Path of Tranquility Monk

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Overview & Creation

Monk Class Details

Her fists a blur as they deflect an incoming hail of arrows, a half-elf springs over a barricade and throws herself into the massed ranks of hobgoblins on the other side. She whirls among them, knocking their blows aside and sending them reeling, until at last she stands alone.   Taking a deep breath, a human covered in tattoos settles into a battle stance. As the first charging orcs reach him, he exhales and a blast of fire roars from his mouth, engulfing his foes.   Moving with the silence of the night, a black-clad halfling steps into a shadow beneath an arch and emerges from another inky shadow on a balcony a stone’s throw away. She slides her blade free of its cloth-wrapped scabbard and peers through the open window at the tyrant prince, so vulnerable in the grip of sleep.   Whatever their discipline, monks are united in their ability to magically harness the energy that flows in their bodies. Whether channeled as a striking display of combat prowess or a subtler focus of defensive ability and speed, this energy infuses all that a monk does.  

The Magic of Ki

Monks make careful study of a magical energy that most monastic traditions call ki. This energy is an element of the magic that suffuses the multiverse—specifically, the element that flows through living bodies. Monks harness this power within themselves to create magical effects and exceed their bodies’ physical capabilities, and some of their special attacks can hinder the flow of ki in their opponents. Using this energy, monks channel uncanny speed and strength into their unarmed strikes. As they gain experience, their martial training and their mastery of ki gives them more power over their bodies and the bodies of their foes.  

Training and Asceticism

Small walled cloisters dot the landscapes of the worlds of D&D, tiny refuges from the flow of ordinary life, where time seems to stand still. The monks who live there seek personal perfection through contemplation and rigorous training. Many entered the monastery as children, sent to live there when their parents died, when food couldn’t be found to support them, or in return for some kindness that the monks had performed for their families.   Some monks live entirely apart from the surrounding population, secluded from anything that might impede their spiritual progress. Others are sworn to isolation, emerging only to serve as spies or assassins at the command of their leader, a noble patron, or some other mortal or divine power.   The majority of monks don’t shun their neighbors, making frequent visits to nearby towns or villages and exchanging their service for food and other goods. As versatile warriors, monks often end up protecting their neighbors from monsters or tyrants.   For a monk, becoming an adventurer means leaving a structured, communal lifestyle to become a wanderer. This can be a harsh transition, and monks don’t undertake it lightly. Those who leave their cloisters take their work seriously, approaching their adventures as personal tests of their physical and spiritual growth. As a rule, monks care little for material wealth and are driven by a desire to accomplish a greater mission than merely slaying monsters and plundering their treasure.

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Class Features

Unarmored Defense

Beginning at 1st level, while you are wearing no armorand not wielding a shield, your AC equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Wisdom modifier.  

Martial Artist

1st level, your practice of martial arts gives you mastery of combat styles that use unarmed strikes and monk weapons, which are shortswords and any simple melee weapons that don’t have the two-handed or heavy property. You gain the following benefits while you are unarmed or wielding only monk weapons and you aren’t wearing armor or wielding a shield:

• You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the attack and damage rolls of your unarmed strikes and monk weapons.

• You can roll a d4 in place of the normal damage of your unarmed strike or monk weapon. This die changes as you gain monk levels, as shown in the Martial Arts column of the Monk table.

• When you use the Attack action with an unarmed strike or a monk weapon on your turn, you can make one unarmed strike as a bonus action. For example, if you take the Attack action and attack with a quarterstaff, you can also make an unarmed strike as a bonus action, assuming you haven't already taken a bonus action this turn.

 

KI

  When you spend a ki point, it is unavailable until you finish a short or long rest, at the end of which you draw all of your expended ki back into yourself. You must spend at least 30 minutes of the rest meditating to regain your ki points. Some of your ki features require your target to make a saving throw to resist the feature’s effects. The saving throw DC is calculated as follows: Ki save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus +your Wisdom modifier If you spend 1 ki or more as part of your action on your turn, you can then immediately make one unarmed strike as a bonus action.  

Ki-Fueled Strike

 

2nd-level monk feature (enhances Ki)

  If you spend 1 ki or more as part of your action on your turn, you can then immediately make one unarmed strike as a bonus action.  

Flurry of Blows

Immediately after you take the Attack action on your turn, you can spend 1 ki point to make two unarmed strikes as a bonus action.  

Patient Defense

You can spend 1 ki point to take the Dodge action as a bonus action on your turn.  

Step of the Wind

You can spend 1 ki point to take the Disengage or Dash action as a bonus action on your turn, and your jump distance is doubled for the turn.  

Distant Eye

When you make a ranged weapon attack, you can spend 1 ki point to prevent attacking at long range from imposing disadvantage on your attack rolls until the end of the current turn.  

Quickened Healing

As an action, you can spend 2 ki points and roll a Martial Arts die. You regain a number of hit points equal to the number rolled  

Unarmored Movement

Starting at 2nd level, your speed increases by 10 feet while you are not wearing arm or or wielding a shield. This bonus increases when you reach certain monk levels, as show n in the Monk table. At 9th level, you gain the ability to move along vertical surfaces and across liquids on your turn without falling during the move.  

Deflect Missiles

Starting at 3rd level, you can use your reaction to deflect or catch the missile w hen you are hit by a ranged weapon attack. When you do so, the damage you take from the attack is reduced by 1d10 + your Dexterity modifier + your monk level. If you reduce the damage to 0, you can catch the missile if it is small enough for you to hold in one hand and you have at least one hand free. If you catch a missile in this way, you can spend 1 ki point to make a ranged attack with the weapon or piece of ammunition you just caught, as part of the same reaction. You make this attack with proficiency, regardless of your weapon proficiencies, and the missile counts as a monk weapon for the attack.  

Slow Fall

Beginning at 4th level, you can use your reaction when falling to reduce any damage by an amount equal to five times your monk level.  

Extra Attack

Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.  

Stunning Strike

Starting at 5th level, you can interfere with the flow of ki in an opponent’s body. When you hit another creature with a melee weapon attack, you can spend 1 ki point to attempt a stunning strike. The target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or be stunned until the end of your next turn.  

Ki-Empowered Strikes

Starting at 6th level, your unarmed strikes count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.  

Evasion

At 7th level, your instinctive agility lets you dodge out of the way of certain area effects, such as a blue dragon’s lightning breath or a fireball spell. When you are subjected to an effect that allows you to make a Dexterity saving throw to take only half damage, you instead take no damage if you succeed on the saving throw, and only half damage if you fail.  

Stillness of Mind

Starting at 7th level, you can use your action to end one effect on yourself that is causing you to be charmed or frightened.

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Starting Equipment

You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:

• (a) a shortsword or (b) any simple weapon

• (a) a dungeoneer’s pack or (b) an explorer’s pack

• 10 darts

 

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Subclass Options

Path of Tranquility

When you choose this tradition at 3rd level, you can become an island of calm in even the most chaotic of situations. With this feature, you can cast the sanctuary spell on yourself, no material component required, and it lasts up to 8 hours. Its saving throw DC equals 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier. A creature that succeeds on the save is immune to this effect for 1 hour. Once you cast the spell in this way, you can’t do so again for 1 minute.  

Healing Hands

Your mystical touch can heal wounds. Starting at 3rd level, you have a pool of magical healing power that replenishes when you take a long rest. With that pool, you can restore a total number of hit points equal to your monk level × 10. As an action, you can touch a creature and draw power from the pool to restore a number of hit points to that creature, up to the maximum amount remaining in the pool. Instead of healing the creature, you can expend 5 hit points from your pool of healing to cure the target of one disease or neutralize one poison affecting it. You can cure multiple diseases and neutralize multiple poisons with a single use of Healing Hands, expending hit points separately for each one. When you use your Flurry of Blows, you can replace one of the unarmed strikes with a use of this feature. This feature has no effect on undead and constructs.  

Emissary of Peace

At 6th level, you gain the ability to diffuse violent situations. Whenever you make a Charisma check to calm violent emotions or to counsel peace, you have advantage on the roll. You must make this entreaty in good faith; it doesn’t apply if proficiency in the Deception or Intimidation skill applies to your check. You also gain proficiency in the Performance or Persuasion skill (choose one).