The Edgedancers are an Order of the Knights Radiant on Roshar. They are Surgebinders who use the Surges of Abrasion and Progression.

They form a Nahel Bond with cultivationspren, swearing five sets of Ideals specific to Edgedancers. The Surges of Abrasion and Progression grant Edgedancers extraordinary abilities. They can manipulate friction to become glide on frictionless feet or grip even the slickest walls; They can cause regrowth, causing plants to grow much faster than normal or wounds to close in moments.

Surgebinders use a form of Investiture called Stormlight to fuel their abilities, stored in gems used as money. While on Roshar, Stormlight needs a highstorm to be renewed, monks of the Way of the Edgedancers can renew their Stormlight with their ki.

Reflavoured Features

Deflect Missiles can be reflavoured as plucking a missile from your body and instantly healing the damage.

When successful, the Stunning Strike feature can be flavoured as removing all friction from a creature's space, causing them to be completely unbalanced and unable to effectively move, an effect that would have the same results as the Stunned condition. If your DM allows, it would better fit the flavour to change the required saving throw from Constitution to Dexterity as they attempt to balance.

The Purity of Body, Diamond Soul and Timeless Body features all simulate the enhanced reflexes and durability granted by Stormlight

Incompatible Features

Tongue of the Sun and Moon is a Bondsmith power, therefore Edgedancers do not gain this feature, instead gaining the Second Ideal improvement.

Empty Body is replaced by Dance the Line, providing the combat benefits without the invisibility, which Edgedancers cannot mimic.

Astral projection is an Elsecaller ability so is also replaced. If you want to play this subclass without modifying the base Monk class, do not apply the level 18 feature.

 

Improving Shardblades

In a world where players have access to +1, +2 and +3 weapons, Shardblades can fall behind in effectiveness. Your DM might offer the following magic item to allow you to keep up:

Weaponsmaster's Bracers: Wondrous item, uncommon (+1), rare (+2), or very rare (+3) (requires attunement by a Surgebinder)

While wearing these bracers, you have a bonus to your attack and damage rolls made with your Shardblade or unarmed strikes. The bonus is determined by the bracers' rarity.

Nightwatcher's Boon

If you are particularly lucky, you might be granted a Boon from the unpredictable Nightwatcher.

Lift's Boon: You can gorge yourself on food to replenish your magical energies. If you spend 1 minute eating as much as you can, you regain a number of ki points equal to your proficiency bonus. Once you use this boon, you can't use it again until you finish a short rest.

Life Before Death

When you swear your first Ideal at 3rd level, you gain the ability to generate Stormlight with your ki. As a bonus action you can spend 1 ki point to inhale 1 minute's worth of Stormlight. While you are holding Stormlight, you gain the following benefits:

- Increased resilience: the Stormlight within you slowly stitches your wounds and mends your ailments. When you take damage, you reduce the damage roll by an amount equal to your proficiency bonus.

- Minor Surgebinding: you can add your Wisdom modifier to Strength (Athletics) checks to climb and Strength and Dexterity checks and saving throws to avoid or escape being grappled or restrained until your Stormlight runs out.

Remember the Forgotten

When you swear your second Ideal at 6th level, you can hold Stormlight more efficiently and for longer. Spending 1 ki point now allows you to inhale and hold 2 minutes' worth of Stormlight.

As an action, you can touch a creature and spend 2 ki points to fuel Regrowth and restore a number of hit points equal to your proficiency modifier to that creature. Alternatively, you can spend 4 ki points to fuel Regrowth to cure the target of one disease or neutralize one poison affecting it.

Additionally, you can spend 5 ki points to duplicate the effects of the plant growth spell using either of the casting times with a range of touch. You do not need to provide the Verbal component.

At 13th level, you can hold 3 minutes' worth of Stormlight, you can use as many of your available ki points as you wish when you use your action to fuel Regrowth in a creature, restoring a number of hit points equal to your proficiency bonus for every 2 ki points spent.

Listen to the Ignored

When you swear your third Ideal at 11th level, you gain the ability to summon a Shardblade. You can use your bonus action to create a Shardblade in your empty hand. You can choose the form that this melee weapon takes each time you create it (see the Weapons section for weapon options) or change it as a bonus action.

You are proficient with your Shardblade and it counts as a monk weapon no matter its form. This weapon deals 2d6 psychic damage to living and undead creatures or 2d10 magical slashing damage to constructs and inanimate objects.

Alternatively, you can summon your Shardblade as a shield. You are proficient with it and it does not hinder your Martial Arts, Unarmoured Defence or Unarmoured Movement.

Your Shardblade disappears if it is more than 5 feet away from you for 1 minute or more. It also disappears if you use this feature again, if you dismiss the weapon (no action required), or if you die.

At 17th level, you can summon or change the shape of your Shardblade as your Object Interaction on your turn and the damage of your Shardblade increases to 2d8 psychic damage to living and undead creatures or 2d12 magical slashing damage to constructs and inanimate objects

Speak for the Voiceless

When you swear your fourth Ideal at 17th level, as an action you can summon Shardplate, shining white armour that does not count as armour for the purposes of using Martial Arts and Unarmoured Movement.

While wearing your Sharplate, your AC equals 12 + your Dexterity modifier + your Wisdom modifier and when you heal others, holding so much Stormlight causes you to heal yourself as well. When you spend ki points to fuel Regrowth in another creature, you regain hit points equal to the number of ki points spent.

While you are holding Stormlight, your speed cannot be reduced and you are immune to the grappled, restrained and paralysed conditions. Additionally, you can spend 2 ki points to generate, inhale and hold 10 minutes' worth of Stormlight and hold your breath for the duration.

Dance the Line

Beginning at 18th level, you can use your action to spend 4 ki points to suffuse yourself with Stormlight, vastly improving your combat capabilities for 1 minute. During that time, you have advantage on all attack rolls, you have resistance to all damage and other creatures have disadvantage on attack rolls against you.

Additionally, you can return the recently dead to life with Regrowth. As an action, you can spend 8 ki points to duplicate the effects of the revivify spell without providing the verbal or material components.