Way of Transcendent Flesh

A woman clambers from rooftop to rooftop, limbs stretching impossibly, bones snapping and reforming instantaneously to speed though the darkness. A man snaps a guard’s neck and, as he lowers the corpse, assumes his victim’s face, form, and voice leaving only a pile of bloody bones behind. Flesh sloughs from the body of a person, their very being unraveling before they slither across the floor and reform as a horror with limbs like long boney blades for tearing and ripping, unleashing a whirlwind of gore and viscera.

This is the Way of Transcendent Flesh. Some adherents start down this path after becoming afflicted with a horrifying disease, transfused with or experimented on by alchemy, or suffering from an undefinable parasite. Other adherents are sages or cenobites, meditating on the relationship between mind and body, learning the truth of one's own ability to sculpt their flesh with only their mind. As the adherent learns or introspects more, the distinction between their body and that of their victims (or willing participants) blurs, transcending self to become something greater or far, far more frightening.

The First Truth - Body

3rd-level Way of Transcendent Flesh Feature

You unlock the first secret Transcendent Truth - the body is a vessel, sculpted like wood. You are capable of altering the length and style of your limbs, capable of ripping apart your foes and pulling you across your environment. Stretching the skin and breaking the bones to become a whirling dervish of Flesh.

The reach of your unarmed strikes increases to 10 feet. This reach increases to 15 feet at 11th level and 20 feet at 17th level. You can use these Scuplted limbs to grapple one additional creatures, but these limbs cannot wield weapons, shields, or spellcasting foci. Creatures you grapple can make melee attacks against you regardless of distance.

The Second Truth - Mind

6th-level Way of Transcendent Flesh feature

You learn the second secret Transcendent Truth - all flesh is mutable, the mind is what gives it shape. When a Humanoid is reduced to 0 hit points within your reach, or use an action to interact with a Humanoid’s corpse, you can absorb a sample of its essence, often flesh. You can absorb a number of samples equal to your proficiency bonus, though you can only ever collect one sample of essence from any given Humanoid. If you gain a sample of essence while you have the maximum number of Essences, you replace an existing one of your choice.

While you have a sample, you can spend 1 ki point to take either of the following actions:

• Incarnation. You consume their Essence to take on the form of the sampled creature for 1 hour or until you end your impersonation as a bonus action. You make yourself—including your clothing, armor, weapons, and other belongings on your person—look and sound like the creature. Your statistics remain the same, except for your size, which changes to match the creature’s size. While disguised in this manner, you can use the Wisdom (Insight or Perception) skills instead of Charisma (Deception or Performance) to impersonate the creature if necessary. When the impersonation ends, the Essence is destroyed.
• Infiltration. You infiltrate and rip memories from the absorbed creature's lingering essence. After performing this action, you have 10 minutes to ask one question to the sampled essence, and it responds as if it were an intact corpse and you had cast speak with dead on it, except that the answers are thorough, and the creature can’t lie to you or withhold information. After answering the one question, the Essence is destroyed.
• Ingestion. You ingest their essence into your corporeal form, absorbing a bit of their physical or mental fortitude. After performing this action, choose one Ability score to increase by 1 for 10 minutes, relative to the Essene sampled. For instance, the Essence of a sage might increase your intelligence by 1, or the Essence of a bruiser might increase your strength by 1.

The Third Truth - Inhibition

11th-level Way of Transcendent Flesh feature

You learn the secret Third Truth - you are held hostage by your inhibitions. You learn to shed almost all of your corporeal form's limitations, bones snapping and flesh melting, sculpting into something else entirely, as you become a creature of unrestrained violence and frightening mobility.

As a bonus action you can free your bodily Inhibitions and gain the following benefits for 10 minutes:

• Whenever you successfully grapple another creature, you can pull your target into an unoccupied space within 5 feet of you or pull yourself to an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the target, this does not prompt any attacks of opportunity.
• You can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing.
• You can spread your form in a 20 square on the floor, creating difficult terrain and allow you to grapple any creature within this range.
• Moving through difficult terrain costs you no extra movement, and spells and other magical effects can’t reduce your speed or restrain you.
• You can spend 5 feet of movement to automatically escape from nonmagical restraints or a creature that has you grappled.
• You have a swimming and climbing speed equal to your walking speed.

You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

The Final Truth - Transcendence

17th-level Way of Transcendent Flesh feature

You understand the secret and Final Transcendent Truth - you are nothing. Your body is merely a collection of fleshy mass you can unravel and knit together with a moment’s thought, whirling and weaving flesh and bone to hew your foes with deadly reverence.

As an action, you can spend 5 ki points to deflesh and disassemble into a pile of flesh and bone, slithering to an unoccupied space that you can see within your speed and then reforming as something entirely new - a whirlwind of slashing bone and viscera. After you reform, all creatures of your choice within 15 feet of your new location must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failure, all creatures of your choice take 6d10 slashing damage and are either are pushed or pulled five feet away from or near to you and knocked prone or all targets are grappled and restrained by you. On a success, the creatures takes half as much damage and aren’t pushed, pulled, knocked prone or grappled and restrained. Damage from this feature is considered magical for the purpose of overcoming immunity and resistance to nonmagical attacks.