What could possibly be considered strange about sitting at home pretending to be an outcast monk plagued by visions of rampaging dragons?
The answer is of course, absolutely nothing, we are roleplayers, we can do anything, and have already done most of it!
This week has seen real life interrupted by a series of power outages, which means I have been using the current rulebook I have on my Tablet, and pen and paper.
My game of choice was meant to be Dungeon World, but I didn’t have the rules downloaded, and we don’t have mobile data here. So as long as my router was dead, that meant no internet, and therefore, no Dungeon World. In its place, I have been playing 13th Age.
13th Age, doesn’t have a Monk playable class. That is not normally a problem, apart from the fact that I wanted to be a monk character.
So far the game is fun. My Monk looks like a monk, acts like a monk, and is to all intents and purposes, is a monk. On paper he is a Cleric.
Monks, in RPGs and Hollywood alike, tend to fight barehanded. In 13th Age, that ain’t gonna happen. The unarmed combat rules are very much a case of ‘don’t do it’. But, like my cartoony friend here, the staff is a great alternative martial artists weapon. It fits the Monk aspect well, it fits the Cleric class, and it solves the need for a weapon.
The next issue is picking the feats and spells.
As a human I get two feats at first level. I chose Improved Initiative and Toughness. These fit in with the austere monk upbringing
Hammer of Faith bumps up the melee damage to d12s, Bless and Turn Undead all seem to give the spiritual ‘oneness’ and focus.
The Cleric gets three Domains, and to build my idea of a Monk I went with Lore, Strength and Protection.
My One Unique Thing is that I have seen a vision of the end of the world.
The last part is my relationships. As an interesting mix, I went for three 1 point relationships with Crusader, High Druid, and Prince of Shadows. All of these are rather ambiguous icons but reflect a kind of inner strength of purpose, connection to the world as a whole, and self-reliance. The part I was particularly interested in is the idea of being tempted by knowledge from the dark side, that comes as part and parcel of positive relationships with ambiguous icons.
So this is my crash test dummy character for 13th Age Solo.
The oracle I am using at the moment is a 1d20 + 1d6. 1d20 gives the yes/no element. 11+ for ‘yes’, 15+ for ‘yes, and…’ The d6 kind of brings together the escalation mechanic when it rolls low and the relationship mechanics when you roll 5/6.
As of today I am in the cycle or writing, playing and revising that always precedes putting these solo rules together.