Part one of my Atonement post to @actualanxiousswampwitch​ for not informing her that the main Monk AOE is punching the ground to wreck things. Her demands were simple. Show her shiny weapons. 

These are the weapons that I currently own, I’ll have to put the ones that I want in another post, there are considerably more. 

Top to bottom, Left to Right.

Endless Expanse Patas (Bubbles!)

Hellish Claws (These are my favorites, I’ve had them for probably 6 years. They aren’t shiny, but they are cool as hell.)

Fist of Crags (unaugmented - unimpressive, but I wrestled them from Titan and they hang on my wall)

Fists of the Fiend (I...honestly have no idea where these came from. They might have been a gift from my husband from Zadnor)

Thundercrack (unaugmented - the augmented ones are hella cool. And expensive.)

Seeing Horde Knuckles (Got them on sale, I think someone priced them wrong and I yoinked)

Shiva’s Diamond Claws (I’ve had these from start to finish, one of the few new that you can upgrade with drops from the EX Primal material drops. For any interested, the person who upgrades your Primal weapons is just outside of the main Aetheryte chamber on Ul’dah, to the left. I don’t know where the other countries keep theirs.)

Fists of the Goddess (Another one that I got on sale. Because I’m cheap in game and in real life. Yet, still always broke.)

Antiquated Sudarshana Chakra (These are my currently equipped ones that I didn’t want to glamour over. They sparkle)

I hope this appeases you mistress! I’ll post my wishlist later. Bonus pic of my Monk waaaaaay back when she hit level 50 (monk was the first class that I finished ARR with. Before Heavensward Dropped.) and got her Hellish Claws and ugly yellow tunic. 

You’re not going to think of this one as a monk weapon and that’s okay. The jian is the Gentleman of weapons, as they say, an elegant weapon from a more civilized age. It is a very slender one handed sword, equivalent to an arming sword in its use, but not unlike the rapier in its cultural purpose. That is to say, the jian is a weapon for refined sorts, worn for defense or duels Unlike the heavier, more battlefield-oriented dao sword, the jian favors precise cuts targeting the wrist or vitals and thrusts that take advantage of the weapon’s speed and the user’s grace and flexibility. Though, as a truly ancient weapon dating back millennia, thicker-bladed jian were not unseen on the battlefield, they still are associated more with officers than infantry. Definitely a dexterity sort of weapon. Jian users fence, bending down to attack from low angles and making small cuts at the face or throat, flowing from parries into thrusts, overwhelming more brutish opponents with subtle swordplay, and doing so without spilling their tea. Some say the brightly colored tassel on the end of a jian distracts the eye from the weapon’s movements, though that sounds unlikely.

A character who uses the jian cannot help but look elegant. Example characters include the lead characters of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, who battle over the legendary Green Destiny jian, Xianghua from Soul Calibur, and Master Piandao from Avatar, who teaches Sokka the weapon (Sokka isn’t quite the refined gentleman sort that his master is, but even he shows a grace he usually didn’t before he trained in the jian. The way Obi-wan handles his lightsaber in the prequels feels a bit reminiscent of one as well.

Unfortunately, unless you want to fluff it as a shortsword in 5e or as a temple sword in Pathfinder, the jian is a difficult weapon for a standard monk to use, despite it being one of the principal four weapons of wushu (along with the staff, spear, and the dao saber.) Try taking a kensei or sohei subclass/archetype if you really want to use a sword, and try either the longsword (which resembles the jian in form and length) or perhaps refluffing a rapier (to give you a thrusting type weapon with Finesse. 

Monks are famous for their use of exotic weapons. While historically, warrior monks like the Shaolin or Japan’s sohei were often proficient in the same swords and spears that secular warriors used, the Shaolin in particular were also known for a variety of complex and strange implements. Because the Shaolin and their incarnations in classic kung-fu movies are the backbone of the Monk fantasy class, one of the mechanical niches of the class, along with unarmed attacks, mobility, light/no armor, and qi/ki, is the exotic weapon. One of the few things I really like about the 5e monk is the Martial Arts feature that allows them to deal the same damage with a weapon as with their unarmed progression. In older editions, you can use an exotic weapon alongside your fists in a flurry to switch up the combat maneuvers, reach, or damage types you do. An exotic weapon is usually a weapon considered too complex, too foreign by the standards of a pan-European medieval fantasy, or too fantastic (read: made up by game developers and not historical) to be usable by the average warrior. This includes many of the weapons of Eastern martial arts that are not universal (like the spear.) When you train in weapons a bit you quickly develop a feel for whether or not an exotic weapon is that way because it’s hard, because it’s too Asian, or because it’s garbage and the game developer didn’t think it through (looking at you, dire flail.) In Chinese martial arts as well as some other comprehensive traditions, like the Indian ones, a warrior begins with the bare hands. The first weapon they are taught is the staff. The movements for the staff translate to the spear, of course, but also any type of sword or polearm or flexible weapon. Think of it as an unlock tree in a game - skill ranks for barehand or staff unlock weapons or better techniques in later weapons. A warrior using a flashy, exotic weapon like the chainwhip or guandao is, then a warrior who has mastered other more common weapons. 

Consider, if you are playing a character who uses an exotic weapon that they should not be a beginner and that it should not be the only weapon they know. When using a character or NPC wielding an exotic weapon, you can play up the variety of their training. Perhaps they got bored with the spear and wanted a challenge, or perhaps they ran into a foe their sword could not match and got creative (this scene happens in the 36 Chambers of Shaolin where the protagonist invents the three section staff to defeat an opponent he cannot overcome.) For a less serious NPC you can subvert the idea of comprehensive training: perhaps they use the emei piercers because they were trained wrong and don’t know how to use unarmed flurry?

In summary: Monks are strongly associated with the weapons too strange for Fighters. This is because they’re part of a training program that includes a wide variety of sometimes specialized weapons. I’m going to do a series of posts highlighting the various weapons of the Monk class, their uses and what makes them special.

Gun, Bou, or a thousand other things

In China, the staff is known as the “Grandfather of Weapons.” Not only is it, prehistorically, one of the first things humans must have used to fight with, but it is even for modern martial artists the beginning of their weapons training: the staff’s training translates to swords, polearms, or flexible weapons. Because the staff is so easy to make in all but the most resource-poor environments, and its use as a walking stick makes it an option in all but the most restrictive environment, it is a weapon and tool one will see in virtually every setting. Staves made of waxwood, oak or ash are good, but bamboo, rattan, or even metals can exist depending on the user’s needs for flexibility and weight. 

Staff users are incredibly common in media - among other things, they do not connote a particular country or culture the way the sanjiegun or kama do. A European or African themed character is just as comfortable with them as an Asian one. One of the most famous staff users is the Monkey King Sun Wukong, whose Ruyi Jingu Bang changes size and length freely. Other staff users are very common, even excluding mages.

Another monk weapon monks aren’t naturally proficient in, but I think it’s important. Not all monks are D&D characters after all. The basic polearm concept of “sword on a stick” is ubiquitous in cultures with metal bladed weapons. The bill, voulge, the Thai ngao, and swordstaff are examples, but let’s look to East Asia as we so often do with the monk.

The guandao, or yanyuedao( 偃月刀 ) is one of the iconic weapons of Chinese martial arts. Resembling a heavy curved dao sword on a heavy halberd shaft, the weapon was supposedly created by the general of the Three Kingdoms Period, Guan Yu. A man whose size, prowess, skill and honor made him a God of War, his weapon was called the Green Dragon Crescent Blade and said to weigh 40 pounds. At least, in the famous Romance of the Three Kingdoms it does. A real yanyuedao does not weigh anything like that much, but the weapon is one of the heaviest of the traditional weapons and wielding one in a single hand like Guan Yu makes you a mighty warrior indeed. A yanyuedao user, like any two handed weapon fighter, is a strongman, able to break shields and cleave through foes. He may also be a horseman:like Guan Yu, users of this weapon can ride down their foes. These aren’t traditional monk roles, but a multiclass, alternate archetype/subclass, or a less D&D based Chinese warrior can use this weapon to great effect. If you are looking for less “general” and more “temple warrior” flavor, the yanyuedao is also practiced at Shaolin. It is a weapon for a fierce monk who is not afraid to slaughter, a weapon better suited for leading the charge into battle than for tournaments or self-defense. Shaolin notwithstanding it suits a secular character a bit more than it does a priestly one.

The meteor hammer is a weight on the end of a long rope or chain. Some are double ended, (two weights on either side) and some are a bit more exotic (replacing the lemon-like weight with a spiked morningstar, a carved fist, or even something gigantic that only works in fantasy. It is an advanced Shaolin weapon.

In D&D and games inspired by it, the acquisition of powerful and magical weapons is a part of character progression. Part of a character’s power and mystique will be finding their Holy Avenger, their Staff of Power, their Dagger of Shadows. But the unarmed combat specialist class is locked out of that aspect of advancement. Often, monk characters have built into the system bonuses for fighting with their fists, but sometimes it’s not enough. Sometimes their fists need augmentation

Handwraps, cestus, knuckledusters, gauntlets, tekko, even padded gloves in more sport scenarios all serve the purpose of protecting and toughening the hand. The human skull is harder than the untrained human fingerbones. A dedicated professional will condition the bones, using microfractures to toughen them up - in China they punch mung beans and move up to punching sand so that when your fists strike wood or bone they don’t break. Even a karateka whose fingers are so toughened that they can stab their hand into a bucket of gravel must still contend with the toughness of the human skull and the sharpness of the jaw and teeth, and that’s not even taking into account the many types of armored and magically enhanced opponents that a fantasy monk must punch.

Handwraps are used in a wide variety of martial arts and are a must for a modern practitioner. They stabilize the bones and keep them from grinding or being displaced, distributing the force of a punch protectively. Stiff cloth also offers some protection from an enemy’s teeth, the sharp edges of their clothes, and other things that can slice the knuckles.They do not add much to the weight or hardness of the fist, though, a Muay Boran variant of the handwraps uses rope instead of cloth and can be dipped in salt water to make the wraps hard and capable of slashing the target. 

The cestus is a leather wrap for the hand that resembles a partial glove. Some have many layers of thick leather, or even metal studs that go over the knuckle. They provide a barrier to absorb some force and prevent cuts to the hands, and the ones with stiffer or metallic knuckles concentrate more of the force from the punch in a smaller area. Absorbing some of the force from a punch is also the purpose of a standard glove or a boxing/mma glove, though a cestus is less kind for the victim of the punch and a standard glove is less protective of the puncher. Wearing metal gauntlets to punch is not overwhelmingly protective of the puncher, but steel on your fists have an obvious effect on the target, and gauntlets can be spiked if the puncher is more interested in gore than they are finesse.

Knuckledusters, or brass knuckles, are made of a stiff material (usually metal) that curls around the fingers and rests in the palm. Tekko are D-shaped pieces of metal and/or wood that are also grasped in the palm and cover the fingers. What these do is transfer force from the tarsal bones in the heel of the hand directly into a small amount of the opponent, involving the fingers a lot less in the punch. Because the force comes from a smaller area, the punch is more able to break bones, and the fingers don’t need to be as conditioned to do it. Knuckledusters are also very concealable weapons, fitting inside a pocket with no telltale bulge. Tekko can also be used to deflect weapons in a way a bare hand has extreme difficulty doing. Tekko-kagi, or the Indian bagh nakh kick the brass knuckles up a notch by adding claw blades, allowing a fighter with human hands to slash her foes like an animal. Claw blades are much more exotic and strange than regular fist weapons and completely change the impression of a character using them.

Qiang, Yari,  槍

The Chinese call the spear the King of Weapons. In my fighting experience, this is true.In 5e it has the versatile trait. It has this in real life as well, but it does even more than it can in game. It can be used like a staff, striking from both ends. It can be braced to stop a cavalry charge and its reach allows you to negate the advantage of a horseman, a beast, or a larger, stronger foe. It can grant reach, or be grasped under the head for close work. It can be thrown, or used alongside a shield. It can slash, bludgeon, and even a warrior of moderate strength can pierce deeply with it. It is used by every culture, by peasants, monks, hunters, warriors, and lords. A monk who uses a spear is a warrior: because a spear cannot be worn or concealed, carrying one indicates your willingness to fight to the death. It might imply that one’s sect is militant, if you are playing as a religious ascetic. If you are playing a more rough and tumble martial artist, you’re perhaps more interested in fighting in war or defeating foes permanently than you are in winning tournaments or bar brawls. 

Because of a spear’s length, it’s harder to use indoors, and the longer spears are less effective in duels than they are in formations. Spears can range from short, stabbing and striking weapons to massive pikes, but the 20 foot anti-cavalry block weapons are probably not what adventurers go to when they pick a weapon. Assume a spear is between the user’s height and about 10 feet long for adventuring use. An advantage to reach is the ability to fight from behind your ally; attack foes who might otherwise be protected by their allies or by the terrain, flank from unusual positions, or just swarm a target with more attackers than they thought possible. The reach of a spear allows you to control space: nobody enters or leaves without contending with your weapon.