Way of the High Path

The Way of the High Path is the collective martial tradition of five Helbranni monastic disciplines. Each discipline developed in a different monastery, canton, or mountain community, but all are founded upon the belief that physical mastery must be joined to spiritual balance and communal responsibility.

A High Path monk begins by selecting one primary discipline. This choice shapes the monk’s stance, movement, and use of Focus, but it does not bind the practitioner permanently to a single philosophy. As the monk advances, they study additional paths and learn to combine techniques that once appeared contradictory.

The five disciplines are:

• Mountain Fist: Stability, grappling, rooted strikes, and physical control.
• Iron Gale: Speed, redirection, flowing attacks, and movement through danger.
• Hollow Root: Endurance, inner stillness, and resistance to corruption.
• Vanishing Step: Silence, concealment, misdirection, and sudden repositioning.
• Radiant Tempest: Spiritual force directed against aberrations, undead, and creatures touched by the Shadowfell.

The greatest High Path monks do not abandon their original training. They understand it so completely that it no longer prevents them from learning from the others. At the summit of the tradition, the practitioner enters a state of perfect balance in which all five paths become expressions of the same disciplined will.

Origins in Aetheris

The High Path developed among the monasteries of the Helbrann League’s upper cantons. Travel between these institutions was once dangerous and irregular. Each monastery adapted its training to local threats, terrain, and philosophical concerns.

Mountain Fist originated in cliffside monasteries where monks protected narrow passes and carried injured travelers through severe weather. Its practitioners learned to become immovable under pressure and to control larger opponents through leverage.

Iron Gale developed among wandering messengers and guardians responsible for carrying warnings between isolated settlements. Its techniques emphasize momentum, redirection, and movement across unstable ground.

Hollow Root arose in monasteries near regions affected by Underdark corruption and lingering Shadowfell influence. Its disciplines teach that corruption gains power by finding something within the victim to grasp.

Vanishing Step emerged among scouts and refuge keepers who needed to move through hostile territory without revealing hidden settlements. Its techniques are sometimes taught to the Shadowguard, a relationship that remains controversial.

Radiant Tempest developed among spiritual warriors assigned to Chasmwatch and mountain shrines threatened by undead, aberrations, and other unnatural forces. Its practitioners channel disciplined spiritual energy rather than divine spellcasting.

The traditions were eventually brought together through the Monastic Conclave. Instead of declaring one path superior, the Conclave recognized them as separate approaches to the same summit.

Philosophy and Doctrine

The Way of the High Path teaches five shared principles:

• Choose your first step with care.
• Balance is adaptation, not stillness.
• Strength must remain answerable to purpose.
• No single path reveals the whole mountain.
• The summit is proven by the descent.

The final principle is particularly important. High Path monks do not consider enlightenment complete until the practitioner returns to ordinary society and uses their discipline in service to others. A monk who reaches spiritual clarity but refuses the burdens of community has completed only half the journey.

Each discipline interprets restraint differently. Mountain Fist restrains force through stability. Iron Gale restrains force by redirecting it. Hollow Root prevents harmful influence from taking hold. Vanishing Step avoids unnecessary confrontation. Radiant Tempest reserves overwhelming spiritual force for threats that cannot be reconciled with living communities.

The tradition’s central tension is whether unity strengthens or diminishes its component paths. Traditionalists argue that deep mastery requires lifelong devotion to one discipline. Reformers contend that isolation has allowed monasteries to preserve their weaknesses alongside their strengths.

Visual Identity

High Path monks wear practical layered garments suited to cold weather, climbing, travel, and unarmed combat. Clothing varies between monasteries, but common elements include:

• Slate, white, dark green, deep blue, rust-red, or charcoal fabrics.
• Wrapped forearms and reinforced climbing footwear.
• Sleeveless or open-sided outer robes.
• Braided cords showing completed pilgrimages.
• Small stone, iron, wood, glass, or silver discipline tokens.
• Geometric tattoos representing mountain routes.
• Mantles or scarves colored according to the practitioner’s primary path.
• Stillpoint weapons designed for monastic techniques.

Each discipline has a characteristic visual expression:

• Mountain Fist: Stone-grey light and angular patterns beneath the feet.
• Iron Gale: Silver motion lines and brief spirals of cold air.
• Hollow Root: Dark-green roots or rings extending inward toward the heart.
• Vanishing Step: Fading blue-grey afterimages and swallowed sound.
• Radiant Tempest: White-gold or pale-blue spiritual arcs.

When several paths are combined, these effects form a five-part mandala centered upon the monk.

Role in Aetheris

High Path monks serve as:

• Mountain guardians.
• Pilgrims and messengers.
• Chasmwatch auxiliaries.
• Refuge protectors.
• Spiritual advisers.
• Hunters of aberrations and undead.
• Monastic weapon instructors.
• Scouts and covert guides.
• Mediators between monasteries.
• Adventurers seeking practical enlightenment.

In an adventuring party, the High Path monk is an adaptable skirmisher. The subclass can emphasize control, mobility, resilience, stealth, or supernatural offense depending on the disciplines selected.

Subclass Integration

Major Polities

The Helbrann League recognizes the High Path monasteries as independent but socially important institutions. Canton governments frequently request their assistance during disasters, invasions, and Chasmwatch emergencies.

The Shōrin Dominion respects the discipline of High Path practitioners, though Shōrin monks frequently find their Helbranni counterparts unusually pragmatic and willing to blend traditions.

The Concord of Veltrion values Hollow Root and Radiant Tempest practitioners in regions affected by the Shadowfell. The Freeholds of Rhonadral commonly encounter Iron Gale messengers and Mountain Fist caravan guardians.

The Obsidian Hegemony treats captured High Path monks as dangerous sources of resistance. Hollow Root training makes them particularly difficult to dominate or corrupt.

Organizations and Schools

• Monastic Conclave: Maintains cooperation between the five disciplines.
• High Pinnacle Monastery: The leading center for combined High Path instruction.
• Stillpoint Armswrights: Creates weapons compatible with High Path techniques.
• Chasmwatch Directorate: Employs Radiant Tempest and Hollow Root specialists.
• Darin’s Ret Guides: Cooperates with Mountain Fist and Iron Gale practitioners.
• Shadowguard Veil: Recruits some Vanishing Step monks.
• Greypeak Sentinels: Trains beside Mountain Fist guardians.
• Collegium of the Bound Lantern: Studies the spiritual defenses of Hollow Root.

Religious and Philosophical Movements

The Way of the High Path is a spiritual discipline but not a unified religion. Individual monks may honor deities of the Celestial Harmony or culturally appropriate faiths, but the tradition does not require divine allegiance.

High Path monasteries teach that divine reverence and disciplined self-knowledge can coexist without one replacing the other.

Rivals and Enemies

High Path monks oppose slavers, corruptive cults, undead, aberrations, Shadowfell predators, and those who use physical or spiritual discipline to dominate the vulnerable.

Internal rivals include purists who reject cross-path instruction and political factions attempting to turn the monasteries into extensions of military or intelligence institutions.

Subclass Features

Way of the High Path Features

Monk Level	Features
3rd	Initiate of the Five Paths, Primary Discipline
6th	Cross-Path Instruction, Primary Mastery
11th	Concord of Three Paths
17th	Perfect Balance of the Summit

High Path Save DC

Some High Path features require a saving throw. The save DC equals:

8 + your Wisdom modifier + your proficiency bonus

Optional High Path Techniques

These techniques can represent monastery-specific teachings, pilgrimage rewards, or instruction from the Stillpoint Armswrights.

Mountain Carries the Fallen

While in Mountain Fist Stance, carrying a willing or unconscious creature of your size or smaller does not reduce your Speed. Standing from Prone while carrying that creature costs only 5 feet of movement.

Gale Crosses the Chasm

While in Iron Gale Stance, your jump distance is doubled. When you use Step of the Wind, you can remain briefly suspended at the end of a jump until the end of your turn.

Root Rejects the Poison

While in Hollow Root Stance, you can spend 1 Focus Point as an Action to end the Poisoned condition or one Disease affecting a creature you touch.

No Footprint Upon Snow

While in Vanishing Step Stance, you leave no tracks unless you choose to do so. Nonmagical attempts to follow your trail automatically fail.

Tempest Illuminates the Deep

While in Radiant Tempest Stance, you can spend 1 Focus Point as an Action to create a 20-foot emanation of pale light for 1 minute. Invisible Aberrations and Undead in the light gain no benefit from the Invisible condition.

Playing This Subclass

The Way of the High Path is an adaptable Monk subclass whose tactical identity depends on the selected disciplines.

Mountain Fist

Best for holding the front line, controlling physical enemies, grappling, and protecting narrow passages.

Iron Gale

Best for mobile skirmishing, crossing hazardous terrain, redirecting enemies, and disengaging from concentrated attacks.

Hollow Root

Best for encounters involving corruption, psychic threats, poison, fear, possession, or hostile transformations.

Vanishing Step

Best for scouting, infiltration, tactical concealment, and repositioning between attacks.

Radiant Tempest

Best for fighting Aberrations, Undead, Fiends, and creatures connected to the Shadowfell.

The subclass rewards planned combinations. Mountain Fist and Hollow Root create a durable guardian. Iron Gale and Vanishing Step produce an exceptional infiltrator. Mountain Fist and Iron Gale combine stability with rapid redirection. Hollow Root and Radiant Tempest specialize in fighting supernatural corruption.

Strengths

• Highly adaptable.
• Strong movement and positioning.
• Effective supernatural defenses.
• Useful against Aberrations and Undead.
• Supports stealth and exploration.
• Offers multiple character-building paths.
• Becomes exceptionally versatile at high levels.

Weaknesses

• Cannot access every discipline simultaneously until 17th level.
• Requires careful Focus Point management.
• Some techniques are situational.
• Switching stances uses Bonus Actions needed by other Monk abilities.
• Lacks the sustained damage specialization of more offensive traditions.
• Complex combinations require greater tactical attention.

Roleplaying This Subclass

High Path monks are shaped by both their first discipline and their response to the other paths.

A Mountain Fist practitioner may initially regard movement as instability. An Iron Gale monk may view rootedness as hesitation. A Hollow Root student may distrust Radiant Tempest’s outward force, while a Radiant Tempest monk may interpret Vanishing Step as avoidance.

Cross-path training forces practitioners to confront these assumptions. A monk does not merely learn new movements; they must accept that another monastery preserved truths their own teachers did not possess.

Common character themes include:

• Loyalty to a primary monastery.
• Rivalry with students of another discipline.
• Anxiety that blended instruction weakens tradition.
• Attraction or emotional attachment formed during paired training.
• Tension between monastic obligations and family responsibilities.
• The use of Vanishing Step techniques by controversial intelligence organizations.
• Fear that Hollow Root meditation is suppressing rather than resolving trauma.
• The burden placed upon Radiant Tempest practitioners expected to confront unnatural horrors.

Faction and Organization Connections

A High Path monk might be:

• A pilgrim from High Pinnacle Monastery.
• A Mountain Fist guardian protecting an alpine refuge.
• An Iron Gale messenger carrying warnings between cantons.
• A Hollow Root survivor of Underdark corruption.
• A Vanishing Step scout who left the Shadowguard.
• A Radiant Tempest hunter attached to Chasmwatch.
• A Stillpoint weapon tester.
• A Conclave mediator traveling between rival monasteries.
• An adventurer seeking a lost sixth interpretation of the High Path.
• A former traditionalist now studying combined disciplines.

Adventure Hooks

1. The Sixth Path. A recovered monastery tablet describes a sixth discipline deliberately removed from Conclave records.
2. The Empty Monastery. An entire Hollow Root monastery has vanished. Its meditation hall remains occupied by perfectly still shadows shaped like the missing monks.
3. The Stolen Stillpoint. A weapon capable of channeling all five disciplines is stolen before its final examination.
4. Gale Without Return. Iron Gale messengers disappear along a route where travelers report seeing the same monk running past them each night.
5. The Radiant Fracture. Radiant Tempest practitioners begin producing violet-black energy when fighting creatures from the Lowerdark.
6. The Conclave Challenge. A Mountain Fist traditionalist demands that cross-path teaching end, claiming the blended discipline has awakened something beneath High Pinnacle Monastery.

Notable NPCs

Master Gerda Five-Steps

A human monk who completed recognized training in all five disciplines. Gerda is patient, practical, and deeply unimpressed by claims of spiritual superiority. She teaches that the purpose of balance is to remain useful when the expected plan fails.

Bram Root-Under-Snow

An Ursarath Hollow Root practitioner assigned to Chasmwatch. Bram survived prolonged psychic contact with an imprisoned Old One. He insists that the presence no longer speaks to him, though he has begun answering questions before they are asked.

Elske Wind-on-Stone

A Helbranni Iron Gale monk and former Shadowguard courier. Elske now teaches Vanishing Step techniques to rescue workers and Chainbreaker guides. The Shadowguard claims she possesses classified route information and demands her return.

Balance Notes

Intended Role: Mobile skirmisher and adaptable controller.

Damage Profile: Moderate. Radiant Tempest and the 17th-level features provide offensive increases, but most disciplines emphasize control, movement, resilience, or stealth.

Survivability: Variable. Mountain Fist and Hollow Root provide strong defensive options, while Iron Gale and Vanishing Step rely on mobility and concealment.

Utility: Excellent. The subclass can support climbing, infiltration, supernatural investigation, difficult-terrain travel, and resistance to corruptive effects.

Resource Economy: Most advanced techniques cost Focus Points. Stances themselves require no Focus, allowing the Monk to retain a functional identity even when resources are depleted. Combined stances and Perfect Balance require significant investment.

Comparison: The Way of the High Path is broader than a single-theme Monk subclass but cannot access its complete versatility at low levels. Its strength comes from adapting between several moderate benefits rather than dominating through one exceptional ability.

Summary

The Way of the High Path unites five Helbranni monastic traditions: Mountain Fist, Iron Gale, Hollow Root, Vanishing Step, and Radiant Tempest.

A practitioner begins with one primary discipline, studies additional paths as experience grows, and eventually combines their teachings. The subclass supports rooted control, supernatural movement, resistance to corruption, stealth, and radiant force against the unnatural.

At 17th level, the monk reaches the symbolic summit and recognizes all five disciplines as expressions of one balanced will. The achievement is not an escape from the world but preparation to return to it with greater purpose.

“Climb by stone, wind, root, shadow, or light. At the summit, turn around. The path below is where your mastery will be judged.”

Initiate of the Five Paths

Action Type: Passive
Uses: At will
Duration: Permanent

You gain proficiency in the following skills:

• Acrobatics
• Athletics
• Insight
• Stealth
• Survival

You also gain proficiency with one type of artisan’s tools or musical instrument traditionally used in your monastery.

In addition, the following weapons count as Monk weapons for you, provided you are proficient with them:

• Club
• Dagger
• Handaxe
• Light Hammer
• Quarterstaff
• Shortbow
• Shortsword
• Sickle
• Spear
• Stillpoint climbing blade
• Weighted cord
• Paired guard baton

A setting-specific Stillpoint weapon uses the statistics of the most similar standard weapon unless a separate item description provides different statistics.

Primary Discipline

Choose one of the five High Path disciplines. It becomes your Primary Discipline, and you learn its stance and Focus Technique.

You can enter or change your High Path stance as a Bonus Action. A stance lasts until you become Incapacitated, choose another stance, or end it without an action.

At 3rd level, you know only the stance of your Primary Discipline.

Mountain Fist

Mountain Fist Stance

While in this stance:

• You have Advantage on checks and saving throws made to avoid being moved or knocked Prone.
• You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for Athletics checks made to Grapple or Shove.
• You count as one size larger when determining what creatures you can Grapple or Shove.
• When you hit a creature with an Unarmed Strike, you can choose to deal Bludgeoning damage and prevent that creature from moving you against your will until the beginning of your next turn.

Rooted Impact

Action Type: Part of an Unarmed Strike
Cost: 1 Focus Point
Duration: Instantaneous

When you hit a creature with an Unarmed Strike, deal additional damage equal to one roll of your Martial Arts die.

The target must then make a Strength saving throw. On a failed save, choose one:

• Push it up to 10 feet.
• Knock it Prone.
• Move it 5 feet to an unoccupied space adjacent to you.

A creature more than one size larger than you has Advantage on the saving throw.

Iron Gale

Iron Gale Stance

While in this stance:

• Your Speed increases by 10 feet.
• Opportunity Attacks against you are made with Disadvantage.
• Moving through another creature’s space does not cost you additional movement if that creature is willing or at least one size larger than you.
• You can move through nonmagical Difficult Terrain without spending additional movement during any turn in which you use Step of the Wind.

Flowing Redirection

Action Type: Reaction
Cost: 1 Focus Point
Trigger: A creature misses you with a melee attack.

Move up to half your Speed without provoking Opportunity Attacks from the triggering creature.

At any point during this movement, you can make one Unarmed Strike against the triggering creature. On a hit, you can move it 5 feet to an unoccupied space, provided it is no more than one size larger than you.

Hollow Root

Hollow Root Stance

While in this stance:

• You have Advantage on saving throws against Poison, Disease, and the Frightened condition.
• You have Advantage on checks and saving throws made to resist magical possession or transformations imposed against your will.
• You can use Wisdom in place of Constitution when calculating how long you can hold your breath.
• When you spend a Focus Point, you gain Temporary Hit Points equal to your Wisdom modifier.

You can gain these Temporary Hit Points only once per turn.

Root Without Hollow

Action Type: Reaction
Cost: 1 Focus Point
Trigger: You fail an Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma saving throw.

Reroll the saving throw and add one roll of your Martial Arts die to the new result. You must use the new roll.

If the effect was created by an Aberration, Undead, or creature touched by the Shadowfell, you make the reroll with Advantage.

Vanishing Step

Vanishing Step Stance

While in this stance:

• Your movement produces no sound unless you choose otherwise.
• You have Advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made while in Dim Light, Darkness, fog, falling snow, or a crowded environment.
• You can attempt to Hide while Lightly Obscured.
• Moving at half Speed while using Stealth does not impose any additional penalty or reduce the distance you can travel.

Step Between Glances

Action Type: Bonus Action
Cost: 1 Focus Point
Duration: Until the beginning of your next turn

You take the Hide or Disengage action and become Invisible until the beginning of your next turn.

The Invisibility ends early immediately after you:

• Make an attack roll.
• Deal damage.
• Force a creature to make a saving throw.
• Cast a spell.
• Enter Bright Light while within 10 feet of a hostile creature.

When the Invisibility ends, you can immediately move 5 feet without provoking Opportunity Attacks.

Radiant Tempest

Radiant Tempest Stance

While in this stance:

• Your Unarmed Strikes can deal Radiant damage instead of their normal damage type.
• Your Unarmed Strikes count as magical.
• You shed Dim Light in a 5-foot radius when you choose.
• You know whether a creature you touch is an Aberration or Undead, though you do not learn its exact identity or abilities.
• Once on each of your turns when you damage an Aberration, Undead, or creature touched by the Shadowfell, deal additional Radiant damage equal to your Wisdom modifier.

Tempest Against the Profane

Action Type: Part of an attack
Cost: 1 Focus Point
Duration: Until the beginning of your next turn

When you hit a creature with an Unarmed Strike or Monk weapon, deal additional Radiant damage equal to two rolls of your Martial Arts die.

The target must make a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, it cannot take Reactions and cannot become Invisible until the beginning of your next turn.

An Aberration, Undead, Fiend, or creature touched by the Shadowfell makes this saving throw with Disadvantage.

Hollow Root

Hollow Root Stance

While in this stance:

• You have Advantage on saving throws against Poison, Disease, and the Frightened condition.
• You have Advantage on checks and saving throws made to resist magical possession or transformations imposed against your will.
• You can use Wisdom in place of Constitution when calculating how long you can hold your breath.
• When you spend a Focus Point, you gain Temporary Hit Points equal to your Wisdom modifier.

You can gain these Temporary Hit Points only once per turn.

Iron Gale

Iron Gale Stance

While in this stance:

• Your Speed increases by 10 feet.
• Opportunity Attacks against you are made with Disadvantage.
• Moving through another creature’s space does not cost you additional movement if that creature is willing or at least one size larger than you.
• You can move through nonmagical Difficult Terrain without spending additional movement during any turn in which you use Step of the Wind.

Mountain Fist

Mountain Fist Stance

While in this stance:

• You have Advantage on checks and saving throws made to avoid being moved or knocked Prone.
• You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for Athletics checks made to Grapple or Shove.
• You count as one size larger when determining what creatures you can Grapple or Shove.
• When you hit a creature with an Unarmed Strike, you can choose to deal Bludgeoning damage and prevent that creature from moving you against your will until the beginning of your next turn.

Radiant Tempest

Radiant Tempest Stance

While in this stance:

• Your Unarmed Strikes can deal Radiant damage instead of their normal damage type.
• Your Unarmed Strikes count as magical.
• You shed Dim Light in a 5-foot radius when you choose.
• You know whether a creature you touch is an Aberration or Undead, though you do not learn its exact identity or abilities.
• Once on each of your turns when you damage an Aberration, Undead, or creature touched by the Shadowfell, deal additional Radiant damage equal to your Wisdom modifier.

Vanishing Step

Vanishing Step Stance

While in this stance:

• Your movement produces no sound unless you choose otherwise.
• You have Advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made while in Dim Light, Darkness, fog, falling snow, or a crowded environment.
• You can attempt to Hide while Lightly Obscured.

Moving at half Speed while using Stealth does not impose any additional

Cross-Path Instruction

Action Type: Passive
Uses: At will
Duration: Permanent

Choose a second High Path discipline. You learn that discipline’s stance and Focus Technique.

Your original selection remains your Primary Discipline. Your new selection is your Secondary Discipline.

You can change between either known stance as a Bonus Action. When you spend a Focus Point on a technique belonging to your current stance, you can change to your other known stance immediately after the technique resolves without using an action.

In addition, whenever you finish a Long Rest, you can replace your Secondary Discipline with another discipline. Your Primary Discipline cannot normally be replaced.

Primary Mastery

Your original discipline develops beyond introductory instruction.

Mountain Fist Mastery

While in Mountain Fist Stance:

• Your Unarmed Strike reach increases by 5 feet when making a Grapple or Shove.
• Your Rooted Impact can affect a creature up to two sizes larger than you without granting it Advantage on the saving throw.
• A creature that fails against Rooted Impact can be pushed up to 15 feet instead of 10 feet.

Iron Gale Mastery

While in Iron Gale Stance:

• Your Speed increases by an additional 5 feet.
• You can move across liquids and along vertical surfaces during your turn without falling, provided you end the movement on a surface that can support you.
• After using Flowing Redirection, the triggering creature cannot make Opportunity Attacks for the remainder of the turn.

Hollow Root Mastery

While in Hollow Root Stance:

• You gain resistance to Poison and Psychic damage.
• You are immune to Disease.
• When Root Without Hollow causes you to succeed on a saving throw, you can end either the Charmed or Frightened condition on yourself.

Vanishing Step Mastery

While in Vanishing Step Stance:

• You can take the Hide action as a Bonus Action without spending a Focus Point.
• Creatures relying on Blindsight through sound, vibration, or echolocation cannot detect you unless you are touching them.
• Step Between Glances does not end when you enter Bright Light unless you end your movement within 5 feet of a hostile creature.

Radiant Tempest Mastery

While in Radiant Tempest Stance:

• You gain resistance to Necrotic damage.
• The Dim Light you shed can become Bright Light at your choice.
• A creature that fails its saving throw against Tempest Against the Profane also has Disadvantage on its next attack roll before the beginning of your next turn.

Hollow Root Mastery

While in Hollow Root Stance:

• You gain resistance to Poison and Psychic damage.
• You are immune to Disease.
• When Root Without Hollow causes you to succeed on a saving throw, you can end either the Charmed or Frightened condition on yourself.

Iron Gale Mastery

While in Iron Gale Stance:

• Your Speed increases by an additional 5 feet.
• You can move across liquids and along vertical surfaces during your turn without falling, provided you end the movement on a surface that can support you.
• After using Flowing Redirection, the triggering creature cannot make Opportunity Attacks for the remainder of the turn.

Mountain Fist Mastery

While in Mountain Fist Stance:

• Your Unarmed Strike reach increases by 5 feet when making a Grapple or Shove.
• Your Rooted Impact can affect a creature up to two sizes larger than you without granting it Advantage on the saving throw.
• A creature that fails against Rooted Impact can be pushed up to 15 feet instead of 10 feet.

Radiant Tempest Mastery

While in Radiant Tempest Stance:

• You gain resistance to Necrotic damage.
• The Dim Light you shed can become Bright Light at your choice.
• A creature that fails its saving throw against Tempest Against the Profane also has Disadvantage on its next attack roll before the beginning of your next turn.

Vanishing Step Mastery

While in Vanishing Step Stance:

• You can take the Hide action as a Bonus Action without spending a Focus Point.
• Creatures relying on Blindsight through sound, vibration, or echolocation cannot detect you unless you are touching them.
• Step Between Glances does not end when you enter Bright Light unless you end your movement within 5 feet of a hostile creature.

Concord of Three Paths

Action Type: Passive and Bonus Action
Uses: At will; combined stance costs 2 Focus Points
Duration: As specified

Choose a third High Path discipline. You learn its stance and Focus Technique.

Whenever you finish a Long Rest, you can replace your second or third discipline with another discipline you have not selected. Your Primary Discipline remains unchanged.

You also learn to combine teachings.

As a Bonus Action, you can spend 2 Focus Points to enter your Primary Discipline’s stance and one other known stance simultaneously. This combined stance lasts for 10 minutes, until you are Incapacitated, or until you end it without an action.

While maintaining two stances:

• You gain the benefits of both stances.
• You can use the Focus Techniques of both disciplines.
• If two effects would modify the same statistic, such as Speed, only the larger bonus applies unless specifically stated otherwise.
• You gain the Mastery benefit of your Primary Discipline, but not the Mastery benefit of the second stance.

Once on each of your turns when you use a Focus Technique from one active stance, you gain a concord benefit determined by the other active stance:

Mountain Concord

You gain a +2 bonus to Armor Class until the beginning of your next turn.

Iron Gale Concord

Move up to 10 feet without provoking Opportunity Attacks.

Hollow Root Concord

Gain Temporary Hit Points equal to one roll of your Martial Arts die plus your Wisdom modifier.

Vanishing Step Concord

You become Invisible until the beginning of your next turn or until immediately after you make an attack roll, deal damage, or force a saving throw.

Radiant Tempest Concord

One creature affected by the triggering technique takes additional Radiant damage equal to one roll of your Martial Arts die.

You can gain only one concord benefit per turn.

Hollow Root Concord

Gain Temporary Hit Points equal to one roll of your Martial Arts die plus your Wisdom modifier.

Iron Gale Concord

Move up to 10 feet without provoking Opportunity Attacks.

Mountain Concord

You gain a +2 bonus to Armor Class until the beginning of your next turn.

Radiant Tempest Concord

One creature affected by the triggering technique takes additional Radiant damage equal to one roll of your Martial Arts die.

You can gain only one concord benefit per turn.

Vanishing Step Concord

You become Invisible until the beginning of your next turn or until immediately after you make an attack roll, deal damage, or force a saving throw.

Perfect Balance of the Summit

Action Type: Bonus Action
Uses: Once per Long Rest or by spending 5 Focus Points
Duration: 1 minute

You complete the symbolic ascent and understand the five disciplines as aspects of one path.

You learn the two High Path disciplines you have not yet selected. You can use their stances and Focus Techniques normally. Your original Primary Discipline remains your Primary Discipline.

As a Bonus Action, enter a state of Perfect Balance for 1 minute. While it lasts:

• All five High Path stances are active simultaneously.
• You gain the Mastery benefits of all five disciplines.
• You can use the Focus Techniques of any discipline.
• At the beginning of each of your turns, you regain 1 expended Focus Point.
• The first High Path Focus Technique you use during each of your turns costs 0 Focus Points.
• Using a Focus Technique does not prevent you from using a different High Path Focus Technique later in the same turn, though you must pay its normal cost.
• Once per turn when you deal damage with an Unarmed Strike or Monk weapon, you can deal additional Force or Radiant damage equal to two rolls of your Martial Arts die.
• You can move through the spaces of hostile creatures regardless of their size.
• You cannot be moved, knocked Prone, Charmed, or Frightened against your will.
• You gain resistance to Cold, Necrotic, Poison, and Psychic damage.

In addition, once during Perfect Balance, you can use the following technique:

Five Paths, One Summit

Action Type: Part of the Attack action
Uses: Once during each activation of Perfect Balance
Duration: Instantaneous

Replace one of your attacks with a coordinated sequence against one creature within your reach.

Make five Unarmed Strikes against the target. Each attack represents one discipline and gains the following additional effect on a hit:

1. Mountain Fist: The target must succeed on a Strength saving throw or be knocked Prone.
2. Iron Gale: Move yourself or the target up to 10 feet without provoking Opportunity Attacks.
3. Hollow Root: You gain Temporary Hit Points equal to one roll of your Martial Arts die plus your Wisdom modifier.
4. Vanishing Step: You become Invisible until the beginning of your next turn.
5. Radiant Tempest: The attack deals one additional roll of your Martial Arts die as Radiant damage.

You must complete each attack before making the next. If the target is reduced to 0 Hit Points before the sequence ends, you can direct the remaining attacks against other creatures within your reach.

Once you activate Perfect Balance of the Summit, you cannot do so again until you finish a Long Rest unless you spend 5 Focus Points to activate it again.