Way of the Thrashing Dragon (5e Subclass)
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Monk Subclass
While some monks expand their training to include conventional weapons, and others explore more philosophical or metaphysical outlooks on life, those who follow the Way of the Thrashing Dragon focus on mastering their physical bodies.
Moved by a life-force too potent to be caged, these monks dance across the battlefield like restless serpents, unleashing the full potential of their ki upon their opponents. Like the dragons of old, they also study magic, allowing them to unravel the eldritch threads of the Great Tapestry from enchanted arms and armor only to then re-weave them into their own body, turning themselves into living weapons.
As a general rule of thumb, Thrashing Dragons tend to be a messy and vulgar lot, indulging themselves with wild feasts and drunken orgies. Shunning society’s restrictions, they explore life’s lush infinities, as what is the point of mastering one's body if you do not put it to good use? Life is short, so enjoy it while it lasts!
Zen Polemology[edit]
Beginning at 3rd level, you become proficient with the Arcana skill if you are not already.
You can use this training to sit in quiet meditation on a specific weapon, armor, or shield in your hands. This meditation takes 10 minutes, after which you make a DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check. If you are also proficient with Smith's Tools, you may apply your proficiency bonus to this check twice. If the check is successful, you not only learn the history and legend behind the item—if, indeed, there's one to be learned—but also any magical properties it possesses, just as if you had successfully cast an identify spell. Once you use this feature, you cannot do so again until you finish a short or long rest.
Hardening Exercises[edit]
At 3rd level, you learn special exercises and training techniques that harden your forelimbs, effectively turning them into a shield of living steel. This grants you a +1 bonus to AC. You do not need to be proficient with shields to gain this bonus, nor does it affect any abilities you possess that require you to not be wielding a shield. You lose this bonus if you are restrained, unconscious, or otherwise incapacitated.
In addition, you learn a secret ritual that allows you to remove the enchantment of magic shields and then imbue it into your hardened forelimbs. Before you can perform this ritual, you must have successfully used your Zen Polemology ability to learn the properties and history of the shield. If attunement is required, you must also be attuned to the shield and the attunement carries over. Once these conditions are met, you can spend two hours during a long rest—which is considered light activity—and, upon completion, any magical properties possessed by the shield is transferred into your body. You may perform this ritual once per long rest.
Aspects of a shield that are derived solely from special materials or its physical nature cannot be imbued into your forelimbs in this fashion. Examples include an animated shield or a mithral shield. As always, DM discretion applies.
Artifacts can never be transferred through this ritual, and certain legendary and unique shields may also be incapable of being transferred as determined by the DM; the magic of such shields is too intrinsic to the shield's lore that they have become one and the same.
If you perform this ritual on another shield at a later date, your current enchantment is released and attempts to return to its original vessel as long as it is still intact and on the same plane of existence as you are. If it is not or the enchantment cannot otherwise return to it, it is lost forever. Only a wish spell or divine intervention has any hope of restoring the original shield's magic.
Scales of a Dragon[edit]
The exercises you learned at 3rd level have improved and now extend to your entire body. Starting at 6th level, your AC bonus from Hardening Exercises improves to +3 and you are treated as if you were wearing light armor, but only if doing so would be beneficial to you. At 11th level this improves to a +5 bonus and medium armor. As with your forelimbs, this does not interfere with any of your other monk features or abilities that require you to not be wearing armor, nor are you required to be proficient with armor.
Your ability to transfer the enchantment of magic shieldss likewise improves, allowing you to transfer the properties of magic armor into your flesh. This works exactly as described under the Hardening Exercises feature above, with all the same conditions and limitations.
Dance of the Thrashing Dragon[edit]
At 11th level, you learn how to perform the dance of the thrashing dragon which allows you to make a single unarmed strike against every one of your choosing within 15 feet of you, returning to your original position at the end of the dance. This takes an action and costs 1 ki to perform. You cannot use Flurry of Blows or Ki-Fueled Attack features on the same turn you initiate this move.
Upon activating this move, you also gain advantage on all Acrobatics and Athletics checks you make until the start of your next turn.
The Dragon Ascendent[edit]
At 17th level, you have mastered the unique fighting style of your monastic order. You gain the following abilities.
- You no longer require a bonus action to activate your Flurry of Blows.
- You gain one fighting style, choosing from the following options on the Fighter's list: Blind Fighting, Defense, Dueling, Interception, Mariner (UA), and Protection. You can change this style each day after completing a long rest.
- Your unarmed strikes deal bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage, and you can choose which damage type to use with each individual attack you make. If you have spent ki that turn, you can add psychic and thunder to the list until the start of your next turn.
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