In my 3.5 game I want to make a monk 2/druid 5.
How do I fluff "man I was learning kung fu and then one day i decided to go into the woods to learn how to turn into a bear!"
basically, master taught me "bear style".
Maybe your monk saw the strength and ferocity that animals have, and decided that he could learn more from nature than he ever could at his dojo.
See pic related.
>>47881959
Monk who uses Animal-themed martial arts. Crane Kick, Tiger Claw, Monkey's Palm, etc. all involve him morphing into the respective animal.
>>47881959
It could be that you'd always followed teachings that were a mix of druidism and martial arts.
If you do want the "learning kung fu, then suddenly bears" narrative, your character could have come into contact with a charismatic druid who showed him another side of life. It's entirely possible both characters worship the same deity too - there are nature monks in most settings. Maybe your character had been raised with one understanding of a nature deity in an ascetic monastery, before meeting the druid.
>>47881959
You were meditating on a cold winter's day, trying to achieve inner peace.
You felt your spirit detatch from your body and ascend the spiritual levels or whatever the fuck.
But you are stopped by an invisible force, unable to proceed.
You hear a roar and shit your robe, and see a hibernating bear spirit shoot past you to a higher level.
You realise that in order to go further you must become a bear.
One day you where just practicing bear style when suddenly you bear'd so hard you became an actual bear.
>>47881959
Monks reach different consensus through meditation all the time. One finds that humans HAVE to die for the rest of the world to live which has the bonus of ending war and keeping nature in balance. Another finds that humans merely need stricter discipline, inner and outer, to maintain natures balance and beauty. One might come to a realization that nature has that shit figured out and on lockdown and maybe he should have some hands on experience with that shit to figure out why its so easy for the animals and so hard for us what with us being smart and everything.
>>47881993
>>47882004
>>47882021
This is mostly likely
>>47882104
But OP should fucking use this.
>Be me.
>Jade Lotus Path. Pleb tier but better than reincarnating.
>Other student spontaneously speaks actual revelation in meditation hall, becomes Senpai.
>Other student will not stop trying same thing
>MFW can't hear self not-thinking.
>Go meditate in forest.
>Can't not-think for local black bear population fucking, shitting on ground, eating noisily.
>Realize bears living idyllic life literally surrounded by food.
>Bear instincts greater than human overcomplicating
>TFW Bears teach you the true Zen
>Master has you performing some difficult character-building task
>carrying rocks up 1000 flights of stairs or some shit
>complain about it, "Master, these rocks are too heavy!"
>Master replies :You just have to bear it."
>take it literally, because 6 INT
>>47881959
otherkin
>>47886357
>>47887534
>All the anons not getting the Kung Fu Panda reference.
