# Monk Code of Honour?



## Wolffenjugend (Mar 27, 2004)

I'm looking for something to base a LN monk's code of honour on. Any (online) suggestions?


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## LoneWolf23 (Mar 27, 2004)

Wolffenjugend said:
			
		

> I'm looking for something to base a LN monk's code of honour on. Any (online) suggestions?




Well, I believe the Shaolin Code of Honor was rather simple, focusing on installing Discipline and a Love of Peace in it's practitionners; daily regimens of training, meditations on ancient lore and spiritual teachings, and an attitude towards combat that basically goes "don't kill if you can maim; don't maim if you can subdue; don't subdue if you can avoid a fight altogether."  

An alternate Code of Honor more appropriate for an evil secret society could be similar to the path of the Arabic Hashashin, who followed a strict, radical interpretation of the Q'uran, followed their masters to the letter and gave their lives in the pursuit of their missions.

Basically, think of the reason why the School of Fighting Arts your Monk is a student of exists in the campaign world, and build a code of honor on that.  A school that was founded to teach peasents to defend themselves against bandits will make it's students travel amongst peasent villagers to watch for bandit raids or abusive overlords; a school of royal bodyguards will indoctrinate it's students to show total devotion to the Crown; a school of monks created by an evil cult to make excellent assassins will focus on absolute loyalty to the cult's masters and complete ruthlessness in accomplishing it's mission.

It's all up to you.


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## Hand of Evil (Mar 27, 2004)

From a quick seach on taekwondo code of honor I got this:

The great monk and scholar, Won-Gwang Bopsah, authored the famous Five Codes of Honor or Five Commandments — the basic rules of Hwarang-Do. These tenets form the basis of Taekwondo and are:

• Loyalty to the King and Nation. 
• Respect and obedience to one's parents. 
• Faithfulness to one's friends. 
• Courage in battle and not to retreat. 
• Avoidance of unnecessary violence and killing.  

http://www.mntaekwondocenter.com/resources/history2.html

You should be able to find more based on the martial art being used.


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## Wolffenjugend (Mar 28, 2004)

I've got a LN monk who has never defined his character's code of honour. Basically, the player never made a code so he wouldn't have to abide by one. It's a good campaign and he wants to be evil so I'm finding that he is regularly crossing the line into evil. I want to make a code of honour so we'll both have a better grasp of what's "good" and what's "bad".

As for his character, he's an exile whose father was a lord who was framed and murdered by his rivals. The monk and his sister fled and are seeking out fellow exiles to help them reclaim their heritage.

The monk's clan is a small one in a nation dominated by major clans. It's loosely based off the Mantis Clan from Rokugan.


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## Hand of Evil (Mar 28, 2004)

Another

The Seven (7) Virtues of Bushido
Benevolence 	
Politeness 
Courage 	
Justice 	
Honor 	
Veracity 	
Loyalty​


http://www.dartmouth.edu/~aiki/training.shtml


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## Particle_Man (Mar 28, 2004)

Wolffenjugend said:
			
		

> I've got a LN monk who has never defined his character's code of honour. Basically, the player never made a code so he wouldn't have to abide by one. It's a good campaign and he wants to be evil so I'm finding that he is regularly crossing the line into evil. I want to make a code of honour so we'll both have a better grasp of what's "good" and what's "bad".




Well if it is a good campaign, you could also tell him that there are no evil pcs.  Then tell him that you are monitoring his alignment drift, and if he does too many evil acts, he becomes LE instead of LN and permanently becomes an NPC in your world.  That should solve the problem.  To help him know when he is in the danger zone, you two could work together on a code that will define what counts as evil, and basically say "don't do these evil things".  Emphasize that this is just to help him out, and that you will be monitoring his alignment drift whether he has a code or not.  A Code of honour would be useful in-game to give him guidelines vs. this drift, so he might be sold on it.  So since evil is associated with being completely selfish and with causing gratuitous pain and suffering to others, you could model the code on that.  If he doesn't want a formal code, then you can still monitor his alignment drift (since he can't voluntarily do without alignment in your campaign).


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## Axegrrl (Mar 28, 2004)

I've found several codes for Lawful Good, and some for Lawful Evil, but none for Lawful _Neutral_. Any suggestions? Or do you just take one of the above, and throw in the occaisional evil deed to balance things? (That, I'd rather avoid.)


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## kamosa (Mar 28, 2004)

Wolffenjugend said:
			
		

> I'm looking for something to base a LN monk's code of honour on. Any (online) suggestions?




I always liked Odo from Deep Space Nine's code of ethics.  

1) There is justice, and I know it when I see it.
2) The rules are in consequetial compared to my sense of right and wrong.
3) I don't care who is in charge, they will bend to my rules of order.
4) No one is above the my sense of law.


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## Axegrrl (Mar 28, 2004)

kamosa said:
			
		

> 2) *The rules are inconsequetial* compared to my sense of right and wrong.
> 3) *I don't care who is in charge*, they will bend to my rules of order.
> 4) No one is above the my sense of law.



I dunno, the stuff I bolded sounds pretty chaotic to me....


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## Kahuna Burger (Mar 28, 2004)

Axegrrl said:
			
		

> I've found several codes for Lawful Good, and some for Lawful Evil, but none for Lawful _Neutral_. Any suggestions? Or do you just take one of the above, and throw in the occaisional evil deed to balance things? (That, I'd rather avoid.)



 Actually, this one from hand of evil : 







> These tenets form the basis of Taekwondo and are:
> 
> • Loyalty to the King and Nation.
> • Respect and obedience to one's parents.
> ...




works as lawful neutral to me. the loyalty to authority figures regardless of their ethics, faithfulness to friends, but not neccassarily any person you meet, avoid unneccasary violence, but no obligation to end violence you aren't involved in, or activly help anyone - I think this is comfortably neutral, especially if you consider the order of the tenets to also be their priority.

Kahuna Burger


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## kamosa (Mar 28, 2004)

Axegrrl said:
			
		

> I dunno, the stuff I bolded sounds pretty chaotic to me....




Let me rephrase. There was nothing chaotic about Odo.  He had a set of laws that he followed, and the laws of the government in charge of the station where inconsequential compared to his internal set of rules.  There's good, there's evil and then there's my set of rules.

Example:  Something would happen on the station.  Odo would investigate it until the trail would lead to a place where continuing the investigation would violate Star Fleet rules.  Odo would say something like, well I'm not Star Fleet and continue to investigate.  IE How many times did he sneak into Quarks back room based on a hunch that something was going on that he should know about, no search warrant, no probable cause, just a hunch.

To me that's lawful neutral.


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## Wolffenjugend (Mar 28, 2004)

The player knows there are no evil characters and he will become an NPC if his alignment shifts. But his argument will be that he hasn't committed an evil act (or, more likely, that he hasn't committed a chaotic act). And the fact that he has no code gives him a better argument to say an act didn't violate his alignment. Thus, the reason for my post. 

I'm pretty sure he's doing this to avoid having to create limitations for his character as he's been told several times to create a code for himself. It's now getting to the point where I'm going to create it for him.

p.s. let's get back on topic and not move into a debate re: what constitutes LN please.


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## Axegrrl (Mar 28, 2004)

kamosa said:
			
		

> Let me rephrase. There was nothing chaotic about Odo.  He had a set of laws that he followed, and the laws of the government in charge of the station where inconsequential compared to his internal set of rules.  There's good, there's evil and then there's my set of rules.
> 
> Example:  Something would happen on the station.  Odo would investigate it until the trail would lead to a place where continuing the investigation would violate Star Fleet rules.  Odo would say something like, well I'm not Star Fleet and continue to investigate.  IE How many times did he sneak into Quarks back room based on a hunch that something was going on that he should know about, no search warrant, no probable cause, just a hunch.
> 
> To me that's lawful neutral.



To me, that's a mix of Lawful and Chaotic Neutral.

From PH, p. 103: 
"Lawful characters tell the truth, keep their word, *respect authority*.... Chaotic characters *follow their conscience*, *resent being told what to do*.... 'Law' implies... *obedience to athority*...."

A bit farther down, there's more text about neutral vs lawful or chaotic. That's what seems to fit Odo best. 

I think I like the one from Kahuna Burger... now, how would you fit that into a situation where there is no king or nation? Loyalty to the city/town/etc works while you're in it, but what about when you're elsewhere?


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## Bendris Noulg (Mar 28, 2004)

Axegrrl said:
			
		

> A bit farther down, there's more text about neutral vs lawful or chaotic. That's what seems to fit Odo best.



An understanding about Odo, however: He's seen the station change hands some half-dozen times (Cardasian to Star Fleet, to Bajoran, back to Star Fleet, to Dominion/Cardasian, then back to Star Fleet).  In that time, his primary concern has remained (primarily) to keep the station running, operational, and crime-free (with definate leanings of prefering Star Fleet control over the others).  In addition, he's not a member of _any_ of those regimes (although his race rules the Dominion, he's always remained seperate of them until the end of the series, when he becomes their leader and hope for the future).

In short, Odo had _his_ code of rules, and once you knew what they were, you could count on him to stick to them.



> I think I like the one from Kahuna Burger... now, how would you fit that into a situation where there is no king or nation? Loyalty to the city/town/etc works while you're in it, but what about when you're elsewhere?



Your order, your people, your deity, the Grandfather of Spring, etc.

Loyalty to a city/town/etc. also works outside of that town; enemies abound and there are traitors everywhere.  By vanquishing the powers of Chaos (and, in theory, Evil), one is making the world a safer place, and that benefits the [population center of choice].

And yes, those posted by Hand of Evil are good (ehr...  Lawful Neutral).


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