Kensei: The Sword Master. A Monastic Tradition

[Asaris]

I've been working at writing up a version of Kensei for 5e, and I'd appreciate your feedback. The concept is based loosely on the 3.5 Kensai, with some tweaks.

At 3rd level, a monk may choose to belong to the Kensei tradition. Kenseis are masters of the sword, and their god-like speed serves them well in combat. As a Kensei, you gain proficiency in the long sword and treat it as a monk weapon. In addition, you may wear light or medium armor and still use your monk abilities. You gain the following ability:
Iaijutsu: When your weapon is sheathed, you can react swiftly to an enemy attacking you. Before the enemy's attack is resolved, make an attack against that enemy with advantage.

At 6th level, you gain the ability Flash Step. Your blinding speed allows you to cover distances almost instantly. As a bonus action, you can teleport up to 60' to any space you can see. You then gain advantage to the next attack you make before the end of the turn.

At 11th level, you can make a Perfect Defense. Your superior speed gives you the ability to deflect all attacks. You may not take any action this turn other than a reaction, but all weapon attacks against you fail.

At 17th level, you learn the ultimate technique, Weaponsoul Dance. You may make three attacks with your sword against three different opponents no more than 30 feet from each other. Each attack is made with advantage and does double damage if it hits, as if it were a critical hit.

 

[Ironxxx]

Iaijutsu is far too powerful as is, limit it with Ki use and it may solve the issue.
Flash Step is also wildly unbalanced, 60' teleport AND all your actions plus advantage? Again, needs toning down and limiting. I see the monk speed increase as already performing this function too.
Perfect Defence is invulnerability? I like the concept but again it's too over the top, why not give Resistance when Dodge is used or something?
No mention of a limit on Weapon soul Dance, presume you mean to use ki. It's very mechanical as written, not very interesting and again op depending on its usage.

 

[jonathonhawke]

Perhaps these versions are more balanced?

Iaijutsu: When your weapon is sheathed, you can react swiftly to an enemy attacking you. When an enemy targets you with a melee attack, you can spend 1 ki as a reaction to make a melee attack against that enemy, before the enemy's attack is resolved.

Flash Step: Your blinding speed allows you to cover distances almost instantly. As a bonus action, you can spend X ki to teleport a distance up to your available movement to any space you can see. This uses up that portion of your movement for this turn.

Perfect Defense: Your superior speed gives you the ability to deflect all attacks. When you take the Dodge action on your turn, you can spend X ki as a bonus action to increase your AC by 5 until the beginning of your next turn.

Weaponsoul Dance: You learn the ultimate technique. When you use the Attack action, you may target up to multiple enemies within 15' of you with your sword, making one attack against each and paying X ki per enemy targeted. Each attack is made with advantage and does double damage if it hits, as if it were a critical hit.

(These are just off the top of my head. I'm not sure how much ki would be appropriate for each ability. My first guess would be 5.)

 

[Asaris]

Thanks for the comments!

Iaijutsu is far too powerful as is, limit it with Ki use and it may solve the issue.

My thought with Iajutsu was that the Kensei doesn't really want to be attacked -- even with medium armor, he's going to be pretty squishy. But adding a 1 ki cost seems like a good balance.

Flash Step is also wildly unbalanced, 60' teleport AND all your actions plus advantage? Again, needs toning down and limiting. I see the monk speed increase as already performing this function too.

Flash step is actually almost an exact port of the shadow monk's 6th level ability; the only different is that the ninja is limited to using it in shadow. I didn't consider this a huge restriction, since it seems like PCs usually have ready access to dim lighting, but a possible way to balance it would be to remove it giving advantage (which would be more important to the player trying to fight in dim light)

Perfect Defence is invulnerability? I like the concept but again it's too over the top, why not give Resistance when Dodge is used or something?

Well, it's not quite invulnerability -- it only works against weapon attacks. I was thinking most impressive monsters (like dragons, say) don't use weapons at all, so at lot of the time it's going to be a useless ability. But there are several, like demons/devils, who do. Also, your PCs might be different, but mine are pretty reluctant to use defensive abilities in favor of offensive ones. And there's nothing requiring the opponents to attack the kensei! Do you think a 3 ki cost might balance this out?

No mention of a limit on Weapon soul Dance, presume you mean to use ki. It's very mechanical as written, not very interesting and again op depending on its usage.

Funny you mention it being very mechanical -- it's a rewrite of a 4e Kensei skill. I like jonathonhawke's rewrite of it though. Perhaps a 2 ki price? I don't know off-hand what the similarly powered deathblow ability of the standard monk costs.