Way of the Wandering Soul

Death is part of the cycle of life. In order for life to have meaning it must end. But, especially in the Forgotten Realms, it is not a true end. There is simply a veil that must be respected. To those who train, the bridge between life and death can grant not just an extra perspective on mortality but powers that draw on forces from the other side.

Monks who train in The Way Of The Wandering Soul have experienced Death in some capacity, but are not typically themselves Undead. Examples include stopping your heart and having it restarted without magic, a death that weighs heavily on your mind, or being haunted by a spirit. This proximity to the veil without crossing it makes one’s soul more pliable. 

Seeing The Veil

Your proximity to the veil between life and death has enlightened you. When you make a Religion check or Arcana check that relates to Undead or the Upper or Lower Planes you may add your Wisdom modifier.

Ghostly Strike

At third level your Ki becomes empowered with Undead energy. When you make an Unarmed Strike or attack with a monk weapon, you may spend a Ki point to phase it through an enemy and attack their soul directly. When using this ability, an enemy’s AC is treated as 5 lower, and the damage becomes force damage instead of the typical damage type.

Additionally, you may now take the Dodge action as a reaction by spending a Ki Point. Using the Dodge action in this way adds +5 to your AC until your next turn and you become resistant to nonmagical damage, as weapons and strikes pass through you.

Chill Up Your Spine

Ghosts are frightful creatures. By calling on them as a source of power, so too will creatures be afraid of you. When you Dash or use Step of the Wind, you may spend 2 Ki points. If you do, you gain a flying speed equal to your walking speed until the end of your turn and may pass through objects and creatures. When you pass through a creature, it must make a Wisdom save against your Ki DC. On a failure, the creature becomes Frightened of you and takes cold damage equal to your Monk damage die. On a success it is not Frightened and takes half damage. If you end your turn inside a creature, you are both shunted 5 ft apart and take force damage equal to your monk die. If you end your turn inside an object you are shunted into the closest open space, taking 2 force damage for each 5 ft you are pushed.

Overshadow

As your flirt closer to the veil, you find it possible to overshadow a creature’s mind. When you use your Chill Up The Spine ability you may spend 3 Ki Points to force the creature to make a Charisma saving throw vs your Ki Save DC. On failure you possess the creature for 1 minute or until you drop the possession as an action. On a success you fail to possess it and nothing happens. While possessing the creature you use its stat block except you maintain your Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores. You may use basic Monk features but not Monastic Tradition abilities. The creature may remake the Charisma save whenever it takes damage.

Bridge of Life and Death

At 17th level you may call on the full power of the veil, boosting your existing abilities and granting new ones. By spending 10 Ki Points, you enter a Veil State for 10 minutes.

While in the Veil State all of your attacks treat enemy AC as 5 lower. You gain a flying speed equal to your walking speed, your Unarmed Strikes and Monk Weapon Attacks deal one additional damage die of Cold or Necrotic damage, creatures trying to resist Overshadow and Chill Up Your Spine do so at Disadvantage, and you are immune to non-magical damage.

While in your Veil State, you may enter and exit the Ethereal Plane as a Bonus Action, but appear as a translucent form of yourself on the Material Plane. While in the Ethereal Plane you are treated as Invisible, and a creature using Detect Evil and Good sees you as Undead. Additionally, you are pulled from the Ethereal Plane if you are hit with a Critical Hit or Radiant damage.