I wanted to try my hand at reworking the Way of the Sun Soul Monk subclass. This one never really sat well for me, mainly due to the fact that its range seems to be all over the place [sun bolt (10-30ft), Searing Arc Strike (5-15ft), Searing Sunburst (20-150ft), Sun Shield (melee)]. While this does have the benefit of ranged versatility, it does feel like it lacks focus. So, I wanted to try redesigning it as a primarily ranged focus subclass.
This is part of a larger series of subclass reworks that can be found here.
Way of the Sun Soul
Monks of the Way of the Sun Soul learn to channel their life energy into searing bolts of light. They teach that meditation can unlock the ability to unleash the indomitable light shed by the soul of every living creature.
Radiant Sun Bolt (FIFY)
Starting when you choose this tradition at 3rd level, you can hurl searing bolts of radiance.
You gain a new attack option that you can use with the Attack action. This special attack is a ranged spell attack with a range of 30 feet. You are proficient with it, and you add your Wisdom modifier to its attack and damage rolls. Its damage is radiant, and its damage die is a d4. This die changes as you gain monk levels, as shown in the Martial Arts column of the Monk table. When you take the Attack action on your turn and use this special attack as part of it, as a bonus action you can make this special attack once.
Whenever you use Flurry of Blows, you can replace one or both of your attacks with this special attack, provided you used this special attack as part of your Attack action. When you gain the Extra Attack feature, this special attack can be used for any of the attacks you make as part of the Attack action.
Sun Shield (FIFY)
You are able to focus your ki into a radiant shield to protect yourself. Also at 3rd level, you can spend 1 ki point to cast Shield of Faithtargeting yourself without requiring material components.
Blinding Bolts (FIFY, New feature)
Starting at 6th level, when you hit another creature with a radiant sun bolt, you can spend 1 ki point to attempt to disrupt the creature’s sight. The target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or be blinded until the end of your next turn. Any creature that is relying on its Darkvision to see you has disadvantage on this saving throw.
Cosmic Radiance (FIFY, New feature)
Also at 6th level, whenever you cast Shield of Faith, you can choose to wreath yourself in a luminous, magical aura. You shed bright light in a 10 foot radius and dim light for an additional 10 feet. This light is treated as sunlight.
At 17th level, the bright light produced extends to 30 feet, with dim light extending an additional 30 feet beyond that.
Searing Sunburst
At 11th level, you gain the ability to create an orb of light that erupts into a devastating explosion. As an action, you magically create an orb and hurl it at a point you choose within 150 feet, where it erupts into a sphere of radiant light for a brief but deadly instant.
Each creature in that 20-foot-radius sphere must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or take 2d6 radiant damage. A creature doesn’t need to make the save if the creature is behind total cover that is opaque.
You can increase the sphere’s damage by spending ki points. Each point you spend, to a maximum of 3, increases the damage by 2d6.
Solar Leap (FIFY, New Feature)
At 17th level, you gain a flying speed equal to your walking speed. Whenever you expend a ki point to use Step of the Wind, you can choose to expend up to 5 additional ki points causing a flash of light to erupt immediately. Each creature within 10 feet of you must make a Constitution saving throw or take 1d10 radiant damage per additional ki point spent on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
Design Notes
Radiant Sun Bolts. Allow the monk to make its special attack freely as a bonus action. Changed the modifier for this to be Wisdom instead of Dexterity to reflect its magical nature and make this another Wisdom-heavy monk subclass (along with Way of the Four Elements and Way of the Astral Self). Alot of the features will require saving throws, so better to have a strong Ki DC
Sun Shield. Moved the ability to 3rd level and simplified it to allow the monk to cast Shield of Faith. Since this will likely be a Wisdom heavy monk, this gives a way to boost its AC without relying on Dexterity. This does still require some sacrifice, as you risk losing the shield with concentration checks and must spend ki to use it, so I do not think it is particularly over powered.
Blinding Bolts. I wanted to give the subclass a 6th level feature that builds upon its ranged attack options. Wanted to give an alternative debuff to Stunning Strike for the radiant sun bolts. Blinded is not as strong of a debuff as Stunned, but a weaker effect makes sense for ranged attacks. Plus, it is thematically on point.
Cosmic Radiance. Similar to how Blinding Bolts builds upon Radiant Sun Bolt, Cosmic Radiance is meant to strengthen Sun Shield to slowly bring it more in line with its 17th level counterpart. The range of the shed light starts lower at 10 feet but eventually grows to the full 30. Also, I am playing with removing the damage from the shield and instead making it an effect that produces sunlight, which is thematically on point and also useful against certain monster types.
Solar Leap. Wanted to give this monk something that still felt “Dragonball”-esque after moving its 17th level feature. For this ability I drew inspiration from the Dragon Monk’s Wings Unfurled ability and the Thunder Step spell. This monk ultimately gets its flight much later than its Draconic counterpart, but its fly speed is always active and comes with a potential damage bonus. This gives the sun soul monk a powerful tool to stay out of their enemy's range or to disengage out of it so they can remain as a ranged blaster. One downside is this ability is likely lackluster for someone who wanted to play a flying blaster earlier and chose a race with a flight speed.
Cosmic Radiance seems like it wouldn't come into play very often. It's clearly meant to be powerful against creatures with Sunlight Sensitivity (which is good, it makes sense that this subclass can do that), but it feels like that's just too niche for a full feature. Maybe you could make it cast an additional spell that uses the same concentration whenever you use Sun Shield.
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Look at what you've done. You spoiled it. You have nobody to blame but yourself. Go sit and think about your actions.
Don't be mean. Rudeness is a vicious cycle, and it has to stop somewhere. Exceptions for things that are funny. Go to the current Competition of the Finest 'Brews! It's a cool place where cool people make cool things.
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Cosmic Radiance seems like it wouldn't come into play very often. It's clearly meant to be powerful against creatures with Sunlight Sensitivity (which is good, it makes sense that this subclass can do that), but it feels like that's just too niche for a full feature. Maybe you could make it cast an additional spell that uses the same concentration whenever you use Sun Shield.
It is fairly niche, but also not the only feature you get at 6th level. Between the two, it is definitely more of a "ribbon" feature that could be situationally helpful. Considering this version of the subclass gets two features at 3rd level and two at 6th level, I think its okay that one of those features is more ribbon-like.
I did just get an idea though. What about this, since this subclass imposes alot of Con saves maybe adding something along the lines of "a creature inside the bright light has disadvantage on Con saves made against your subclass features" Idk, that may push it back into the realm of encouraging a stronger melee presence rather than focusing on using your ranged stuff to its best capacity
Cosmic Radiance seems like it wouldn't come into play very often. It's clearly meant to be powerful against creatures with Sunlight Sensitivity (which is good, it makes sense that this subclass can do that), but it feels like that's just too niche for a full feature. Maybe you could make it cast an additional spell that uses the same concentration whenever you use Sun Shield.
It is fairly niche, but also not the only feature you get at 6th level. Between the two, it is definitely more of a "ribbon" feature that could be situationally helpful. Considering this version of the subclass gets two features at 3rd level and two at 6th level, I think its okay that one of those features is more ribbon-like.
I did just get an idea though. What about this, since this subclass imposes alot of Con saves maybe adding something along the lines of "a creature inside the bright light has disadvantage on Con saves made against your subclass features" Idk, that may push it back into the realm of encouraging a stronger melee presence rather than focusing on using your ranged stuff to its best capacity
I think that everything here looks cool and would make this subclass really fun. This subclass would be absolutely broken in the Into the Abyss campaign, which is awesome.
I don't think that you need to have the aura give disadvantage, and doing so might make this subclass unbalanced. If the aura gave disadvantage, then a monk with their higher movement speed could easily maneuver around the battlefield and target four creatures with the blinding bolts, all of which would have disadvantage. This would most likely result in all four enemies being blinded and the monk's allies being able to slaughter them before the monk's next turn, and if not, then the monk can just do it again.
I think that the aura should stay as a niche ability for mechanical purposes and against creatures with sunlight sensitivity.
Cosmic Radiance seems like it wouldn't come into play very often. It's clearly meant to be powerful against creatures with Sunlight Sensitivity (which is good, it makes sense that this subclass can do that), but it feels like that's just too niche for a full feature. Maybe you could make it cast an additional spell that uses the same concentration whenever you use Sun Shield.
It is fairly niche, but also not the only feature you get at 6th level. Between the two, it is definitely more of a "ribbon" feature that could be situationally helpful. Considering this version of the subclass gets two features at 3rd level and two at 6th level, I think its okay that one of those features is more ribbon-like.
I did just get an idea though. What about this, since this subclass imposes alot of Con saves maybe adding something along the lines of "a creature inside the bright light has disadvantage on Con saves made against your subclass features" Idk, that may push it back into the realm of encouraging a stronger melee presence rather than focusing on using your ranged stuff to its best capacity
I think that everything here looks cool and would make this subclass really fun. This subclass would be absolutely broken in the Into the Abyss campaign, which is awesome.
I don't think that you need to have the aura give disadvantage, and doing so might make this subclass unbalanced. If the aura gave disadvantage, then a monk with their higher movement speed could easily maneuver around the battlefield and target four creatures with the blinding bolts, all of which would have disadvantage. This would most likely result in all four enemies being blinded and the monk's allies being able to slaughter them before the monk's next turn, and if not, then the monk can just do it again.
I think that the aura should stay as a niche ability for mechanical purposes and against creatures with sunlight sensitivity.
Yeah, I was also afraid that adding on the disadvantage might be too much.
I agree that it could still be top tier in certain campaigns: Out of the Abyss (due to use of darkvision and presence of sunlight sensitivity) and Curse of Strahd (due to vampire's weakness to sunlight and negation of certain traits with radiant damage).
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I wanted to try my hand at reworking the Way of the Sun Soul Monk subclass. This one never really sat well for me, mainly due to the fact that its range seems to be all over the place [sun bolt (10-30ft), Searing Arc Strike (5-15ft), Searing Sunburst (20-150ft), Sun Shield (melee)]. While this does have the benefit of ranged versatility, it does feel like it lacks focus. So, I wanted to try redesigning it as a primarily ranged focus subclass.
This is part of a larger series of subclass reworks that can be found here.
Design Notes
Radiant Sun Bolts. Allow the monk to make its special attack freely as a bonus action. Changed the modifier for this to be Wisdom instead of Dexterity to reflect its magical nature and make this another Wisdom-heavy monk subclass (along with Way of the Four Elements and Way of the Astral Self). Alot of the features will require saving throws, so better to have a strong Ki DC
Sun Shield. Moved the ability to 3rd level and simplified it to allow the monk to cast Shield of Faith. Since this will likely be a Wisdom heavy monk, this gives a way to boost its AC without relying on Dexterity. This does still require some sacrifice, as you risk losing the shield with concentration checks and must spend ki to use it, so I do not think it is particularly over powered.
Blinding Bolts. I wanted to give the subclass a 6th level feature that builds upon its ranged attack options. Wanted to give an alternative debuff to Stunning Strike for the radiant sun bolts. Blinded is not as strong of a debuff as Stunned, but a weaker effect makes sense for ranged attacks. Plus, it is thematically on point.
Cosmic Radiance. Similar to how Blinding Bolts builds upon Radiant Sun Bolt, Cosmic Radiance is meant to strengthen Sun Shield to slowly bring it more in line with its 17th level counterpart. The range of the shed light starts lower at 10 feet but eventually grows to the full 30. Also, I am playing with removing the damage from the shield and instead making it an effect that produces sunlight, which is thematically on point and also useful against certain monster types.
Solar Leap. Wanted to give this monk something that still felt “Dragonball”-esque after moving its 17th level feature. For this ability I drew inspiration from the Dragon Monk’s Wings Unfurled ability and the Thunder Step spell. This monk ultimately gets its flight much later than its Draconic counterpart, but its fly speed is always active and comes with a potential damage bonus. This gives the sun soul monk a powerful tool to stay out of their enemy's range or to disengage out of it so they can remain as a ranged blaster. One downside is this ability is likely lackluster for someone who wanted to play a flying blaster earlier and chose a race with a flight speed.
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This was how I fixed it last time around: (https://www.dndbeyond.com/subclasses/330562-anima-sol-revised).
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Cosmic Radiance seems like it wouldn't come into play very often. It's clearly meant to be powerful against creatures with Sunlight Sensitivity (which is good, it makes sense that this subclass can do that), but it feels like that's just too niche for a full feature. Maybe you could make it cast an additional spell that uses the same concentration whenever you use Sun Shield.
Look at what you've done. You spoiled it. You have nobody to blame but yourself. Go sit and think about your actions.
Don't be mean. Rudeness is a vicious cycle, and it has to stop somewhere. Exceptions for things that are funny.
Go to the current Competition of the Finest 'Brews! It's a cool place where cool people make cool things.
How I'm posting based on text formatting: Mod Hat Off - Mod Hat Also Off (I'm not a mod)
It is fairly niche, but also not the only feature you get at 6th level. Between the two, it is definitely more of a "ribbon" feature that could be situationally helpful. Considering this version of the subclass gets two features at 3rd level and two at 6th level, I think its okay that one of those features is more ribbon-like.
I did just get an idea though. What about this, since this subclass imposes alot of Con saves maybe adding something along the lines of "a creature inside the bright light has disadvantage on Con saves made against your subclass features" Idk, that may push it back into the realm of encouraging a stronger melee presence rather than focusing on using your ranged stuff to its best capacity
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
I think that everything here looks cool and would make this subclass really fun. This subclass would be absolutely broken in the Into the Abyss campaign, which is awesome.
I don't think that you need to have the aura give disadvantage, and doing so might make this subclass unbalanced. If the aura gave disadvantage, then a monk with their higher movement speed could easily maneuver around the battlefield and target four creatures with the blinding bolts, all of which would have disadvantage. This would most likely result in all four enemies being blinded and the monk's allies being able to slaughter them before the monk's next turn, and if not, then the monk can just do it again.
I think that the aura should stay as a niche ability for mechanical purposes and against creatures with sunlight sensitivity.
Yeah, I was also afraid that adding on the disadvantage might be too much.
I agree that it could still be top tier in certain campaigns: Out of the Abyss (due to use of darkvision and presence of sunlight sensitivity) and Curse of Strahd (due to vampire's weakness to sunlight and negation of certain traits with radiant damage).
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!