I'm putting together some stuff for a desert setting, just for fun, and I have made this first draft of a monk subclass that utilize ki-infused sand to perform amazing feats.
The inspiration from this comes from sand mages and sand ninja, like Gaara from Naruto. It is meant to be a tanky subclass that has a bit of control elements and the option to do subterfuge as well.
Let me know what you think about the balance and flair of it, if you are interested. Thanks you!
Way of the Iron Sands
Specializing in defensive traditions, stealth and subterfuge, these monks infuse their ki into sand to produce powerful effects. Monasteries dedicated to this way of the monk are often located deep in desert lands, and it is rare that a devotee leave the serenity of the desolated monastery behind. Monks following this tradition become excellent spies or bodyguards, durable as the desert sands, and treacherous as the desert winds.
Level 3: Sand Mastery
Starting at level 3, your mastery of sand greatly enhances your monk abilities.
Sand Armor. When you use Patient Defense, you also gain resistance to piercing, slashing and bludgeoning damage in addition to the normal effect.
Desert Winds. When you use Step of the Wind, you also gain the benefit of the spell gaseous form in addition to the normal effect. For you, the spell does not limit your movement speed, but the spell immediately ends at the end of your turn.
Sand Tendrils. When you use Flurry of Blows, your extra attack gain a range of 30 feet. Your normal attacks are unaffected.
d4
Stance Flair
1
Layers of fine iron sand grains completely covers the skin, giving the monk a fine sheen.
2
A layer of skin-colored clay cracks open when the monk takes damage.
3
Tablets of clay or iron form on the monks body to lessen the blow that dealt damage.
4
Tendrils of sand spring from the skin of the monk to interact with the source of damage.
Level 3: Sand Pillar
You spend 2 ki points as an action to cause the ground beneath you to rise as a pillar.
Ki energy sweeps out from under your feet in a 10-foot-radius circle centered upon you, and the ground rises as a pillar of sand up to 30 feet high. The pillar lasts for up to 1 minute, or until you end it early as a free action.
When the sand pillar ends, the creatures standing on it gently return to the ground, taking no fall damage in the process.
Level 6 Desert Winds
You can cast the spells Dust Devil and Gaseous Form with this feature. To you, the forms of these spells are that of a sandy wind, and when you cast Gaseous Form, you keep your normal movement speed. Once you have cast either of these spells with this feature, you can’t cast that spell with it again until you finish a long rest. You can spend an amount of ki points equal to the spells level to cast either one of them again.
Level 11 Desert Tomb
Once per turn, when you hit another creature with a melee weapon attack, or touch a willing creature, you can spend 4 ki points to entomb the creature in sand. If the creature is unwilling, it must make a Strength saving throw. On a failure, the creature become enclosed by sand for 10 minutes, or until you end the effect as a free action.
The desert tomb has an amount of hit points equal to your level x 5, an AC of 10 + your proficiency bonus, and immunity to piercing, psychic, cold, lightning, necrotic, and poison damage, as well as all conditions. If the prison is destroyed, its effects immediately ends on the target.
Level 17: Storm of the Sands
You spend between 1 and 6 ki points as a bonus action to produce a ki-infused storm of sand that spreads out from your body. For every 1 ki point you spend, up to a maximum of 6, the storm extends for 10 feet. The storm moves with you, and it lasts for 1 minute, or until you end it as a free action. You can choose which creatures it affects.
While you are in this storm, you gain blindsight in the area that the storm covers, and all attacks against you have disadvantage.
The sandstorm disperses gas or vapor, and it extinguishes candles, torches, and similar unprotected flames in the area. It causes protected flames, such as those of lanterns, to dance wildly and has a 50 percent chance to extinguish them, and the area within the storm becomes dim light.
Creatures caught in the storm upon its making, or creatures ending their turn in it, must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or take 4d6 bludgeoning damage and become blinded and deafened for as long as they remain in the storm. On a success, the creatures takes half damage, and they are not blinded and deafened. The creatures can make a new saving throw at the end of their turn if they are still within the storm, or they can move outside the storm to end the effects.
I like the themes here a lot! If you're interested, I have a glass-themed artificer in my sig that could be interesting in a desert setting.
My one caution here, from what I've learned working on my own Four Elements monk and playtesting it, is the amount of ki these features burn up and how that makes the build feel. When you get your level 3 features, you can use each of them once and then you're done. No FoB, no Patient Defense or Step of the Wind. You're just punching until you can short rest. Then at 11 you Sand Prison and that's half your ki gone. It's balanced and it makes sense, but I've found it can just be kind of a bummer to play.
In my play experience as a monk, features that enhance or synergize with the base monk features - the way Open Hand or Hand of Mercy upgrades FoB - feel a lot more satisfying than features that offer alternatives. And I see a lot of potential for that here - Desert Winds and Step of the Wind, Desert Tomb and Stunning Strike, Sand Stance and Patient Defense. Tying those more closely to monk features can help feel like you're not giving up as much when you use them. As an example: Desert Winds: "Once per short rest, when you use Step of the Wind you gain the effects of Gaseous Form (minus the movement speed limit) until the end of your turn."
Not trying to criticize, I think this is pretty well balanced - Desert Tomb is strong but costly, and certainly no better than Banishment which your teammates can have by then. Storm of the Sands should maybe be a full action since it's an AOE attack, but it's a CON save so it probably needs all the buffs it can get. Sand Stance seems very good, but so is Patient Defense. I'd encourage trying a mock playtest, running through a couple simulated encounters and just see how the ki usage feels.
Piggybacking on the previous comment (should you want to reduce/remove ki point costs for some abilities to allow normal monk abilities to be used more often), I have a few suggestions for altered and/or alternate features that should fit the theme and really bring out the hidden sand ninja feel.
Sand Stance: rather than spending a ki point to gain all of those resistances, you could make this ability modify the Flurry of Blows and Patient Defense class features, like other Monk subclasses do. For example: "Whenever you spend ki points to use the Patient Defense feature, you also gain resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage until the start of your next turn. In addition, whenever you spend ki points to use the Flurry of Blows feature, the reach of your unarmed attacks is extended by 5 feet and you can choose to have them deal slashing damage instead of their normal damage type."
Sand Pillar and Desert Winds: I think these work great as they are, really!
Desert Tomb: This one is tricky. As @scatterbraind said, it's a huge ki point cost to use this ability. I would recommend making it a 2 part ability and having it allow for extra damage. Example: "When you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can spend 1 ki point to attempt to encase them in sand. The target must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or be Blinded, Deafened, and Restrained until the end of your next turn.
When you hit a creature that is restrained in this way with a melee weapon attack, you can spend up to 3 ki points to attempt to cause massive damage to the target. The target must make a Strength saving throw, taking 2d6 bludgeoning damage per ki point spent on a failure."
That's just a rough draft example, it aligns pretty closely to Gaara's Sand Coffin ability, while still providing control. I know you had more of a control focus so feel free to disregard this suggestion (or all of them, since it's your homebrew)
Storm of the Sands: Instead of making all attacks against you have disadvantage, I advise causing all creatures in the area to become Blinded until they leave (which would have the same effect while also allowing the monk to avoid melee opponents entirely unless they also had blindsense/blindsight) and having creatures make checks that rely on hearing with disadvantage.
Also for the 3rd line about extinguishing flames, I suggest using wording from spells like Gust of Wind. I.E. "The sandstorm disperses gas or vapor, and it extinguishes candles, torches, and similar unprotected flames in the area. It causes protected flames, such as those of lanterns, to dance wildly and has a 50 percent chance to extinguish them." Reducing the light level still makes sense to include with this!
And finally, I believe the storm should deal slashing damage, as the sand would be cutting exposed skin rather than crushing those in the area. (and if you did decide to change the Desert Tomb ability so that it deals damage, I would reduce the damage of the storm to 2 or 3d6 instead of the 4)
Those are my notes and suggestions, I hope they help with your project!
Alright, I updated it with some of your suggestions.
Sand Stance is now called Sand Mastery, and it enhances the three baseline ki maneuvers of the monk.
Sand Pillar and Desert Winds are unchanged.
Desert Tomb had its cost reduced to 4 points, since it is similar in power to banishment, and the other spells of this subclass equals a spell cost in ki points to its spell level. It is mostly a crowd control ability, and I like the idea of the prison being susceptible to being destroyed by outside forces. I imagine it as a sort of cocoon that can be used defensible as well if the monk knows that some bad AoE is incoming - he can use this on a couple of allies to shield them, or he can use it offensively, and it works differently from Stunning Strike. The creature entombed cannot get out on their own because they become incapacitated.
Storm of the Sands was updated to mimic the wording of gust of wind - makes sense! I think it should remain as it is otherwise, it is a level 17 feature, so it should be badass, and only use a Bonus Action in my humble opinion. :)
Thank you guys so much for this feedback, I think it's even more awesome now!
Those are good changes! I actually think keeping the subclass control and stealth oriented (I imagine most of the stealth prowess comes from the Desert Winds ability) makes it more likely to produce better roleplay scenarios! Also, doing that allows for that capstone ability to be more badass as you say haha
Is this homebrew published? I might want to add it to my collection!
Hi folks!
I'm putting together some stuff for a desert setting, just for fun, and I have made this first draft of a monk subclass that utilize ki-infused sand to perform amazing feats.
The inspiration from this comes from sand mages and sand ninja, like Gaara from Naruto. It is meant to be a tanky subclass that has a bit of control elements and the option to do subterfuge as well.
Let me know what you think about the balance and flair of it, if you are interested. Thanks you!
Way of the Iron Sands
Specializing in defensive traditions, stealth and subterfuge, these monks infuse their ki into sand to produce powerful effects. Monasteries dedicated to this way of the monk are often located deep in desert lands, and it is rare that a devotee leave the serenity of the desolated monastery behind. Monks following this tradition become excellent spies or bodyguards, durable as the desert sands, and treacherous as the desert winds.
Level 3: Sand Mastery
Starting at level 3, your mastery of sand greatly enhances your monk abilities.
Sand Armor. When you use Patient Defense, you also gain resistance to piercing, slashing and bludgeoning damage in addition to the normal effect.
Desert Winds. When you use Step of the Wind, you also gain the benefit of the spell gaseous form in addition to the normal effect. For you, the spell does not limit your movement speed, but the spell immediately ends at the end of your turn.
Sand Tendrils. When you use Flurry of Blows, your extra attack gain a range of 30 feet. Your normal attacks are unaffected.
Level 3: Sand Pillar
You spend 2 ki points as an action to cause the ground beneath you to rise as a pillar.
Ki energy sweeps out from under your feet in a 10-foot-radius circle centered upon you, and the ground rises as a pillar of sand up to 30 feet high. The pillar lasts for up to 1 minute, or until you end it early as a free action.
When the sand pillar ends, the creatures standing on it gently return to the ground, taking no fall damage in the process.
Level 6 Desert Winds
You can cast the spells Dust Devil and Gaseous Form with this feature. To you, the forms of these spells are that of a sandy wind, and when you cast Gaseous Form, you keep your normal movement speed. Once you have cast either of these spells with this feature, you can’t cast that spell with it again until you finish a long rest. You can spend an amount of ki points equal to the spells level to cast either one of them again.
Level 11 Desert Tomb
Once per turn, when you hit another creature with a melee weapon attack, or touch a willing creature, you can spend 4 ki points to entomb the creature in sand. If the creature is unwilling, it must make a Strength saving throw. On a failure, the creature become enclosed by sand for 10 minutes, or until you end the effect as a free action.
While entombed, the creature becomes blinded, deafened, incapacitated, and restrained. The desert tomb does not prevent breathing.
The desert tomb has an amount of hit points equal to your level x 5, an AC of 10 + your proficiency bonus, and immunity to piercing, psychic, cold, lightning, necrotic, and poison damage, as well as all conditions. If the prison is destroyed, its effects immediately ends on the target.
Level 17: Storm of the Sands
You spend between 1 and 6 ki points as a bonus action to produce a ki-infused storm of sand that spreads out from your body. For every 1 ki point you spend, up to a maximum of 6, the storm extends for 10 feet. The storm moves with you, and it lasts for 1 minute, or until you end it as a free action. You can choose which creatures it affects.
While you are in this storm, you gain blindsight in the area that the storm covers, and all attacks against you have disadvantage.
The sandstorm disperses gas or vapor, and it extinguishes candles, torches, and similar unprotected flames in the area. It causes protected flames, such as those of lanterns, to dance wildly and has a 50 percent chance to extinguish them, and the area within the storm becomes dim light.
Creatures caught in the storm upon its making, or creatures ending their turn in it, must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or take 4d6 bludgeoning damage and become blinded and deafened for as long as they remain in the storm. On a success, the creatures takes half damage, and they are not blinded and deafened. The creatures can make a new saving throw at the end of their turn if they are still within the storm, or they can move outside the storm to end the effects.
I like the themes here a lot! If you're interested, I have a glass-themed artificer in my sig that could be interesting in a desert setting.
My one caution here, from what I've learned working on my own Four Elements monk and playtesting it, is the amount of ki these features burn up and how that makes the build feel. When you get your level 3 features, you can use each of them once and then you're done. No FoB, no Patient Defense or Step of the Wind. You're just punching until you can short rest. Then at 11 you Sand Prison and that's half your ki gone. It's balanced and it makes sense, but I've found it can just be kind of a bummer to play.
In my play experience as a monk, features that enhance or synergize with the base monk features - the way Open Hand or Hand of Mercy upgrades FoB - feel a lot more satisfying than features that offer alternatives. And I see a lot of potential for that here - Desert Winds and Step of the Wind, Desert Tomb and Stunning Strike, Sand Stance and Patient Defense. Tying those more closely to monk features can help feel like you're not giving up as much when you use them. As an example: Desert Winds: "Once per short rest, when you use Step of the Wind you gain the effects of Gaseous Form (minus the movement speed limit) until the end of your turn."
Not trying to criticize, I think this is pretty well balanced - Desert Tomb is strong but costly, and certainly no better than Banishment which your teammates can have by then. Storm of the Sands should maybe be a full action since it's an AOE attack, but it's a CON save so it probably needs all the buffs it can get. Sand Stance seems very good, but so is Patient Defense. I'd encourage trying a mock playtest, running through a couple simulated encounters and just see how the ki usage feels.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
Piggybacking on the previous comment (should you want to reduce/remove ki point costs for some abilities to allow normal monk abilities to be used more often), I have a few suggestions for altered and/or alternate features that should fit the theme and really bring out the hidden sand ninja feel.
Sand Stance: rather than spending a ki point to gain all of those resistances, you could make this ability modify the Flurry of Blows and Patient Defense class features, like other Monk subclasses do.
For example:
"Whenever you spend ki points to use the Patient Defense feature, you also gain resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage until the start of your next turn. In addition, whenever you spend ki points to use the Flurry of Blows feature, the reach of your unarmed attacks is extended by 5 feet and you can choose to have them deal slashing damage instead of their normal damage type."
Sand Pillar and Desert Winds: I think these work great as they are, really!
Desert Tomb: This one is tricky. As @scatterbraind said, it's a huge ki point cost to use this ability. I would recommend making it a 2 part ability and having it allow for extra damage.
Example:
"When you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can spend 1 ki point to attempt to encase them in sand. The target must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or be Blinded, Deafened, and Restrained until the end of your next turn.
When you hit a creature that is restrained in this way with a melee weapon attack, you can spend up to 3 ki points to attempt to cause massive damage to the target. The target must make a Strength saving throw, taking 2d6 bludgeoning damage per ki point spent on a failure."
That's just a rough draft example, it aligns pretty closely to Gaara's Sand Coffin ability, while still providing control. I know you had more of a control focus so feel free to disregard this suggestion (or all of them, since it's your homebrew)
Storm of the Sands: Instead of making all attacks against you have disadvantage, I advise causing all creatures in the area to become Blinded until they leave (which would have the same effect while also allowing the monk to avoid melee opponents entirely unless they also had blindsense/blindsight) and having creatures make checks that rely on hearing with disadvantage.
Also for the 3rd line about extinguishing flames, I suggest using wording from spells like Gust of Wind. I.E. "The sandstorm disperses gas or vapor, and it extinguishes candles, torches, and similar unprotected flames in the area. It causes protected flames, such as those of lanterns, to dance wildly and has a 50 percent chance to extinguish them." Reducing the light level still makes sense to include with this!
And finally, I believe the storm should deal slashing damage, as the sand would be cutting exposed skin rather than crushing those in the area. (and if you did decide to change the Desert Tomb ability so that it deals damage, I would reduce the damage of the storm to 2 or 3d6 instead of the 4)
Those are my notes and suggestions, I hope they help with your project!
Sunday DM and creator of homebrew for both DMs and players. I do lots of conversions!
My best brews: Berserker (Fire Emblem - barbarian subclass) | Swordmaster (Fire Emblem - fighter subclass) | Deserter (background) | Flame Atronach (Skyrim - monster)
My Fire Emblem Conversion Thread
General homebrew links
Spells | Monsters | Magic Items | Backgrounds | Feats | Races | Subclasses
Thanks a lot guys, those are really good suggestions!
Alright, I updated it with some of your suggestions.
Sand Stance is now called Sand Mastery, and it enhances the three baseline ki maneuvers of the monk.
Sand Pillar and Desert Winds are unchanged.
Desert Tomb had its cost reduced to 4 points, since it is similar in power to banishment, and the other spells of this subclass equals a spell cost in ki points to its spell level. It is mostly a crowd control ability, and I like the idea of the prison being susceptible to being destroyed by outside forces. I imagine it as a sort of cocoon that can be used defensible as well if the monk knows that some bad AoE is incoming - he can use this on a couple of allies to shield them, or he can use it offensively, and it works differently from Stunning Strike. The creature entombed cannot get out on their own because they become incapacitated.
Storm of the Sands was updated to mimic the wording of gust of wind - makes sense! I think it should remain as it is otherwise, it is a level 17 feature, so it should be badass, and only use a Bonus Action in my humble opinion. :)
Thank you guys so much for this feedback, I think it's even more awesome now!
Those are good changes! I actually think keeping the subclass control and stealth oriented (I imagine most of the stealth prowess comes from the Desert Winds ability) makes it more likely to produce better roleplay scenarios! Also, doing that allows for that capstone ability to be more badass as you say haha
Is this homebrew published? I might want to add it to my collection!
Sunday DM and creator of homebrew for both DMs and players. I do lots of conversions!
My best brews: Berserker (Fire Emblem - barbarian subclass) | Swordmaster (Fire Emblem - fighter subclass) | Deserter (background) | Flame Atronach (Skyrim - monster)
My Fire Emblem Conversion Thread
General homebrew links
Spells | Monsters | Magic Items | Backgrounds | Feats | Races | Subclasses
Haven't published yet, still considering feedback and maybe some testing at some point :)
Hi, did you ever publish this? I’m looking for a “sand” monk. Lol