One of the way to do this is the recycle the new classes (or class archetypes) provided by D&D5 rules, and that are not normally available in a War of the Lance era campaign.
For example, we could have: "priests of Branchala are always bards."
Today, I want to focus on monks
Monks in D&D
I don't expect this to still be a problem in the 21th century, but D&D monks are, and always have been inspired by pop culture Shaolin-style monks. Not the European Name of the Rose-style monks.
So, yeah: D&D monks are spiritual, and also physically fit, unarmed (or exotically armed), warriors, able to harness something called ki to power supernatural effects.
Monks in Dragonlance
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| Not this kind of monk, though... |
Were it not for Majere being a god of monks (and one of my players loving them), I would have dumped that class from a War of the Lance era campaign, but one can't ignore Majere's followers, which lead me to two choices:
- Monk's powers are divine, and given by their gods: For me, this is as problematic as mages receiving their spells from their gods. This isn't what this class is about, so no.
- Monk's powers are "innate": This adds an exception for supernatural effects to be generated outside of the divine and arcane domains. It's not ideal, but I can live with that.
So, yeah, I chose the second solution: Monks are somehow able to tap into some kind of supernatural inner power, similar to the later eras' mystic class, and this is ok with everyone involved.
Majere
The god of discipline, meditation, thought (and, for some reason, industry... I'll ignore than from now on) has always been a natural fit for the monk. But Majere is a good-aligned god, which somehow implies that most (if not all) monks might be followers of Majere.
This is contradicted by D&D3.5 Dragonlance sourcebooks, though, but the "stigma" remains.
The order of monks of Majere is called Claren Elian, which seems to have been once tied to the Elian Isles and the Claren Elian ruins in these isles, east of Ansalon (The monks of these isles seem to have been "corrupted" into a sect of assassins by Takhisis at some point - see below).
In my campaign, all (class) monks revere Majere as the divine power of Discipline. But that doesn't make them priests or servants of Majere. Indeed, monks orders are simply that, orders. Some will follow a variant of some god's teachings, and others won't. But all of them will recognize Majere's Discipline as perfection of mind and body. Majere itself doesn't grant divine spells (and thus doesn't have priesthood in the cleric class sense of term).
Most monk orders teach the Way of the Open Hand, but some orders have experimented in alternative uses of the ki. In rule terms, most monks archetypes are suitable for monks, as long as there is a reason for that archetype to exist (most probably belonging to a specific order). These alternative orders of monks might or might not revere another god, in addition to following Majere's example.
The Emmide
The emmide, a staff-like weapon of monks of Majere, was described in the Holy Order of the Stars sourcebook, but was not updated since. Here is my D&D5 version, deriving from the D&D5 quarterstaff:
Emmide:
- Price: 2 sp
- Damage: 1d6 bludgeoning
- Weight: 2 kg (4 lbs)
- Special: Each attack can be either Reach (3 meters / 10 feet) or Versatile (1d8)
Other Ways, other Orders...
While most monk orders follow the teachings of Majere, and the Way of the Open Hand, each order has its own specificity, from the color and style of clothing, to even their approach to interaction with the outside world.
In addition to the default orders, you'll find below some known orders of Ansalon.
The Aesthetic Monks of Gilean
While the "aesthetic monks", based out of the Great Library of Palanthas, are monks in the denominative sense, I believe they are more similar to the western concept of monk, than the shaolin one.
Yet, the Great Library seems (conveniently) to be one of the two building having survived the destruction of Palanthas during the Blue Lady's war, thanks to the aesthetic's zeal:
The fact that it stood at all was due, in large part, to the heroics of the Aesthetics. Led by the rotund Bertrem, whose courage was kindled, so it was said, by the sight of a draconian daring to lay a clawed hand upon one of the sacred books, the Aesthetics attacked the enemy with such zeal and such a wild, reckless disregard for their own lives that few of the reptilian creatures escaped.
But, like the rest of Palanthas, the Aesthetics paid a grievous price for victory. Many of their order perished in the battle. These were mourned by their brethren, their ashes given honored rest among the books that they had sacrificed their lives to protect.- Test of the Twins, Book 3, Chapter 12
So, I guess I might make an exception, should I find a suitable archetype, and how can monks train in unarmed combat in a library...
These monks revere Gilean, and follow the Way of the Cobalt Soul (from the Critical Role campaign).
The Claren Elian of Takhisis
This order of monks seems to have emerged from humans enslaved to dwarves.
Since then, they have built their own power, and became spies, saboteurs and assassins for hire. Where other orders are more Shaolin-like, they are more ninja-like monks, proficient in infiltration, espionage, and assassinations, and bearing ninja-tos and shurikens as monk weapons.
In addition to the Way of the Open Hand (for those deemed unfit), the best monks of this order follow the Way of Shadows (Player Handbook). In addition to Majere as the divine power of Discipline, the Claren Elian have a reverence to Takhisis, for they see in her divine power of Control a mirror of their own efforts, and of course, because of her own mastery over darkness, mirroring their own.
Radiant Souls
In my campaign, an order apparently lost to time, the order of Radiant Souls went beyond the Way of the Open Hand, in a more militant way, able to harness their inner power into external, radiant energy.
Legends associated this order with Paladine (There is a slight mention in the Holy Orders of the Stars sourcebook, related to the prestige class Bright Warden of Paladine) or, more frequently, with Kiri-Jolith. In rule terms, these monks followed the Way of the Sun Soul (Xanathar's Guide to Everything), and a legendary monk from the Age of Dreams is rumored to be a Gold Dragon who, through spiritual discipline, ascended beyond fire, having a radiant breath weapon.
Ascendant Dragon
These monks learn to harness the power of dragons. While they might be tied to either Paladine or Takhisis, the truth is dragons are primordial creatures of Krynn, and harnessing their power is as natural as harnessing the power of the mountains, or of the water, for a monk martial artist.
In rule terms, they follow the Way of the Dragon Ascendant from the Fizban's Treasury of Dragons.
Orders associated with gods...
Below are seeds of ideas for monk orders, including official background information.
Sargonnas
Even if Sargonnas is Lawful Evil, and even if the D&D3.5 Dragonlance Campaign Setting explicitly mentions monks of Sargonnas, and if the Holy Orders of the Stars mention that Sargonnas is "lord of evil monks", I find it quite strange to have monks following the teaching of a god of anger, vengeance and rage.
In my campaign, despite how cool a minotaur monk might be, no monks of Sargonnas, unless I find a suitable archetype (some kind or raging monk?).
Sirrion
In the Holy Orders of the Stars sourcebook, it is mentioned that the Phaeton race has an order of monks, The Order of Sirithos, dedicated to Sirrion. While I'm not keen in non-meditative monks (see Sargonnas), Avatar: The Last Airbender has a pretty cool example of firebending monks, that somehow clicks it for me.
I've yet to find a Firebender-style monk archetype to dedicate it to these monks (the four elements archetype in the Player Handbook is not suitable), but in the meantime, using the Way of the Sun Soul archetype (Xanathar's Guide to Everything),but changing the element damage from Radiant to Fire does the trick.
Zivilyn
Probably the most "mystical" (as in "strange and mysterious") of all the gods, it is mentioned in the Holy Orders of the Stars sourcebook that some monks follow Zivilyn. They usually follow the Way of the Cobalt Soul (from the Critical Role campaign).
Conclusion
Here are the monks of Krynn, in my campaign.
They offer a great deal of variety, hopefully backed by suitable archetypes.
Next time, I'll delve into the Bard class...
