Apr 17 2009
Making My Monk Unique
What is she talking about? Johnny’s Five applied below.
Chiyoko, being a monk, is already built for light, quick movements in combat. This is part of what I like about playing rogues, and it does distinguish combat style and movement easily. What I want to do is explore a little more about how, in play, I can make her come alive.
Several things have come to mind. Already in my mind, Chiyoko is the stereotype of the Asian fighting monk; there may be belts involved, and certainly honor is extremely important to her. She may do things to maintain her honor that aren’t necessarily the most logical action, and I think this is how I will be interpreting her Lawful Good into play (this has taken some consideration since I rarely play lawful). If she believes that her honor, the honor of her dojo, or the honor of her friends is at stake, she may be willing to sacrifice herself or any tools at her disposal to rectify the situation. This covers my bases in terms of how and why I will be making decisions, and I’m pretty excited to try it in play and see if I can stick to it!
The next thing I’ve been imagining is that she may speak very cleanly and very formally. In fact, I’ve been thinking a little like Teal’c from Stargate SG-1. I’m working on specific, easy to do and remember verbal patterns, but I think that for sure I’ll be using that fabulously flat “indeed.” Beyond that I’m considering never saying yes, instead using “That is correct” or something similar, and never using contractions in a sentence (always saying I am, not I’m, I would, not I’d, have not, not haven’t etc.) I think the combination will keep things very clean and formal, just the way I imagine her.
Other than that, I tend to like to have a sketch of my character so that I have her set in my mind, even if no one else does. It makes my descriptions of myself better, and gives me a better idea of what I can physically do. Sure, I’m medium sized, but if the window is a 4 feet off the ground and I’m 6 feet tall, I’d have to hunch. I like playing to the slight physical differences that inevitably happen within the general size categories. Sketch to be appended later, with luck.
