Monk Subclass - Way of the Living Weapon

Way of the Living Weapon

Starting at level 3.
A monk following the Way of the Living Weapon pursues physical perfection, honing their body as a smith sharpens a sword. Its traditions are drawn from cultures of shapeshifters and creatures who fight with tooth and claw. These are a few of the martial techniques that have evolved into the Way of the Living Weapon.

• The Forged Heart is a recent path, developed by forged wrought exploring the potential of their bronze frames. This involves both the physical evolution of the body and harnessing the strength of bronze and stone.
• The Profound Hoof is a Rohata tradition. They learn how the grace of their form also has power behind the mobility provided by their cloven hoofs.
• The Witches' Blade was developed by tribal vatborn, providing the practitioner with versatile weapons that can't be taken away. A practitioner can grow bone blades or knuckle ridges, or stretch their limbs to strike a distant foe.
• The Weretouched techniques were developed by Vargr champions of Skadi, honing the natural weapons and strengths of the Vargr.

As a Living Weapon monk, you may draw on a singular technique, or you may instead combine different styles. Both the abilities you gain from this subclass and the base abilities of the monk class can reflect your ability to control and alter your physical form. When you use Slow Fall, you might be shifting shape to craft gliding membranes (Witches' Blade). Unarmored Defense reflects defensive shapeshifting, and when you develop Ki-Empowered Strikes it reflects an enhancement of your natural weapons.
Most of the Living Weapon techniques make use of natural gifts; for example, the Witches' Blade assumes that you possess the malleable form of a changeling. However, any member of any species can follow these paths. If you don't possess any innate shapeshifting gifts or similar transformative features, it's up to you and your DM to explain how you manifest these gifts. If you're not a Vargr, your Weretouched could be the ghost of an ancestor or lover, clinging to you and helping you fight. If you're not a Rohata, perhaps you were altered by the fay or part of a cults worship of the titan—you can't change your face, but you can still grow bone blades and stretch your limbs to strike distant foes.

Fist of Bone and Steel

At 3rd level, when you choose this tradition, your Martial Arts damage die increases for unarmed strikes. You can roll a d6 in place of the normal damage for your unarmed strike. This die changes to a d8 at 5th level; a d10 at 11th level; and a d12 at 17th level. This increased damage can only be applied to an unarmed strike, and not to a monk weapon.

Martial Discipline

Starting at 3rd level, when you adopt this tradition, choose a discipline and gain its feature.
Forged Heart.
Your unarmed strikes are considered adamantine weapons. In addition, when you hit a creature with an unarmed attack, you can spend 1 ki point to cause it to make a Strength saving throw. On a failed save, the creature takes 2d6 additional damage of the same type as the unarmed strike and can be pushed up to 15 feet away from you. On a successful save, the creature only takes 1d6 points of additional damage and is not pushed back.
Profound Hoof.
When you hit a creature with an unarmed attack, you can spend 1 ki point to bash it away, causing it to make a Strength saving throw. On a failed save, it takes 2d6 points of bludgeoning damage and becomes is shoved to the ground falling prone.
Additionally after an attempted unarmed attack you are able to move out of the creature you targeted with attacks range without provoking an attack of oppertunity.
When you reach 6th level, this bludgeoning damage counts as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.

Witches' Blade.
Your reach extends by 5 feet. Additionally, at the start of your turn you can expend up to 4 ki points to extend your reach further. For every point of ki you spend, your reach extends by an additional 5 feet until the end of your turn.
Weretouched.
Once per turn, when you hit a creature with an unarmed attack, you can spend 1 ki point to rend your target and inflict deep bleeding wounds. At the start of each of the creature's turns for the next minute, it takes 2d4 points of slashing damage from this effect. The effect ends early if the creature has one or more hit points restored, if any creature uses its action to expend one use of a healer's kit, or makes a successful Wisdom (Medicine) check with a DC equal to your ki save DC.
When you reach 6th level, this slashing damage counts as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.

Mutable Strike

You have the power to alter your natural weapons, growing claws or reinforcing your fists. Starting at 3rd level, when you use Martial Arts to make an unarmed strike, you can choose whether you inflict slashing, bludgeoning, or piercing damage with the attack.

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Manifest Blow

Starting at 6th level, choose one of the following damage types when you finish a long rest: bludgeoning, piercing, slashing, cold, lightning, necrotic, psychic, or thunder. On your turn, the first creature you hit with an unarmed strike takes an additional 1d6 points of damage of that type. If you select bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage, it benefits from your Ki-Empowered Strikes class feature and counts as magical damage.
Witches' Blade monks typically inflict psychic damage with this ability, Forged Heart monks enhance their bludgeoning damage, and Weretouched grow sharper claws. However, you can choose any damage type, regardless of your discipline(s)

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Reflexive Adaption

Starting at 11th level, when you make a Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check, you can spend 1 ki point to roll an additional d20. You can choose to use this ability after you roll the check, but before the outcome is determined. You choose which of the d20s is used for the ability check, omitting the highest if this check was rolled with disadvantage.
In addition, the extra damage dealt by the Manifest Blow class feature increases to 2d6.

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Perfect Form

At 17th level, you transform your body to become a weapon of war. You gain a feature based on a discipline of your choice. You can choose the same discipline you selected at 3rd level or a different one.
Forged Heart.
When you are hit by an attack, you can use your reaction to add your Wisdom modifier (minimum of 1) to your AC, including against the triggering attack. This effect lasts until the start of your next turn.

Profound Hoof.

When you take the Attack action on your turn, you can replace one of your attacks with attempting to hurl a creature your size or smaller. The target must make a Strength saving throw. An object or creature you are grappling automatically fails. If you successfully lift them, you can throw them 20 feet. The range is increased by 10 feet for each size smaller than you the target is.
The creature's movement ends early if it collides with another creature or obstacle. The thrown creature and anything it collides with takes 2d6 + your Strength modifier, and the thrown target falls prone. The number of d6 increases by a dice one when your monk damage bonus increases (d6, d8, d10, d12). Once you use this feature to successfully throw a creature or object, you cannot use it again until you complete a short or long rest.

Witches' Blade.
When you deal piercing or slashing damage to a creature with an unarmed strike, it takes an additional 1d8 poison damage and must succeed on a Constitution saving throw against your ki save DC or be poisoned until the end of its next turn.

Weretouched.
When you use your Flurry of Blows, you can make three unarmed strikes as a bonus action instead of two. You have advantage on these attacks.