So, I’ve been thinking quite a bit about the lore behind this race/class combo recently. I’m not super familiar with Warcraft lore just yet, so I was hoping someone could add a little clarity for me.
Why Undead Monks? Like… that seems extremely uncharacteristic of the Undead. And wouldn’t the rotting bodies of the Undead hinder them from using their bodies as weapons?
I love the potential RP for this race/class combo, so I’m hoping to get a little insight on how to approach that. An “evil monk” sounds really awesome to me.
Thanks in advance for the help! =)
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Every race that preceded the Cataclysm ones was able to be a Monk. Undead included.
Hitting things with your fists is largely something every race should be able to do, regardless of level of mortality.
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Hmm… I see. Shame that there isn’t more to it. I guess you could just whack them with your arm if it falls off in combat? lol.
Thanks for the response!
There’s contradictory stuff about the hardiness of undead bodies. Sometimes they’re perfectly normal in terms of taking impacts in combat, and other times they’re on the verge of falling apart from the slightest thing. Unfortunately, as far as undead monks go, there’s basically no lore at all.
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Do you think that maybe it has to do with the individual fortitude of each Undead? I would imagine different bodies have varying levels of decay based on other factors. I dunno. A bit leery of running an Undead Monk for this reason. I haven’t played through MoP yet (just started WoD for the first time about an hour ago). I’m doing them out of order, which is probably a big no-no, but I’m a bit lost on how WoW handles expansion content. Was gonna go WoD, Legion, then BfA to get ready for Shadowlands because my time for playing probably wouldn’t allow me to do all of the expansions in time.
For RP reasons you could go with that. I’ve played around with the idea that maybe undead monks have learned how to focus their chi in a way that makes them more durable in battle.
As for expansion stuff, you should be fine. Generally speaking, the current plot threads are from Legion. There were one or two important lore consequences from WoD, but that’s it. Considering it took place in the past of an other planet in an alternate universe, it was never going to be too impactful.
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That doesn’t explain Undead Warriors or Rogues. The whole “they’re physically frail” thing is an absurd book-exclusive aberration, not reflected anywhere outside of BtS, and shouldn’t be given more credit than it deserves.
It wouldn’t be the first time we essentially had to dismiss something from a book. Rhonin insisted that human mages were outcasts from their society, feared and hated.
When presented with obviously contradictory information, it’s more sensible to identify the source of the dissonance and excise it than to twist the story into knots trying to accommodate both sides.
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Oooo. I like that. That’s really cool. Very smart.
And nice! Glad to hear it.
So, since it’s an alternative universe, does that mean Thrall is still alive? Or is he not? I’m super confused about him being in WoD.
Thrall in WoD was our Thrall.
There is no AU Thrall from the WoD timeline. And if anyone tells you it’s Geya’rah they are wrong.
Thrall is also not dead.
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Nice! Good to know.
Which expansion explains Thrall being okay? I’d love to experience that story for myself.
Thrall’s always been fine. While he has Element problems, he himself is healthy.
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I disagree, because a monk is more than just punches. It’s also one’s ability to attune themselves to the spirit-energy that is chi, and to channel this chi. In most tales, undead exist because they lack chi entirely, and their accursed state makes them thirst for it-- which is why you have the jiang-shi (AKA hopping vampires) who drain the living of their chi, killing them.
In an old-forum post I made back before MoP went live, I suggested the notion of there being a lore tidbit about undead monks practicing a “forbidden style” that stole chi from their enemies and the area around them, akin to the Hungry Ghost Monk from Pathfinder. It would mechanically change nothing, but explain how unliving things channel energy that suffuses the living.
Naturally we never got anything of the sort.
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I think Undead Monks are the only monks able to manipulate spirit magic, as that is a thing Monks do and it’s a class available to Undead. It makes sense too as unlike with Shamans, Monks usually only manipulate their own chi and it doesn’t require an attachment to nature of any kind.
Undead are simply once-living spirits reattached to dead bodies, so while there might be originally a blockage preventing full use of it. It could be used as a way of healing Forsaken that are more changed in undeath than others.
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forsaken body is as strong and sturdy as that forsaken willpower and spirit. Exactly what makes a good monk.
I mean, atleast that how it was until before the storm where undead are falling apart in real time and can’t even clap their hands.
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YeAh you can run around and Scream “ Bone 
Storm “…
I mean, there could easily be varying levels of undead hardiness… from those who are rock-solid and easily fit into the soldier/deathguard class… and those who may be only have been reanimated by the weakest of magics or in haste so that their constitution isn’t nearly as strong as their other undead brethren.
Insisting that all undead of are a certain type and that there exists no room for differences and variation is a dangerous road to take.
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They learned how to throw punches.
Literally. By detaching their fists.
<.<
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You can be undead and still fist people real hard.
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There is a Pandaren Monk Trainer who visited the Undead and train them how to be monks while the Undead there were trying to poison or kill the same Pandaren Monk Trainer but Pandaren had a Strong Stomach.
Of course to this very day the Pandaren is still called the Fist of Strong Stomach or something like that.
I adore the Pei Mei undying master route. Don’t mention chi, its much more enthralling and mysterious.