Base Class: Monk
Since time immemorial, people have fought. Two people fight over a small quarrel, one group fights another for a perceived sleight, one nation declares war upon another for some nebulous and unclear reason. All the same, people fight. And with fighting inevitably comes death. Orders of warriors secluded themselves, studying the ways of the world in order to better themselves, gain mastery over themselves. To defeat what is mortal and achieve that which is divine. A life of ascetism is a lonely and burdened one. The many warrior orders who devote themselves to trial after trial are well aware, and because of this, they can say with certainty that unlike most people, they will not fight for nebulous unclear reasons.
Warriors of The Phoenix are the exemplification of those ideals. Through harsh training and religious devotion to bettering oneself, they have achieved the realisation of their ideal in the mortal world. Able to conquer themselves in the pursuit of protecting those caught up in the wars, the skirmishes, The Way of The Phoenix teaches that everyone has the potential to grow, to develop their best self, to protect those who have yet to achieve that, and then once you have achieved it, to go further beyond. Leaving your body behind, you will become stronger reforming and surpassing your previous limits time and time again.
Dedicated to protecting the meek and defeating that which is evil, The Way of The Phoenix teaches people to surpass their previous selves in the pursuit of defeating both their inner demons and outer evils attempting to destroy that which is innocent. Warriors of The Phoenix are almost always good and righteous.
Phoenix Burst
3rd-level Way of The Phoenix feature
Starting when you choose this tradition at 3rd level, your burning soul and free spirit allows you to shed your mortal form and create yourself anew. When you are reduced to 0 hit points, making death saves or immediately when you die, you can use your reaction (including on your turn) a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier per long rest to spend 2 ki points in order to let the burning fury of your soul singe your mortal body, in the process recreating it with the strength of your spirit.
When resurrecting this way, you have 1 HP, and have temporary HP equal to your monk level + half of your maximum HP, rounded down. You also gain several effects for 5 minutes or until the beginning of your next short or long rest (whichever is sooner):
- You deal additional fire damage equal to your wisdom modifier when you hit using an unarmed strike or monk weapon and are resistant to fire damage.
- Additionally, each time your body reforms, your spirit blazes harsher than the last. For each resurrection in this way, the 5-minute duration resets and until your next short or long rest, increase the martial art damage dice you have by 1. These additional dice deal fire damage.
- Further, the quick and intense explosion of your soul damages all nearby creatures. All creatures within 10 feet of your body when it combusts take fire damage equal to your monk level.
- Finally, at the end of the combat that you used this feature, you gain 1 level of exhaustion for each use of this feature. This exhaustion is cumulative and cannot be recovered through spells or other magical effects such as the Greater Restoration spell. You are immune to exhaustion's effects while your Phoenix Burst is active.
Igniter of Souls
6th-level Way of The Phoenix feature
At 6th level, you've learned how to harness the power of your blazing soul and can ignite the flames of resurrection at will.
As an action, you can trigger a phoenix burst without being at 0 HP, making death saves or immediately after dying. Using a Phoenix Burst in this way functions the same as if you would have resurrected from 0 HP, except using your action, and still giving you exhaustion.
Further, your control over death and rebirth has allowed you to ignite the souls of your fallen companions. Any creature you touch that has died within the last minute can be revived by you, expending one use of a Phoenix Burst and costing 2 ki points. All features of the Phoenix Burst are conferred to the creature you resurrect, including exhaustion (even if they are not in combat), however they do not benefit from the increase to martial arts dice unless they are also a monk.
Empyrean Blaze
6th-level Way of The Phoenix feature
Also at 6th level:
Your mastery of the blazing Phoenix fire has granted you resistance to fire damage naturally.
Mastery of Rebirth
11th-level Way of The Phoenix feature
Beginning at 11th level, when you use the Phoenix Burst to resurrect yourself, you recover exhaustion on a short or long rest. One level is restored on a short rest, while all levels are gone on a long rest. The exhaustion gained by the Phoenix Burst feature still cannot be recovered through the use of spells such as Greater Restoration.
Additionally, through repeated practice and tempering the flames of your spirit, the effects of your phoenix burst now last until the start of your next short or long rest, rather than 5 minutes.
Blaze of The Phoenix
17th-level Way of The Phoenix feature
Starting at 17th level, your touch can channel the energy of the Phoenix into a creature. As an action, you touch one creature within 5 feet of you, and you expend 5 ki points. The target must make a Constitution saving throw, and it takes 8d10 fire damage on a successful save.
On a failed save, the creature is recreated through flames of resurrection. Choose new vulnerabilities of your choice, up to 3. You can choose the same vulnerability multiple times, as explained below.
Features that state the creature has resistance or immunity to damage, are instead reduced by one level (for example immunity becomes resistance, resistance becomes no resistance, and no resistance becomes a vulnerability).
Blaze of The Phoenix lasts until the end of your turn after your next turn.
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Dec 28, 2022First of all: really cool idea, however I agree with most of the critiques in post #1; I would however give some different fixes:
Phoenix Burst
This is just too good. Just shrugging off death for a couple of ki points and a level of exhaustion is ridiculous, and then it scales crazily at high levels, as you get more ki points (2 out of 3 is a lot, but 2 out of 20 is nothing), higher WIS mod, and more ways to remove exhaustion. Also, this should not give you buffs when you resurrect, and it is way longer then it needs to be. The Way of the Long Death monk has a similar feature at 11th level, although it is quite a bit better, and they manage to explain it in a couple of sentences instead of a couple of paragraphs.
Mastery of Death (way of the Long Death)
Beginning at 11th level, you use your familiarity with death to escape its grasp. When you are reduced to 0 hit points, you can expend 1 ki point (no action required) to have 1 hit point instead.
Here's another comparable feature:
Searing Vengeance (Celestial warlock)
Starting at 14th level, the radiant energy you channel allows you to resist death. When you have to make a death saving throw at the start of your turn, you can instead spring back to your feet with a burst of radiant energy. You regain hit points equal to half your hit point maximum, and then you stand up if you so choose. Each creature of your choice that is within 30 feet of you takes radiant damage equal to 2d8 + your Charisma modifier, and it is blinded until the end of the current turn. Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.
Here's my version of the subclass:
Flaming Vengeance
When you select this subclass at 3rd level, you gain the ability to retaliate in a burst of flames when you are injured. When a creature you can see within 5 feet of you hits you with a melee attack and does damage, you can use your reaction to make an attack against the creature with your Blazing Strikes. In addition, when you hit a creature with this attack, it must make a Wisdom saving throw or be unable to make any more attacks against you until the start of it's next turn.
Although this doesn't feel very phoenix-y, remember that a 3rd level monk is still a novice. This is just the beginning. Also, the damage from these attacks will add up very quickly, especially at lower levels. In addition, I would add another feature to 3rd level (although probably would write it first):
Blazing Strikes
Also at 3rd level, you can infuse your unarmed strikes with the fiery power of the phoenix. When you make an unarmed strike, you can cause the damage of that attack to be fire damage instead of the normal damage type. When you use this feature to make an unarmed strike, you can spend up to 3 ki points. For each ki point you spend, roll your martial arts die twice and add it to your damage.
Soul of the Phoenix
At 6th level, your connection to the legendary phoenix grows stronger. When you are reduced to 0 hit points, you can use your Flaming Vengeance feature, even if you would not normally be able to do so. This use of the feature can target all creatures of your choice within reach. In addition, when you do so, each creature that you target takes fire damage equal to twice your proficiency. If this feature reduces a creature to 0 hit points, you may spend a 2 ki points to drop to 1 hit point instead of 0. You can use this feature once, and you regain the use of it when you finish a long rest.
Fiery Redemption
At 11th level, the phoenix grants you another sliver of immortality. When you use your Soul of the Phoenix feature and fail to reduce any creature to 0 hit points, you can spend 3 ki points to drop to 1 hit point instead of 0. In addition, you can use your Soul of the Phoenix feature when you are targeted with an effect that would instantly kill you. When you do so, you drop to 0 hit points instead of 1. In addition, when you use your Flaming Vengeance feature, you can make two Blazing Strikes attacks instead of one. However, the creature that you target only makes one Wisdom saving throw, even if both attacks hit.
Phoenix's Rebirth
At 17th level, your connection to the phoenix is at its peak. When you would otherwise die, you instead become red-hot, glowing egg. The egg is an object with an Armor Class equal to yours and Hit Points equal to three rolls of your martial arts die. It has resistance to all damage except fire, which it has immunity to. Any creature that touches the egg takes fire damage equal to the current hit points of the egg. After 1d8 days, if the egg has not been destroyed, you emerge and are stable with 0 hit points. If the egg is destroyed, you die, and the egg disappears in a puff of smoke, leaving behind a small pile of ash.
I just wanna say again, really cool idea. Also, READ POST #1. All the way through. At least twice. That's how good it is.
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Dec 25, 2022So before I start, I just want to say that the idea for this subclass is awesome. A phoenix monk definitely has a ton of potential in terms of flavor and roleplay. That being said, the features are really quite bad.
Phoenix Burst
Let's take a look at the first feature you gain when you choose this subclass. Phoenix Burst as a feature makes sense because that's just what phoenixes do. The problem with this feature is that it is pretty overpowered in my eyes. "When you are reduced to 0 hit points, making death saves or immediately when you die, you can use your reaction (including on your turn) a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier per long rest to spend 2 ki points in order to let the burning fury of your soul singe your mortal body, in the process killing and recreating it with the strength of your spirit." The first part about this is okay, but the last part is really not. I get that phoenixes are able to reincarnate, but having this not only as a 3rd-level feature but also be able to resurrect you when you die is absurd. There is a reason spells like revivify are 3rd level spells, and have material components to them. Death isn't meant to just be shrugged off at this level. 2 ki points and a reaction is an incredibly small price to pay for cheating literal death. Not only that, when you use this feature you gain resistance to fire damage and you deal additional damage, so it's even stronger now. The only drawbacks of this feature are that every creature including allies gets damaged, and you gain a point of exhaustion at the end of the combat. Even so, taking damage equal to your monk level is not bad at all for cheating death and the exhaustion does not stack (or at least that's how it's worded). Essentially, even if I use all uses of this feature by the end of combat, I still gain only one point of exhaustion. Even so, this point of exhaustion goes away on a SHORT REST, and players are usually not subjected to more combat after the initial combat and will take the opportunity to rest. Again, just this for being able to CHEAT DEATH.
Now, you can only use this once at 3rd level, but that very quickly goes away as you level. Also, I do have to say that having a limited number of uses on top of having a ki point cost is a bit clunky. You also forgot to indicate whether you regain uses of this feature when you finish a short rest or a long rest. So, overall this feature is clunky and busted. At best, it doesn't get used much. But still, the times it DOES get used, it's still overpowered because you just don't die if you spend your ki points decently. This is just the balance, the wording's a whole different beast.
So, how would I fix this? Personally, I'd do at least some of the following:
These are only some of the ways to fix this feature, though there are many more solutions I didn't indicate. Having a feature that resuscitates you in a bad situation should you choose isn't bad at all. In fact, a sorcerer subclass that is also themed around the phoenix does this. However, you'll notice that the feature is at 6th level rather than 1st, and its usage is once per long rest. It also doesn't bring you back from the dead.
So, if I were to reword and rework it should you keep it at 3rd level, I would do it like this:
"Starting when you choose this tradition at 3rd level, your burning soul and free spirit allows you to keep fighting even as it is being snuffed. When you are reduced to 0 hit points or when you make a death saving throw but not killed outright, you can use your reaction to let the burning fury singe your mortal body, in the process killing and recreating it with the strength of your spirit. When you use this feature, any creature you choose within 10 feet of you takes fire damage equal to your monk level, and you gain 1 hit point and a number of temporary hit points equal to your monk level + half your hit point maximum (rounded down). Additionally, when you deal damage with an unarmed strike or a monk weapon, you deal additional fire damage equal to your Wisdom modifier (a minimum of 1) and have resistance to fire damage until you finish your next short rest.
Once you use this feature, you cannot do so again until you finish a long rest."
It's reworded, and has the main balance issue out. I think this is a much better version of the feature. Also, I removed the exhaustion part of it as well as the additional martial arts die as they seemed redundant.
Igniter of Souls
Overall this one was not too bad. Most of its problems are a result of the first feature being way to overpowered. With the new version, my way of phrasing this feature would go something like this:
"At 6th level, you learn how to harness the power of your blazing soul and can ignite the flames of resurrection to aid your allies. As an action, you can now use your Phoenix Burst feature to raise the souls of fallen comrades instead of your own. When you use this feature, a number of creatures you choose within 10 feet of you take fire damage as normal, and all effects of your Phoenix Burst feature are conferred to the targeted creature."
Empyrean Blaze
Just no. Seriously? IMMUNITY to fire damage AND resistance to cold damage? That is absurd, absolutely not. To be quite honest with you, I suggest reworking or removing this feature entirely. Giving damage immunity to a character at any level, ESPECIALLY 6th level is utterly insane, and is usually not done for very good reason.
Mastery of Rebirth
Unfortunately with my version of the Phoenix Burst feature, this feature is completely unusable. I do have a suggestion where you can rework this feature to be able to accept ki point usage for the Phoenix Burst feature instead. I'd word it something like this:
"At 11th level, while you have no more uses of your Phoenix Burst feature, you can spend 3 ki points to use it again."
The part about using 3 ki points is a placeholder, you can set it to any amount of ki points that seems reasonable.
Blaze of the Phoenix
The concept behind this feature is interesting, and the Way of the Cobalt Soul subclass from Critical Role did something similar to this for its capstone feature. But while I feel that it can be tweaked (mainly in the vulnerability aspect), I think the main thing that needs fixing here is wording. Yeah, it isn't great. Here's how I would word it:
"At 17th level, your touch can channel the energy of the phoenix into a creature. As an action, you can expend 5 ki points to touch a creature you can see within 5 feet of you. The creature must make a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, it takes 8d10 fire damage and becomes vulnerable to a damage type that you choose. If the creature is resistant to the chosen damage type, that resistance is suppressed, though the creature is not vulnerable to it. This feature lasts until the end of your next turn. A creature that is immune to the damage type you choose is unaffected. On a successful save, the creature takes the fire damage but is not given any damage vulnerability."
Overall, the idea for the subclass is great. However, the features that it gains are just ludicrous, with the main focus being on Phoenix Burst and Empyrean Blaze. Features that allow you to cheat death right off the bat or give you damage immunities are going to be busted, so try not to use them. Also, your wording is an issue, but that takes time to fix and honestly, wording your subclasses the way that it's officially done takes time and is also a pain in the you-know-what. Great idea, the execution just fell a bit flat. Hope you can take this comment as a learning experience so you can refine your subclasses down the line.