After looking at the homebrew Commissions Thread I thought I might try my hand at making a divination themed monk class. (maybe there are some already out there, I didn't look)
Older version, keep scrolling for newer, look if you want to compare.
Anyway, on to the attempt. It is still is a bit rough, so help would be appreciated. Here is my thoughts so far. I haven't thought up names for most of this yet.
Way of the Third Eye
Followers of this tradition, like diviners have seek to understand the past, present, and future. As a follower you strive to part the veils of space, time, and consciousness by combining powers of discernment, remote viewing, supernatural knowledge, and foresight with your martial prowess.
Beginning when you select this tradition at 3rd level, your study into the art of divination has granted you new abilities. You pick one of the following cantrips: Guidance or True Strike. In addition when you take the attack action on your turn you can spend 1 ki point to use Focused Gaze: For the next ten minutes you deal an extra 1d6 damage to the target whenever you hit it with a weapon attack, and you have advantage on any Wisdom (Perception) or Wisdom (Survival) check you make to find it. If the target drops to 0 hit points before this spell ends, you can use a bonus action on a subsequent turn of yours to mark a new creature.
Guided Motions
Starting at 3rd level when you choose this tradition, glimpses of the future begin to press in on your awareness. As a reaction you can use 2 ki to replace any attack roll, saving throw, or ability check made by you or another creature with a guaranteed success or fail. You must choose to do so before the roll. Once you use this feature you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.
At 6th level your aptitude with divination has granted you additional foresight. As an action you can use 3 ki points to cast the following spells Augury, Clairvoyance, Divination. Plus you can spend an additional ki point to make Focused Gaze last up to an hour.
[Third Eye and yes I used the same name as the Wizard Diviner, I wanted to use that granted feature as it was too, but haven't managed to incorporate ki, and was thinking some of it would turn out to be redundant later.]
At level 11 you can use 4 ki points to cast Arcane Eye and Scrying you can also spend an additional ki point on Focused Gaze to make it last 8 hours.
At 17th level you can use an additional Guided Motions per long rest. Plus you can spend 5 ki points to cast True Seeing, or 6 ki to cast Foresight. You can use an additional ki point (up to 4) on Focused Gaze to make it last up to 24 hours.
Guided Motions: Should replace the roll with 10, not instant success. Too powerful. Use a reaction, can be used after roll fails or succeeds. (Another trait could apply this to saving throws)
A third eye is an interesting concept that can be fleshed out deeply. Maybe think less about casting spells with ki, and more about experimentation!
Thanks for replying, and sorry for taking so long to reply. I was working on it and then got severely distracted by looking over some of my own homebrew material again. (Namely my Curse Eater and related material.)
Anyway I tried again at working on this and here is the modified version. I did remove Augury and Divination completely, and did less outright spell casting, though I am still using effects very similar to some spells. (I haven't tried to actually make it on D&D beyond yet, so I don't know how well that will go.)
The next oldest version. Keep scrolling to find the newest version, or look to compare.
Monk-Way of the Third Eye
As a follower of this tradition you strive to part the veils of space, time, and consciousness by combining powers of discernment, remote viewing, supernatural knowledge, and foresight with your martial prowess.
Path of Further Sight
Beginning when you select this tradition at 3rd level, [your study into the art of divination has granted you new abilities. You pick one of the following cantrips: Guidance or True Strike
Focused Gaze
Starting at 3rd level when you take the attack action on your turn you can spend 1 ki point:, or when you hit with one of the attacks granted by your Flurry of Blows then you mark the creature. You deal an extra 1d6 damage to the target whenever you hit it with a weapon attack (this includes your Unarmed strikes and Flurry of Blows), and you have advantage on any Wisdom (Perception) or Wisdom (Survival) check you make to find it. This effect lasts until the target has been reduced to 0 hit points, or is otherwise incapacitated. The user can choose to remove the mark before the target is incapacitated as a free action, otherwise the mark fades when a new mark is made, and or at the start of a short rest. After making this mark the you can choose to spend an additional ki point to glean one of the following attributes about the target: Damage Vulnerabilities, Damage Resistances, Damage Immunities, and Condition Immunities.
Guided Motions
When you finish a long rest, roll two d20s and record the numbers rolled. You can spend 2 ki to replace any attack roll, saving throw, or ability check made by you or a creature that you can see with one of these foretelling rolls. You must choose to do so before the roll, and you can replace a roll in this way only once per turn.
Each foretelling roll can be used only once. When you finish a long rest, you lose any unused foretelling rolls.
Discerning Eye
At 6th level your sight allows you to pick up on even some of the slightest clues. You have advantage on rolls made to when when others you can see are lying, and against visual illusions.
You gain proficiency in either Insight or Perception. If you already have proficiency in one of these skills you can choose instead to double your proficiency. (Also happens at level 17)
The Third Eye
At 6th level your aptitude with divination has awakened you to the mystical Third Eye
The Third Eye-As an action you can use 3 ki points to create an invisible eye within 60 ft. of you that hovers in the air for one hour.
You mentally receive visual information from the eye, which has normal vision and darkvision out to 60 feet. The eye can look in every direction.
As a bonus action, you can move the eye up to 30 feet in any direction. One mile is the limit to how far away from you the eye can move, and it can't enter another plane of existence. A solid barrier blocks the eye's movement, but the eye can pass through an opening as small as 1 inch in diameter.
Enhanced Third Eye
Starting at 11th level when you use The Third Eye you can spend an additional 3 ki (6 ki total) to change its vision to truesight to a range of 90 ft.
Or you can use 4 ki to use the Third Eye as if casting Scrying (sight only).
Gifted Motions
At 17th level when you use Guided motions you can roll one additional die, you also are able to use this feature once more per long rest. When you do so you can choose to spend an additional 4 ki to grant an amount of other creatures equal to your proficiency bonus that are within sight of you advantage on their next roll.
What I make is so incredible it leaves people speechless!!
Edited thanks to feedback.
Older Version of Guided Motions-Starting at 3rd level when you choose this tradition, glimpses of the future begin to press in on your awareness. As a reaction you can use 2 ki to roll two d20 , you then choose which die to use to replace any attack roll, saving throw, or ability check made by you or another creature. You must choose to do so before the roll. Once you use this feature you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.
Instead of making it a choice on which cantrip, just grant both.
Should I change the Third Eye? Maybe just leave it an ability that will work around the character, you won't be able to move the eye, and may remove scrying. Instead it will grant some form of advantage. I am not sure what else.
And this thought proposed by TheGrayFisher on the discord:
what if the monk can use a ki point (or 2?) at the beginning of their turn to foretell what a creature is going to do. The DM has to declare what that crerature's action will be and make any rolls involved, but none of it happens yet. The monk then gets to make their move with that knowledge. Would that be too weird? Does it work mechanically?
The creature then has to attempt to perform that action if able (alive, conscious, etc), but it would not prevent reactions like aoo's that present themselves to the creature.
I'm thinking, gameplay-wise, that then no rolls are being changed, but the monk can think, "he's attacking and rolled a crit, I need to get away," or, "Okay, he hits, but it's for 4 damage, I'm going to stay and attack." Etc.
Thanks for replying, and sorry for taking so long to reply. I was working on it and then got severely distracted by looking over some of my own homebrew material again. (Namely my Curse Eater and related material.)
Anyway I tried again at working on this and here is the modified version. I did remove Augury and Divination completely, and did less outright spell casting, though I am still using effects very similar to some spells. (I haven't tried to actually make it on D&D beyond yet, so I don't know how well that will go.)
Monk-Way of the Third Eye
As a follower of this tradition you strive to part the veils of space, time, and consciousness by combining powers of discernment, remote viewing, supernatural knowledge, and foresight with your martial prowess.
Path of Further Sight
Beginning when you select this tradition at 3rd level, [your study into the art of divination has granted you new abilities. You pick one of the following cantrips: Guidance or True Strike
Focused Gaze
Starting at 3rd level when you take the attack action on your turn you can spend 1 ki point:, or when you hit with one of the attacks granted by your Flurry of Blows then you mark the creature. You deal an extra 1d6 damage to the target whenever you hit it with a weapon attack (this includes your Unarmed strikes and Flurry of Blows), and you have advantage on any Wisdom (Perception) or Wisdom (Survival) check you make to find it. This effect lasts until the target has been reduced to 0 hit points, or is otherwise incapacitated. The user can choose to remove the mark before the target is incapacitated as a free action, otherwise the mark fades when a new mark is made, and or at the start of a short rest. After making this mark the you can choose to spend an additional ki point to glean one of the following attributes about the target: Damage Vulnerabilities, Damage Resistances, Damage Immunities, and Condition Immunities.
Guided Motions
When you finish a long rest, roll two d20s and record the numbers rolled. You can spend 2 ki to replace any attack roll, saving throw, or ability check made by you or a creature that you can see with one of these foretelling rolls. You must choose to do so before the roll, and you can replace a roll in this way only once per turn.
Each foretelling roll can be used only once. When you finish a long rest, you lose any unused foretelling rolls.
Discerning Eye
At 6th level your sight allows you to pick up on even some of the slightest clues. You have advantage on rolls made to when when others you can see are lying, and against visual illusions.
You gain proficiency in either Insight or Perception. If you already have proficiency in one of these skills you can choose instead to double your proficiency. (Also happens at level 17)
The Third Eye
At 6th level your aptitude with divination has awakened you to the mystical Third Eye
The Third Eye-As an action you can use 3 ki points to create an invisible eye within 60 ft. of you that hovers in the air for one hour.
You mentally receive visual information from the eye, which has normal vision and darkvision out to 60 feet. The eye can look in every direction.
As a bonus action, you can move the eye up to 30 feet in any direction. One mile is the limit to how far away from you the eye can move, and it can't enter another plane of existence. A solid barrier blocks the eye's movement, but the eye can pass through an opening as small as 1 inch in diameter.
Enhanced Third Eye
Starting at 11th level when you use The Third Eye you can spend an additional 3 ki (6 ki total) to change its vision to truesight to a range of 90 ft.
Or you can use 4 ki to use the Third Eye as if casting Scrying (sight only).
Gifted Motions
At 17th level when you use Guided motions you can roll one additional die, you also are able to use this feature once more per long rest. When you do so you can choose to spend an additional 4 ki to grant an amount of other creatures equal to your proficiency bonus that are within sight of you advantage on their next roll.
What I make is so incredible it leaves people speechless!!
Edited thanks to feedback.
Older Version of Guided Motions-Starting at 3rd level when you choose this tradition, glimpses of the future begin to press in on your awareness. As a reaction you can use 2 ki to roll two d20 , you then choose which die to use to replace any attack roll, saving throw, or ability check made by you or another creature. You must choose to do so before the roll. Once you use this feature you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.
You seen the Monk Way of the Cobalt Soul? A lot of these features feel like that. Focused Gaze's extra d6 to attacks is... that means potentially 3d4 + 3d6 damage per turn. Maybe you can only use the d6 one per round?
With Focused Gaze and Guided Motions, there's too much power at 3rd level.
Discerning Eye shows *all* lies, regardless of how well the creature rolls deception, because "you have advantage on rolls made to when when others you can see are lying, and against visual illusions" - you've already seen through them. Way too OP and misworded?
Third Eye is a great feature.
The Enhanced Third Eye doesn't need the scrying bit though... trusight is powerful.
Gifted Motions just hurts the School of Divination wizard... a bit too much I'm afraid. Maybe you can spend a ki point as a bonus action to force up to 3 creatures to make a Strength save, telekinetically moving 5 feet in a direction of your choice on a failed save, and the movement ignores opportunity attacks?
Yes, I had seen the Way of the Cobalt Soul, that is exactly where I got some of the wording, and the last bit of Focused Gaze. It is also where I got the idea for Discerning Eye. I did not run numbers so there may be a bit I need to address there, at the very least I maybe specify you can't use it with Flurry of Blows? Or like you say only benefit from it once per round and the die could scale at later levels, to like 2d6 at 11? (Though considering that is the only bonus type of offensive related bonus I have given this class, I am not entirely sure how worried I am about the damage. I suppose there is a reason why monk's don't usually get Hunter's Mark, especially one that does not require material components or concentration. I supposed I should think on how to step away from the Cobalt Soul a bit though.
I disagree with discerning eye showing all lies, advantage does not mean any guarantee, it is fully possible to roll poorly on two die though combined with proficiency or double proficiency in Insight it is much harder for a person to lie to you without you knowing. It is still not you see through all lies, (plus it is someone you can see.) However, I probably should not have added the against visual illusions tag at the end as it was a slightly separate idea, and maybe should have specified the wording to advantage on saving throws against visual illusions. I will put more thought into it though.
I completely agree that the Third Eye does not need the scrying feature. That is marked for removal in the next edits.
And yeah... I neglected to change Gifted Motions after changing Guided Motions back to its Portent origins... it may have been a bit different when it was the earlier version of Guided Motions. As is, that should be addressed. Maybe it could still give advantage to 2 other people you can see, you do not get one more foretelling die or one more use. Or separate the two ideas one Greater Motions and the other Gifted motions can be a bonus action that can cost like 5 ki to give the advantage on the next roll. I'll think on your suggestion (though it seems more fitting for one of the ones you may work on the uh Psionic Monk yes?)
Going to keep working on this, a great fatal flaw of my design? It is pretty much still the Diviner in a monk outfit, with a penchant for using Hunter's Mark and Arcane Eye.
Sorry, I did not mean anything against you. My block quote of achievements came from me ruminating on my attempts while I was away from my laptop (which I had already planned to write well before reading your post and have now removed), some sarcasm 100% directed from me to me, and apparently not as amusing to others. (I mean I took what a week or more of near constant working and thinking on this subclass to see that instead of the Divination themed monk I was supposed to be aiming for I made a Diviner ... as a monk. But hey, it is maybe a few steps closer to the goal than just slapping spellcasting and the diviner's class abilities to a monk and calling it good, right? At this point I only have some of the diviner's abilities. At least it is maybe doing better than all the stuff related to my Curse Eater. I have spent over 6 months now working and revising all of that, repeatedly) So try to pay my humor no mind, you have very valid points, and the feedback is appreciated.
Edit: Oh, and I am glad you like the Third Eye feature.
(Edit- Focused Gaze will need to be addressed indeed, just did some number crunching, which I hope I did correctly, at lowers levels it can potentially end up dealing a minimum of 6 damage a maximum of 45 damage and an average of 20, at higher levels it has a minimum of 8 a maximum of 84 and an average of 42. With a chance of doing that amount of damage for up to 3 rounds at lower levels and 20 (+) at the highest before a short rest, assuming you do not do anything else with your ki. It is more likely that you will do that amount just one or two rounds at lower levels, but you can still easily get a minimum of 4 damage; a maximum of 27, and an average of 15 for most rounds at lower levels and 6, 68, and 34 at higher.)
I do like Cobalt Soul, and would recommend that even in this case for a Divination Themed monk, it is why I brought it in. I should try to not copy exactly, but I thought it was absolutely perfect.
As a follower of this tradition you strive to part the veils of space, time, and consciousness by combining powers of discernment, and supernatural knowledge with your martial prowess.
Path of Further Sight
Beginning when you select this tradition at 3rd level, [your study into the art of divination has granted you new abilities. You pick one of the following cantrips: Guidance or True Strike
Focused Gaze
Starting at 3rd level when you hit with one of the attacks granted by your Flurry of Blows you can spend 1 ki point to deal an extra 1d6 damage on that attack and mark the target. While the target is marked you have advantage on any Wisdom (Perception) or Wisdom (Survival) check you make to find it and you can choose to glean one of the following bits of information: Damage Vulnerabilities, Damage Resistances, Damage Immunities, and Condition Immunities. The mark lasts until the target has been reduced to 0 hit points, or is otherwise incapacitated. The user can choose to remove the mark before the target is incapacitated as a free action, otherwise the mark fades when a new mark is made, and or at the start of a short rest. The amount of extra damage you can do when you use this feature increases by 1d6 at levels 6, 11, and 17.
Guided Motions
Starting at 3rd level you catch glimpses of a future you can use your ki to nudge in your favor. You can spend 2 ki to give yourself or a person you can see either advantage or disadvantage on their next roll. You can use this only once per turn. After you do so you cannot use this feature until after a long rest.
Discerning Eye
At 6th level your sight allows you to peer through the lies of visual illusions more easily. You have advantage on Saving Throws against Visual Illusions.
You gain expertise in either Insight or Perception. (This choice happens again at level 17)
The Third Eye
At 6th level your aptitude with divination has awakened you to the mystical Third Eye
The Third Eye-As an action you can use 3 ki points to create an invisible spectral eye within 60 ft. of you that hovers in the air for 10 minutes.
You mentally receive visual information from the eye, which has normal vision and darkvision out to 60 feet. The eye can look in every direction. While the eye is active you can only be blinded by magical darkness.
Enhanced Third Eye
Starting at 11th level when you use The Third Eye you can spend an additional 3 ki (6 ki total) to change its vision to truesight. While the eye is active you cannot be blinded even by magical darkness.
Gifted Motions
At 17th level when you use Guided Motions you can spend an additional 3 ki to give up to 4 people that you can see advantage or disadvantage on their next roll (one of those people can be yourself). (You do not have to apply the same type of advantage to every creature). You can only use this once per turn. You can now use Guided Motions two times per long rest.
I still like the Portent version of Guided Motions, but I am trying to step a bit further from the Diviner. Maybe let me know which you like better and feel is more fitting.
Alternate idea is to remove True Strike, and have Focused Gaze more of a bonus action I suppose, you can use 1 ki to give yourself or another person you can see advantage on their next attack, still mark the target (the one who hits gets the benefits of the mark), and then at later levels you or the person you choose can start doing additional damage to the target as specified in the earlier versions of Focused Gaze, like 1d4 at level 6, 1d6 at level 11, and 1d8 at level 17.
Thoughts? Have I fallen too far away from a Divination themed Monk? It seems my own ability as a diviner is lacking. Maybe a good question is this: what do you think would make a good divination themed monk? What kinds of things would you like to see?
And I made people speechless again.
Edited because I was running some numbers and determined that Focused Gaze as it was could do a bit more damage than when you used Flurry of Blows, and I didn't want to detract from Flurry of Blows.
I would like to find some way to tie in with more of the Monk abilities. At the moment the only thing I can think of would be to give advantage on evasion while the Third Eye is active (maybe by spending ki) at level 11 but that seemed too strong even for me. I could maybe put you can add your wisdom modifier to damage while the Third Eye is active, but not sure on not either. I can't think of a reason to make the damage psychic. Can anyone compute how this compares to the other monk classes? Does it do similar damage? More? Less?
Is there anything else you would like to learn when using focused gaze?
New thought- give a boost to the monk's initiative somehow, current thought at level 6 you add your Wisdom modifier to your Initiative. That may be a bit too much though.
Changed part of Discerning Eye from proficiency to expertise because using what I had set up previously removed the proficiency that came from my background and I did not want that to happen. I will debate on removing the second selection at level 17.
Alright, well barring having to remove material or lower damage because something is too strong this may be the last version, then it will just be combing through typing errors and seeing if everything works as intended. About my only major issue now is playtesting.
Way of the Third Eye
As a follower of this tradition you strive to part the veils of space, time, and consciousness by combining powers of discernment, supernatural knowledge, and foresight with your martial prowess.
Path of Further Sight
Beginning when you select this tradition at 3rd level, your study into the art of divination has granted you new abilities. You gain the following cantrips: Guidance and True Strike.
Focused Gaze
Starting at 3rd level when you hit with your Attack, Flurry of Blows, or Unarmed Strike bonus action you can spend 1 ki point to deal an added 1d6 psychic damage on the attack and mark the target. (You can only do this once on your turn.)
The next attack made against the target before the end of your next turn has advantage because of the ethereal wisps of light given off by the mark.
While the target is marked you have advantage on any Wisdom (Perception) or Wisdom (Survival) check you make to find it and you can choose to glean one of the following bits of information: Damage Vulnerabilities, Damage Resistances, Damage Immunities, or Condition Immunities. This effect lasts until the target has been reduced to 0 hit points, or is otherwise incapacitated. You can choose to remove the mark before the target is incapacitated as a free action, otherwise the mark fades when a new mark is made, or at the start of a short rest. The amount of psychic damage you can do when you use this feature increases by 1d6 at levels 6, 11, and 17.
Guided Motions
Starting at 3rd level you catch glimpses of a future you can use your ki to nudge in your favor. You can spend 1 ki to give yourself or a person you can see either advantage or disadvantage on their next roll. You can use this only once per turn. After you do so you cannot use this feature until after a long rest.
(Testing a new version- you spend 2 ki to give yourself or a creature you can see either a bonus or penalty on their roll equal to your Wisdom modifier. In theory this can stack with such things as bless, bane, advantage and disadvantage.)
Replacement feature: You can choose to replace Guided Motions with the ki enabled [Portent] (renamed Premonition).
Discerning Eye
At 6th level your sight allows you to peer through the lies of visual illusions more easily. You have advantage on Saving Throws against Visual Illusions.
You also gain expertise in either Insight or Perception.
The Third Eye
At 6th level your aptitude with divination has awakened you to the mystical Third Eye
The Third Eye- As an action you can use 3 ki points to create an invisible eye within 60 ft. of you that hovers in the air for 10 minutes You mentally receive visual information from the eye, which has normal vision and darkvision out to 60 feet. The eye can look in every direction.
While the Third Eye is active you can only be blinded by magical darkness.
Enhanced Third Eye
Starting at 11th level when you use The Third Eye you can spend an additional 3 ki to change its vision to truesight.
While the Enhanced Third Eye is active you cannot be blinded. Additionally starting at level 11 while either the Third Eye or Enhanced Third Eye are active you can add half your Wisdom modifier (rounded down) to your initiative.
Gifted Motions
At 17th level when you use Guided Motions you can spend an additional 3 ki to give up to 4 people that you can see advantage or disadvantage on their next roll (one of those people can be yourself). (You do not have to apply the same type of advantage to every creature). You can only use this once per turn. You can use Guided Motionstwo times per long rest.
Replacement feature: You can choose to replace Guided Motions with the ki enabled Greater Premonition. Do note that while it says you can use the Greater Premonition feature 3 times per long rest there will only be a box for 1 use. This is so if you take Portent at earlier levels you will have the correct total amount, with two uses from Portent and 1 from Greater Portent, instead of 5. Likewise, while I say on this feature Guided Motions can be used twice one box will be under Guided Motions and the other will be under Gifted Motions.
Will face similar testing to Guided Motions.
[Review- I did like the thought behind this, but the playtesting has not been exceptional, some of the features may go through more adjustments, namely Focused Gaze, Guided and Gifted Motions]
It has been a while since I last play tested or looked at this, and I have deleted the character I was testing it with.
I can't claim that I am a very good play tester so that may have played into some of the disappointment I felt about this class. Technically, I hardly play D&D enough to know how to play any of these classes which does not help in the play test department. For playtesting I found a solo adventure written for 4e that could accommodate up to two characters. So I put this Monk along with my Curse Eater Warlock for testing.
The adventure only took them about as far as 6th level. I hardly used either Guidance or True Strike the entire way.
I did use Focused Gaze, mostly in order to gain that tiny damage boost. I feel in other settings some of the tracking features would be more useful than they were for my play test. And while I feel they are appropriate for the idea I am still not entirely sure what to do about what I took from Cobalt Soul. I did adjust Focused Gaze to include 'advantage on the next hit' part way through, which while I like is probably erring on the wrong side of the power scale again and defeats the purpose of having True Strike. Overall this feature still seems to present some issues.
Guided Motions was a bit of a let down as well when I found it overlapping with other sources of advantage or disadvantage. Changing the idea helped in that regard. It still did not see many uses due in part to limited ki points.
I did not have much opportunity to use The Third Eye and did not get the chance to test anything beyond it at all. I do feel like there could be more to the Third Eye, maybe using a bonus action to relocate/move the eye to another place within 60 ft. of you. You do not need to be able to see the location where you place the Third Eye.
Overall, it is hard to say I was satisfied with this subclass. I took a step back from the Diviner, I think. But that may be about as much as could be said. It looks and sounds solid in writing, but I felt it lackluster in play. A part of that would still be because this subclass is less designed for offense purposes, such as straight on fights, which a good share of my play test was. I would have to make another character and try again using different material.
Rating- Undetermined. The idea could be a solid 3 stars out of 5, the execution closer to 2 stars out of 5.
After looking at the homebrew Commissions Thread I thought I might try my hand at making a divination themed monk class. (maybe there are some already out there, I didn't look)
Older version, keep scrolling for newer, look if you want to compare.
Anyway, on to the attempt. It is still is a bit rough, so help would be appreciated. Here is my thoughts so far. I haven't thought up names for most of this yet.
Way of the Third Eye
Followers of this tradition, like diviners have seek to understand the past, present, and future. As a follower you strive to part the veils of space, time, and consciousness by combining powers of discernment, remote viewing, supernatural knowledge, and foresight with your martial prowess.
Beginning when you select this tradition at 3rd level, your study into the art of divination has granted you new abilities. You pick one of the following cantrips: Guidance or True Strike. In addition when you take the attack action on your turn you can spend 1 ki point to use Focused Gaze: For the next ten minutes you deal an extra 1d6 damage to the target whenever you hit it with a weapon attack, and you have advantage on any Wisdom (Perception) or Wisdom (Survival) check you make to find it. If the target drops to 0 hit points before this spell ends, you can use a bonus action on a subsequent turn of yours to mark a new creature.
Guided Motions
Starting at 3rd level when you choose this tradition, glimpses of the future begin to press in on your awareness. As a reaction you can use 2 ki to replace any attack roll, saving throw, or ability check made by you or another creature with a guaranteed success or fail. You must choose to do so before the roll. Once you use this feature you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.
At 6th level your aptitude with divination has granted you additional foresight. As an action you can use 3 ki points to cast the following spells Augury, Clairvoyance, Divination. Plus you can spend an additional ki point to make Focused Gaze last up to an hour.
[Third Eye and yes I used the same name as the Wizard Diviner, I wanted to use that granted feature as it was too, but haven't managed to incorporate ki, and was thinking some of it would turn out to be redundant later.]
At level 11 you can use 4 ki points to cast Arcane Eye and Scrying you can also spend an additional ki point on Focused Gaze to make it last 8 hours.
At 17th level you can use an additional Guided Motions per long rest. Plus you can spend 5 ki points to cast True Seeing, or 6 ki to cast Foresight. You can use an additional ki point (up to 4) on Focused Gaze to make it last up to 24 hours.
Thoughts?
Some homebrew: Curse Eater and more-here other- here
Guided Motions: Should replace the roll with 10, not instant success. Too powerful. Use a reaction, can be used after roll fails or succeeds. (Another trait could apply this to saving throws)
A third eye is an interesting concept that can be fleshed out deeply. Maybe think less about casting spells with ki, and more about experimentation!
My only good homebrews: Races, Subclasses.
An aspiring DM and Homebrewer. Ask me if you need anything.
Thanks for replying, and sorry for taking so long to reply. I was working on it and then got severely distracted by looking over some of my own homebrew material again. (Namely my Curse Eater and related material.)
Anyway I tried again at working on this and here is the modified version. I did remove Augury and Divination completely, and did less outright spell casting, though I am still using effects very similar to some spells. (I haven't tried to actually make it on D&D beyond yet, so I don't know how well that will go.)
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Monk-Way of the Third Eye
As a follower of this tradition you strive to part the veils of space, time, and consciousness by combining powers of discernment, remote viewing, supernatural knowledge, and foresight with your martial prowess.
Path of Further Sight
Beginning when you select this tradition at 3rd level, [your study into the art of divination has granted you new abilities. You pick one of the following cantrips: Guidance or True Strike
Focused Gaze
Starting at 3rd level when you take the attack action on your turn you can spend 1 ki point:, or when you hit with one of the attacks granted by your Flurry of Blows then you mark the creature. You deal an extra 1d6 damage to the target whenever you hit it with a weapon attack (this includes your Unarmed strikes and Flurry of Blows), and you have advantage on any Wisdom (Perception) or Wisdom (Survival) check you make to find it. This effect lasts until the target has been reduced to 0 hit points, or is otherwise incapacitated. The user can choose to remove the mark before the target is incapacitated as a free action, otherwise the mark fades when a new mark is made, and or at the start of a short rest. After making this mark the you can choose to spend an additional ki point to glean one of the following attributes about the target: Damage Vulnerabilities, Damage Resistances, Damage Immunities, and Condition Immunities.
Guided Motions
When you finish a long rest, roll two d20s and record the numbers rolled. You can spend 2 ki to replace any attack roll, saving throw, or ability check made by you or a creature that you can see with one of these foretelling rolls. You must choose to do so before the roll, and you can replace a roll in this way only once per turn.
Each foretelling roll can be used only once. When you finish a long rest, you lose any unused foretelling rolls.
Discerning Eye
At 6th level your sight allows you to pick up on even some of the slightest clues. You have advantage on rolls made to when when others you can see are lying, and against visual illusions.
You gain proficiency in either Insight or Perception. If you already have proficiency in one of these skills you can choose instead to double your proficiency. (Also happens at level 17)
The Third Eye
At 6th level your aptitude with divination has awakened you to the mystical Third Eye
The Third Eye-As an action you can use 3 ki points to create an invisible eye within 60 ft. of you that hovers in the air for one hour.
You mentally receive visual information from the eye, which has normal vision and darkvision out to 60 feet. The eye can look in every direction.
As a bonus action, you can move the eye up to 30 feet in any direction. One mile is the limit to how far away from you the eye can move, and it can't enter another plane of existence. A solid barrier blocks the eye's movement, but the eye can pass through an opening as small as 1 inch in diameter.
Enhanced Third Eye
Starting at 11th level when you use The Third Eye you can spend an additional 3 ki (6 ki total) to change its vision to truesight to a range of 90 ft.
Or you can use 4 ki to use the Third Eye as if casting Scrying (sight only).
Gifted Motions
At 17th level when you use Guided motions you can roll one additional die, you also are able to use this feature once more per long rest. When you do so you can choose to spend an additional 4 ki to grant an amount of other creatures equal to your proficiency bonus that are within sight of you advantage on their next roll.
What I make is so incredible it leaves people speechless!!
Edited thanks to feedback.
Older Version of Guided Motions-Starting at 3rd level when you choose this tradition, glimpses of the future begin to press in on your awareness. As a reaction you can use 2 ki to roll two d20 , you then choose which die to use to replace any attack roll, saving throw, or ability check made by you or another creature. You must choose to do so before the roll. Once you use this feature you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.
Some homebrew: Curse Eater and more-here other- here
Alright, points that I am still considering:
Instead of making it a choice on which cantrip, just grant both.
Should I change the Third Eye? Maybe just leave it an ability that will work around the character, you won't be able to move the eye, and may remove scrying. Instead it will grant some form of advantage. I am not sure what else.
And this thought proposed by TheGrayFisher on the discord:
Some homebrew: Curse Eater and more-here other- here
You seen the Monk Way of the Cobalt Soul? A lot of these features feel like that. Focused Gaze's extra d6 to attacks is... that means potentially 3d4 + 3d6 damage per turn. Maybe you can only use the d6 one per round?
With Focused Gaze and Guided Motions, there's too much power at 3rd level.
Discerning Eye shows *all* lies, regardless of how well the creature rolls deception, because "you have advantage on rolls made to when when others you can see are lying, and against visual illusions" - you've already seen through them. Way too OP and misworded?
Third Eye is a great feature.
The Enhanced Third Eye doesn't need the scrying bit though... trusight is powerful.
Gifted Motions just hurts the School of Divination wizard... a bit too much I'm afraid. Maybe you can spend a ki point as a bonus action to force up to 3 creatures to make a Strength save, telekinetically moving 5 feet in a direction of your choice on a failed save, and the movement ignores opportunity attacks?
Frequent Eladrin || They/Them, but accept all pronouns
Luz Noceda would like to remind you that you're worth loving!
Thanks for the feedback.
Yes, I had seen the Way of the Cobalt Soul, that is exactly where I got some of the wording, and the last bit of Focused Gaze. It is also where I got the idea for Discerning Eye. I did not run numbers so there may be a bit I need to address there, at the very least I maybe specify you can't use it with Flurry of Blows? Or like you say only benefit from it once per round and the die could scale at later levels, to like 2d6 at 11? (Though considering that is the only bonus type of offensive related bonus I have given this class, I am not entirely sure how worried I am about the damage. I suppose there is a reason why monk's don't usually get Hunter's Mark, especially one that does not require material components or concentration. I supposed I should think on how to step away from the Cobalt Soul a bit though.
I disagree with discerning eye showing all lies, advantage does not mean any guarantee, it is fully possible to roll poorly on two die though combined with proficiency or double proficiency in Insight it is much harder for a person to lie to you without you knowing. It is still not you see through all lies, (plus it is someone you can see.) However, I probably should not have added the against visual illusions tag at the end as it was a slightly separate idea, and maybe should have specified the wording to advantage on saving throws against visual illusions. I will put more thought into it though.
I completely agree that the Third Eye does not need the scrying feature. That is marked for removal in the next edits.
And yeah... I neglected to change Gifted Motions after changing Guided Motions back to its Portent origins... it may have been a bit different when it was the earlier version of Guided Motions. As is, that should be addressed. Maybe it could still give advantage to 2 other people you can see, you do not get one more foretelling die or one more use. Or separate the two ideas one Greater Motions and the other Gifted motions can be a bonus action that can cost like 5 ki to give the advantage on the next roll. I'll think on your suggestion (though it seems more fitting for one of the ones you may work on the uh Psionic Monk yes?)
Going to keep working on this, a great fatal flaw of my design? It is pretty much still the Diviner in a monk outfit, with a penchant for using Hunter's Mark and Arcane Eye.
Some homebrew: Curse Eater and more-here other- here
Sorry you felt reduced to sarcasm, I'll pipe down...
Frequent Eladrin || They/Them, but accept all pronouns
Luz Noceda would like to remind you that you're worth loving!
Sorry, I did not mean anything against you. My block quote of achievements came from me ruminating on my attempts while I was away from my laptop (which I had already planned to write well before reading your post and have now removed), some sarcasm 100% directed from me to me, and apparently not as amusing to others. (I mean I took what a week or more of near constant working and thinking on this subclass to see that instead of the Divination themed monk I was supposed to be aiming for I made a Diviner ... as a monk. But hey, it is maybe a few steps closer to the goal than just slapping spellcasting and the diviner's class abilities to a monk and calling it good, right? At this point I only have some of the diviner's abilities. At least it is maybe doing better than all the stuff related to my Curse Eater. I have spent over 6 months now working and revising all of that, repeatedly) So try to pay my humor no mind, you have very valid points, and the feedback is appreciated.
Edit: Oh, and I am glad you like the Third Eye feature.
(Edit- Focused Gaze will need to be addressed indeed, just did some number crunching, which I hope I did correctly, at lowers levels it can potentially end up dealing a minimum of 6 damage a maximum of 45 damage and an average of 20, at higher levels it has a minimum of 8 a maximum of 84 and an average of 42. With a chance of doing that amount of damage for up to 3 rounds at lower levels and 20 (+) at the highest before a short rest, assuming you do not do anything else with your ki. It is more likely that you will do that amount just one or two rounds at lower levels, but you can still easily get a minimum of 4 damage; a maximum of 27, and an average of 15 for most rounds at lower levels and 6, 68, and 34 at higher.)
I do like Cobalt Soul, and would recommend that even in this case for a Divination Themed monk, it is why I brought it in. I should try to not copy exactly, but I thought it was absolutely perfect.
Some homebrew: Curse Eater and more-here other- here
Updating in response to feedback third oldest.
Monk-Way of the Third Eye
As a follower of this tradition you strive to part the veils of space, time, and consciousness by combining powers of discernment, and supernatural knowledge with your martial prowess.
Path of Further Sight
Beginning when you select this tradition at 3rd level, [your study into the art of divination has granted you new abilities. You pick one of the following cantrips: Guidance or True Strike
Focused Gaze
Starting at 3rd level when you hit with one of the attacks granted by your Flurry of Blows you can spend 1 ki point to deal an extra 1d6 damage on that attack and mark the target. While the target is marked you have advantage on any Wisdom (Perception) or Wisdom (Survival) check you make to find it and you can choose to glean one of the following bits of information: Damage Vulnerabilities, Damage Resistances, Damage Immunities, and Condition Immunities. The mark lasts until the target has been reduced to 0 hit points, or is otherwise incapacitated. The user can choose to remove the mark before the target is incapacitated as a free action, otherwise the mark fades when a new mark is made, and or at the start of a short rest. The amount of extra damage you can do when you use this feature increases by 1d6 at levels 6, 11, and 17.
Guided Motions
Starting at 3rd level you catch glimpses of a future you can use your ki to nudge in your favor. You can spend 2 ki to give yourself or a person you can see either advantage or disadvantage on their next roll. You can use this only once per turn. After you do so you cannot use this feature until after a long rest.
Discerning Eye
At 6th level your sight allows you to peer through the lies of visual illusions more easily. You have advantage on Saving Throws against Visual Illusions.
You gain expertise in either Insight or Perception. (This choice happens again at level 17)
The Third Eye
At 6th level your aptitude with divination has awakened you to the mystical Third Eye
The Third Eye-As an action you can use 3 ki points to create an invisible spectral eye within 60 ft. of you that hovers in the air for 10 minutes.
You mentally receive visual information from the eye, which has normal vision and darkvision out to 60 feet. The eye can look in every direction. While the eye is active you can only be blinded by magical darkness.
Enhanced Third Eye
Starting at 11th level when you use The Third Eye you can spend an additional 3 ki (6 ki total) to change its vision to truesight. While the eye is active you cannot be blinded even by magical darkness.
Gifted Motions
At 17th level when you use Guided Motions you can spend an additional 3 ki to give up to 4 people that you can see advantage or disadvantage on their next roll (one of those people can be yourself). (You do not have to apply the same type of advantage to every creature). You can only use this once per turn. You can now use Guided Motions two times per long rest.
I still like the Portent version of Guided Motions, but I am trying to step a bit further from the Diviner. Maybe let me know which you like better and feel is more fitting.
Alternate idea is to remove True Strike, and have Focused Gaze more of a bonus action I suppose, you can use 1 ki to give yourself or another person you can see advantage on their next attack, still mark the target (the one who hits gets the benefits of the mark), and then at later levels you or the person you choose can start doing additional damage to the target as specified in the earlier versions of Focused Gaze, like 1d4 at level 6, 1d6 at level 11, and 1d8 at level 17.
Thoughts? Have I fallen too far away from a Divination themed Monk? It seems my own ability as a diviner is lacking. Maybe a good question is this: what do you think would make a good divination themed monk? What kinds of things would you like to see?
And I made people speechless again.
Edited because I was running some numbers and determined that Focused Gaze as it was could do a bit more damage than when you used Flurry of Blows, and I didn't want to detract from Flurry of Blows.
I would like to find some way to tie in with more of the Monk abilities. At the moment the only thing I can think of would be to give advantage on evasion while the Third Eye is active (maybe by spending ki) at level 11 but that seemed too strong even for me. I could maybe put you can add your wisdom modifier to damage while the Third Eye is active, but not sure on not either. I can't think of a reason to make the damage psychic. Can anyone compute how this compares to the other monk classes? Does it do similar damage? More? Less?
Is there anything else you would like to learn when using focused gaze?
New thought- give a boost to the monk's initiative somehow, current thought at level 6 you add your Wisdom modifier to your Initiative. That may be a bit too much though.
Changed part of Discerning Eye from proficiency to expertise because using what I had set up previously removed the proficiency that came from my background and I did not want that to happen. I will debate on removing the second selection at level 17.
Some homebrew: Curse Eater and more-here other- here
Alright, well barring having to remove material or lower damage because something is too strong this may be the last version, then it will just be combing through typing errors and seeing if everything works as intended. About my only major issue now is playtesting.
Way of the Third Eye
As a follower of this tradition you strive to part the veils of space, time, and consciousness by combining powers of discernment, supernatural knowledge, and foresight with your martial prowess.
Path of Further Sight
Beginning when you select this tradition at 3rd level, your study into the art of divination has granted you new abilities. You gain the following cantrips: Guidance and True Strike.
Focused Gaze
Starting at 3rd level when you hit with your Attack, Flurry of Blows, or Unarmed Strike bonus action you can spend 1 ki point to deal an added 1d6 psychic damage on the attack and mark the target. (You can only do this once on your turn.)
The next attack made against the target before the end of your next turn has advantage because of the ethereal wisps of light given off by the mark.
While the target is marked you have advantage on any Wisdom (Perception) or Wisdom (Survival) check you make to find it and you can choose to glean one of the following bits of information: Damage Vulnerabilities, Damage Resistances, Damage Immunities, or Condition Immunities. This effect lasts until the target has been reduced to 0 hit points, or is otherwise incapacitated. You can choose to remove the mark before the target is incapacitated as a free action, otherwise the mark fades when a new mark is made, or at the start of a short rest. The amount of psychic damage you can do when you use this feature increases by 1d6 at levels 6, 11, and 17.
Guided Motions
Starting at 3rd level you catch glimpses of a future you can use your ki to nudge in your favor. You can spend 1 ki to give yourself or a person you can see either advantage or disadvantage on their next roll. You can use this only once per turn. After you do so you cannot use this feature until after a long rest.
(Testing a new version- you spend 2 ki to give yourself or a creature you can see either a bonus or penalty on their roll equal to your Wisdom modifier. In theory this can stack with such things as bless, bane, advantage and disadvantage.)
Replacement feature: You can choose to replace Guided Motions with the ki enabled [Portent] (renamed Premonition).
Discerning Eye
At 6th level your sight allows you to peer through the lies of visual illusions more easily. You have advantage on Saving Throws against Visual Illusions.
You also gain expertise in either Insight or Perception.
The Third Eye
At 6th level your aptitude with divination has awakened you to the mystical Third Eye
The Third Eye- As an action you can use 3 ki points to create an invisible eye within 60 ft. of you that hovers in the air for 10 minutes You mentally receive visual information from the eye, which has normal vision and darkvision out to 60 feet. The eye can look in every direction.
While the Third Eye is active you can only be blinded by magical darkness.
Enhanced Third Eye
Starting at 11th level when you use The Third Eye you can spend an additional 3 ki to change its vision to truesight.
While the Enhanced Third Eye is active you cannot be blinded. Additionally starting at level 11 while either the Third Eye or Enhanced Third Eye are active you can add half your Wisdom modifier (rounded down) to your initiative.
Gifted Motions
At 17th level when you use Guided Motions you can spend an additional 3 ki to give up to 4 people that you can see advantage or disadvantage on their next roll (one of those people can be yourself). (You do not have to apply the same type of advantage to every creature). You can only use this once per turn. You can use Guided Motions two times per long rest.
Replacement feature: You can choose to replace Guided Motions with the ki enabled Greater Premonition. Do note that while it says you can use the Greater Premonition feature 3 times per long rest there will only be a box for 1 use. This is so if you take Portent at earlier levels you will have the correct total amount, with two uses from Portent and 1 from Greater Portent, instead of 5. Likewise, while I say on this feature Guided Motions can be used twice one box will be under Guided Motions and the other will be under Gifted Motions.
Will face similar testing to Guided Motions.
[Review- I did like the thought behind this, but the playtesting has not been exceptional, some of the features may go through more adjustments, namely Focused Gaze, Guided and Gifted Motions]
Some homebrew: Curse Eater and more-here other- here
It has been a while since I last play tested or looked at this, and I have deleted the character I was testing it with.
I can't claim that I am a very good play tester so that may have played into some of the disappointment I felt about this class. Technically, I hardly play D&D enough to know how to play any of these classes which does not help in the play test department. For playtesting I found a solo adventure written for 4e that could accommodate up to two characters. So I put this Monk along with my Curse Eater Warlock for testing.
The adventure only took them about as far as 6th level. I hardly used either Guidance or True Strike the entire way.
I did use Focused Gaze, mostly in order to gain that tiny damage boost. I feel in other settings some of the tracking features would be more useful than they were for my play test. And while I feel they are appropriate for the idea I am still not entirely sure what to do about what I took from Cobalt Soul. I did adjust Focused Gaze to include 'advantage on the next hit' part way through, which while I like is probably erring on the wrong side of the power scale again and defeats the purpose of having True Strike. Overall this feature still seems to present some issues.
Guided Motions was a bit of a let down as well when I found it overlapping with other sources of advantage or disadvantage. Changing the idea helped in that regard. It still did not see many uses due in part to limited ki points.
I did not have much opportunity to use The Third Eye and did not get the chance to test anything beyond it at all. I do feel like there could be more to the Third Eye, maybe using a bonus action to relocate/move the eye to another place within 60 ft. of you. You do not need to be able to see the location where you place the Third Eye.
Overall, it is hard to say I was satisfied with this subclass. I took a step back from the Diviner, I think. But that may be about as much as could be said. It looks and sounds solid in writing, but I felt it lackluster in play. A part of that would still be because this subclass is less designed for offense purposes, such as straight on fights, which a good share of my play test was. I would have to make another character and try again using different material.
Rating- Undetermined. The idea could be a solid 3 stars out of 5, the execution closer to 2 stars out of 5.
Some homebrew: Curse Eater and more-here other- here