Dungeons and Dragons, by virtue of being the most popular tabletop RPG in the world, also has the biggest homebrew community. While the official DnD game is fine enough, I’ve always been drawn to the indie scene. Seeing what creatives can do, unshackled by corporate mandate, truly warms the heart. I especially love when folks underrepresented in the DnD community show off their stuff.
This homebrew subclass is a beautiful blend of cultural richness and pure badassery.
The Warrior of Pencak Silat by Low MP is a DnD 5.5e subclass for Monk. Among the most well-received changes to DnD 5.5e is the refinement of the martial DnD classes, and that has certainly made the once inconsistent Monk far more fun to homebrew. The Warrior of Pencak Silat is an agile subclass built around locks and throws to control the enemy, tossing them all around the battlefield.
While I could sit down and rant at you all day about the beauty of Pencak Silat (and trust me, I can), I have a better idea. If you somehow haven’t seen The Raid films, then do yourself a favor and watch this scene below to see Pencak Silat at its most hype. With how awesome that fight scene is still fresh in the mind, it’s time to see how the DnD Monk 5e plays with this new subclass.
The core Pencak Silat playstyle revolves around two techniques. Teknik Kuncian (Locking Technique) allows you to take a Bonus Action to make an Unarmed Strike against a creature you have grappled. On a hit, the foe is immediately knocked prone. Teknik Bantingan (Throwing Technique) transforms Deflect Attacks, allowing you to expend a Focus Point to violently throw a foe 10 feet in any direction.
What I love about this subclass is how flashy it is for a martial class. Sure, you could just punch someone, but there’s a special kind of satisfaction in absolutely bullying them with locks and throws first. Plus, the bonus of repositioning foes into the convenient range of your caster’s Fireball.
I discovered this subclass thanks to the Indonesian TTRPG Blogwagon Roundup. Despite the criminally low upvotes on Reddit, there’s a treasure trove of TTRPG homebrew to showcase what Indonesia can do in the scene. I highly recommend looking through those wonderful projects as well.
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Source: Wargamer
