Arelith

Maybe it's time to dust off that old Lore and Language suggestion that I've suggested like five times.

Erin Greene wrote:And, not to nitpick, but that would be waiting an extra 13 levels to get an ability monks get in normal D&D without spending a single skillpoint or feat.

This isn't normal D&D and even if it was, there are what now, four, five version of D&D, or rules manuals. I don't think its going to happen. Pump up your lore and you'll understand a lot.

"A monk of 17th level and above can speak with any living creature".

Can: verb
1.
be able to.

Speak: verb
1. Say something in order to convey information, an opinion, or a feeling.


Just because I can say hello to a dog and it barks at me doesn't mean I will be able to understand it. I can speak to a refrigerator, or my invisible best friend. Tim.

soph·ist·ry: noun
1.
the use of reasoning or arguments that sound correct but are actually false


D&D rulebook authors are not in the business of writing in extraneous level 17 class feats that have no function. Having the "Tongue of the Sun and Moon" feat means quite a bit more than replicating what a normal person does when they whimsically decide to talk to their fridge.

My fridge never listens when I tell it to bring me a beer. Stupid lazy appliance.




Maybe I should buy a weasel.

Not to be weird, but you really can't just pick and choose the things you want from the Player's Handbook either. Should we also implement the Monk's difficult multi-classing penalties?

(eg: Like a member of any other class, a monk may be a multiclass character, but multiclass monks face a special restriction. A monk who gains a new class or (if already multiclass) raises another class by a level may never again raise her monk level, though she retains all her monk abilities.)

We aren't in the business of trying to faithfully replicate the D&D books. What we DO like to do though, is make it so that each class and race has some kind of role or performs a function that when brought together in a group can form a highly efficient machine.

I wouldn't mind implementing the multiclassing penalties.

That said, I maintain the position that monks are perfectly fine as they are. While roleplay perks are always nice, the class is already a solid choice that can fill a niche in any party.

To sort of but not quite echo Artos -

If Mith added one new feature next month, is this the feature you'd really want him to add? There are ~always~ new things you/he/we/I, want to add to Arelith. There is not a lot of Mith to code them all.

Complex new languages that only apply to monks, only of a certain level to allow them to use something that's rather circumstantial and that they could do already via other means seems to me to be a little off on the rewards/effort scale.