Base Class: Monk
The Way of the Endless Current was not taught. It was discovered. Practitioners of this tradition blend fluid tortle movement with monastic discipline, yielding where pressed and surging where unopposed. Where other traditions speak of striking like lightning or standing like stone, the Endless Current is something older and less dramatic: the tide. It does not strike in anger. It simply never stops.
Scholars at Candlekeep have noted distant similarities to fighting forms practiced by sea-elf monks of the Trackless Sea, and to tide-philosophy once attributed to followers of Istishia, the Elemental Lord of Water. Whether these connections are lineage or coincidence, the style carries the same essential truth: that water, given enough time, reshapes everything.
Current's Grace
The water does not resist the stone. It yields — and then it is somewhere else.
You gain two features:
Tidestep. When a creature misses you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to move up to 10 feet without provoking opportunity attacks. You don't need to spend ki to use this feature.
Undertow Strike. When you use Flurry of Blows, you can move up to 5 feet between each strike without provoking opportunity attacks. If you moved at least 15 feet in a straight line on your turn before triggering Flurry of Blows, each hit from that Flurry deals an additional 1d4 bludgeoning damage.
The Relentless Shore
Waves do not tire. Neither do you.
Wearing Current. When you hit a creature with an unarmed strike, you can spend 1 ki point to force it to make a Strength saving throw (DC = your ki save DC). On a failed save, the creature's speed is reduced by 10 feet and it cannot take reactions until the start of your next turn.
Tidal Nature. You can breathe underwater, and your swimming speed increases to equal your walking speed, including any bonus from Unarmored Movement.
Rip Current
The undertow becomes undeniable.
Irresistible Current. Once per turn, when you hit a creature with an unarmed strike, you can spend 1 ki point to force the target to make a Strength saving throw (DC = your ki save DC). On a failed save, you can move the creature up to 15 feet in any horizontal direction and it falls prone. On a successful save, the creature is still moved 5 feet in a direction of your choice — the current takes something even when it doesn't take everything.
Tidal Footing. Difficult terrain caused by water (flooding, rain-slicked ground, shallow surf, or similar water-based effects) doesn't cost you extra movement.
Endless Current
You have become the thing itself.
The Tide Rises. Your walking speed and swimming speed each increase by 10 feet.
Flow Through. You can move through a hostile creature's space freely. The first time on your turn that you move through a hostile creature's space, that creature must succeed on a Strength saving throw (DC = your ki save DC) or be shoved 5 feet in a direction of your choice and have disadvantage on the next attack it makes before the start of your next turn.
The Shore Returns. When you are reduced to 0 hit points but not killed outright, you can spend 3 ki points as a reaction to drop to 1 hit point instead. Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a long rest.
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