Trained under the meticulous regime of Akitan warriors, you have honed your body and mind to endure harsh encounters with honor and grit. Your blade is steady and your cuts are sharp, you are Zanshi.

Zanshi Tutelage

When you choose this archetype at 3rd level, you gain a proficiency in either a tool or a skill of your choice. Also, you learn one additional language. You are also proficient in using a dagger, a shortsword, a longsword and longbow.

Way of the Blade

Starting at 3rd level, you are able to choose a sword stance. You have trained with a blade ever since  you were able to feed yourself as a child and through your rigorous training, you have learned how to handle your weapon unlike any other, equipping yourself with ways to carry your sword into battle with intent and mastery.

At 3rd level, you know 1 out of 5 of the stances. You will gain the opportunity to learn an additional stance upon reaching 7th level, 11th level, 17th level and 20th level. You may choose a stance to learn below. When learning additional stances, you must either find a master that can tutor you the desired stance you want to learn or have a scroll that you may learn the stance from. To change stances, you must either use an action or bonus action; at the start of combat however, you may choose your desired stance.

Stances

• Stone Stance. You hold your blade close to one side of your chest, clutching the blade firmly, standing erect and unmoving like a boulder. You gain a +4 to your attack rolls and your blade’s damage type is now Piercing.
• Water Stance. You raise your sword above your head with one hand, your blade rests like the horizon, with the ocean flowing freely and gracefully or like a violent torrent that crawls from the deep. You are able to use your blade with the Flurry of Blows trait.
• Wind Stance. Your sword rests at your side—held with one hand and the blade pointing away from you, ready to cut through anything swiftly like a strong gust of wind. With this stance, you are able to move around the field more freely, giving you an additional 20 feet of movement and you no longer provoke attacks of opportunity when moving.
• Fire Stance. You hold your sword in front of you with both hands and the blade aimed below, ready to spark the flames that will end your enemies. With this stance, you are able to attack multiple targets within your movement range with a single action. The amount of targets you can choose is dictated by your Proficiency bonus.
• Moon Stance. You hold your blade above and away from you with one hand, aimed high and pointed at the looming moon above. With this stance, you are able to make a sweeping 1x3 slashing attack in front of you. For every successful attack you make, you move 5 feet into the direction you attacked.

Spirit of Death

Starting at 6th level, when you defeat an enemy, you may choose to spend 2 Ki points to brutalize them and in doing so, frightens your enemies and strengthens your resolve. Any creature within 40 feet and has a sightline on you must make a Constitution saving throw against a DC 18 + Intimidation modifier. Upon a failure all affected creatures are now frightened of you and all successful attacks that you make against them are automatic critical hits. You also gain a +3 to your damage score equal to how many creatures were affected by this feature. The effect only lasts for a turn.

Tempered Blade

Starting at 11th level, you are able to hold your blade at the ready and with your masterful intuition in combat, you are able to strike first and end the fight before it could begin. Before or during an encounter, you are able to call out a singular enemy to a standoff, the target must make a Charisma check against you. Nothing will happen if you fail against your target and the encounter will proceed as normal. Your target must have a minimum of 6 Intelligence to be affected by this feature.

If your Charisma check is a success against your opponent, the standoff will be initiated. You and your target must now each make contested Dexterity checks. The one with the lower score will win and an attack roll with advantage must now be made against the loser. If the attack is successful, the affected target will take double critical damage that is maximized.

Heaven’s Wrath

At 17th level, you have mastered the ways of the Zanshi and have complete physical, mental and spiritual control of yourself, giving you the knowledge and fortitude needed to learn the secret Zanshi technique called, Heaven’s Wrath.

Choose a target within your current movement speed, you must then make an Investigation check to be able to find the correct weak spot of the enemy, on a failed check, your attack will fail. On a success, you move in for an attack and will be made with advantage.

If your attack is successful, you and your target must both make a Constitution saving throw, the target dies if your score is higher and you are left with 1 hit point. If you lose, your enemy is left with half their current hit points and you will be knocked unconscious. This feature should only be used once a day, if used more than once, you will die immediately after the second use.