Monk Weapons: Fist-Load Weapons
In D&D and games inspired by it, the acquisition of powerful and magical weapons is a part of character progression. Part of a character’s power and mystique will be finding their Holy Avenger, their Staff of Power, their Dagger of Shadows. But the unarmed combat specialist class is locked out of that aspect of advancement. Often, monk characters have built into the system bonuses for fighting with their fists, but sometimes it’s not enough. Sometimes their fists need augmentation
Handwraps, cestus, knuckledusters, gauntlets, tekko, even padded gloves in more sport scenarios all serve the purpose of protecting and toughening the hand. The human skull is harder than the untrained human fingerbones. A dedicated professional will condition the bones, using microfractures to toughen them up - in China they punch mung beans and move up to punching sand so that when your fists strike wood or bone they don’t break. Even a karateka whose fingers are so toughened that they can stab their hand into a bucket of gravel must still contend with the toughness of the human skull and the sharpness of the jaw and teeth, and that’s not even taking into account the many types of armored and magically enhanced opponents that a fantasy monk must punch.
Handwraps are used in a wide variety of martial arts and are a must for a modern practitioner. They stabilize the bones and keep them from grinding or being displaced, distributing the force of a punch protectively. Stiff cloth also offers some protection from an enemy’s teeth, the sharp edges of their clothes, and other things that can slice the knuckles.They do not add much to the weight or hardness of the fist, though, a Muay Boran variant of the handwraps uses rope instead of cloth and can be dipped in salt water to make the wraps hard and capable of slashing the target.
The cestus is a leather wrap for the hand that resembles a partial glove. Some have many layers of thick leather, or even metal studs that go over the knuckle. They provide a barrier to absorb some force and prevent cuts to the hands, and the ones with stiffer or metallic knuckles concentrate more of the force from the punch in a smaller area. Absorbing some of the force from a punch is also the purpose of a standard glove or a boxing/mma glove, though a cestus is less kind for the victim of the punch and a standard glove is less protective of the puncher. Wearing metal gauntlets to punch is not overwhelmingly protective of the puncher, but steel on your fists have an obvious effect on the target, and gauntlets can be spiked if the puncher is more interested in gore than they are finesse.
Knuckledusters, or brass knuckles, are made of a stiff material (usually metal) that curls around the fingers and rests in the palm. Tekko are D-shaped pieces of metal and/or wood that are also grasped in the palm and cover the fingers. What these do is transfer force from the tarsal bones in the heel of the hand directly into a small amount of the opponent, involving the fingers a lot less in the punch. Because the force comes from a smaller area, the punch is more able to break bones, and the fingers don’t need to be as conditioned to do it. Knuckledusters are also very concealable weapons, fitting inside a pocket with no telltale bulge. Tekko can also be used to deflect weapons in a way a bare hand has extreme difficulty doing. Tekko-kagi, or the Indian bagh nakh kick the brass knuckles up a notch by adding claw blades, allowing a fighter with human hands to slash her foes like an animal. Claw blades are much more exotic and strange than regular fist weapons and completely change the impression of a character using them.
So all knuckle type weapons need to protect the hands. Some concentrate force and increase punching damage, and some allow the fighter to better fight against steel weapons. The most important thing they can do in a fantasy roleplaying game, however, is be weapons of power. They can carry powerful enchantments, be made of mythical metals, or be used to deliver poison. In games where weapons are stat bricks, a sword adds +X to a swordsman’s power and a fist weapon adds a similar bonus. If you need a weapon to receive a Flaming Weapon spell from your mage or one to qualify for some weapon-based feat or prestige, these allow you to benefit without giving up your role as a hand to hand fighter. However, there are disadvantages. In some systems, using a fist-load weapon overtakes your progression in unarmed damage, and you may find that your bare hands outstrip the power of your gloves. They also are subject to being broken, stolen, and all the other things that can happen to a tool you rely on. Some warriors say that fist-load weapons encourage poor fighting technique - you certainly cannot use the full range of hand techniques with knuckledusters or too-stiff gloves, though handwraps will probably not impede you. You can’t use brass knuckles alongside a staff or other weapon, either. A true martial arts purist will wrap their hands but will probably distain the use of steel gauntlets or brass knuckles, but a brawler sort might embrace the pragmatism of them, especially if they don’t rely heavily on grabs, joint locks, throws, and other moves requiring grip. A monk who never uses any of these might have scarred or swollen knuckles and maybe even crooked fingers, and may be proud of the sheer toughness their career must have given them. Just promise me that if you’re practicing martial arts in real life, that you’ll wrap your hands, okay?
