Way of the Cursed

At one point in their lives, each of these monks has suffered the ill effects of a haunting or a curse, by birthright or foul fortune. The suffering caused by such circumstances leads these souls often to seek any relief they can, and this way of training is one of the few modes of self-discipline that brings any aid to those who suffer. With time, they learn to utilize their curse for their own means, eventually empowering their monk abilities with the magic of their curse actually assisting their capabilities. As they ascend in their training and capability, they begin to be able to inflict curses upon others they attack with their monk strikes, and at the apex of their power, these monks learns to break their curse, yet keep its magic to empower them in terrifying new ways.

In Avalestra, this Way is rare, and while most monasteries know of a means to teach this methodology, there are few who are willing to bear the faults of a curse or a haunting and still assist another while still thoroughly training them in the ways of a monk. This often requires a large amount of individual attention which major monasteries may not be able to afford. Still yet, the Blue Crystal Monastery does still teach this way to the cursed souls willing to climb the mountains to find it.

To become trained in this way, you must either be suffering a curse or an attached haunting that brings you no end of trouble and grief. Roll 1d6 on the table below or choose your method of having been cursed in such a way:

Die Roll-                 Effect-
1                              You are born to a cursed bloodline and have suffered ill fortune relevant to your particular curse most of your life. Choose a skill you are proficient in, and when you make skill checks with that skill, you cannot gain advantage on any roll with that skill.
2                              You inherited a familial ghost who haunts and harasses you. You are haunted by a spirit who whispers terrible things only you can hear, and when you are making any skill check that requires your undivided attention and concentration, such as a tool use check or any extended skill check, you suffer a 1d4 penalty to the first roll you make of any challenge in that encounter.
3                              You were a random bystander when a curse affected a local city, town, or village. Choose an ability score (i.e. Strength, Constitution, Intelligence) and whenever you make an ability check with that ability, you suffer flashbacks of the moment of the terrible shared trauma with your locale. Once you have made an ability check with the chosen ability, you suffer the shaken condition until the end of your next turn
4                              You simply have inexplicably awful luck. Once per day, the DM may choose to have you suffer disadvantage to any ability check or skill check.
5                              Others around you inexplicably grow uncomfortable with you, irritated with you, or grow to hate you if you spend much more than a month in their presence. If you have been in the same locale for 30 days, the attitudes of those around you who are not considered friends decreases by one step. Neutral NPCs become unfriendly, and unfriendly ones become hostile.
6                              There is a type of creature that is relentlessly out to get you. Choose a creature type. Whenever you encounter that creature type, they are always hostile to you, and they will focus their attention on you unless it is tactically unwise to do so. This doesn't create an irrational hatred in intelligent minds above Intelligence 4, but such beings will always want you to suffer as much as they can help it, making you the target of their attacks, spells, and actions as often as possible without jeopardizing any advantages they may possess. For example, if you choose Aberrations, and are in an encounter with a Mind Flayer, that creature will not recklessly wade into a melee just to grapple you with their facial tentacles, but if they have any other way to antagonize you, even verbally, they will do so as often as possible, even while affecting other targets tactically.

Cursed Fist

3rd-level Way of the Cursed feature

At 3rd level when you become initiated in this way, you learn to channel your ki to strike your foes with the cursed power in your spirit turned against your enemies. When you deal damage with a Martial Arts attack, you may spend 1 ki point to empower your unarmed strikes with magical necrotic damage in addition to its other damage types, and when you hit with such an attack, once on your turn you may force the target of that attack to make a Wisdom saving throw with a DC equal to 8 + your Wisdom bonus + your Proficiency bonus. If they fail, they suffer a Cursed Strike, you choose an ability score, and that creature suffers disadvantage on any ability checks or skill checks with that ability score. At the end of each of that creature's turns, it can make another Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC, and if successful, the Cursed Strike and the penalty ends. A target can only suffer from one Cursed Strike at a time, but you may hit them again, expend another 1 ki point, and choose to issue a new Cursed Strike against a different ability if the target fails their saving throw.

Also, when you inflict a vital strike against a foe, the terrible forces in your ki leap forth to urge the victim closer to doom. Whenever you succeed at a critical hit with a Martial Arts or Monk Weapon attack roll, you cause that creature to suffer disadvantage on their attack rolls and saving throws until the end of their next turn.

Lastly, this suffusion of terrible intent and dark energy in your spirit is only buffered by using your ki to defend against it regularly, and as a result, you are always ready to rebuff wicked magic cast against you. You have advantage on saving throws against Necromancy spells.

Dire Strike

6th-level Way of the Cursed feature

At 6th level, you learn the frightening techniques of the Dire Strike, a Martial Arts attack which can fully confer the potency of your cursed magic aided by your ki to empower full-fledged curses of your own against those you hit with your unarmed strikes. Once on your turn when you hit with a Martial Arts or Monk Weapon attack roll, you can spend 3 ki points to cast Bestow Curse on that target without expending a spell slot (to a maximum of up to half your Monk level in ki points spent). Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for this spell., and if you spend additional ki points when you cast this spell, you may cast it as if it were a spell level higher for each ki point you spend.

Additionally, when you hit a target that is suffering from a Cursed Strike with another attack, you gain an instance of Cursebond. You may only have one instance of Cursebond at a time. At any time you begin to experience the effects of your own curse or any other cursing effect such as that granted by Hex or Bestow Curse, you may use an action and expend your Cursebond to cast the Remove Curse spell without expending a spell slot. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for this spell.

Hexblooded

11th-level Way of the Cursed feature

At 11th level, you become suffused with the negative energy of your curse, balanced out with the potency of your ki. In this way, you have fully conquered your curse, and find yourself immune to most curses and negative magical vexing as a result. You no longer suffer any debilitating effects from your own curse, you gain resistance to necrotic damage, and you are immune to the Bane, Hex, Bestow Curse, Enervation, and Eyebite spells.

Additionally, you learn to lash out with your curse-infused ki reflexively and can curse your enemies should they land a successful strike against you. When you are hit with an attack from an attacker within 10 feet of you, you may use a reaction and spend 3 ki points to cast Bestow Curse on that target as if you successfully touched it, and you cast that spell without expending a spell slot. You may spend additional ki points when you cast this spell to cast it as if it were a spell level higher for each ki point spent, up to a maximum of half your Monk level. You may cast this spell this way twice before you must finish a long rest to cast it again.

Insidious Ki

17th-level Way of the Cursed feature

At 17th level, your ki power is now fully able to render a target of your Cursed Strikes terribly cursed, and afflicted with awful supernatural malady. When a target of your Cursed Strike makes an attack roll against you, that attack has disadvantage, and the damage they deal is reduced by half, rounded down. 

Additionally, whenever you cast Bestow Curse using one of your class features, if you spend at least 5 ki to cast the spell with a duration of 8 hours, you may choose to cast Bestow Curse as no higher than a 3rd level spell slot on another creature within 10 feet of you, and this spell is cast as part of the same action.

Lastly, if you are the only target or one of many individual targets of a Necromancy spell, you may use a reaction to deflect that spell back at the caster, causing them to be the target of that spell instead.