August 18, 2015

Way of Abundant Spirit

Monastic Tradition
Comments from the Finger: What if you could play as Goku? Why not?

Way of Abundant Spirit

Monks who practice the Way of Abundant Spirit discipline themselves in manipulating ki in its purest form. Often prodigies of martial arts and mystic studies, these Monks can learn these techniques after months or years of studying under a master of them. Those who can find no such master are known to become reclusive in their studies in search of a grand revelation that can open the doors of the soul to them. After the completion of their training or the discovery of a revelation, their ki becomes as an extension of their own body, and they can disrupt and manipulate the ki of those around them.

Ki Surge
Beginning when you select this monastic tradition at 3rd level, you can draw from a deep well if ki from within yourself. When you have no ki points remaining, you can use your action to regain one expended ki point.

Ki Wave
At 3rd level, you can channel your ki into a blast of energy. As an action, you can expend a number of ki points, up to half your monk level, to make an attack roll with a modifier equal to your Wisdom modifier + your proficiency bonus at a range of 120 feet . On a hit, the target takes force damage equal to 1d8 for each point expended + your Wisdom modifier.

Spirit Aegis 
At 6th level, you can raise a barrier of energy to protect yourself and your allies. As a bonus action, you and creatures you choose within a 5 feet radius of you regain hit points equal to your monk level. Additionally, you and all creatures within this radius also have resistance to nonmagical bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage until the beginning of your next turn while they remain in this radius. After using this ability, you must complete a short or long rest before using it again.

Concussive Blow
By 11th level, as an action on your turn, you can expend a number of ki points to enhance the power of your strikes. For every 3 points expended, you gain a +1 bonus to damage on unarmed attacks until you complete a short or long rest, up to a maximum of your Wisdom modifier. Points expended in this way cannot be regained until you complete a short or long rest.

Soul Bomb 
Beginning at 17th level, you can collect energy from the ambient ki of the world to unleash a single mighty attack. You may gather energy for up to 3 rounds, holding it what appears to be an orb of concentrated energy. During this time, you may take no actions or bonus actions and may only move at half speed. When you choose to unleash this energy, choose a location within 120 feet. Each creature within a 20 foot radius of this spot must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, the creature takes 8d6 force damage for each round spent gathering energy, or half as much on a successful save. After using this ability, you must complete a long rest before using it again.



Changelog: 8/18/15: Ki Wave has an attack roll modifier of Wisdom + proficiency modifier.
8/19/15: Steal Ki now only activates from melee attacks, clarifies that it only restores ki points spent up to your ki maximum, and does not give a minimim of 1.
9/1/15: Steal Ki clarified to only work against hostile creatures.
5/7/16: Concussive Blow: Typo
Steal Ki: Damage/10
9/18/16: Steal Ki: Replaced with Ki Surge

21 comments:

  1. Is the Ki Wave Ability Supposed to get 10+wis+prof as a bonus to the Attack or is that a Save DC? and is is 1d8+Wis/ki point or 1d8/ki point +wis

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    1. That's actually a typo (I'll fix it ASAP). It's an attack roll modifier of Wis + Prof bonus, and it deals 1d8*Ki points + Wis.

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    2. Thanks for the Clarification! Love Your content!

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  2. Can you steal ki above your ki maximum?

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    1. The Finger wrote this, so I'm not sure, but it says "regain" so I'm guessing not.

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    2. That's how I would interpret it, I just wanted to verify.

      Perhaps something just including "up to your ki point maximum" could help?

      I honestly think it would be okay to just round down on Steal Ki and not give a minimum of one. It's a pretty powerful ability as it stands, and by level 3, few things will deal you less than 5 damage anyway.

      Great work overall. This is one of my favorites to date, and I don't even watch DBZ

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    3. Good notes on Steal Ki. I've edited it to match.

      Also, I'm glad you like this one. As it stands, it might be my favorite Monk archetype (though we'll be revisiting Swordsage, and maybe Soul Knife in this coming semester.)

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  3. I worry if ki wave is overpowered, especially in conjunction with steal ki. Potentially put some sort of restriction on them (like have steal ki only apply to melee attacks, require you to spend 1 ki or even have a failure chance).

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    1. Compare to soul knife's psychic strike:
      -same ki usage (up to 1/2 monk level)
      -both require a hit
      -psy is 1d6/ki, is a bonus action and adds on to a weapon attack
      -wave is 1d8/ki + wis mod, is an action and has very long range
      -soul knife cannot regain ki
      -abundant spirit can very easily regain ki, especially if supported by a healer

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    2. Compare To Eldritch Blast Cantrip, at level 5, ki wave can deal on an attack, spending a resource for 2d8+wismod, Eldritch blast can at will deal 2d10, adding in charisma mod twice for a warlock, its certainly a strong ability, but should still fall behind melee ability with flurry of blows. a level 5 monk can potentially deal Quarterstaff (1d8*+dex)*2 for extra attack, and a bonus martial arts attack for free at 1d6+dex
      Ki wave comes out far behind and will primordially be a ranged option where it will be harder to regain ki due to distance. horrible formatting apologies

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    3. I only bring this up because of the massive amount of rebalancing the soul knife experienced.
      With the warlock comparison, bear in mind that a warlock hardly has any resources to spend and practically all of its damage comes from cantrips, for the monk this is just an extra option.

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    4. The way it is worded, it looks like the ki is expended whether you hit or not with ki wave. Psychic strike stayed powered up until you hit and used it. Ki wave also takes an action, so you can't use extra attacks or flurry if you do this. I wasn't a big fan of the Soul Knife rebalance, but I think ki wave looks fine for now.

      I wouldn't compare to casters, however, since cantrips can do decent damage at these levels and for "free."

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  4. Would it not benefit that Steal Ki have a use per day limit attached? That's an -incredibly- powerful ability to have permanently available. It drives the archetypes power up above practically every other archetype for Monk, and really puts to shame the Perfect Self lvl 20 capstone.
    It's also a problem where players could break that mechanic, throwing survivable damage at the monk in order to give it Ki points, and then healing it with radius spells anyway, or even using healers kits/potions/hit dice to recover and keep farming that Ki.

    Seems like Soul Bomb should have a concentration mechanic added to it, and/or a Ki point cost?

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  5. The "steal ki" ability is EXTREMELY powerful, easily replenishing any ki you expend. maybe usable (Wis modifier) times per long rest? And even so It would be slightly too powerful. I'd also make it damage/10.

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    1. Yeah, that might be right. Since writing this, I've done better math on the value of a ki point, and 10 hit points is much closer to the mark.

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  6. Also: maybe making Spirit Aegis temp hp? and possibly being able to throw some ki into it, healing everyone an additional hp for each ki point used?
    Typo in Concussive Blow: 'compete' instead of 'complete'.

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  7. The pdf and the text on the page don't match. Makes this a bit confusing

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    1. Should be fixed now -- Steal Ki is no longer around

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    2. Sweet. I had a player pick this archetype last night, so I was looking at it today to get ideas.

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  8. I really like this sub-class. but to me it seems like the ki surge doesn't really scale all that well. Once you get past level 7 or so spending your entire action to regain one single ki point doesn't really seem like a good trade off. Would something like the amount regained being scaled work? For example, at level 7 you regain 2 ki points, then at level 12 you regain three ki points, and finally at level 17 you regain 4 ki points, if that seems like to much perhaps have it cost both the action and the bonus action?

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  9. Ki surge seems really overpowered. Just after combat at 20th level, just take two minutes and your ki is back to full. Maybe impose a limit, like half your monk level per short or long rest?

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