Her fists a blur as they deflect an incoming hail of arrows, an elf springs over a barricade and throws herself into the massed ranks of hobgoblins on the other side. She whirls among them, knocking their blows aside and sending them reeling, until at last she stands alone.   Moving with the silence of the night, a black-clad halfling steps into a shadow beneath an arch and emerges from another inky shadow on a balcony a stone’s throw away. She slides her blade free of its cloth-wrapped scabbard and peers through the open window at the tyrant prince, so vulnerable in the grip of sleep.   Whatever their discipline, monks are united in their ability to harness the energy that flows in their bodies. Whether channeled as a striking display of combat prowess or a subtler focus of defensive ability and speed, this energy infuses all that a monk does.

The Magic of Ki

Monks make careful study of energy that most monastic traditions call ki. Monks harness this power within themselves to create magical effects and exceed their bodies’ physical capabilities, and some of their special attacks can hinder the flow of ki in their opponents. Using this energy, monks channel uncanny speed and strength into their unarmed strikes. As they gain experience, their martial training and their mastery of ki gives them more power over their bodies and the bodies of their foes.

Training and Asceticism

Small walled cloisters dot the landscapes of the worlds of D&D, tiny refuges from the flow of ordinary life, where time seems to stand still. The monks who live there seek personal perfection through contemplation and rigorous training. Many entered the monastery as children, sent to live there when their parents died, when food couldn’t be found to support them, or in return for some kindness that the monks had performed for their families.   Some monks live entirely apart from the surrounding population, secluded from anything that might impede their spiritual progress. Others are sworn to isolation, emerging only to serve as spies or assassins at the command of their leader, a noble patron, or some other mortal or divine power.   The majority of monks don’t shun their neighbors, making frequent visits to nearby towns or villages and exchanging their service for food and other goods. As versatile warriors, monks often end up protecting their neighbors from monsters or tyrants.   For a monk, becoming an adventurer means leaving a structured, communal lifestyle to become a wanderer. This can be a harsh transition, and monks don’t undertake it lightly. Those who leave their cloisters take their work seriously, approaching their adventures as personal tests of their physical and spiritual growth. As a rule, monks care little for material wealth and are driven by a desire to accomplish a greater mission than merely slaying monsters and plundering their treasure.

Creating a Monk

As you make your monk character, think about your connection to the monastery where you learned your skills and spent your formative years. Were you an orphan or a child left on the monastery’s threshold? Did your parents promise you to the monastery in gratitude for a service performed by the monks? Did you enter this secluded life to hide from a crime you committed? Or did you choose the monastic life for yourself?   Consider why you left. Did the head of your monastery choose you for a particularly important mission beyond the cloister? Perhaps you were cast out because of some violation of the community’s rules. Did you dread leaving, or were you happy to go? Is there something you hope to accomplish outside the monastery? Are you eager to return to your home?   As a result of the structured life of a monastic community and the discipline required to harness ki, monks are almost always lawful in alignment.       Monastic Traditions Three traditions of monastic pursuit are common in the monasteries scattered across the multiverse. Most monasteries practice one tradition exclusively, but a few honor the three traditions and instruct each monk according to his or her aptitude and interest. All three traditions rely on the same basic techniques, diverging as the student grows more adept. Thus, a monk need choose a tradition only upon reaching 3rd level.

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Way of Mercy

  Monks of the Way of Mercy learn to manipulate the life force of others to bring aid to those in need. They are wandering physicians to the poor and hurt. However, to those beyond their help—whether ailing or evil—they bring a swift end as an act of mercy.   Those who follow the Way of Mercy might be humble members of a religious order, administering to those in greatest need, making grim choices rooted in reality rather than idealism. Some might be gentle-voiced healers, beloved by their communities, while others might be masked bringers of macabre mercies.   The walkers of this way usually don simple robes with deep cowls, and they often conceal their faces with masks, presenting themselves as the faceless bringers of life and death. If you wear a mask, choose its appearance, or determine it randomly by rolling on the Merciful Mask table.   Merciful Mask

1. Raven
2. Blank and white
3. Crying visage
4. Laughing visage
5. Skull
6. Butterfly

Implements of Mercy
3rd-level Way of Mercy feature   You gain proficiency in the Insight or Medicine skill (your choice), and you gain proficiency with the herbalism kit and the poisoner’s kit.   Hands of Healing
3rd-level Way of Mercy feature   Your mystical touch can mend wounds. As an action, you can spend 1 ki point to touch a creature and restore a number of hit points equal to a roll of your Martial Arts die + your Wisdom modifier.   When you use your Flurry of Blows, you can replace one of the unarmed strikes with a use of this feature without spending its ki cost.   Hands of Harm
3rd-level Way of Mercy feature   You use your ki to inflict wounds. When you hit a creature with an unarmed strike, you can spend 1 ki point to deal extra necrotic damage equal to one roll of your Martial Arts die. If the creature is incapacitated or poisoned, the creature takes necrotic damage equal to three rolls of your Martial Arts die instead. You can use this feature only once on each of your turns.   Noxious Aura
6th-level Way of Mercy feature   As a bonus action, you spend 1 ki point to turn your ki into an aura of toxic miasma. The aura extends 5 feet from you in every direction, but not through total cover. It lasts for 1 minute, until you’re incapacitated, or you dismiss it (no action required).   While your aura is active, ranged attacks have disadvantage against you. Any other creature that starts its turn in the aura must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or become poisoned until the end of your next turn and take poison damage equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of 0 damage).   Healing Technique
11th-level Way of Mercy feature   Your skill in manipulating your ki to heal increases. When you restore hit points to a creature using your Hands of Healing, you can also end one disease or a condition from the following list affecting the target: blinded, deafened, paralyzed, or poisoned.   Hand of Mercy
17th-level Way of Mercy feature   Your mastery of life energy opens the door to the ultimate respite technique. As an action, you can touch a creature, expend 4 ki points, and force the creature to make a Constitution saving throw (a creature can willingly fail this save). Unless the save succeeds, the creature enters a state of suspended animation for a number of days equal to your monk level or until you end the effect early (no action required). During this time, the creature is paralyzed, has immunity to all damage, and any curse, disease, or poison affecting it is suspended. The creature appears dead to all outward inspection and to spells used to determine the creature’s status.   You can have only one creature under the effect of this feature at a time.  

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Way of Shadow

Monks of the Way of Shadow follow a tradition that values stealth and subterfuge. These monks might be called ninjas or shadowdancers, and they serve as spies and assassins. Sometimes the members of a ninja monastery are family members, forming a clan sworn to secrecy about their arts and missions. Other monasteries are more like thieves’ guilds, hiring out their services to nobles, rich merchants, or anyone else who can pay their fees. Regardless of their methods, the heads of these monasteries expect the unquestioning obedience of their students.   Shadow Arts
Starting when you choose this tradition at 3rd level, you can use your ki to duplicate the effects of certain spells. As an action, you can spend 2 ki points to cast darkness, darkvision, pass without trace, or silence, without providing material components. Additionally, you gain the minor illusion cantrip if you don’t already know it.   Shadow Step
At 6th level, you gain the ability to step from one shadow into another. When you are in dim light or darkness, as a bonus action you can teleport up to 60 feet to an unoccupied space you can see that is also in dim light or darkness. You then have advantage on the first melee attack you make before the end of the turn.   Cloak of Shadows
By 11th level, you have learned to become one with the shadows. When you are in an area of dim light or darkness, you can use your action to become invisible. You remain invisible until you make an attack, cast a spell, or are in an area of bright light.   Opportunist
At 17th level, you can exploit a creature’s momentary distraction when it is hit by an attack. Whenever a creature within 5 feet of you is hit by an attack made by a creature other than you, you can use your reaction to make a melee attack against that creature.

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Way of the Drunken Master

The Way of the Drunken Master teaches its students to move with the jerky, unpredictable movements of a drunkard. A drunken master sways, tottering on unsteady feet, to present what seems like an incompetent combatant who proves frustrating to engage. The drunken master’s erratic stumbles conceal a carefully executed dance of blocks, parries, advances, attacks, and retreats.   A drunken master often enjoys playing the fool to bring gladness to the despondent or to demonstrate humility to the arrogant, but when battle is joined, the drunken master can be a maddening, masterful foe.   Way of the Drunken Master Features

Monk Level	Feature
3rd	Bonus Proficiencies, Drunken Technique
6th	Tipsy Sway
11th	Drunkard’s Luck
17th	Intoxicated Frenzy

Bonus Proficiencies
When you choose this tradition at 3rd level, you gain proficiency in the Performance skill if you don’t already have it. Your martial arts technique mixes combat training with the precision of a dancer and the antics of a jester. You also gain proficiency with brewer’s supplies if you don’t already have it.   Drunken Technique
At 3rd level, you learn how to twist and turn quickly as part of your Flurry of Blows. Whenever you use Flurry of Blows, you gain the benefit of the Disengage action, and your walking speed increases by 10 feet until the end of the current turn.   Tipsy Sway
Starting at 6th level, you can move in sudden, swaying ways. You gain the following benefits.   Leap to Your Feet. When you’re prone, you can stand up by spending 5 feet of movement, rather than half your speed.   Redirect Attack. When a creature misses you with a melee attack roll, you can spend 1 ki point as a reaction to cause that attack to hit one creature of your choice, other than the attacker, that you can see within 5 feet of you.   Drunkard’s Luck
Starting at 11th level, you always seem to get a lucky bounce at the right moment. When you make an ability check, an attack roll, or a saving throw and have disadvantage on the roll, you can spend 2 ki points to cancel the disadvantage for that roll.   Intoxicated Frenzy
At 17th level, you gain the ability to make an overwhelming number of attacks against a group of enemies. When you use your Flurry of Blows, you can make up to three additional attacks with it (up to a total of five Flurry of Blows attacks), provided that each Flurry of Blows attack targets a different creature this turn.

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Way of the Kensei

  Monks of the Way of the Kensei train relentlessly with their weapons, to the point where the weapon becomes an extension of the body. Founded on a mastery of sword fighting, the tradition has expanded to include many different weapons.   A kensei sees a weapon in much the same way a calligrapher or painter regards a pen or brush. Whatever the weapon, the kensei views it as a tool used to express the beauty and precision of the martial arts. That such mastery makes a kensei a peerless warrior is but a side effect of intense devotion, practice, and study.   Way of the Kensei Features

Monk Level	Feature
3rd	Path of the Kensei (2 weapons)
6th	One with the Blade, Path of the Kensei (3 weapons)
11th	Sharpen the Blade, Path of the Kensei (4 weapons)
17th	Unerring Accuracy, Path of the Kensei (5 weapons)

Path of the Kensei
When you choose this tradition at 3rd level, your special martial arts training leads you to master the use of certain weapons. This path also includes instruction in the deft strokes of calligraphy or painting. You gain the following benefits.   Kensei Weapons. Choose two types of weapons to be your kensei weapons: one melee weapon and one ranged weapon. Each of these weapons can be any simple or martial weapon that lacks the heavy and special properties. The longbow is also a valid choice. You gain proficiency with these weapons if you don’t already have it. Weapons of the chosen types are monk weapons for you. Many of this tradition’s features work only with your kensei weapons. When you reach 6th, 11th, and 17th level in this class, you can choose another type of weapon — either melee or ranged — to be a kensei weapon for you, following the criteria above.   Agile Parry. If you make an unarmed strike as part of the Attack action on your turn and are holding a kensei weapon, you can use it to defend yourself if it is a melee weapon. You gain a +2 bonus to AC until the start of your next turn, while the weapon is in your hand and you aren’t incapacitated.   Kensei’s Shot. You can use a bonus action on your turn to make your ranged attacks with a kensei weapon more deadly. When you do so, any target you hit with a ranged attack using a kensei weapon takes an extra 1d4 damage of the weapon’s type. You retain this benefit until the end of the current turn.   Way of the Brush. You gain proficiency with your choice of calligrapher’s supplies or painter’s supplies.   One with the Blade
At 6th level, you extend your ki into your kensei weapons, granting you the following benefits.   Magic Kensei Weapons. Your attacks with your kensei weapons count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.   Deft Strike. When you hit a target with a kensei weapon, you can spend 1 ki point to cause the weapon to deal extra damage to the target equal to your Martial Arts die. You can use this feature only once on each of your turns.   Kensei Weapon
When you reach 6th level in this class, you can choose another type of weapon — either melee or ranged — to be a kensei weapon for you, following the criteria above.   Sharpen the Blade
At 11th level, you gain the ability to augment your weapons further with your ki. As a bonus action, you can expend up to 3 ki points to grant one kensei weapon you touch a bonus to attack and damage rolls when you attack with it. The bonus equals the number of ki points you spent. This bonus lasts for 1 minute or until you use this feature again. This feature has no effect on a magic weapon that already has a bonus to attack and damage rolls.   Kensei Weapon
When you reach 11th level in this class, you can choose another type of weapon — either melee or ranged — to be a kensei weapon for you, following the criteria above.   Unerring Accuracy
At 17th level, your mastery of weapons grants you extraordinary accuracy. If you miss with an attack roll using a monk weapon on your turn, you can reroll it. You can use this feature only once on each of your turns.   Kensei Weapon
When you reach 17th level in this class, you can choose another type of weapon — either melee or ranged — to be a kensei weapon for you, following the criteria above.

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Way of the Long Death

Monks of the Way of the Long Death are obsessed with the meaning and mechanics of dying. They capture creatures and prepare elaborate experiments to capture, record, and understand the moments of their demise. They then use this knowledge to guide their understanding of martial arts, yielding a deadly fighting style.   Touch of Death
Starting when you choose this tradition at 3rd level, your study of death allows you to extract vitality from another creature as it nears its demise. When you reduce a creature within 5 feet of you to 0 hit points, you gain temporary hit points equal to your Wisdom modifier + your monk level (minimum of 1 temporary hit point).   Hour of Reaping
At 6th level, you gain the ability to unsettle or terrify those around you as an action, for your soul has been touched by the shadow of death. When you take this action, each creature within 30 feet of you that can see you must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be frightened of you until the end of your next turn.   Mastery of Death
Beginning at 11th level, you use your familiarity with death to escape its grasp. When you are reduced to 0 hit points, you can expend 1 ki point (no action required) to have 1 hit point instead.   Touch of the Long Death
Starting at 17th level, your touch can channel the energy of death into a creature. As an action, you touch one creature within 5 feet of you, and you expend 1 to 10 ki points. The target must make a Constitution saving throw, and it takes 2d10 necrotic damage per ki point spent on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.

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Way of the Open Hand

  Monks of the Way of the Open Hand are the ultimate masters of martial arts combat, whether armed or unarmed. They learn techniques to push and trip their opponents, manipulate ki to heal damage to their bodies, and practice advanced meditation that can protect them from harm.   Open Hand Technique
Starting when you choose this tradition at 3rd level, you can manipulate your enemy’s ki when you harness your own. Whenever you hit a creature with one of the attacks granted by your Flurry of Blows, you can impose one of the following effects on that target:

• It must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or be knocked prone.
• It must make a Strength saving throw. If it fails, you can push it up to 15 feet away from you.
• It can’t take reactions until the end of your next turn.

Wholeness of Body
At 6th level, you gain the ability to heal yourself. As an action, you can regain hit points equal to three times your monk level. You must finish a long rest before you can use this feature again.   Tranquility
Beginning at 11th level, you can enter a special meditation that surrounds you with an aura of peace. At the end of a long rest, you gain the effect of a sanctuary spell that lasts until the start of your next long rest (the spell can end early as normal). The saving throw DC for the spell equals 8 + your Wisdom modifier + your proficiency bonus.   Quivering Palm
At 17th level, you gain the ability to set up lethal vibrations in someone’s body. When you hit a creature with an unarmed strike, you can spend 3 ki points to start these imperceptible vibrations, which last for a number of days equal to your monk level. The vibrations are harmless unless you use your action to end them. To do so, you and the target must be on the same plane of existence. When you use this action, the creature must make a Constitution saving throw. If it fails, it is reduced to 0 hit points. If it succeeds, it takes 10d10 necrotic damage.   You can have only one creature under the effect of this feature at a time. You can choose to end the vibrations harmlessly without using an action.