Heishou Pack Adept - Mao Branch

"That answer will suffice, my lord."
- Zilu, Adept of the Mao Branch


The Mao Branch of the Heishou Pack are the shadows at their lord’s side. They sabotage defenses, disrupt enemy formations, and ensure their lord always strikes from the most advantageous position. Through coordinated strikes and cunning maneuvers, they skitter like a Rabbit Dodging a predator before Striking where it hurts most.


This subclass is meant to be used alongside the Lord of the Heishou subclass for the fighter.

Cursewrit - Level 3

"The glyphs on this weapon aren't there just for show. They're first-rate Q Corp. seals."

Curse-engraved Blade:
When you hit a creature with a Sneak Attack, its AC takes a -1 penalty as your attack ruptures their armor. If your initiative roll for this combat is higher than the creature’s, the penalty increases by 1 for every 2 points of difference between your initiative rolls, up to your proficiency bonus. The AC penalty lasts until the start of your next turn.
At level 9, the AC penalty lasts until the end of your next turn.
At level 13, the base AC penalty of this feature is increased to -2.
At level 17, the penalty increases by 2 for every 2 points of difference between your initiative rolls instead.

To Serve my Lord: During a short rest, you can choose one ally to make your "Lord". This is used for some features of this subclass. If an Ally has the subclass "Lord of the Heishou", they automatically become your Lord. If multiple allies are a Lord of the Heishou, choose one of them.

Heishou Mutation [Mao]: your initiative bonus increases by 1. When you hit a creature lower in initiative than you, you deal 1 additional damage for every 2 points of difference between your initiative rolls, Maximum of twice your proficiency bonus.
At level 9, your initiative bonus increases by 2.
At level 13, your initiative bonus increases by 3.
At level 17, your initiative bonus increases by 4.

It Shall Be Done - Level 9

"All in position. Give us but the smallest signal, and this husk of hares shall descend and blot out the very moon, the very last light your foes shall ever see"

Swiftfeet Protection
As a bonus action, you can increase your AC by 2 and movement speed by 10 feet until the start of your next turn. While this feature is active, when a creature within 15 feet of you targets an ally other than you with an attack, you can cause the attack to target you instead. 
Your initiative bonus increases by 1, and your base movement speed is increased by 10 feet.
At level 13, your Initiative bonus increases by 2 instead.


Blinkblade
As a bonus action, you can teleport to a spot within 10 feet of a creature that is within 40 feet of you. If the creature is at least 3 initiative lower than you, you can make one melee attack against that creature as part of the same bonus action. If the creature is at least 5 initiative lower than you, you can make two melee attacks against that creature as part of the same bonus action. After making the bonus action attack, you may choose to teleport back to the spot you were before teleporting as part of the same bonus action. When teleporting back, if your original location is occupied, you instead teleport to the closest unoccupied space.
At level 13, once per turn, when a creature misses an attack against your Lord, You may attempt to use this feature without using a bonus action, targeting the creature that attacked your Lord. Initiative difference requirement still applies.

Assist Defense [Mao Adept]
When an ally creature is targeted by an attack, if you are within movement range of the ally, you can move within 5 feet of the ally without provoking opportunity attacks and redirect the attack to you. If the attack misses, you may make a weapon attack against the attacker as part of the same reaction. If you have Swiftfeet Protection active, Assist Defense's attack redirection takes priority, and Swiftfeet Protection's counterattack is not triggered.
At level 13, If this feature redirects an attack from your Lord, make one additional attack if the attack misses.

Perforating Kill - Level 13

"The hare has no name. I am nothing but an animal lurking in the shadows"
 - Outis of the Mao Branch

Continue Pressure
When you hit a creature that is suffering from an AC Penalty, your damage is increased by the AC Penalty's absolute value (|-1| = +1 damage).
At level 17, the damage from this feature is increased by your dexterity modifier.


Traceless to Sight and Sound Alike
When you hit a creature with an attack, if your initiative roll is at least 10 points higher than the target, make one additional attack against that creature (once per round).
Your stealth bonus increases by 2, and you leave no tracks or other traces of your passage and cannot be tracked by nonmagical or magical means.
At level 17, your Lord also gains the +2 bonus to Stealth and cannot be tracked or leave traces of their passage.

The Adept - Level 17

"Cut me down then, Chachihu {Tiantui Star, the Winged Tiger}."
"Very Well, Meizhelan {Tianjiu Star, the Unrestrained}, I am Lei Heng. Capo of the Thumb, one of the Ten Blades of the East. I will now cut you down with all my Might."
"Do you intend to cut me with your Tongue?"

Mao Branch Adept - Tianjiu Star
Your hit dice is changed to a d10, affecting all previous Health Rolls. You score a critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20 with weapon attacks.

Heishou Bolus Contamination - Mao Branch
If your Lord has Lord of the Heishou subclass, and they use their "Answer Me, Heishou Packs" feature, they gain the following bonus until combat ends:
"When hitting a creature that is suffering from an AC Penalty, Deal additional damage equal to the absolute value of the AC Penalty. Your movement speed increases by 10 feet."


Ascendant Heishou - [Mao Technique]; Cloudsplitting Manifestation
When your Assist Defense feature is triggered, Redirect an attack through your Swiftfeet Protection feature, or you make an additional attack through your Traceless to Sight and Sound Alike feature, you gain 1 "Tianjiu Star's Blade" stack.
When reaching 10 Tianjiu Star's Blade stacks for the first time each combat, your Initiative increases by 1 for the purposes of this subclass' features until the end of combat. You may also expend all 10 stacks as an action to use a special attack:

Cloudsplitting Manifestation:
When using this action, make 3 attacks against 1 creature, your Traceless to Sight and Sound Alike feature can be triggered by this, increasing the total attacks to 4.
This additional attack cannot trigger Traceless to Sight and Sound Alike again.
The first attack made as part of this feature automatically qualifies for and applies your Sneak Attack, even if it otherwise would not.
After all attacks from this feature resolve, you gain 3 'Strider [Mao]' Stacks. While you have Strider [Mao], your Initiative is increased by 5 for the purposes of your features. At the end of each of your turns, your Strider [Mao] stack is reduced by 1
After all attacks from this feature resolve, the creature is inflicted with an amount of 'Deathrite - Haste' stacks equal to the amount of attacks that hit (Max 3). If the additional attack from Traceless to Sight and Sound Alike hit the creature, they are also inflicted with an equal amount of 'Deathrite - Fissure' stacks.

Creatures with Deathrite - Haste stacks take (stack)d6 force damage whenever they're hit by an attack. Deathrite - Haste can only be triggered by each attacking creature once per turn. The stack is reduced by 1 at the end of the afflicted creature's turn.
Creatures with Deathrite - Fissure stacks take additional damage from Deathrite - Haste, dealing an additional 1d6 force damage from Deathrite - Haste for each stack. The stack lowers by 1 at the end of the Afflicted creature's turn.