[Dungeon Fantasy] Non-East Asian inspirations for Martial Artists (and Ninja)

[JulianLW]

If you're looking for medieval monk warriors, you could just call them Templars. People think they're using secret magic, but really .. it's the chi.

[martinl]

There are also multiple non-human cultures to assign the idea to.

Perhaps there are martial artists are following a dwarvish tradition that idealizes being tough enough to break rocks with your bare hands, or a catfolk one focused on fighting with only their gods given claws, or even just declare halfling shaolin are a thing and run with it. Alternately, blame the hellgnome gninja - they're always up to shenanigans.

The thing where DF towns look like late MA early Ren euro culture is not meant to be a plausible model, really. It's gonzo fantasy so you can justify almost anything.

[Michael Thayne]

Thinking about this more, the "cinematic martial arts skills" and "chi abilities" used in Dungeon Fantasy don't necessarily have to have anything to do with monks or chi. Mechanics-wise, any flavor of Charles Atlas Super Power works, I think. Maybe I should take a hard look at certain Golden Age comic-books for inspiration—apparently the Golden Age Wonder Woman got her powers from "Amazonian concentration".

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by JulianLW

If you're looking for medieval monk warriors, you could just call them Templars. People think they're using secret magic, but really .. it's the chi.

The historical Templars (and their more successful colleagues the Hospitallers) were monks in a very real and legally-binding sense and full-time professional experts in historical European martial arts, but they were usually a tad heavily armoured for your archetypal martial artist. When I imposed dungeon fantasy archetypes on vaguely mediaeval I-can't-believe-it's-not-Europe settings I made the Hospitallers out to be paladins, and gave the "monk" abilities to Franciscan friars such as Friar Tuck.

[sir_pudding]

The ninja is probably nearly inseparable from the 80s ninja craze that inspired it. Removing it is basically why the assassin exists.

[Infornific]

What distinguishes the DFRPG Martial Artist from other fighter types isn't strictly speaking "martial arts" or fighting skill but the access to special chi abilities. So I would focus on alternate ways of justifying accessing chi abilities.

If you want to link to a fantasy version of ancient Greeks, you could treat it as lost secrets of ancient pagan philosophy. Maybe call it Arete instead of Chi, or something similar. Possibly look at Pankration as their core combat training. If your Clerics are knockoffs of Christianity, that could lead to Clerics and Martial Artists regarding each other with some suspicion. That could also tie Martial Artists closer to Wrestlers. Personally the Wrestler template always makes me think of the old Hercules films.

"Now, you will stay by my side and I'll teach you to fight. But not only with your hands. And some day, your friends and enemies will honor you and name you the wise." - Hercules (1958)

An alternate more radical thought would be to put the Monk back into Martial Artists. Make the Martial Artist a variant of the Holy Warrior - peasants and other commoners recruited to serve as guards and foot soldiers for the Church. Because they come from lowly backgrounds, their combat training reflects the tools available. They channel divine will to strengthen their bodies and martial prowess. They act as God's brass knuckles. In this variation, the Divine limitation replaces Chi but prayer & meditation still matter.

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by tbone

I think I've related this before, but: When I started gaming with D&D, my local gaming group simply wasn't familiar with "monk" in the sense of Shaolin Temple monk.

This led to the trope of characters who looked like Friar Tuck laying the smack-down on.

Historical Euro-Style martial monks were closer to "Holy Warriors" in DF, and correspond to knightly orders such as the Teutonic Knights, Hospitallers, and Templars.

Originally Posted by tbone

(Question for all: In historical belief systems outside of Asia, what might might be the closest equivalents to the "chi" of the Far East or the "prana" of Hinduism?)

The Ancient Greek or medieval European equivalent might be "Pneuma". Early 20th century sociologists used the term "Numen" to describe the concept of magical power inherent to an object, similar to GURPS Mana. The original Roman term seems to describe something different, however, defining it as a sort of divine power or divine will. Modern Christian writers sometimes reference the Quaker term, "Inner Light."

[tbone]

Originally Posted by Pursuivant

This led to the trope of characters who looked like Friar Tuck laying the smack-down on.

Historical Euro-Style martial monks were closer to "Holy Warriors" in DF, and correspond to knightly orders such as the Teutonic Knights, Hospitallers, and Templars.

Friar Tuck is a pretty good inspiration for a martial artist character who's not a knight, gladiator, etc. The typical depiction of Tuck shares a lot with warrior monk Benkei.

I suppose Tuck can easily be built simply as a priest with unusually good fighting abilities. But reimagined as a full-fledged holy warrior? I can see that; holy warriors don't have to be all about swords and armor.

Now, replace his holy-powered abilities with chi-powered abilities, and he'd be a great fit for the OP concept.

[tbone]

Originally Posted by martinl

blame the hellgnome gninja

"Gninja". Heh. : )

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by Infornific

An alternate more radical thought would be to put the Monk back into Martial Artists. Make the Martial Artist a variant of the Holy Warrior - peasants and other commoners recruited to serve as guards and foot soldiers for the Church. Because they come from lowly backgrounds, their combat training reflects the tools available. They channel divine will to strengthen their bodies and martial prowess. They act as God's brass knuckles. In this variation, the Divine limitation replaces Chi but prayer & meditation still matter.

The Templars and Hospitallers, and perhaps other holy fighting orders, had three social grades of soldiers. There were brother-knights from aristocratic families in western Europe, and brother-sergeants* also from the West but lacking the aristocratic status, and as a third class "turcopoles" recruited in the East (and not entitled to retire to comfy commanderies in the West when their tours of duty in Outremer were done, but paid instead). Turcopoles were more lightly armed than knights and sergeants, but there is, sadly, no reason to suppose that they were taught esoteric unarmed fighting arts.

_____

* "Sergeant" meant "servant" at the beginning of the relevant period.