G
Guest 6801328
Guest
The new blindfighting fighting style in Tasha's inspired me to revisit my homebrew from some months ago. (I don't have the link handy, but it's somewhere in the Enworld archives.)
Enjoy!
Way of the Four Senses
A monk who follows the Way of the Four Senses believes that the visible world is like a shadow: it reveals the general contours of what is real, but is an incomplete picture. The only way to get the complete picture is to rely on all of our senses equally. When we accomplish that we transcend those five senses, and in our enlightenment perceive more than is possible with those senses. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts, as it were.
Unfortunately, our over-reliance...even our addiction...to seeing prevents us from developing those senses. Way of the Four Senses monks therefore willingly forego eyesight in order to follow this path. Many will wear a blindfold, although some believe that building the willpower to simply hold one’s eyes shut will in itself help us reach enlightenment. And others, admittedly few, will blind themselves permanently, to commit themselves to this path. This could take the form of an elaborate ritual, or it might be done suddenly in a burst of zeal, or may even happen in an apparently supernatural event. Some monks have even woken up blind after a revelatory dream.
On their journey, these monks strive to achieve four sensory experiences:
Blindsight
When you choose this tradition at 3rd level, you gain the blindsight fighting style. If you already have blindsight, its radius is increased by 10’.
Focused Senses
Also at 3rd level, while you are deprived of sight you are able to shift your focus to your other senses, which then become more acute. When you are unable to see, as an action you can enter a state of heightened awareness, which lasts until you are next able to see. While using Focused Senses you gain the following benefits:
Enlightened Defense
Your increasing awareness allows you to anticipate and respond to attacks. Starting at 6th level, when you are in your Focused Senses state and are attacked by a melee or touch attack, but before the attack roll is made, as a reaction you can impose disadvantage on the attack. If the attack misses, you may make a single unarmed strike against the attacker as part of this reaction. If the attacker is beyond your reach, you may move up to 5’ closer as part of the attack.
Thought into Action
Starting at 11th level, you may take one extra reaction. You may still only take one reaction per turn, and after you use this ability you may not use it again until your next turn.
Illumination
At 17th level, you are rewarded for your sacrifices with the ability to see more clearly than ever.
Enjoy!
Way of the Four Senses
A monk who follows the Way of the Four Senses believes that the visible world is like a shadow: it reveals the general contours of what is real, but is an incomplete picture. The only way to get the complete picture is to rely on all of our senses equally. When we accomplish that we transcend those five senses, and in our enlightenment perceive more than is possible with those senses. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts, as it were.
Unfortunately, our over-reliance...even our addiction...to seeing prevents us from developing those senses. Way of the Four Senses monks therefore willingly forego eyesight in order to follow this path. Many will wear a blindfold, although some believe that building the willpower to simply hold one’s eyes shut will in itself help us reach enlightenment. And others, admittedly few, will blind themselves permanently, to commit themselves to this path. This could take the form of an elaborate ritual, or it might be done suddenly in a burst of zeal, or may even happen in an apparently supernatural event. Some monks have even woken up blind after a revelatory dream.
On their journey, these monks strive to achieve four sensory experiences:
- The Sound of Snowfall: a monk who can hear the sound of snow falling might hear the faintest footsteps, detect the quickening of a person’s heartbeat, or recognize a voice they once heard long ago.
- The Scent of Sunlight: a monk who can smell sunlight might detect poison in a drink, smell fear in another person, or track quarry by scent.
- The Taste of Darkness: a monk who can taste darkness can identify the faintest of ingredients, know the origins of wine, or recall
- The Texture of Passion: a monk who can feel emotions with their fingertips also might feel residual heat on a door handle, find the faint seams of a secret door, or read writing by the texture of the ink.
Blindsight
When you choose this tradition at 3rd level, you gain the blindsight fighting style. If you already have blindsight, its radius is increased by 10’.
Focused Senses
Also at 3rd level, while you are deprived of sight you are able to shift your focus to your other senses, which then become more acute. When you are unable to see, as an action you can enter a state of heightened awareness, which lasts until you are next able to see. While using Focused Senses you gain the following benefits:
- The radius of your blindsight increases by 5’. This bonus becomes 10’ at level 11, and 15’ at level 17.
- Your other senses become more acute. You are considered proficient in any ability check that relies primarily on taste, touch, smell, or hearing, and if you are already proficient in an applicable skill your proficiency bonus is doubled.
- You may also spend between 1 and 4 Ki points to heighten your senses even further. For each point spent, pick one of the four senses. For the next minute you roll with advantage on any ability check that relies primarily on the chosen senses.
Enlightened Defense
Your increasing awareness allows you to anticipate and respond to attacks. Starting at 6th level, when you are in your Focused Senses state and are attacked by a melee or touch attack, but before the attack roll is made, as a reaction you can impose disadvantage on the attack. If the attack misses, you may make a single unarmed strike against the attacker as part of this reaction. If the attacker is beyond your reach, you may move up to 5’ closer as part of the attack.
Thought into Action
Starting at 11th level, you may take one extra reaction. You may still only take one reaction per turn, and after you use this ability you may not use it again until your next turn.
Illumination
At 17th level, you are rewarded for your sacrifices with the ability to see more clearly than ever.
- Your blindsight becomes truesight, with the same radius. You gain this benefit even if you are blind.
- Your Focused Senses ability becomes permanent and you no longer need to spend an action to enter the state.
- When you spend Ki to boost your Focused Senses, you also extend your truesight by 30’ for each point spent, for the same duration.
