TonyC/StoneMonkeyAnalysis

If I were to redesign the characters, what would I do different with Stone Monkey?

Not much. I will definitely add the charm Monkey Leap. That's it.

I had assumed that the fight between the Solars and First & Forsaken Lion will devolve into a scrap between Lion and the melee Solars (Princess, Monkey, and Student) while the ranged attack guys take their shots from somewhere like, oh, 50 yards away.

Oh boy, was I wrong. Lion's superior mobility, powered by the Abyssal Spider Pounce, was a real headache to deal with. FrivYeti didn't utilize it fully, probably because hey, Lion's a bastard, but he's an overconfident bastard, but it's technically possible for him to just keep hanging back and drain the Solars dry with Breath Draining Prana. Of course, that would make a very boring fight, and I recommend Storytellers everywhere not to do that.

Anyway, since Stone Monkey got a Strength of 15 by stacking two charms, Monkey Leap is the easiest way of keeping up with Lion. Unfortunately since it's a turn-length charm, you can't combo it, but on the other hand, unlike Spider Pounce where you can only jump once, in Monkey Leap you can jump as many times as you like provided the total distance is within the limit of the charm. This is great for stunts, btw. Alternatively, convince your GM to house-rule the charm or just come up with your own custom combo-able charm. Still, Stone Monkey's support as Student's stunt partner are critical, since otherwise Student would've either died or unable to reach Lion.

So what would happen had Stone Monkey been able to keep up with Lion? Well, very likely Lion will have to spend essence to retain his weapon, be it the Perfect Talon Dagger or Varan's Ruin. Like Princess, Stone Monkey will not be trying to hit Lion immediately, since Lion could afford trading a few HLs for lots of motes (80 motes/hit on average). On the other hand, if Lion got disarmed, then he loses his Melee parry and Incomparable Sentinel Stance, which opens several options for the Solars.

I would also get more chance to spout cliche kungfu lines, which would've been very yummy indeed. - TonyC