Monk: Way of the Five Aspects

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Guest 6801328

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This was inspired by Hong Kong action cinema. I wanted to enable cinematic fighting, and mechanics that encourage cinematic fluff, especially against hordes of mooks, but without becoming unbalanced. Hoping I achieved that.

I’m also envisioning it getting used in conjunction with the Combat Options in the DMG, especially the “Tumble” action.

I have lots of thoughts/rationalizations/concerns about this, but I'll wait to see what others say.

Way of the Five Aspects


Adherents of the Way of the Five Aspects learn to move with blinding speed and supernatural fluidity, reacting to sudden changes in ways that confound and thwart enemies. Observers and survivors of this acrobatic style might swear it is an illusion.


Viper’s Speed
At 3rd level your speed and reflexes enable you to take additional reactions, although still only one per turn, and at an increasing cost: after you use your reaction, your second reaction before your next turn costs 1 Ki, the third costs 2 Ki, the fourth costs 3 Ki, etc.


Crouching Tiger
Also at 3rd level you master the art of springing suddenly to your feet. When you become Prone you can use your reaction to instantly stand up, negating the Prone condition.


Mantis Strike
At 6th level you learn to take advantage of the moments when an opponent is off-balance. When an enemy within reach makes a weapon attack against you and misses, you may use your reaction to make a single unarmed strike against that creature.


Flight of the Crane
At 11th Level you can channel your Ki to get out of desperate situations. As an action you can spend 2 Ki to cast Freedom of Movement on yourself without verbal, somatic, or material components.


Monkey in the Middle
At 17th level your focus is heightened when you are outnumbered and surrounded. For each enemy of size Small or larger within 5’ of you your AC is increased by 1, up to a maximum equal to your Wisdom modifier.


Also at 17th level, the cost of extra reactions are each reduced by 1 Ki.
 
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Guest 6801328

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A note on naming: because I'm inspired by the kinds of films where the 'hero' doesn't really set out to be one, I thought about calling this the 'Way of the Accidental Hero' or the 'Unintentional Hero' or something like that, but I just never hit the right note. I don't like "Honorable Fist" (was trying to at least get the 'Xia' in there somewhere.)

Any creative brainstorming welcome.

Also for the ability names. Those are really just placeholders. (Naming is definitely not my forte.)
 



ScrubbWizard

First Post
Neat. The Eye of the Typhoon descriptions seems like something I would see in a Bruce Lee movie!

I like the animal theme. If you wanted to follow a classic 5-Animal kung fu imagery in your naming, you could add Crane and Leopard, since you already covered 3 of them.
 

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Guest 6801328

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Neat. The Eye of the Typhoon descriptions seems like something I would see in a Bruce Lee movie!

I like the animal theme. If you wanted to follow a classic 5-Animal kung fu imagery in your naming, you could add Crane and Leopard, since you already covered 3 of them.

Oh that is pure genius. Thanks for the idea. I ended up going for a slightly different version of the five animals, though. (The side of me that just can't take any of this seriously went for a Kung-fu Panda reference.)
 

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Guest 6801328

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I keep vacillating between "Five Disciples" "Five Acolytes" "Five Aspects" and "Five Animals".

Any opinions?
 

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Guest 6801328

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I decided that the extra-reaction mechanic from my Bravura subclass is perfect for this monk (plus I'm just really enamored of the mechanic now). It's exactly what Jackie Chan does: a constant stream of reactions.

Changes:
- Replaced 1 of the 3rd level abilities with extra reactions (for increasing Ki)
- Removed damage component from 17th level ability and instead reduced the cost of extra reactions (effectively granting one extra free reaction each round)
- Renamed some things.
 
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