The ReMonk Base Class for Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) Fifth Edition (5e)

Base Class: Fighter

This is a complete re-work of the monk class it includes new mechanics and removes ones I feel didn't perform as they should. Dnd Beyond currently does not support custom classes so there are unfortunately several hoops to jump through in order to incorporate these changes to a character sheet. This is mostly done through adding specific homebrew feats at certain levels, along with a few manual changes to your character sheet upon creation. I've included instructions on how to set everything up along with a full list of changes and reasonings as to why I think these changes are good.

first things first download and apply the feats ReMonk Martial Prowess and ReMonk Unarmored Defense to your level 1 fighter. We're going ignore to all of Fighter's level 1 class features,. this includes Second Wind and the Fighting Style you would normally pick up. There is no way for me to remove these from your character sheet so you will have to ignore them and not use them. However skill proficiencies and saving throws can be manually applied and removed from your character sheet by you. Please select 2 Monk skills you would like to be proficient in and change your saving throw proficiencies to Dexterity and Constitution.

At level 2 download and apply the feat ReMonk Unarmored Movement (2nd Level) to your character. Also ignore Action surge. From here you can consult the list below and choose 2 Secret Techniques with (2) in front of them. Each secret technique is labeled with a number. These numbers represent what level they unlock at and when you get to pick 2 more for your character. 2 at level 2, 2 more at level 5 ect. these can be applied to your character by downloading and applying the corresponding homebrew feat. all of the feats this class relies on are labeled ReMonk followed by the name of the technique.

Once you hit Third level you pick your subclass. Do Not Pick ReMonk Base as your subclass. It wont work. I've made a few subclasses for this new class once again labelled as (ReMonk) and they're in the homebrew Fighter subclasses.

After that it's mostly same as before as far as weird DND Beyond manipulation is concerned. You still get all the Fighter Ability Score Increases, you also still get extra attacks at all the normal Fighter levels. Make sure you apply the ReMonk extra attack feats at the appropriate levels, there's three of them for 5th 11th and 20th levels. Pick up Secret Techniques when this list says you can by selecting the corresponding feats and your good. I'm going to go into detail about what I want this class to do and why I changed things further below

Martial Prowess

At 1st level, your practice of martial arts gives you mastery of combat styles that use unarmed strikes

You gain the following benefits while you are unarmed or wielding only monk weapons and you aren’t wearing armor or wielding a shield:

You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for the attack and damage rolls of your unarmed strikes and monk weapons.
You can roll a d6 in place of the normal damage of your unarmed strike
you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn. The number of attacks increases to three when you reach 5th level in this class and to four when you reach 11th level in this class. and then to five at 20th level in this class.

Unarmored defense

Beginning at 1st level, while you are wearing no armor and not wielding a shield, your AC equals 10 + your Dexterity modifier + your Constitution modifier.

Unarmored Movement

Starting at 2nd level, your speed increases by 10 feet while you are not wearing armor or wielding a shield. This bonus increases by 5 ft. when you reach monk levels 6, 10, 14, 18

Spellcasting

When you reach 3rd level, you augment your martial prowess with the ability to cast spells. See Spells Rules for the general rules of spellcasting and the Spells Listing for the spell list.

Don't worry about this spellcasting feature. All the subclasses have the spellcasting feature so you don't need to add it or anything. this is just here so for me to add secret techniques to this base subclass.

Secret Techniques

Your skill and mastery has allowed you to Master various abilities that defy the common sense of regular warriors. Once you reach 2nd level in this class you can select two secret techniques to master from the Secret Technique list. When you level up you can choose to replace one Secret Technique for another of your choice. you can select two more secret Techniques at 5th level of this class, then two more at 9th level of this class, then two more at 13th level of this class. New techniques become available at 5th, and 9th level of this class.

(2) Flick Up Step

Your dexterous footsteps has allowed you to manipulate objects with our feet as you step over them. while moving over an object on the ground that you can hold in one hand you can choose to expend 5 Ft. of movement to pick up or toss the item up to 10ft. away and potentially into an Ally's hands. You do not need a free hand to do this but you cannot grab the item yourself unless you do.

(2) Knife Hands

Constant practice against thick hide and strong armor has taught the monk how to cut through defense and mortally wound an enemy. You may now choose to to deal piercing damage with your unarmed strikes. When attacking with piercing damage you critically hit on a 19 or 20.

(2) Lashing Limbs

Flexibility and balance training has allowed to strike at maximum range without overextending yourself. Once per round you can choose to give one of your melee attacks an additional 5ft of range.

(2) Palm Strike

You can choose to make your unarmed strikes deal Bludgeoning damage. When you hit a creature with an attack that deals bludgeoning damage, you can move it 5 feet to an unoccupied space, provided the target is no more than one size larger than you. A creature can only be affected by this once per round. When you score a critical hit that deals bludgeoning damage to a creature, attack rolls against that creature are made with advantage until the start of your next turn

(2) Rend

Training you fingertips has allowed you to rend your enemies barehanded. You can choose to make your unarmed strike deal slashing damage. When you hit a creature with an attack that deals slashing damage, you can reduce the speed of the target by 10 feet until the start of your next turn. A creature can only be affected by this once per round
When you score a critical hit that deals slashing damage to a creature, you grievously wound it. Until the start of your next turn, the target has disadvantage on all attack rolls

(2) Ricochet

You've learned how to weaponize the angles and momentum of your thrown weapons. Once per attack action whenever you throw a monk weapon with the light property you can target another enemy within 10 ft. and choose to attack them with the ricochet from the first attack. make separate attack and damage rolls for each. Alternatively If you are within 10 ft. of an enemy after they are hit with a monk weapon with the light property that you have thrown you can decide to make it bounce off of them and back into your hand as a part of the same attack action.

(2) Stillness of Mind

Training has honed your mental abilities allowing you to clear your thoughts quickly even in combat. You can use your action to end one effect on yourself that is causing you to be charmed or frightened. You can use this action even if the charm or fear effect would otherwise incapacitate you or use your action.

(2) Technique over Power

Specialized training has allowed you to utilize you superior skill and mobility to confound and topple your opponent. You can use your Dexterity (Acrobatics) in place of your Strength (Athletics) when when attempting to grapple or shove an enemy. You gain proficiency in acrobatics if you didn't already have it.

(5) Empowered Vault

Strength training has given you super human jumping strength. You can cast jump on yourself at will without expending a spell slot and with no material, somatic, or verbal requirement

(5) Flowing River Crushes Stones

Gain momentum while you gracefully weave through enemies. getting stronger on each hit. When you attack and damage an enemy on your turn with a melee attack you get a +1 bonus to damage on your melee attacks on other creatures this turn. This effect can stack as long as you don't attack the same creature twice in the round.(+0 on the first creature, +1 on the second,+2 on the third etc.). If you land an attack on the same creature twice in a round you immediately lose the bonus and do not add the extra damage to that second attack on that creature.

(5) Leaping Strikes

You learn how to transfer the momentum of your jumps into power. Once per turn, after jumping at least 10 ft. you can use an attack action to perform a Leaping Strike while you are still mid-air. A leaping strike adds your proficiency bonus to your weapon damage but if you miss you fall prone. You must announce this attack before performing it. Only one attack can benefit from leaping strikes.

(5) Puppet Master

taking direct hold of a creature's Ki has allowed you to ignore their mass to an extent while in combat. Effects that you cause that can only effect creatures up to one size larger than you (Grappling, Shoving, Palm Fist, etc..) can now effect creatures up to two sizes larger than you.

(5) Sky Stepping

Your steps become so light that you can tread on the very air itself. You can cast levitate and feather fall on yourself at will without expending a spell slot and with no material, somatic, or verbal requirement

(5) Suppress Aura

Control over your aura has given you the ability to hide your true strength from friends and foes alike. You gain proficiency in stealth. You can cast Arcanist's Magic Aura on yourself at will and ignore its verbal, somatic, and material cost

(9) Diamond Soul

When body and mind have reached the pinnacle All that's left is the soul. Choose one saving throw in which you have proficiency. You gain expertise with that saving throw

(9) Grace of the Golden Dragon

Your mastery of your own internal energy has allowed you to enhance and manipulate the energy of others. You can choose to make your unarmed strikes deal Radiant damage. When you hit a creature with an attack that deals Radiant damage you can choose to give that creature a special d4. the creature can roll the die and add the number rolled to one ability check, attack roll, or saving throw it makes for the next minute. A creature cannot have more than 1 of these die at a time. When you score a critical hit that deals Radiant damage to a creature, you choose one ally other than yourself within 30 ft and give them the effects of the bless spell for 1 minute without concentration without concentration

(9) Lich's Corrupting Touch

You learn how to savage and corrupt your opponents internal organs with barely a touch. You can choose to make your unarmed strikes deal Necrotic damage. When you hit a creature with an attack that deals Necrotic damage you can choose one Saving throw and the creature will have -2 to saves that use that saving throw until the end of your next turn. you cannot lower a saving throw past -2 using this feature or lower multiple saving throws at once. You can pick a new saving throw on each hit to swap and refresh the effect. When you score a critical hit that deals Necrotic damage to a creature, That creature suffers the effect of the Bane spell without concentration

(9) Perfected Form

Countless hours of training has granted you mastery over your basic strikes. Your attacks that deal Bludgeoning, Slashing, and Piercing damage count as dealing Force damage for the sake of overcoming resistances and immunities. If you have effects that trigger on Bludgeoning, Slashing, and Piercing damage you still apply those effects.

(9) Psycho Crash

Your Ki empowered Strikes can disrupt the mental functions of your opponents. You can choose to make your unarmed strikes deal Psychic damage. When you hit a creature with an attack that deals Psychic damage that creature has disadvantage on it's Attack of Opportunity until the end of it's next turn. When you score a critical hit that deals Psychic damage to a creature on its next turn, it must choose whether it gets a move, an action, or a bonus action; it gets only one of the three.

(9) Thunder God's Execution

You've learned only strong foes can help push your Martial Arts to the next level so you've developed a technique to swiftly crush weak and vulnerable enemies. When an enemy is prone within melee range on your turn you can choose to forego all extra attacks and advantage on attack rolls to perform a single unarmed attack that deals 8d8 + your damage modifier in Thunder Damage. The damage increases to 10d8 at level 11 and to 12d8 at level 20. Additionally, you can now choose to make your unarmed strikes deal Thunder damage.

Unarmored Movement (2)

Starting at 2nd level, your speed increases by 10 feet while you are not wearing armor or wielding a shield. This bonus increases by 5 ft. when you reach monk levels 6, 10, 14, 18

Unarmored movement (3)

Starting at 2nd level, your speed increases by 10 feet while you are not wearing armor or wielding a shield. This bonus increases by 5 ft. when you reach monk levels 6, 10, 14, 18

Unarmored Movement (4)

Starting at 2nd level, your speed increases by 10 feet while you are not wearing armor or wielding a shield. This bonus increases by 5 ft. when you reach monk levels 6, 10, 14, 18

Pinnacle Techniques

At 17th level choose a skill that represent the pinnacle of your training.

Pinnacle of Force

You've attained the pinnacle of your branch of Martial Arts. None can ignore your skill and power. Enemies that are resistant to the damage you deal lose that resistance and receive that damage normally, Enemies that are immune to the damage you deal are now only resistant.

Pinnacle of Precision

You've attained the pinnacle of your branch of Martial Arts. None can protect themselves from your prowess in combat. Twice per long rest you can choose to turn one hit of a weapon attack or spell attack into a critical hit

Pinnacle of Protection

You've attained the pinnacle of your branch of Martial Arts. You choose when enemies harm you. When you fail a saving throw you may choose to succeed instead. You can only do this once per long rest

Unarmored Movement (5)

Starting at 2nd level, your speed increases by 10 feet while you are not wearing armor or wielding a shield. This bonus increases by 5 ft. when you reach monk levels 6, 10, 14, 18

Why I think Monk needs a Rework

The reason I'm re-creating the monk class is because ~~I'm bored and a nerd~~ I believe Monk to have an interesting thematic design with a poor execution. I like the idea of a martial class that can deal some amount of reliable damage but more importantly is mobile enough to not be hit and be where they are most needed on a battlefield to either help allies or impede enemies. I feel the current Monk fails in just about everything I described.

The damage at very low levels is great and everyone catches up around level 5 unless you expend Ki and your bonus action to deal more damage. by level 11 you have to spend Ki just to keep up with the rest of the party who isn't spending anything. This gets much worse much quicker with feats. The monk isn't supposed to be a great damage dealer but as it is now it feels like a waste of time to just punch someone past level 11.

The monk also only has Stunning Strike to impede enemies, Stunning Strike is cool thematically but performs poorly. the main problem with Stunning Strike is that you have to both hit an enemy with an attack and then the enemy has to also fail a constitution saving throw based on your wisdom DC. If your playing Standard array or Point Buy there is a good chance that you cant have both high DEX CON and WIS. if you boost DEX with ASI then you can hit more often but your DC is low and easy to beat. If your WIS is high then your DC is better but your not hitting as often which is worse. If you decide to dump CON then your gonna get killed because you're a melee character with no health or armor. If you decide to use flurry of blows and then spend more KI to Stunning Strike each one then you'll run out of KI and go back to doing terrible damage with no way of protecting yourself.

If your damage is poor and your ability to impede enemies is unreliable then whats the point of being mobile on the battlefield. What are you doing once you get where your going?

The ways DND Beyond affects the class re-design

Since DND Beyond currently has no way of creating a new class I'm using a lot of work-arounds to construct something new. however not everything can be worked around, the biggest problem is that we need to start with a class as our base. the current Monk class makes an obvious choice but I'd like to get rid of most of the abilities the monk gets and I'd like to increase it's hit die to be more on par with other martials and I'm getting rid of Ki, so Monk as a base doesn't really work very well.

The best class to start as a base for our new Monk turns out to be Fighter. While fighter does have things I don't want on our character sheet (action surge, second wind and indomitable) it does have a lot of things i do want, namely, Extra Attacks and Ability Score Increases. So Fighter is what we're working with.

DND Beyond also does not let you copy or manipulate base class features. We're forced to re-create them and some features work in the background and cannot be recreated at all. for example one of the effects of Martial Arts is that it increases your unarmed damage die at certain levels. As far as I know this effect cannot recreated in DND Beyond. I can cheat and hand make a bunch of things so the damage die increases at certain levels on every skill but it wont transfer that damage die over to weapons nor will it allow you to automatically use dexterity over strength, thus I simplified my own problem by removing the increasing damage die and removing applying that damage die to monk weapons. At that point I just decided to rename the feature from Martial Arts to Martial Prowess.

The base class was decided on and the restrictions were known about before working on the class. So almost everything else works fine. That being said multiclassing is weird and if you wanted to multiclass with a fighter it will be almost impossible. The feat that makes it so your unarmed attacks deal a d8 damage die does not work in your character sheet. Some of these problems can be fixed by creating a weapon and giving it the appropriate damage die.

Secret Technique Explanation

These are my own simple thoughts and ideas behind each secret technique

(2) Flick Up Step

Something I wanted to push for this version of monk is throwing weapons, one of the main weakness of throwing weapons is that after you've thrown them you lose them until you pick them up again, you can pick up one thing for free a round but flick up step lets you pick up potentially all of them without using your attack action.

(2) Knife Hands

Another push I'm making for this version of Monk is actually using unarmed attacks. As a result many secret techniques allow you to choose a new damage type for your unarmed attacks along with a minor bonus for using that damage type. I should clarify as long as the attack is dealing piercing damage you gain the benefit. so if you have a magic dagger that deals fire and piercing damage then you still critically hit on 19 and 20.

(2) Lashing Limbs

Flexibility and balance training has allowed to strike at maximum range without overextending yourself. Once per round you can choose to give one of your melee attacks an additional 5ft of range.

I envisioned this technique being used predominantly to get just little bit of safe damage on a enemy that you then don't have to disengage from. Although you can also make your opportunity attacks a little more effective

(2) Palm Strike

Anyone familiar with the feats in the game will recognize this as the Crusher feat. in fact the only difference between this and Crusher is that Crusher only allows you to use the push effect once per round while Palm Strike allows you to use it once per enemy per round. I would recommend Palm Strike to just about every Monk as a defensive tool even if it doesn't give you any new damage types. Being able to walk up to an enemy, hit them and essentially get a free disengage out of it really helps Monk play a hit and run style, it can also be used to free up squishier allies from being surrounded.

(2) Rend

Training your fingertips has allowed you to rend your enemies barehanded. You can choose to make your unarmed strike deal slashing damage. When you hit a creature with an attack that deals slashing damage, you can reduce the speed of the target by 10 feet until the start of your next turn. A creature can only be affected by this once per round
When you score a critical hit that deals slashing damage to a creature, you grievously wound it. Until the start of your next turn, the target has disadvantage on all attack rolls

Once again this is mostly just the Slasher feat with the specific change that the reduced movement effect can now trigger multiple times per turn but not on the same enemy. Using both Rend and Slasher does allow you to reduce 20ft of movement per turn to one enemy and it's up to your DM whether they want to allow that. Palm Strike and Crusher works together but isn't all that strong but Rend and Slasher might cause problems unless you have a lot of enemies in a combat. On the other hand using a feat to do this might be a bit of a waste. It might need more playtesting to know for sure

(2) Ricochet

You've learned how to weaponize the angles and momentum of your thrown weapons. Once per weapon attack whenever you throw a monk weapon with the light property you can target another enemy within 10 ft. and choose to attack them with the ricochet from the first attack. make separate attack and damage rolls for each. Alternatively If you are within 10 ft. of an enemy after they are hit with a monk weapon with the light property that you have thrown you can decide to make it bounce off of them and back into your hand as a part of the same attack action.

This is technique is another boost to thrown weapons. it allows you to either get extra damage on a separate target or if your close enough you can catch your own weapon and don't have to pick it up. Obviously this works great for multiple weak enemies but also allows a magic throwing weapon yo be thrown multiple times in one turn. the main weakness to this skill is that in order to get your weapon back for free you need to be fairly close to the enemy. An enemy with a spear or halberd will threaten with an Opportunity Attack if the monk tries to leave afterward.

(2) Stillness of Mind

This a base monk ability from the original class with a slight upgrade. on the original monk ability you still had to use your action to end the fear or charm effect but if the effect would use your action then you couldn't use your ability. this version just makes it so you can always use this ability whenever it might be relevant.

(2) Technique over Power

I feel Monk should be good at grappling and tripping people so this Technique lets them be just that. I don't think grappling on a monk is very good since getting away from enemies is so important for the class and palm strike already gives very good forced movement. but Shoving someone as bunch in a row can be helpful and grappling as a last resort to slow someone down or keep an enemy prone is also nice.

(5) Empowered Vault

Strength training has given you super human jumping strength. You can cast jump on yourself at will without expending a spell slot and with no material, somatic, or verbal requirement

Jumping is weird in DND and it's not super useful normally but there's no way the Warlock gets to Jump at three times the height and the monk doesn't. It also helps a little when fighting some flying enemies.

(5) Flowing River Crushes Stones

This technique exist to encourage players to split their damage amongst multiple enemies. Normally this would still not be very good but it becomes a little better depending on some of the effects you can apply on hit. that way if you ever have to hit multiple enemies the total damage dealt is still higher than normal.

(5) Leaping Strikes

Hey look a use for that Jump ability. It also let's get a bit of extra damage whenever you switch targets.

(5) Puppet Master

taking direct hold of a creature's Ki has allowed you to ignore their mass to an extent while in combat. Effects that you cause that can only effect creatures up to one size larger than you (Grappling, Shoving, Palm Strike, etc..) can now effect creatures up to two sizes larger than you.

Monk should be the best grappler with this technique and Technique over Power, in addition if your using Palm Strike a lot this should make it a little more reliable against larger enemies

(5) Sky Stepping

Monk already had a featherfall-ish ability but I figured bundling in with a free levitate might convince people to actually take the ability. It also lets the player copy those wire kung-fu movies.

(5) Suppress Aura

This is another technique with minimal impact but an extra proficiency in a useful skill helps boost it's effectiveness. Arcanist's Magic Aura could still be fun if your playing a game where the villain actually scrys on the party

(9) Diamond Soul

When body and mind have reached the pinnacle All that's left is the soul. Choose one saving throw in which you have proficiency. You gain expertise with that saving throw

The original Diamond Soul ability for Monk gave the Monk Proficiency in every saving throw but you only got that ability at high levels. It didn't need to be changed to be effective but changing it to give a insane bonus to one saving throw I think is a more interesting decision. Rather than doubling down on DEX or CON saves you can get proficiency in a score you have nothing invested in and have that saving throw be as effective as one your primary scores. This would require you to use one of your feats to get proficiency in one of those saving throws but this monk has a lot of extra feats to use.

(9) Grace of the Golden Dragon

This technique is designed to be used on both enemies and allies, you dont have to give the target a special die btw so don't worry about giving enemies an advantage. If you use it on allies then you do still roll for damage. otherwise it would be very broken. I have no idea how effective the crit effect is on any of these techniques, however since Monk deals relatively low damage having enhanced crits that deal big effects outside of damage seems appropriate. I would allow a monk to hit themselves to gain the special die but it would still cost a weapon attack in combat and they would still have to take the damage in or out of combat.

(9) Lich's Corrupting Touch

The on hit effect of this technique is noticeably stronger than Grace of the Golden Dragon but the damage type is also noticeably worse. Things that are immune to your damage die are also immune to the on hit effect. Monk also does not have anything built in to the base class that can take advantage of the lowered saving throw, but most party's have a caster of some sort that will appreciate the lowered save.

(9) Perfected Form

The theme of most of these level 9 Secret Techniques is getting the ability to get around non-magic resistance in some way. If your focusing on just the basic damage types for your monk and don't care about the fancier types then this let's you get as much value as possible out of those non-magic damage types.

(9) Psycho Crash

Your Ki empowered Strikes can disrupt the mental functions of your opponents. You can choose to make your unarmed strikes deal Psychic damage. When you hit a creature with an attack that deals Psychic damage that creature has disadvantage on it's Attacks of Opportunity until the end of it's next turn. When you score a critical hit that deals Psychic damage to a creature on its next turn, it must choose whether it gets a move, an action, or a bonus action; it gets only one of the three.

I wanted another damage type effect that would allow the player to (relatively) safely hit an enemy and then move to another. Palm Strike is probably better but the crit effect on this is fairly debilitating and of course very few things resist psychic damage.

(9) Thunder God's Execution

This is almost certainly the technique that will require the most playtesting in order to tweak. the damage output is suppose to be, on average, slightly higher than if you were to just punch the enemy with advantage. Using a DPR Calculator that was calculated to be 8d8 with an additional 2d8 for every extra attack you have. Thunder God's Execution uses all extra attacks you have but not bonus action attacks. if you were to include the on hit effects and the higher potential to crit with the regular attacks with advantage then on average regular attacks are probably more effective. This technique cannot have advantage so if you have disadvantage you cannot cancel it out while using this technique. The best way to use this technique is to either have the special die from Grace of the Golden Dragon or bardic inspiration or some other way to increase hit chance that does not use Advantage/disadvantage.

Pinnacle of Force

The pinnacle techniques act as sort of pseudo capstones for your monk, I don't think any of them are powerful enough to disrupt whatever balance their is at 17th level but i wanted to give players one last chance to customize their monk. Pinnacle of force allows you to deal consistent damage however the most important effect is keeping enemies from being immune to your attacks, meaning your on hit effects will always trigger. if your really invested in using only one type of damage or really rely on on hit effects to occur consistently then you might one pick up this one

Pinnacle of Precision

2 guaranteed crits is fantastic for this version of monk. Although I suppose it's fantastic for everybody. Monk typically struggles to do a lot of damage in one hit so the additional damage die is fairly unimportant, however guaranteeing a crit means one of your crit effects can trigger reliably a few times a day. You can also try to set up a crit Thunder God's Execution, just remember that most bosses at this level are probably immune to being knocked prone.

Pinnacle of Protection

You've attained the pinnacle of your branch of Martial Arts. You choose when enemies harm you. When you fail a saving throw you may choose to succeed instead. You can only do this once per long rest

This is just one usage of legendary resistance a day. I'm sure you can tell how good it is

Sub Class Explanation

Simple Breakdown of my thoughts and intentions for the three sub class for ReMonk. Way of the Shadow, Way of the four Elements, and Way of the Motionless

Way of the Four Elements

My version of Way of the Four Elements is basically Avatar: The Last Airbender. It's what the subclass should have always been. Essentially you get a very curated list of spells and cantrips that revolves around the 4 elements. Fire, Water, Earth and Air. Along with a few extra things. However that doesn't really sell the whole Elemental Kung-fu aspect that I wanted to make so I've also added in Avatar state. The idea behind it is to make your spells more natural, as if the Monk was wielding the elements as easily as their own fists.

Spellcasting

When you reach 3rd level, You learn to channel elemental power granting you the ability to cast spells. You do not have spell slots but can cast spells a certain number of times a day at will while ignoring material and verbal requirements. that number will be included when you obtain new spells in this subclass. you do not require any tool to cast spells

Every Subclass has to have a spellcasting feature since Base Fighter doesn't have one but ReMonks past level 5 are able to get some simple spells from their secret techniques. the primary casting ability score will be constitution although only abilities obtained in the subclasses will ever use it. while the monk does have the ability to cast spells the monk does not have spell slots, any spell the Monks learns is either at will with no cost or can be cast a specific number of times a day which is established in the ability you got the spell from. Unfortunately giving a class access to spells automatically gives them some spell slots in Dnd Beyond. for all intent and purposes monk does not have spell slots and cannot use their spell slots. this makes Multi-classing with spellcasters kinda annoying since you'll have to manually keep track of how many spell slots you actually have, but I dont know of a better way to do it.

Elemental Kata

You learn the cantrips Gust, Create Bonfire, Frostbite, and Magic Stone. These cantrips count as Elemental Kata cantrips.

Here are the titular four elements this subclass will feature around. I've purposefully included cantrips that both fit the theme of the class and give the player a good spread of damage types and saving throws to target. Magic Stone for damage and for ranged attack rolls, Create Bonfire for Aoe and Dex Saves, Frostbite for Con Saves and some disadvantage, finally Gust for Str Saves and forced movement.

Elemental Avatar

At 3rd level you learn the ancient art of lacing your Ki with raw elemental power to gain control over it. As a free action you can enter Elemental Avatar form. Elemental Avatar form lasts for one minute and you can use this form a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest, it ends early if you are incapacitated but otherwise cannot be ended early. The following changes and benefits are applied to you when in Elemental Avatar Form

Your cantrips can only be cast as if you were a level 1 character, you do not receive the increases to their damage die for being at higher levels
You cannot concentrate on spells while in Elemental Avatar form.
Your Elemental Kata cantrips do not receive a penalty for being cast in melee range
When you take the attack action you can replace any of your weapon attacks with casting an Elemental Kata cantrip
You can cast an Elemental Kata cantrip as a bonus action
Create Bonfire does not require concentration but only one can exist at a time, recasting the cantrip cancels the previous bonfire

Technically there is no such thing as a free action but you get the idea. you can turn this ability on without spending an action or a bonus action or anything else, it does still need to be your turn though. The whole point of this ability is to make the Monk feel like a bender from Avatar, fast casting multiple weak cantrips and spells in a turn is how i envision this working. in order for that to be balanced though your cantrips have to be at a low level so the form forces that, most level 1 cantrips also do not deal as much damage as an attack so damage wise the form doesn't give you much except casting cantrips as a bonus action, so there is some extra damage on the table or some extra flexibility depending on the cantrip. Magic stone actually receives almost no benefit for being in this form, the casting of the cantrip is already a bonus action and the actual damage comes form throwing the stone which the form does not allow the player to do as a bonus action. Gust and Frostbite benefit the most from the form since its very likely you can make an opponent fail their saves if you cast the same cantrip on them multiple times a turn.

Redirect Elements

At level 7 your increasing skill has allowed you to bend and manipulate elemental powers used against you. You learn the Absorb Elements spell. You can cast this spell three times per long rest, additionally when in Elemental Avatar form you can cast this spell once per use of the Form without it taking up any charges.

I wanted to make sure the subclasses had some defensives features in them and Absorb Elements fits this one perfectly. It also helps adds to Elemental Avatar value giving you a free cast of the ability whenever you activate the form. You can still use the spell more than once per use of your form but then it starts to take up its limited pool of uses.

Elemental Aegis

At level 10 you learn the spells Wall of Fire, Wind Wall, Wall of Water, and Wall of Stone These spells count as Elemental Aegis Spells. You can cast any Elemental Aegis spell three times per long rest but all Elemental Aegis spells share the same 3 charges. additionally when in Elemental Avatar form you can cast one elemental Aegis spell once per use of the Form without it taking up any charges as a bonus action, when cast this way the spell does not require concentration but will immediately dispel once you exit Elemental Avatar form.

I couldn't teach spells earlier than this because I feel the need to make sure that the monk never outshines the other casters in pure spell damage so the first real spells the subclass gets are at level 10. these spells are mostly for Utility and crowd control but at least they're still good for the level you get them. the main draw is using them in Elemental Avatar form. Using these spells without concentration and as a bonus action helps keep them relevant for a few more levels then they might normally be. You cannot cast these normally while in Elemental Avatar form since they require concentration and you cant concentrate while in that form.

Elemental Sage

You learn the spells Transmute Rock, Control Winds, Fire Shield and Control Water. These spells count as Elemental Sage Spells. You can cast any Elemental Sage spell three times per long rest but all Elemental Sage spells share the same 3 charges. additionally when in Elemental Avatar form you can cast one elemental Sage spell once per use of the Form without it taking up any charges as a bonus action, If the spell allows for additional effects on subsequent turns using your action you can use your bonus action for those effects instead. when cast this way the spell does not require concentration but will immediately dispel once you exit Elemental Avatar form.

Same as the feature above but different spells. while the previous form had a wall theme their just isn't enough spells to have a theme again. Fire shield is definitely the odd one out but there just isn't many good non-blasting fire spells.

Elemental Sovereign

When in Elemental Avatar form your Elemental Kata cantrips are empowered further.

Gust can now move objects or creatures in any direction, not just away from you
Magic Stone now creates seven stones to throw instead of the usual and you can now throw a stone as a part of the cast
Create bonfire now deals 2d8 on a failed save and half damage on a successful save
Frostbite on a failed save now deal 2d6 and gives disadvantage on the next weapon attack roll the creature makes before the end of its next turn and deals half damage on a successful save and does not impose disadvantage.

It's really hard to balance late level features. I decided on upgrading your cantrips since I knew that they could be boosted without it breaking the game, giving the cantrips effects on failed saving throws makes them incredibly consistent without upsetting the balance (if there even is balance at level 18) Gust and Magic Stone just get some nice QOL upgrades. I really wanted the player to feel like this subclass has a higher degree of mastery over their limited spells than a traditional caster class so giving them some nice bonuses on to their cantrips that nobody else gets felt appropriate.

Way of Shadow

I decided to make this subclass focus on hyper mobility but restrict that mobility to dim light or darkness. it also has little bit of extra damage while out of bright light. In order to combat that mobility it's also the subclass that comes with a weakness so the dm can keep it in check.

Razor Shadow

At 3rd level you lash out with your own manipulated shadow. Make a melee spell attack that deals 1d4 + spell damage modifier magical piercing damage. This attack has advantage if you are in dim light or darkness. when taking the attack action you can replace one weapon attack with a Razor Shadow Attack.

I wanted to make sure every subclass got something that the player would want to use and wasn't tied to a resource. 1d4 + spell damage modifier is than a 1d6+5 roll but you also get advantage in dim light to just boot it a little bit more than a regular attack and it combos nicely with Rend. It's also something to boost using the other big feature at this level

Shade Form

At 3rd level, as a free action you can enter a state that merges your mind and body with ethereal darkness known as Shade form. Shade form lasts for one minute and you can use this form a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest, it ends early if you are incapacitated but otherwise cannot be ended early. The following changes and benefits are applied to you when in Shade Form

While in this form whenever you start your turn in bright light you take 5 radiant damage. this damage increases at different levels in this class. 10 radiant damage at 7th level, 15 radiant damage at 10th level, 20 radiant damage at 15th level and 25 radiant damage at 18th level.
Once per round as a free action you can target any source of non-magical light that you can see and that fits within a 5ft cube and extinguish it
you gain Tremorsense 60ft but only for creatures and objects in either dim light or darkness
Once per round as a free action you can teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space you can see that is in dim light or darkness.
You can attack with Razor Shadow as a bonus action

I really liked how way of the four elements turned out so I decided to take a similar approach with this subclass. This form offers insane mobility but is only usable in dim light or darkness. In order to balance this out I added a pretty severe negative. the damage from bright light will never be insignificant and you don't get a save or anything to avoid or lessen the damage. It only occurs at the start of your turn so you can still fight in bright light but you have to make sure you can get out of it. I don't think the class can ever be too powerful in a campaign since at any point the DM can have an enemy pull out a torch and deal guaranteed damage to the Monk. The ability to extinguish light is just so the monk isn't completely shut down by one guy with a torch.

Shar's call

At 7th level you learn the Fear spell. You can cast this spell three times per long rest, additionally when in Shade form you can cast this spell once per use of the Form without it taking up any charges. When cast in this way the fear spell forces the creatures who fail their saving throw to fear bright light instead of you.

The fear spell is very good, and since it's an aoe spell it actually stays very good for a pretty long time. casting it while in Shade form forces enemies to run away from bright light which then forces them into darkness or dim light, which is good for you, it's one of the better way to break up a group of enemies who are hanging around together in a bright spot.

Umbral Shift

At 10th level, as an action you can teleport yourself or one of your allies that you can see up to 30 feet away from you to an unoccupied space you can see that is in dim light or darkness up to 30ft away from you. When in Shade Form you can use this feature as a bonus action

You know what this subclass needed, more teleporting. the main benefit of this feature is that gives you teleporting when not in shade form and it can be used to help out a teammate get into a better position. the bonus in shade form makes the ability even more useful by not taking your action. although you could still use it as an action and a bonus action and teleport three times in one turn and do nothing else.

Empowered Penumbra

At 15th level you can use the following features of Shade Form without activating Shade Form.

Once per round as a free action you can target any source of non-magical light that you can see and that fits within a 5ft cube and extinguish it
You gain Tremorsense 60ft but only for creatures and objects in either dim light or darkness

Additionally when you are in Shade Form the same features become upgraded

Once per round as a free action you can target any source of light within 120 ft that you can see and extinguish it, if the source is non-magical or if the spell that created the light is lower than 3rd level then the light is extinguished along with the spell that created it, if the light is produced by a magical effect of 4th level or higher make an ability check using your spellcasting ability. The DC equals 10 + the spell's level. On a successful check, the spell ends.
You and up to 5 creatures of your choice gain Tremorsense 60ft but only for creatures and objects in either dim light or darkness.

by now your party might already have a more reliable way to see in darkness but if they don't then this can really help them out. it also allows the player to better handle sources of light both magical and non-magical. It also helps with the ally teleport ability from last feature so now you can teleport your ally into darkness and they are no longer hindered by it.

Dark Fall

At 18th level you've attained mastery of your Monastic Path and have earned the right to establish and lead your own chapter of the Way of Shadow. To do so you'll need a suitable location to hone and train the fledgling powers of your potential students, or suitable power to make one.

You learn a special version of the spell Mirage Arcane that you can cast once per long rest. The spell functions as normal except instead of changing the look, sound, smell or feel of the terrain you can only change the light levels to either dim light or darkness within the effected area, additionally all non-magical sources of light are snuffed out and cannot be re-lit for the duration of the spell. While in Shade form you can cast this spell 1 additional time by expending 1 use of shade form as an action. When cast in this way you can also choose to change the light levels of the area to magical darkness and all magical sources of light from 5th level and lower are snuffed out and cannot be cast until the spell ends. The spell ends when you leave shade form.

Once again I don't know exactly how strong a level 18 feature should be but I know they should be cool and unique. This is just an over the top way to allow the player to create darkness. The spell lasts for days and covers a square mile. I should clarify you have full control over the light levels, meaning you can have some areas of darkness and other areas of dim light or even normal light. It also creates some narrative end game hooks about building up a new school for the way of Shadow that might help give your character some closure on the adventuring life.

Way of the Motionless

This Subclass is based primarily on sacrificing the Monks natural mobility to enhance your opportunity attacks, It's also the most defensive Monk to help make up for less mobility. It's by far the least complicated subclass here since there isn't a bespoke "Form" you can enter.

Patient Strike

At level 3 you can choose to forego 15 ft of movement to give your opportunity attacks that round advantage on their attack rolls and make other creatures provoke an opportunity attack from you when they enter your reach until the start of your next turn.

This feature makes it so you can trigger your opportunity attacks more consistently and land them more often with advantage

Armored Stillness

At level 3 You can choose to forego 10ft of movement to gain 2 AC until the start of your next turn. You can only use this ability once per turn

Losing out on your movement is going to make enemies attack you more often. so why not double down and get some extra AC. maybe not worth doing it every turn but it's worth it if you cant get away from the enemy anyway.

Empower Opportunity

Beginning at 7th level, You can forego 15ft of your movement to empower your opportunity attacks for one round, you may replace one of the damage die of your opportunity attacks with a d12. if your opportunity attack deals multiple types of damage you can choose which damage die is replaced with the d12. This feature can be used multiple times in one round in order to replace more damage die.

This feature works great with Patient Strike but you'll only have 15ft of movement per turn if you use them both, or only 5ft of movement if you also use Armored Stillness.

Steel Constitution

At 10th level your body has learned to withstand enemies attempts to weaken it. When you are subjected to an effect that allows you to make a Constitution saving throw to take only half damage, you instead take no damage if you succeed on the saving throw, and only half damage if you fail.

This is just Evasion but for Constitution throws instead of Dexterity.

Quicken Retaliation

At 15th level, when taking the attack action you can forego one of your weapon attacks to attack twice, instead of once, whenever you perform an Attack of Opportunity until the start of your next turn. If you did not take the attack action on your turn it still counts as foregoing a weapon attack.

At first glance forgoing a targeted weapon attack to get an extra attack as a reaction doesn't seem like a fair trade, and it isn't normally. however if your doing something else with your action like disengaging or dashing then you can still benefit since it counts as forgoing an attack. however if used in conjuncture with previous features then you can forego 45ft of movement and one weapon attack to make your reaction hit twice with advantage and with d12s. which isn't too bad. (remember it's 15ft of movement for each damage die you change into a d12 for Empower Opportunity, attacking twice means spending a total of 30ft to enhance both attacks)

Motionless

At 18th level you gain the following abilities.

You can choose to forego 15ft of movement to allow you to perform Attacks of Opportunity whenever an enemy attempts to perform an action within your reach. when triggered in this way your attacks will always land before the enemy uses the action. if your attack somehow prevents the enemy from using the action the were originally intending to use they do not lose their action and can instead perform a different one.
If you do not use any of your movement on your turn your Attacks of Opportunity deal damage equal to their damage die instead of rolling for damage until the start of your next turn, you still add damage modifiers to this number. (ex. if your damage modifier is +5 than instead of rolling a d6+5 for damage it would just be 6+5. )

This feature brings everything together. Obviously using all 60ft of movement to improve your reactions is not going to work every round, positioning will be important and that usually requires movement on your part, but all the of the improvements to your reactions are somewhat modular. you dont have to use Patient Strike to make use of Motionless, they synergize well but they each will have their own uses if you need your movement. by the way if you do give up all of your movement and one weapon attack then that would mean you get to attack twice as a reaction with advantage and each hit would always do 17 damage or 29 damage on a crit. and reactions would trigger on enemies standing right next to you trying to do anything.

Biggwiggs

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