This is from Wikipedia:
Dungeons & Dragons
The original monk character class was created by Brian Blume, inspired by the fictional martial arts of the Destroyer series of novels.[2] The monk was introduced in 1975's Blackmoor supplement.
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition
The monk was available as a character class known as a "mystic" in the game's "Basic" edition, introduced in the Dungeons & Dragons Master Set.
In 1985, the next official revision of the monk appeared as a character class in the first edition Oriental Adventures rulebook, by Gary Gygax and David Cook.[7] This version retained most of the class as presented in the first edition Players Handbook, but replaced the abstract hand-to-hand attacks with a more specific rules system to emulate different styles of martial arts (such as karate, judo, etc.). According to a reviewer for White Dwarf, this version of the monk was "altered to fit into an Eastern pattern", and was "at last in the proper context".[8]
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I have to admit I never knew this. I always assumed that they were aware of the eastern origins of the monk class from that start. But it looks like it was just a Kill Bill style character that inspired the whole thing (just an assassin that knows karate).
After that they started thinking "where does all this come from....oh yea -- duh -- Asia." After that they proceeded to make it a more "oriental" themed class.
So its true that there is an origin of monk as a class that is basically martial arts wielding assassins. But I still claim it would be better just to let rogues pick up martial arts as part of their kit. Maybe a subtype of Rogue for example.
Meanwhile, throughout most of RPG history monk has clearly been a reference to the Asian-trained karate guy in the group. When I played AD&D as a kid, it was the 2nd edition and monk wasn't in the players handbook. So I couldn't imagine why some one would argue otherwise.
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