Way of Nentō-Kūsho (5e Subclass)

Way of Nentō-Kūsho

Monk Subclass

The mild mannered woman in the corner of the tavern is approached by a group intoxicated thugs. A hand purposefully misplaced here, or verbal harassment there and the atmosphere drops cold. Like the flip of a switch, her eyes go hazy and her mind blank - issued a self-directive, she remains in a state of unsettling calm as she weaves around the man effortlessly. The man strikes in a flustering anxiety, she grabs his arm and breaks it. The man screams out in pain, running in a state of fear from the frail woman he had just recently tried to press into a corner. The woman, noticing the man had left and her task completed, remains to her seat without a word. Suddenly she's back in the room, cheering and partying like nothing had happened. She looks around the bar draped in an eerie silence, completely oblivious to the events that had just transpired.

Monks who follow the Nentō-Kūsho tradition are man-hunters capable of entering in a emotionless state of complete focus. They split their mind in two, reserving their combat tactics in one of them, detached from the world until a moment of need appear. While in this state, their bodies are guided by the fighting instincts programmed trough a long and hard training. For an outside perspective, Nentō-Kūsho monks can appear heartless or uncaring, but this could not be further from the true. While is undeniable that those monks can be extremely brutal and cruel in a fight, this is not due to an enjoyment of another beings pain, but is a targeted and precise brutality, that has the exact measure to deal with a combat situation by eliminating the threat. But, for those who ally themselves to these warriors, they soon learn that they are valuable protectors and loyal allies.

Directive

Starting at 3rd level, you can use your bonus action to mark a creature you can see within 30 feet of you. While marked, your attacks against that creature cause additional damage equal to your martial arts die. Alternatively, you can forgo this additional damage to gain advantage on the attacks made against the marked creature on the turn.

The mark lasts until the creature is reduced to 0 hit points, until you are reduced to 0 hit points or when you complete a short rest.

While you have one or more creatures marked, you can't concentrate on spells.

Mind Down

At 3rd level, you gain the ability to put yourself under self-hypnosis in order to become an efficient killing machine. As a bonus action, or as part of the same bonus action used to mark the target, you can spend 1 ki point to enter the enter in the Mind Down state, gaining the following benefits:

• Your movement speed increases in 10 feet and doesn't provoke opportunity attacks from creatures marked by you.

• You have advantage on Dexterity saving throws against effects from the marked creature.

• You can't be charmed or frightened by the creature marked by you.

For the duration, you can only move toward an enemy marked by you. You must end your movement closer to the enemy than you started. In addition, you can only make attacks against a creature that have been marked. This lasts for 1 minute, or until you are no longer conscious.

Unsettling Presence

Starting at 6th level, whenever Mind Down is active, you can spend 1 ki point to emanate a chilling aura that strikes fear in the hearts of your opponents. Any creature who enters an area of 10 feet around you for the first time must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw, or be frightened by you until the end of its next turn.

The condition lasts for the duration of Mind Down. Once a creature resists this fear, it is immune to its effects for the next 24 hours.

Target Acquired

At 11th level, you've become adept at hunting creatures like livestock subconsciously, and that expertise shows. You always know the direction of a creature marked by you, as long as both of you are in the same plane.

In addition, whenever you hit a creature that is frightened by you, you deal additional psychic damage equal to your martial arts die. A creature can take this damage only once per turn.

Unflinching

Your mastery of your own mental and emotional state allows you to cut out the sensation of pain. At 17th level, you have resistance to the damage of attacks made by creatures marked by you.

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