I can't give you any advice on monk related stuff. So instead I'll give you some advice on another, perhaps unexpected, facet that came up in your post: RPing with a significant other.
I've seen a lot of RP between couples over the years, and there are some things such couples should be made aware of. It can certainly be a very rewarding experience to RP with your boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife. But it can also be very damaging if you're not careful.
For starters, you run the risk of isolating yourselves from others. This doesn't happen intentionally obviously. But it's the number one problem I tend to see with real life couples who RP a relationship between their characters. The reason this happens? Because outsiders looking in become increasingly intimidated to approach either of the two players or characters. They know that they're not just approaching or coordinating anything with one person, but instead TWO. That's double the amount of effort and stress and can be a huge turn-off for the outsider. They often deem it not worth the effort and headache and target their RP toward someone who's more approachable.
The other big issue is the risk of crossing IC with OOC. I'll use myself as an example. In another MMO, my character (let's call him Kylin for easy reference even though that wasn't his name xD) developed feelings for another character. This other character was ICly in a romantic relationship with her OOC romantic partner. Anyway, Kylin had feelings for her that were 100% IC onry. When I started to RP this more publicly in hopes for some interesting dynamic interactions, the couple started to mix OOC and IC. The girl's real life/IC boyfriend got really defensive and jealous OOCly. Long story short, the interactions were disastrous and I was more or less told (OOCly) that I had to stop ICly pursuing Kylin's feelings. This left a very bitter taste in my mouth seeing as I was 100% IC and had no OOC feelings toward this person. I was merely RPing, but the couple (because they were a real life couple) were incapable of handling this type of RP situation. Obviously this may not be a problem with all RL couples. But it's something to be aware of. Somewhere along the line, someone may ICly fall for your character regardless of your IC relationship status. So make sure the IC and OOC remain separated at all times if/when this happens.
I'm not telling you it's a bad idea to RP a relationship with your significant other. I'm just asking you to be aware of the position it puts you in and how less approachable it may make both of you in the RP world. So just be aware of that. You may have take the initiative in reaching out to other RPers to avoid that kind of isolation rather than hoping people come to you for the RP.
I've seen a lot of RP between couples over the years, and there are some things such couples should be made aware of. It can certainly be a very rewarding experience to RP with your boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife. But it can also be very damaging if you're not careful.
For starters, you run the risk of isolating yourselves from others. This doesn't happen intentionally obviously. But it's the number one problem I tend to see with real life couples who RP a relationship between their characters. The reason this happens? Because outsiders looking in become increasingly intimidated to approach either of the two players or characters. They know that they're not just approaching or coordinating anything with one person, but instead TWO. That's double the amount of effort and stress and can be a huge turn-off for the outsider. They often deem it not worth the effort and headache and target their RP toward someone who's more approachable.
The other big issue is the risk of crossing IC with OOC. I'll use myself as an example. In another MMO, my character (let's call him Kylin for easy reference even though that wasn't his name xD) developed feelings for another character. This other character was ICly in a romantic relationship with her OOC romantic partner. Anyway, Kylin had feelings for her that were 100% IC onry. When I started to RP this more publicly in hopes for some interesting dynamic interactions, the couple started to mix OOC and IC. The girl's real life/IC boyfriend got really defensive and jealous OOCly. Long story short, the interactions were disastrous and I was more or less told (OOCly) that I had to stop ICly pursuing Kylin's feelings. This left a very bitter taste in my mouth seeing as I was 100% IC and had no OOC feelings toward this person. I was merely RPing, but the couple (because they were a real life couple) were incapable of handling this type of RP situation. Obviously this may not be a problem with all RL couples. But it's something to be aware of. Somewhere along the line, someone may ICly fall for your character regardless of your IC relationship status. So make sure the IC and OOC remain separated at all times if/when this happens.
I'm not telling you it's a bad idea to RP a relationship with your significant other. I'm just asking you to be aware of the position it puts you in and how less approachable it may make both of you in the RP world. So just be aware of that. You may have take the initiative in reaching out to other RPers to avoid that kind of isolation rather than hoping people come to you for the RP.
