Bushi Arts

Starting at 3rd level, you select the melee weapon type you've dedicated your life's training to. You gain proficiency in that weapon and can use the weapon as a monk weapon so long as it lacks the two-handed and heavy properties.

Focused Strike

Also at 3rd level, you gain the ability to briefly intensify your focus in battle. When you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack from a monk weapon, you can deal additional damage equal to two of your martial arts die as a bonus action.

Peerless Precision

At 3rd level, you've attained impeccable precision with weapons. When you make a melee weapon attack using a monk weapon and miss, you can spend 1 ki point to reroll that attack roll with advantage.

Mind's Eye

At 6th level, you gain the ability to sharpen your senses with your ki. You do not have disadvantage on melee weapon attacks against creatures that are hidden, obscured or invisible.

In addition, you can spend 1 ki point to gain blindsight out to 10 feet until the end of your next turn.

Storm of the Heavens

Also at 11th level, you've reached near peerless skill with your weapon. You can spend 6 ki points to cast Steel Wind Strike. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for this spell.

Mortal Cut

At 17th level, your senses have been honed to an edge keener than the blade of your weapon. When you score a critical hit with a melee weapon attack you can spend 3 ki points to lop off one of the target's limbs, with the effect of such loss determined by the DM. If the creature has no limb to sever, you lop off a portion of its body instead. Regardless, the creature takes an additional 6d8 damage of the weapon's type.

Martial Trainee

You are a student of the art of combat, and have spent your life dedicated to martial training. You owe your expertise to a school or monastery and have studied under it's masters for a large portion of your life.

Skill Proficiencies. Athletics, Insight

Tool Proficiencies. One type of gaming set

Equipment. One set of traveler's clothes, one martial weapon commonly trained in your school, and one scroll case containing treatises on combat from your school.

Feature: Martial Artist. The disciplined lifestyle of a martial artist leaves easily discerned marks. You immediately know when another person is also a martial artist. After seeing them fight or spending enough time with them, you can discern which school or monastery they hail from.

Variant Martial Trainee: Wanderer

You have been estranged from your school or monastery. Perhaps you were expelled, or perhaps you killed your master in a bout. Martial artists that recognize you also automatically know about your estrangement and know the reason. Your reputation, whether truthfully earned or not, inspires respect and fear in them.

The Ronin Fantasy

The bushi came about as a result of binging too much samurai fantasy anime/manga/movies in too short a period of time.

Think Nanashi from Sword of the Stranger, Jin from Samurai Champloo, Kenshin Himura from Rurouni Kenshin, and Musashi from Vagabond.

The main requirement was an unarmored warrior who uses weapons. I chose the monk chassis over rogue because of the built in unarmored defense and the eastern flavor.

Against The Kensei

In regards to why anyone would play this over a kensei... I would argue that the kensei fulfills a different fantasy... that of a wuxia warrior, ala Nameless in Hero, or literally everyone in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Martial arts and unarmed strikes are a core aspect of the monk and the Kensei maintains these aspects. Part of my design goal with the Bushi was to create a monk that never needed to make an unarmed attack so long as they held a weapon.

Bushi Design Themes

The bushi has three major design themes: Weapon Skill, Precision, and Critical Hits.

Weapon Skill. Bushi are meant to be the pinnacle of single weapon mastery.

Precision. A bushi's skill makes them incredibly accurate with their weapons.

Critical Hits. The precision of the bushi allows them to perform devastating critical hits.

Bushi Arts

The core aspect of the bushi. The martial weapon proficiency is largely the same as kensei but specifically excludes ranged weapons. The theme of dedicating oneself to one weapon is central to the bushi, which is why the bushi only gains one proficiency.

Focused Strike

The combination of the ability to use a martial weapon along with the bonus damage from Bushi Arts keeps the bushi's damage about equal to an open hand monk, and demonstrated by the chart below.

By allowing the bushi to forgo their martial arts damage to deal extra damage on hit, the bushi's damage is made more consistent, as they can choose to not risk missing the bonus action attack, and can even still make the bonus action attack if they miss both weapon attacks.

This goes along with the theme of both precision, as the bushi deals more damage consistently, but also with the theme of powerful crits, as the bushi's crits double their martial arts and weapon die.

Open Hand vs. Bushi Arts

Peerless Precision

This obviously goes hand in hand with the theme of "precision". This also gives the bushi a subclass feature to spend ki on early.

Mind's Eye

Once again, going hand in hand with the theme of precision. The bushi gains the ability to fight effectively in darkness or against invisible opponents due to their honed senses. I like the trope of the masterful swordsman feeling the flow of ki around them to fight while blind, which is what the blindsight is meant to invoke.

Storm of the Heavens

I know I'm not the only one who saw Steel Wind Strike in Xanathar's and thought this belongs in a monk subclass. Even the name invokes that kind of eastern flair. You could argue this goes hand in hand with the "weapon skill" theme, but I really just wanted this in here because its cool.

Steel Wind Strike is a 5th level spell, so this was originally a 17th level feature. However, I still didn't like the idea that wizards could do this before a master swordsman could.

Mortal Cut

This is basically the sword of sharpness feature. I knew I wanted some powerful feature to benefit the bushi's critical hits, to go along with the "strong critical hits" theme. This ability is very powerful and flavorful, making it a great subclass capstone. It has a similar parallel in Quivering Palm, though that rides on a saving throw.