Wondrous Item

Rare

Prerequisites: 3rd level, Dex 17, can only be used with Daggers or shortswords while not wearing medium or heavy armor.

Wrapped in worn, sun-cracked leather and tied with frayed cord, this scroll smells faintly of oil, sweat, and steel. Inside, scraps of dirty parchment bear diagrams and notations in a hurried, angular hand—many faded, some bloodstained. A crude inked symbol repeats across the margins: half blade, half open palm.
The contents describe a fluid and deadly fighting style known as Messkhari, blending short-blade combat with unarmed strikes. It favors speed, agility, and precision over brute force, relying on rapid parries, evasions, and quick retaliations. Practiced most often with daggers or shortswords, the style thrives in close quarters where armor is a burden and hesitation fatal. Though often taught to assassins, knife-fighters, and mobile duelists, the true origin of Messkhari is unclear. Many claim it was born in the Underdark, its movements shaped by tunnels, shadows, and ambush. Others say it spread outward through forgotten exile lineages, carried by survivors who learned to live by reflex alone.
Messkhari is traditionally passed to smaller, faster fighters, favoring those who strike with relentless motion and slip between openings rather than force them. In capable hands, it is less a style and more a rhythm of death—measured in inches and instants.

Initial Understanding allows you to flow seamlessly between weapon and unarmed strikes, striking with speed and adaptability. While wielding a dagger or shortsword, you gain the following benefits:
When you take the Attack action, you may choose to replace one of your attacks with an unarmed strike. This unarmed strike deals bludgeoning damage but still benefits from any magical properties or enchantments of the weapon in your hand, if applicable.
Once per turn, when you make a unarmed attack, you may choose to take a –3 penalty to the attack roll. If the attack hits, you can immediately make one additional weapon attack, using a dagger or shortsword, as part of the same action. This extra attack does not add your ability modifier to its damage unless you have the Extra attack Feature.
Additionally, after hitting with an attack using a dagger or shortsword on your turn, your movement speed increases by 10 feet until the end of your turn.
The damage dice used by your unarmed attacks scales as you Improve in using this technique, starting as 1 + your dex modifier damage turning into 1d4 + your dex modifier once you have gained Moderate Understanding, 1d6 + your dex modifier at advanced understanding and lastly 1d8 + your dex modifier at Mastered Understanding.

Moderate Understanding which is Available at 6th Level sharpens Your mastery of Messkhari into precise disruption and defensive intuition.
When using the additional weapon attack granted by your Initial Understanding, you may choose not to deal damage with the attack. Instead, on a hit, you disorient your opponent—reducing their Armor Class by an amount equal to the base damage die of the attack. This reduction lasts until the End of your next turn. The attack must still hit to apply this effect and only one such affect can affect a creature at once.
In addition, when a physical attack targets you, you may use your reaction to reduce the damage taken. The amount reduced equals the damage die and damage modifier of a melee weapon you are currently holding. If the weapon is magical, you may also use this reaction to reduce damage from magical melee or ranged spell attacks.

Advanced Understanding available at 10th level, you learn to extend the reach of Messkhari’s flow beyond arm’s length, striking with precision even at a distance—and reclaiming your blade with uncanny ease. While wielding a dagger or shortsword, you can throw it as a ranged weapon with a range of 60 feet. The thrown weapon retains all its magical properties, Further more your Unarmed strikes retain the magical properties of a thrown weapon even if it is not currently in your hand but looses this effect if the weapon is not retrieved after 1 Minute. If the weapon already has a thrown property, its range is instead increased to 80 feet. Additionally, whenever you hit an enemy with an unarmed strike, you may choose to immediately retrieve a dagger or shortsword you have thrown in the last Minute. The weapon returns to your hand in a silent, untraceable motion, requiring no action or movement. This return occurs as part of the unarmed strike and does not interrupt the flow of combat. You must have at least one free hand to retrieve the weapon in this way.

Mastered understanding, available at 15th level, allows you to move like a shadow between strikes, using both instinct and momentum to control the flow of battle. When you use your reaction to reduce damage from an incoming attack, and the amount reduced equals or exceeds 10, the remaining damage from that attack is halved instead of taken in full.
Additionally, when you hit a creature with a ranged attack using a dagger or shortsword, you may immediately dash to the target as part of the same action. This movement does not provoke opportunity attacks and does not cause you to take damage from hazards you pass through (such as fall damage, traps, spell effects, or terrain features). You must end this movement within your normal movement range, and if you reach the target, you may make a single unarmed strike against them as part of the same effect. This unarmed strike does not benefit from any additional features that require bonus actions or reactions, but it can still trigger effects granted by the Messkhari technique.

How it Works
To learn a technique from a manuscript, a character must spend a total of 40 hours studying and practicing the contents described within. This time does not need to be consecutive but must be completed within a 1-month period. The manuscript must remain in the character’s possession for the entire duration of this training. Upon completion, the character becomes an Initiate in the given technique and gains its initial abilities.
A character may only have one technique memorized at any given time, unless they have acquired another technique through a different feature than this method.
At specific levels, as defined individually by each technique, a character becomes proficient enough to advance their training in the technique. Doing so requires 20 additional hours of training, following the same rules as the initial training. A manuscript is not required to use a technique, but it is required to progress it or to retrain a different one.
A character may retrain and replace their current technique by following the same rules as initial training. Upon completion, the previous technique is lost, and the character gains only the new technique's initial abilities. Any features granted by the replaced technique are no longer available.