Monk Signature Moves

Introduction

Avlis is home to numerous monk orders, many of whom practice their own style of martial arts. While styles often overlap and use similar or identical techniques, some orders develop moves or abilities unique to their martial arts systems. These "signature moves" are sometimes kept as closely-guarded secrets, but even secret techniques can be stolen or leaked for others to learn. Other orders are more open, and teach their signature moves to those who are willing and able to learn them.

This system allows characters with monk levels to train and gain access to additional abilities known as signature moves. The abilities are divided into separate schools.

Getting Started

The Signature Move System uses chat commands. There are only two commands:

/sigmov xp: This will tell you how much Signature Move XP and how many Signature Move levels you have, as well as your monk's current school.
/sigmov N: This will allow you to perform a Signature Move, where N is the number of the move. However, in order to perform a move you must first learn it.
/sigmov switchschool X: This will allow you to switch schools, where X is the school number. (more on schools below)

Learning a Move

To learn a Signature Move, you first must find a book or scroll that contains instructions on how to perform the move. These books or scrolls can often be found at the monk order which developed the move. In other cases some searching may be involved; many monks wander the land, traveling from dojo to dojo, and some of them may happen to carry Signature Move books or scrolls.

Once a book or scroll has been acquired, you must study it in order to try and learn the move. Studying requires a Wisdom check; each Signature Move has its own learn DC. The Wisdom check is positively modified by the following:

Effective Level: your PC's monk levels.
Signature Move Level: the number of Signature Move levels your PC has in his current school. Signature Move level progression is the same as character levels.
Feats: the following feats each give a +3 modifier to the check - Weapon Focus Unarmed Strike, Weapon Specialization Unarmed Strike, Improve Critical Unarmed Strike, Epic Weapon Focus Unarmed Strike, and Epic Weapon Specialization Unarmed Strike.

If you beat the move's learn DC, the difference between your modified roll and the DC is the percentage that you learned the move. Every move will require that its book or scroll be studied multiple times before fully learning the move and becoming able to use it.

Example. Gram Jamjeans is a 20th level monk with a Wisdom of 20. He tries to learn his first Signature Move, Power Possum Parry. The learn DC for the move is 15. Gram rolls a 5 for his Wisdom check. With his 20 WIS his ability modifier is +5; adding this to his roll as well as his effective level of 20 (for his 20 monk level) his modified roll is 30. Gram also has both Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization in Unarmed Strike, further raising his roll to 36. This easily beats the DC of 15. He has made progress of 21% (36 - 15) towards learning Power Possum Parry. He will need to keep studying and training before he fully learns the move.

Performing a Move

As mentioned above, once learned a signature move is performed via chat command. However, there are some limitations on performing moves:

You must have monk levels to perform a move.
You can only perform a move if it belongs to your current school. (more on schools below)
You cannot perform a signature move while wearing any kind of armor.
You cannot perform a signature move with a shield equipped.
Many signature moves have a duration. You cannot perform a signature move while another signature move is still in effect.
Some signature moves require certain items to be equipped, such as gloves or specific weapon types such as kamas.

Also, all signature moves require the usage of one of four monk feats: Stunning Fist, Wholeness of Body, Quivering Palm, or Empty Body. If you do not have the required feat for a particular move, you will be unable to learn it. For example, a character with 10 monk levels will be unable to learn the move Dragon Uppercut, since that move requires a usage of Empty Body, a feat that can only acquired by having at least 18 monk levels. If you don't have any usages left of the required feat for a signature move, you won't be able to use that move until you rest.

There is no check to perform a move; as long as the conditions above are met, when a move is performed success is automatic. Every time you perform a signature move, you gain Signature Move XP.

Schools and Signature Moves

Signature Moves are categorized into different schools. There are currently four different schools:

School of the Open Palm: focuses on defensive abilities
School of the Closed Fist: focuses on offensive abilities and weapons usage
School Mountain and Sea: combines a variety of different moves/abilities
School of Meta Ki Manipulation: focuses on channeling ki for a variety of effects

You can only use signature moves that belong to the same school. Once you have chosen a school, you will learn Signature Move XP and gain Signature Move levels when performing moves in that school. This is important because moves increase in power relative to your Signature Move level.

Changing Schools: it is possible to change schools. To change schools, simply learn a move that belongs to a different school than your current one. However, when you change schools, your Signature Move XP is lost, and you must start over at Signature Move level 1.

You never forget a move that you have learned, but you can only use moves in your current school. If you change schools back to a school in which you had previously learned moves, then you will be able to use those moves again without relearning them, but whenever you change schools, even when changing back to an old one, you lose all Signature Move XP and must start over. You can also switch back to a school in which you have previously learned moves by typing "/sigmove switchschool X" where X is a number based on the school:

School of the Open Palm: 1
School of the Closed Fist: 2
School Mountain and Sea: 3
School of Meta Ki Manipulation: 4

Example: after successfully learning Possum Power Parry, Gram Jamjeans went on to learn other moves in its school, the School of the Open Palm. He gains 5,000 Signature Move XP, enough to reach 10th level, when he decides to try a different school. Gram learns Draining Palm and transfers to the School of the Closed Fist. He loses all of his Signature Move XP and is back at 1st level. After a week he has gained 1,000 Signature Move XP and reached 2nd level, but he realizes that this school is not for him. Gram decides to switch back to the School of the Open Palm. When he does so he is instantly able to use Possum Power Parry again, but his Signature Move XP is once more reset to 0, and he must once again start over at 1st level.