Monks from this tradition have a deep connection with earth, stones, and of course mountains, and most of them prefer to walk barefooted to feel the ground beneath them. They train their bodies to endure the worst punishments, like a mountain unphased by a storm. More skilled monks also learn how to use their ki to manipulate the earth on the ground, becoming a true force of nature.

Inspired by the dungeons and dragons online MMO monk, the way of the mountain gives players an efficient way to make a strength-based monk without needing to multiclass. My goal was to make a subclass that is powerful but not game-breaking, that is flavourful, and that has plenty abilities that can be used both in and out of combat (that's why I love the monk class in the first place).

In combat, the main mechanic for this subclass is the Mountain Stance. While on this stance, the monk gains some powerful features but they also can't move, so players need to come up with creative ways to use it in combat (like grappling). Later, this tradition allows monks to use the Seismic Strike attack, which then becomes the main combo with the Mountain Stance.

There are plenty of earth/mountain/stone inspired homebrew monk subclasses out there, and I definitely used some of them as inspiration for this one. But I believe in the end I did manage to create something fun and unique.

Stone Body

Your intensive training made your body as tough as mountain stone. When you choose this tradition at 3rd level, while you are wearing no armor and not wielding a shield, your AC equals 10 + your Constitution modifier + your Wisdom modifier.

Mountain Stance

At 3rd level, you can spend 1 ki point to enter the Mountain Stance as a bonus action. While in this stance you gain the following:

• You have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage.
• You have advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws.
• You can’t move or be moved, teleport or be teleported, nor drop prone or be knocked prone.

You break out of this stance if you lose contact with the ground or if you become unconscious. You can also leave this instance at any moment (no action required).

Seismic Strike

At 6th level, you learn the devastating Seismic Strike. Using the attack action, you strike the ground with an unarmed strike or a shove attack and propagate it as shockwaves through the ground using your ki. If you’re able to make multiple attacks with the Attack action, this attack replaces one of them. You can create a number of shockwaves up to your wisdom modifier (minimum 1), each of them with a different target, and you need to spend 1 ki point for each target.

The shockwaves move on a straight line, each of them can cover a maximum distance equal to your monk’s unarmored movement speed and they need to propagate through at least 5 feet of terrain to be effective (so you can’t attack targets adjacent to you this way). The shockwaves ignore cover and walls and other solid objects, but they dissipate if there is no more terrain for them to propagate.

Once a shockwave reaches the destination, it explodes in a burst of energy, “delivering” the attack to the target. That target must be standing on that ground to be a valid target.

If you propagated an unarmed strike, you make that attack against each target as normal. On a hit, all damage becomes force damage. If the target is a structure connected to the ground, your attack is a critical hit and deals maximum damage (no need for an attack roll nor damage roll).

If you propagated a shove attack, you and the targets make the required shove checks as normal. If you win the shove, you can knock the targets prone, pull them by 5 feet or push them by 5 feet (same outcome for all the targets).

One with the Earth

At 11th level, your connection with earth gives you the following benefits:

• Move Mountains. While on your Mountain Stance, you can attempt to shove or grapple creatures that are up to 2 sizes larger than you. If you move a creature with a shove, you can move it an extra 5 feet on that same direction.
• Grounded. You gain tremorsense with a range equal to your monk’s unarmored movement speed.

Mountain Soul

At 17th level, you are a grandmaster of the way of the mountain. Your Mountain Stace is not just a fighting stance anymore, but a natural ability that became part of your soul.

As long you are in contact with the ground and you are not unconscious, you are on your Mountain Stance.

In addition, your Mountain Stance now grants you the following benefits (replacing the previous ones):

• You have resistance to all damage types except for lightning and thunder.
• You have advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws, and your unarmed strikes deal double damage to objects, structures and constructs.
• You can’t be moved, teleported, nor knocked prone against your will.