Way of the Monsoon

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CHANGELOG:

V 1.1

Maelstrom's Center: 
- Added Gust cantrip

Cloud Rider:
- No longer an upgrade to Maelstrom's Center, now requires you to use Step of the Wind while MC is active

Sky's Performance:
- Base ki cost increased from 1 to 3
- Dance of Lightning damage changed from 4 to 5 rolls of your Martial Arts die
- Dance of Lightning changed from +1 secondary target for each additional ki point to +1 damage dice
- Song of Thunder damage changed from 3 to 2 rolls of your Martial Arts die

V 1.2

Maelstrom's Center:
- Now has PB uses per long rest, with the option to spend 1 ki point for additional uses
- wording changed to reflect the new usage limits
- format updated

Sky's Performance:
- Now grants one free use of the ability per long rest, with the option to spend 3 ki points for additional uses
- Wording changed to reflect the new usage limits
- format updated

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### Way of the Monsoon

Monks who walk Way of the Monsoon understand the lie of separation, knowing that directing the ki energy within themselves is no different than directing the energy without. Unified with the swirling powers of weather, these monks move like a curious breeze and crash like furious lightning.

These monks often found their monasteries in centers of great atmospheric power, such as mountains where storms gather or floating on the sea to greet new hurricanes.

#### Maelstrom's Center
*3rd-level Way of the Monsoon feature*
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You are the eye of the storm, surrounded by whipping winds and crackling electricity. You learn the *gust* cantrip if you don't already know it. In addition, you can choose to gather the energy of a storm about you at the start of your turn. If you do so, you can add one of the following effects to each of your melee weapon attacks until the start of your next turn. Each effect cannot be used more than once per turn, and you must decide which effect to use before making the attack roll:

<p class='negative-indent'><b>Thunder.</b> On a hit, the target must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or be knocked prone as crash of thunder reverberates from your strike.</p>

<p class='negative-indent'><b>Lightning.</b> On a hit, the target takes extra lightning damage equal to one roll of your martial arts die as bolts of power sear their skin.</p>

<p class='negative-indent'><b>Wind.</b> On a hit, the target must succeed on a Strength saving throw or be moved up to 10 feet in a horizontal direction of your choice as the air around them moves with your strike.</p>

<p class='negative-indent'><b>Rain.</b> Your reach is 10 feet greater than normal as moisture from the air gathers to deliver the blow. </p>

<p class='negative-indent'><b>Mist.</b> You can move up to 5 feet without provoking opportunity attacks immediately after making the attack, as mist disguises your steps. </p>

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

While you have no uses available, you can spend 1 ki point to use this feature again.

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This is the main subclass feature. For 1 ki point, you can use any of these effects when you make a melee attack until the start of your next turn, but each effect cannot be used more than once per turn. This means it works on attacks of opportunity, or any abilities that allow you to attack as a reaction.

Thunder knocks enemies prone. Prone creatures have disadvantage on attack rolls, they have to crawl unless they spend half their movement to get up, and attacks made from within 5 feet have advantage. This is a great opener, since you can give yourself or allies advantage against the creature, or help you disengage since they will have a hard time hitting you. It also works to knock flying enemies out of the air. If a flying creature is knocked prone or has its speed reduced to 0, it falls if it cannot hover.

Lightning deals extra damage. The extra damage is equal to one roll of your martial arts die, which scales as you level. In terms of ki to damage, this is worth less than using Flurry of Blows since an unarmed strike deals a MA die + modifier, but you also get other utility from this feature.

Wind knocks enemies around. Notably, this does not have to knock them directly away from you, so you can push enemies off a bridge or into an AOE spell. Keep in mind that this does not necessarily have to put enemies out of your reach, you can move them to another spot within 5 feet of you though I don't think you could move them directly through your space. Also this is forced movement, so it will not grant opportunity attacks.

Rain increases your reach by 10 feet. This lets you hit distant creatures, potentially avoiding danger if they have small aura effects or retaliation abilities.

Mist lets you move without provoking opportunity attacks after attacking. This is a great way to finish your turn, after laying into targets you can step back. It also lets you move between targets.

You get to use 2 of these effects in a turn, one with your Action and one with your Bonus Action thanks to Martial Arts. You can spend a ki point to use Flurry of Blows and make two attacks with your Bonus Action, bringing the total to 3. At level 5, you get Extra Attack, bringing the total to 3 or up to 4 if you use FoB. That means on your turn after level 5, you can use up to 4 of these effects if you spend another ki point on Flurry of Blows. There are 5 effects, so unless you have Haste on you or you get to make a reaction attack, you won't get to use every option, so be careful.

If you are strategic about it, you can get a lot of value out of this ability. Thunder and Wind are great for setting up your allies to be more effective, but there is a lot of internal synergy and combo potential as well.

If you use Thunder and knock an enemy prone, the rest of the attacks you make while within 5 feet will have advantage. This means you can follow up with Lightning, and have a better chance to crit thanks to advantage. If you do crit, the extra damage die also gets doubled, just like Divine Smite or Sneak Attack.

You can knock an enemy away with Wind, putting them out of your reach, but then follow up with Rain, letting you hit them anyways. This is great for positioning enemies in bad places such as any long-duration AOE spell.

I really like how this ability came out. It is ki intensive, you always want to be using this, but you get a ton of value from it. It also encourages a very monk-like way of thinking, since real martial arts also involve this sort of setup and follow-through approach.

You also learn the Gust cantrip at this level. As far as I can tell, this is considered a fairly low-tier cantrip and I would have to agree. In combat it is almost useless, the shove ability is usually outclassed by just walking up to the creature and shoving them. The main benefit is the minor air of elemental power this adds to your character, as long as you remember to use it frequently for small things.

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#### Cloud Rider
*6th-level Way of the Monsoon feature*
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You can choose to weigh as much as a leaf on the wind, carried in beautiful spirals traced across the sky atop a cloud that forms beneath your feet. When you use your Step of the Wind while Maelstrom's Center is active, you gain a flying speed equal to your walking speed until the start of your next turn. If you are above the ground at the start of your next turn with nothing holding you aloft, you fall, unless you activate Maelstrom's Center and use your Step of the Wind again.

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This is a reference to Sun Wukong, the Monkey King from Journey to the West. Images of him standing on a cloud are ubiquitous in Chinese culture.

Step of the Wind now grants a flying speed if you use it while Maelstrom's Center is active. You have to spend a bonus action and two ki points to get it, but this is great for maneuvering yourself. As a melee-focused character, hanging around midair isn't the best use of your time or ki usually, but this can allow for some really cool moments when you have to avoid hazards or deal with flying enemies.

As mentioned in Thunder, flying creatures without hover will fall if they are knocked prone or their speed is reduced to 0. This means you can activate Maelstrom's Center, use Step of the Wind, get up close to a flying creature, hit them with Thunder and possibly two Stunning Strike attempts, and watch them plummet if they fail even one of those three saving throws. Granted that will consume up to four ki points, but almost no other monk could do the same thing.

If you also Dash with your action, you can move quite far with this and reach high places or cross otherwise impassable obstacles. It effectively costs 2 ki points per round of flight, but with monks Unarmored Movement that can still be very efficient. In combat the ki cost is a little more valuable since Maelstrom's Center is your main fighting ability, but since Step of the Wind is a bonus action you won't be able to use your Flurry of Blows and thus will get only 2 attacks per round.

I am considering adding a second level 6 ability that works off of Patient Defense in the same way this works off of Step of the Wind. When you use PD while MC is active, you become heavily obscured to other creatures until the start of your next turn. This is an upgrade in that your attacks will have advantage, and you will be untargetable by spells that require the caster to see the target. I'm unsure if that would be too strong or if it would be too much for level 6, since most features only get 1 level 6 feature, but I would probably combine them under the same ability somehow.

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#### Sky's Performance
*11th-level Way of the Monsoon feature*
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With the whispers of wind, and the tappings of rain, the clamorous shouts and violent thrashings of thunder and lightning are at once unexpected and completely inevitable. Just as your ki can draw a single drop of water from the air, so too can it bring out a mighty show of wrath. As an action, you can create one of the following effects:

<p class='negative-indent'><b>Dance of Lightning.</b> Ribbons of searing light spin and leap across the battlefield. Choose one creature you can see within 90 feet, as well as up to three additional creatures within 30 feet of the first target. Each creature must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes lightning damage equal to five rolls of your Martial Arts die, or half as much damage on a successful save. When you use this ability, you can choose to spend up to 3 ki points to increase the damage by one roll of your Martial Arts die for each ki point spent this way. </p>

<p class='negative-indent'><b>Song of Thunder.</b> Waves of echoing noise resound from your position, with a boom that is audible from 300 feet away. Each creature within 15 feet of you must make a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes thunder damage equal to two rolls of your Martial Arts die and is stunned until the end of your next turn. On a successful save, a creature takes half as much damage and is not stunned. When you use this ability, you can choose to spend up to 3 ki points to increase the radius of this effect by 5 feet for each ki point spent this way. </p>

Once you use this action, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest, unless you expend 3 ki points to use it again.

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These are two big AOE effects, which allow you to spend 3 or more ki points to deal a lot of damage or control several enemies. Both can be upgraded by spending more ki.

Dance of Lightning is effectively Chain Lightning, albeit with lower damage. You choose up to 4 targets that must be within 30 feet of each other, and they all make Dexterity saving throws or take damage equal to five rolls of your MA die. At level 11 this will deal 5d8 damage, for an average of 22.5 damage. At level 17 when your MA die becomes a d10, it will go up to 5d10 for an average of 27.5 damage. For context, Fireball and Lightning bolt both deal 8d6 damage, for an average of 28, so this is about the average of a 3rd level spell. If you upcast it you can reach similar damage numbers as the real Chain Lightning, but that costs 6 ki points.

Song of Thunder is a smaller AOE centered on you, but it forces enemies to make a Con save, taking damage equal to 2 rolls of your MA die and becoming stunned for a round on a failure. If there are 3 enemies affected, this is about the same damage and ki cost as hitting them all with Stunning Strike once. If there are more, then you get a lot of value per ki point spent. The radius can be upgraded by spending more ki, up to a maximum of 30 feet, but be careful not to catch any allies in this.

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#### Sage of the Four Winds
*17th-level Way of the Monsoon feature*
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The movements of the clouds are synchronized with your breath. As an action, you can cast the *control weather* spell, without expending spell slots or material components. Once you do so, you cannot cast this spell this way again until you finish a long rest.

Additionally, when you apply an effect from Maelstrom's Center to an attack, you can also apply a second effect of a different type to that attack, and there is no longer a limit to how many times an effect can be used on each turn.

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Control weather normally takes 10 minutes to cast, but you can cast it once a day as an action. Mechanically it doesn't do a whole lot, it won't kill creatures in combat or anything, but for utility and roleplay this is a fun option. Water a kingdom's crops, mess up an army or armada on the move, or just make things comfortable and pleasant.

The real draw of the capstone is the upgrade to Maelstrom's Center. Now you can apply two effects to each attack, and there is no longer a limit to how many times an effect can be used each turn. You can now apply Lightning to every attack and move around freely with Mist, or knock enemies about from a distance by combining Thunder or Wind with Rain.

This drastically increases the value of the ki point for Maelstrom's Center, but I think that is a good capstone. For such a ki-intensive subclass, being efficient is important. Ultimately, I'm satisfied with the dynamic it rewards. If you are strategic, you can spend ki points to quickly dispatch multiple enemies while keeping yourself and your allies safe. It incentivizes you to think ahead, and all the choices feel important and thematic.

Thanks for reading!

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##### Way of the Monsoon v1.2 for D&D 5e
**Created by:** [u/NotTheDreadPirate](https://www.reddit.com/user/NotTheDreadPirate "u/NotTheDreadPirate's profile")</br>
**Artist Credit:**
[Heonhwa Choe - Siani, Eye of the Storm](https://www.artofmtg.com/art/siani-eye-of-the-storm/ "Heonhwa Choe - Siani, Eye of the Storm")
</div>