Roleplaying a Monk

[WarKirby3333]

Hi everyone. I decided to try something new.

 

Right now, I'm roleplaying a Monk character. This character has a few specific focuses, and restrictions that I'm sticking to.

 

1. No weapons. A monk's weapon is his body. So hand to hand skill is a must

 

2. Almost no armour. Right now, the only piece of armour I'm wearing is heavy gloves. I chose heavy to level endurance faster which feels necessary for survival in Deadly Reflexes. May or may not wear boots in future. Definitely no helmet, greaves, shields or torso armour. Excessive abuse of shield spells is necessary to survive in close combat, too.

 

3. A focus on non-aggressive magics. I took restoration, illusion, alteration and mysticism as primary schools. I'm deliberately avoiding most conjuration because of the variety of unholy beasts, demons and undead within it, which seem rather un-monkly. I'm using only some parts of destruction magic, it's too good to pass up entirely for spell creation, but I'm mostly relying on absorb spells for offensive magic.

 

4. Non materialistic. While it's pretty hard to get by in tamriel without at least some money, I'm keeping things as basic as possible. I don't take most loot unless it seems suitable, and I spend all my money on non-material things - ie, training and new spells.

 

5. The spirit sustains me. the monk focuses on being self sufficient and not relying on outside forces. In practical terms, this means I don't pick up potions, alchemical ingredients, scrolls, torches, or anything else where its job can be done by magic.

 

6. Be kind, selfless, and forgiving. I never chase fleeing enemies, always give coins to beggars, do any quests that involve people in need, and keep infamy down. If I get a bounty,I generally turn myself in and pay the fine. I'm also staying well away from the two dark guilds. Undecided on fighter's guild yet, but the mages guild is a definite one.

 

7. A monk should make pilgrimages. I plan to visit every shrine of the nine, and every daedric shrine at least.

 

 

I'm trying to think of things to add to this. So far I'm finding it incredibly fun. My damage output is a bit low, but the combat style of touch-spells, paper thin healthbar, and deadly reflexes enhanced boxing makes things rather enjoyable.

 

I'd like to ask what the community thinks. Does this experience sound fun? Are there things you recommend I do that seem in character? Mods I should try to enhance the feeling?

 

I'm currently running OOO, deadly reflexes, and kvatch rebuilt. fairly basic. I'm thinking I should get midas magic too.

Edited June 6, 2011 by WarKirby3333

[MichikoUnknownFox]

Since you use touch spells, you might like this mod. You can restrict it to stuff that'll make your life easier (such as touch absorb health, which can work for the RP).

 

Honestly I've done a lot of RP-type "purist" characters in Oblivion, and it's always about as fun as you make it. I've made a pure melee-fighting Breton (really no magic), I also tried an Argonian punchmaster (back when there weren't many mods for H2H damage). I had fun with both, and I never regretted playing them. People just have to understand how to play their characters in an enjoyable way, which you probably do.

 

I didn't pick up a lot of loot either. Mostly because I was lazy, and also I didn't think it made sense that I'd be carrying around 40 sets of complete Steel Armors, 20 swords, 20 hammers, etc., after clearing a dungeon. I would take some "rare" pieces, mostly enchanted stuff, or stuff that I'd actually wear on the way out, if it's better or nicer-looking than what I had on. This made more sense, though of course it makes you suffer by being essentially poorer than the average player. But, you already knew that. Everybody makes choices on what's fun and what's not. :D

 

My Breton was some kind of valiant knight type, despite all the prejudice against Bretons. As such, I made it a point to help out civilians (added by Crowded Roads) whenever I saw them being attacked by wild animals or bandits along the road (affected by Smarter Bandits). Almost always, I was outnumbered (as the civilians were generally poorly armed and low level), and I would often get killed and have to reload. But I found it to be part of who the character was supposed to be (whereas my previous characters would ignore and avoid, and even loot any corpses later when the coast is clear). I guess that could give you some more ideas. I'd imagine a combat monk to be something like Chinese monks. They wouldn't just stand around while innocents are being attacked, of course.

 

You should also learn some more about the lore on the Nine Divines. In-game, collect every book there is about them or something. You might also want to pick a particular deity's temple to serve, if you haven't yet. Kinda make that your home temple or something, so everywhere else is just visiting.

Edited June 6, 2011 by UNKNOWNYMOUS

[suzypike]

This idea is seriously cool!

suzy

[RavveN]

I was always noble warrior myself! Always heavy armor, being good to everyone, helping anyone if they need my help! I don't know i just like bein' warrior!

Strong and fearsome!

Ahhh those were the days...I can't wait for elder scrolls 5....I might actually try to be mage there <:-)]]

 

-RavveN-

[MichikoUnknownFox]

Roleplay and unique character types may be easier in Skyrim really. Actual dual wielding and all that. Too bad it seems they got rid of hand-to-hand. :( Would've been cool to actually control your punches now.

[WarKirby3333]

Since you use touch spells, you might like this mod. You can restrict it to stuff that'll make your life easier (such as touch absorb health, which can work for the RP).

 

hmm, looks fun, but from the description, it seems like the implementation is a bit clumsy. i wouldn't want to cast spells on every attack. Still, an Exploding Fist spell using an AOE fire effect (my monk is a breton :P) would be awesome, so I might use that.

 

Honestly I've done a lot of RP-type "purist" characters in Oblivion, and it's always about as fun as you make it. I've made a pure melee-fighting Breton (really no magic), I also tried an Argonian punchmaster (back when there weren't many mods for H2H damage). I had fun with both, and I never regretted playing them. People just have to understand how to play their characters in an enjoyable way, which you probably do.

 

as I go on, I'm finding H2H damage doesn't really scale enough to be viable. going to give this a try which looks like it'll help: http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=2329

 

It also occurs to me that I'm using deadly reflexes 150% damage ESP, which increases the damage of all weapons. Fists are not a weapon,s o

I think I'm playing under an even bigger disadvantage than I thought. It is quite fun being the underdog though :)

 

(added by Crowded Roads) whenever I saw them being attacked by wild animals or bandits along the road (affected by Smarter Bandits).

these look fun. Might give them a try ^^

 

I guess for the endgame I'd really like the sort of ridiculous power you can get in Fallout, with a power fist. One hit kills with a punch are awesome. Might end up having to mod things myself for that though...

[MichikoUnknownFox]

I was thinking of something like that too, since I was planning on making a punchmage using that enchanted fists mod.

 

While damage doesn't scale up, the Fatigue damage goes through armor anyway (if I'm not mistaken) so you'll often knock opponents down... as long as it's 1 on 1 or 2 on 2 I do fine.

 

This mod called Phitt's Phighting Phixes does the best job at damage calculation, IMO, because it'll work with everything, even scripted damage effects. You can scale damage up as much as you want, working in multiples. So if you set it to 3x damage, everything does 3x damage (including fists). I personally play with 5x damage, which makes fighting very dangerous because 2 or 3 hits (or a strong power attack) can kill me, but I have other defensive and evasion mods to compensate.

 

If you're curious, here are some of the combat mods I use, other than those I've already mentioned:

 

Double-tap Dodge

Does what it sounds like it does; mainly to avoid power attacks because they're fatal if they hit like I said.

 

Block Recoil Stagger

Best read the mod's description for a full idea of what it does. It also features timed blocking, which I prefer to DR's timed blocking, though they're actually compatible.

 

Block Parry and Cancel

This works like a charm really, but I haven't tested extensively how well it works with hand to hand blocking (because I prefer to dodge).

 

Doc Dodge

This isn't an animation mod. Rather, it narrows the area where hits can actually occur (so you have to actually be pointing the crosshair at the opponent to hit). It works on the opponents too, so sidestepping an obvious attack is a viable option, after which you can deliver some quick jabs. Just beware that it also gets significantly harder to hit opponents. You get used to it eventually, but it really makes combat challenging. Since you're RPing a monk anyway, think of it as concentrating on hitting significant pressure points/weaknesses.

 

 

You may also want to try Adrenaline Fueled Combat v2. As a disclaimer, I haven't really used this mod as much since OBSE 18. There were bugs arising at the time, though in some quick preliminary testing with OBSE 20, it seems those bugs have disappeared. AFC has some interesting perks for all combat types, including hand to hand, that you may find extremely useful. Use this one at your own discretion, and if you run into bugs such as the scrolls opening whenever you do a power attack, which was the main issue back in OBSE 18, just disable the mod and you'll be fine.

[Nealus]

You probably should try Vows and Covenants

Must-have mod for roleplayers