun & Moon, but better and cooler and maybe with actual language proficiency. Like, maybe you're able to learn languages quickly and without phrasebooks or something. This idea is inspired by some of the folklore I've heard where mystical hermit-monks are able to understand the heart of the people they speak to despite the barriers of language.
Towards the Western practice:
- Bonuses to the investigative skills, or better chances of breaking disguises, as a way to embody the wisdom and insight afforded by a disciplined mind
- Loremaster secrets! Maybe you don't have to delete that horrible terrible class, and we can just open the door up to Mind monks getting some of their goodies since there's plenty of room to share the conceptual space.
- Astral Projection? Something akin to the idea of a "transcendental experience," that perhaps interacts with the fugue or with scrying mechanics in some weird and unique way.
I feel like a great associated school of magic for this branch of monastic disciplines would be Divination. It's literally all about opening up your mind and your senses to witness the hidden truths of the cosmos. What could be more on-brand for a monk than that!
Anyways, you're probably (rightfully) going to say "dude we worked on this for 7 months already there's no way you think we're going to take this class design in a completely different direction at the last minute also I'm so tired of how much work we've put in please don't make me think more I just want to lay this beast to rest" and that is a completely fair and understandable reaction to this seven-paragraph work of fanfiction. I just think the Mind Discipline is cool conceptually and there's a lot of untapped potential in the idea. You mentioned you kinda ran out of creative juices and I guess I'm just sharing this on the off chance that maybe one of these nonsensical ideas is something you like, and also happens to be something that's easy to implement, and might make the class a little better as a result of my sharing it. Only one way to find out!
* - Okay, well, full disclosure, the story behind chartreuse isn't really all that devotional, it was actually invented because King Henry IV of France wanted to live forever and commissioned the monks to brew up an alchemical recipe that he thought was the Elixir of Youth. Instead, it turned out to be the Elixir of Getting Absolutely Blitzed and the monks made a million billion dollars. Just as God intended, of course. To this day the recipe is still kept secret and the Carthusian monks are the only ones who craft all the chartreuse in the entire world.