Official ICE Forums
Systems & Settings => Rolemaster => Topic started by: EltonJ on October 06, 2023, 11:40:50 AM
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Did anyone create a Channeling Monk profession for Rolemaster? I seem to remember that someone did, more than twenty years ago. Called it the Shaolin Monk (although in reality, they train as warrior monks). It was a profession for RMSS/RMFRP, if I remember correctly.
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RM2: Oriental Companion has a Yamabushi which is Semi-spell user Essence and Martial Arts. (Martial Arts is 1/2 which is pretty damned good for a semi) Variant of the Monk
Geisha is Semi-spell user with Martial arts at 2/7. Variant of the Dancer.
We never created any variants other than the optional Professions from Oriental Companion.
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RM2: Oriental Companion has a Yamabushi which is Semi-spell user Essence and Martial Arts. (Martial Arts is 1/2 which is pretty damned good for a semi) Variant of the Monk
Geisha is Semi-spell user with Martial arts at 2/7. Variant of the Dancer.
We never created any variants other than the optional Professions from Oriental Companion.
Okay. I was asking about RMSS though.
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I believe it is in Martial Arts Companion. I don't actually have that book, though, so I cannot confirm it.
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The Martial Arts Companion did not have a Channeling Monk. Love that book, but this was a complaint I had about it.
I created one (The Shaolin Monk) that was published in The Guild Companion (March 1999). It was essentially a marital arts version of the Paladin. Not sure where to find a link to that currently.
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You could use the Mythic as a template to work from. It is a great channeling SSU profession, but it is very much a holy slayer (I am firmly on the fence regarding the professions in ChCo : I love the Summoner and the Mythic, don't like the Warlock at all, and generally think that the tailoring of the Cleric profession to specific deities was half-baked at best - but in the author's defence, you would have needed a full profession building micro system to provide enough flexibility, in addition to a spell list building system).
I wouldn't call them Shaolin anything, though :) The Shaolin temple was Buddhist, but the Shaolin martial artists were much more warrior monks than anything else in my opinion. Perhaps the Yamabushi would be a better fit ?
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It was essentially a marital arts version of the Paladin.
So a Paladin who may marry or a married Paladin? :p
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You could use the Mythic as a template to work from. It is a great channeling SSU profession, but it is very much a holy slayer...
IMO it's actually fairly easy to convert. Just look at the skill cost differences between the Essence or Mentalism Semi and a Channeling Semi from core and mimic those differences starting with Essence or Mentalism Monks and what you create. It's usually a pretty minimal number of skills that change. From there you just need to decide what you're going to use for Base Spell Lists.
(I am firmly on the fence regarding the professions in ChCo : I love the Summoner and the Mythic, don't like the Warlock at all..., and generally think that the tailoring of the Cleric profession to specific deities was half-baked at best - but in the author's defence, you would have needed a full profession building micro system to provide enough flexibility, in addition to a spell list building system).
I think we could have done a better job on trying to provide direction on making sure you kept your Base Spell List selection balanced, but the overall concept of the Priest idea was slightly compromised by the (at that time) management of ICE. They wanted us to create a single static Profession (which defeated the entire purpose and we put our foot down against that) and we wanted a more robust process. So it turned out to be a compromise to a degree. As to the list of example sets of base lists that ended up in there, they added that themselves and I agree it was pretty... so-so.
I wouldn't call them Shaolin anything, though :) The Shaolin temple was Buddhist, but the Shaolin martial artists were much more warrior monks than anything else in my opinion. Perhaps the Yamabushi would be a better fit ?
Again, one of my favorite companions, but I would have liked to see the Martial Arts Companion be a little more traditional/historical.
It wasn't really, so when I created the Channeling Monk (and called it Shaolin) I didn't bother trying to be historically accurate at all.
It was essentially a marital arts version of the Paladin.
So a Paladin who may marry or a married Paladin? :p
Dammit that's the second time in a row. lol
For some reason my autocorrect likes to substitute Martial with Marital.