MY HERO ACADEMY MANGA SPOILERS BELOW - PLEASE AVOID COMMENTING ANY ADDITIONAL MANGA SPOILERS

--- Fun Copyright Fact: If you refer to any copyrighted subject while creating a subclass on dndbeyond, your post will be removed. This includes, I dunno, a certain popular anime centered around several high schoolers with super powers who are learning how to become heroes. Anyway, this is a a copyright-safe monk subclass aimed to emulate the powers of a definitely original character called Doku from my hero academy ---

Hey all

As the title suggests, I tried to put together a monk subclass/class rework that essentially allows you to play with the abilities that doku has from my hero academy. It sort of functions as a monk/wizard hybrid with many of the monk class abilities for his hand to hand combat alongside access to a decent amount of leveled spells for his other quirks and more unique abilities. Kind of like how the college of swords bard works with access to a bunch of spells levels while also pretty good and unique martial abilities with their bardic flourishes - in this case, instead of bardics, we have ki and monk attacks. The spells are grouped specifically by their corresponding quirk and you can unlock a new quirk category every 3 levels or so in any order you choose. 

This is my first time making a homebrew subclass or something of the sort so I'd genuinely love any feedback. The majority of the subclass/class abilities is taken straight from the player's handbook and other official content or baldur's gate mechanics. Though there are also a few homebrew abilities thrown in there. I do have a tendency to make things a little overpowered when I am excited about them, so directions on toning specific parts of the subclass/class down are certainly welcome - specifically around the homebrew abilities or just the amount of features that are included in the class/subclass. Another potential area for suggestions is the level 13+ content - I have a decent amount of dnd experience with low to mid level play, but not so much with high level play so I truly don't have much to base things off for balance there.

If you read this far, I really appreciate it and hope to hear some suggestions from you all!

 

CHANGES FROM V1.2

- removed lv 12 feat for balance

- removed self smokescreen abilities (seemed pretty limited in the ways you could use the ability + that specific way was busted as heck)

- removed all parallel processing abilities except for a toned down version at level 20 because it was originally wayyyyyy too strong

- added more spells

- !for spells marked by exclamation point, you must occupy at least 1 space within the spells area of effect. Otherwise, you lose concentration and the spell fades

- changed spell slots to match wizard/bard chart (with lv 1-2 spells removed)

- buffed all full cowls (kept burst damage at 5 charge build ups, removed "lose 1 charge per turn" from improved full cowl. buffed perfect full cowl burst damage to 3d10)

- added Shape Smokescreen ability; passive ability to shape certain smokescreen spells at the cost of a smokescreen charge (limited quantity that restock after long rest)

- added Flight ability; lv 13 passive ability that makes float spells cast on self no longer require concentration

- added quirk spell groups Transference and Gear Shift and adjusted "unlock quirk" levels to match - note the homebrew Passing Torch as level 9 Transference spell (might be op)

 

Subclass Features

LEVEL 1 - Monk Class Rework

Since I added so many new features for this subclass, I removed some of the features already included in the Monk class. Also a few of them just didn't really fit the aesthetic I was going for.

Additionally, use INT as the modifier rather than WIS for any of the monk class features. 

MONK FEATURES REMOVED

lv 4 slow fall

lv 10 purity of body

lv 12 feat

lv 13 tongue of the sun and moon

lv 15 timeless body

lv 18 empty body

lv 19 feat

lv 20 perfect self

 

MONK FEATURES KEPT

lv 1 unarmored defense, martial arts

lv 2 ki, unarmored movement

lv 3 deflect missiles

lv 4 feat

lv 5 extra attack, stunning strike

lv 6 ki empowered strikes

lv 7 evasion, stillness of mind

lv 8 feat

lv 9 unarmored movement improvement

lv 14 diamond soul

lv 16 feat

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LEVEL 1 - Unlock Monk Abilities (unchanged from base class): Unarmored Defense, Martial Arts

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LEVEL 2 Monk Abilities (unchanged from base class): ki, unarmored movement

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LEVEL 3 Monk Abilities (unchanged from base class): deflect missiles

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LEVEL 3 - Spellcasting/Unlock New Quirk

The spells that this subclass can learn are categorized by their corresponding quirk type - every 3 levels you can unlock a new quirk and gain access to the list of spells it contains (provided you have the spell slot levels to cast them). The first quirk becomes available at level 3 and unlocks the One for All group of spells - this includes several lightning and wind based attacks like thunderwave and gust. After unlocking One for All at level 3, the order of quirks you can unlock every 3 levels is up to the player. Other quirk groups include blackwhip (with spells such as lightning lure and telekenisis), smokescreen (with darkness and black tentacles), and so on. Several of the quirks contain passive abilities that are also unlocked once you hit the prereq level for them. Several of these are homebrew abilities that are explained further in the following features. The list of spells each quirk category contains is shown below.

New quirk categories can be unlocked at levels 6, two at 9,12, two at 15, and 18. At these levels, choose a new quirk category to unlock and gain the corresponding spells provided you have the spell levels to cast them. Unlocking a quirk also retroactively grants any abilities that you would have learned if taking that quirk at a lower level (ie unlocking Danger Sense at level 9 also unlocks the passive abilities danger sense (barbarian ability) and quirk awareness which would have been unlocked at level 6 and 7 if you had unlocked the Danger Sense quirk earlier).

Any abilities marked as JR Homebrew are explained later in this doc. The rest are linked to corresponding websites with their details.

	Spells/Quirks (unlock new category of your choice every 3 lvs starting with One for All spells at lv 3)
	One for All	Smokescreen	Fa Jin	Danger Sense	Blackwhip	Float	Transference	Gear Shift
Passive Abilities	Saving Face  (hobgoblin ability)	shape smokescreen (JR homebrew)	full cowl (BG3 homebrew)	danger sense (barbarian ability)	-	Slow Fall (monk ability)	Transfer (JR homebrew)	sentinel feat (prereq lv 11)
	-	-	improved full cowl (prereq lv 9) (JR homebrew)	quirk awareness (prereq lv 7) (JR homebrew)	-	flight (prereq lv 13) (JR homebrew)	-	-
	-	-	perfect full cowl (prereq lv 16) (JR homebrew)	alert feat (prereq lv 10)	-	-	-	-
	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Ki Abilities	fist of unbroken air	-	-	-	water whip	-	transfer quirk awareness (prereq lv 10) (JR homebrew)	maneuvering attack (spend 2 ki points rather than a superiority die)
	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Step of the Wind - Ally (prereq lv 11) (JR homebrew)
Cantrips	thunderclap	Abeloth's Mist (dnd beyond homebrew rating +55)	-	-	thorn whip	-	guidance	-
	shocking grasp	-	-	-	lightning lure	-	-	-
	gust	-	-	-	sapping string	-	-	-
	true strike	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Lv 1 Spells	thunderwave	fog cloud	expeditious retreat	distant shield (dndbeyond homebrew rating +110)	arms of hadar	feather fall*	shield of faith	-
	longstrider*	-	zephyr strike	shield	entangle!	-	bless	-
	earth tremor	-	-	-	ensaring strike	-	gift of alacrity	-
	heroism	-	-	-	magnify gravity	-	-	-
	identify	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	jump*	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Lv 2 Spells	gust of wind!	darkness	kinetic jaunt	-	earthbind	levitate*	enhance ability	hold person
	blur	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Lv 3 Spells	lightning bolt	hungar of hadar! (must also have blackwhip unlocked)	-	-	spirit shroud	fly*	-	haste
	motivational speech	-	-	-	pulse wave	-	-	slow
	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Lv 4 Spells	freedom of movement*	shadow of moil	-	-	grasping vine	freedom of the winds
	-	-	-	-	black tentacles!	-	-	-
	-	-	-	-	gravity sinkhole	-	-	-
Lv 5 Spells	control winds	-	-	-	telekinesis	-	-	hold monster
	destructive wave	-	-	-	enervation	-	-	-
	legend lore	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Lv 6 Spells	investiture of wind! (must also have float unlocked)	-	-	-	gravity fissure	-	heroes' feast	flesh to stone
	contingency	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	chain lightning	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Lv 7 Spells	whirlwind!	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Lv 8 Spells	earthquake!	maddening darkness	-	-	-	-	-	power word stun
	-	dark star! (must also have blackwhip unlocked)	-	-	-	-	-	-
Lv 9 Spells	-	-	-	foresight*	power word yeet (dndbeyond homebrew rating +370)	-	Passing Torch (JR homebrew)	-
	-	-	-	-	ravenous void! (must also have smokescreen unlocked)	-	-	-

*starred spells can only be cast on self

!for spells marked by exclamation point, you must occupy at least 1 space within the spells area of effect. Otherwise, you lose concentration and the spell fades

vast majority of spells taken from https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells?sort=level

some spells taken from the dndbeyond community homebrew list. These spells are noted as "dndbeyond homebrew" under the spell name. Spells only taken with very high community ratings https://www.dndbeyond.com/homebrew/spells

 

Spell slot levels are unlocked at the below levels - I just used a slightly modified version of the wizard/bard chart that starts at level 3

Level	Cantrips Known	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th
1st	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2nd	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3rd	3	4	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
4th	4	4	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
5th	4	4	3	2	-	-	-	-	-	-
6th	4	4	3	3	-	-	-	-	-	-
7th	4	4	3	3	1	-	-	-	-	-
8th	4	4	3	3	2	-	-	-	-	-
9th	4	4	3	3	3	1	-	-	-	-
10th	5	4	3	3	3	2	-	-	-	-
11th	5	4	3	3	3	2	1	-	-	-
12th	5	4	3	3	3	2	1	-	-	-
13th	5	4	3	3	3	2	1	1	-	-
14th	5	4	3	3	3	2	1	1	-	-
15th	5	4	3	3	3	2	1	1	1	-
16th	5	4	3	3	3	2	1	1	1	-
17th	5	4	3	3	3	2	1	1	1	1
18th	5	4	3	3	3	3	1	1	1	1
19th	5	4	3	3	3	3	2	1	1	1
20th	5	4	3	3	3	3	2	2	1	1

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LEVEL 3 - Saving Face

You gain the hobgoblin ability saving face. 

I mean come on, this is literally just the anime power of friendship

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LEVEL 4 Monk Abilities (unchanged from base class): feat

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LEVEL 5 Monk Abilities (unchanged from base class): extra attack, stunning strike

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LEVEL 6 Monk Abilities (unchanged from base class): ki empowered strikes

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LEVEL 6 - Monastic Tradition Subclass Feature (Manifestation of Soul)

 Basically ripped right from Bulder's Gate monk class. Rather than dealing radiant damage, however, this deals lightning damage

"Your hands sap the ki from your enemies' bodies. Your unarmed attacks deal an additional 1d4 + Wisdom Modifier lightning damage."

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 LEVEL 6 - Unlock New Quirk 2

Choose a new quirk category to unlock and gain the corresponding spells provided you have the spell levels to cast them. Unlocking a quirk also retroactively grants any abilities that you would have learned if taking that quirk at a lower level (ie unlocking Danger Sense at level 9 also unlocks the passive abilities danger sense (barbarian ability) and quirk awareness which would have been unlocked at level 6 and 7 if you had unlocked the Danger Sense quirk earlier)

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LEVEL 6 - Slow Fall (PREREQ - must have unlocked Float quirk category)

You gain the monk ability Slow Fall 

You can use your reaction when you fall to reduce any falling damage you take by an amount equal to five times your monk level.

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 LEVEL 6 - Full Cowl (PREREQ - must have unlocked Fa Jin quirk category) 

Another one taken right from Baldur's Gate - unarmed attacks build lightning charges. lightning attack roll buffs, damage roll buffs, and burst damage only apply to unarmed attacks

• Lightning courses through you. You have +1 to Attack Rolls and deal an additional 1 Lightning damage.
• If you gain 5 charges, they are consumed the next time you deal damage, and you deal an additional 1d8 Lightning damage.
• You lose 1 charge per turn.

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LEVEL 6 - Danger Sense (PREREQ must have unlocked Danger Sense quirk category)

You gain the barbarian ability danger sense

Danger Sense

You gain an uncanny sense of when things nearby aren’t as they should be, giving you an edge when you dodge away from danger.

You have advantage on Dexterity saving throws against effects that you can see, such as traps and spells. To gain this benefit, you can’t be blinded, deafened, or incapacitated.

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LEVEL 6 - Shape Smokescreen (PREREQ - must have unlocked the Smokescreen quirk category) JR HOMEBREW

Spells from the smokescreen category can have their area of effect shaped when cast as long as the area remains within the constraints of the standard spell area of effect - for example, darkness casts a 15 ft radius sphere of darkness; however, the player could choose to shape the darkness spell to be cast as a line of darkness as long as it remains within the 15 ft radius sphere area the spell is usually cast as. When a spell is in a shape different from its standard form, the caster has a -2 penalty to its corresponding concentration checks. Additionally, by expending a bonus action and 1 Smokescreen Shape Charge, the caster can choose a new space that the spell is currently active on to become the new radius center of the spell and may reshape the spell again from that new space without expending an additional spell slot. While a spell can be initially cast in any shape, reshaping it or moving it can only be done a limited number of times per long rest - equal to your proficiency bonus. Shape Smokescreen can only be used for spells that target a specific space, it cannot be used for spells that target an individual.

Example:

1) use 1 spell slot to cast darkness in whatever shape you want (let's pick a straight line) provided it fits within the standard spell area of effect (15 ft radius). Since it was cast as a straight line which is not the standard shape of the spell, maintaining this spell has a -2 penalty to concentration checks.

2) you can spend a bonus action and 1 Shape Smokescreen Charge to pick a new radius center to make a new shape within - the square that is chosen as the new radius center must have also had part of the previous spell shape active on it. Suppose we were to make a 15 ft radius sphere as our new shape - since this is the standard shape of this spell, we would no longer have a -2 penalty to concentration checks maintaining it.

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LEVEL 6 - Transfer (PREREQ must have unlocked Transference quirk category) JR HOMEBREW

The user is now allowed to cast starred* spells on others as well as themselves. Without this ability, starred spells in the spell list above were restricted to only being cast on self

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LEVEL 6 - Step of the Wind - Ally (PREREQ must have unlocked Gear Shift quirk category) 

Spend 2 ki points and a reaction to give an ally within sight Step of the Wind for one turn

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LEVEL 7 - Quirk Awareness (PREREQ - must have unlocked the Danger Sense quirk category) JR HOMEBREW

You are immune to any difficult terrain, conditions (such as blindness/restrained), or damage caused by your own quirk spells. This does not apply to any conditions created by others

 

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LEVEL 8 Monk Abilities (unchanged from base class): feat

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LEVEL 9 Monk Abilities (unchanged from base class): unarmored movement improvement

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LEVEL 9 - Unlock New Quirk 3 and 4

Choose 2 new quirk categories to unlock and gain the corresponding spells provided you have the spell levels to cast them. Unlocking a quirk also retroactively grants any abilities that you would have learned if taking that quirk at a lower level (ie unlocking Danger Sense at level 9 also unlocks the passive abilities danger sense (barbarian ability) and quirk awareness which would have been unlocked at level 6 and 7 if you had unlocked the Danger Sense quirk earlier)

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LEVEL 9 - Improved Full Cowl (PREREQ - must have unlocked Fa Jin quirk category) JR HOMEBREW

The lightning charge attack and damage roll buff increases to +2. Burst damage increases to 2(d8) after building 5 charges. Additionally, you no longer lose 1 charge per turn. lightning attack roll buffs, damage roll buffs, and burst damage only apply to unarmed attacks.

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LEVEL 10 - Alert Feat (PREREQ must have unlocked Danger Sense quirk category)

Gain the alert feat

 

Always on the lookout for danger, you gain the following benefits:

• You can't be surprised while you are conscious.

• You gain a +5 bonus to initiative.

• Other creatures don't gain advantage on attack rolls against you as a result of being unseen by you.

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 LEVEL 10 - Ki Ability Transfer Quirk Awareness (PREREQS must have unlocked Transference and Danger Sense quirk categories) JR HOMEBREW

As a bonus action, the caster can spend 4 ki points and touch 1 willing creature - for the next 10 rounds, they are immune to any difficult terrain, conditions (such as blindness/restrained), or damage caused by the caster's quirk spells.

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LEVEL 11 - Sentinel Feat (PREREQ must have unlocked Gear Shift quirk category) 

Gain the sentinel feat

 

You have mastered techniques to take advantage of every drop in any enemy's guard, gaining the following benefits.

• When you hit a creature with an opportunity attack, the creature's speed becomes 0 for the rest of the turn.

• Creatures provoke opportunity attacks from you even if they take the Disengage action before leaving your reach.

• When a creature within 5 feet of you makes an attack against a target other than you (and that target doesn't have this feat), you can use your reaction to make a melee weapon attack against the attacking creature.

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 LEVEL 12 - Unlock New Quirk 5

Choose a new quirk category to unlock and gain the corresponding spells provided you have the spell levels to cast them. Unlocking a quirk also retroactively grants any abilities that you would have learned if taking that quirk at a lower level (ie unlocking Danger Sense at level 9 also unlocks the passive abilities danger sense (barbarian ability) and quirk awareness which would have been unlocked at level 6 and 7 if you had unlocked the Danger Sense quirk earlier)

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LEVEL 13 - Flight (PREREQ - must have unlocked Float quirk category) JR HOMEBREW

Float spells no longer require concentration when cast on self.

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LEVEL 14 Monk Abilities (unchanged from base class): diamond soul

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LEVEL 15 - Unlock New Quirk 6 and 7

Choose 2 new quirk categories to unlock and gain the corresponding spells provided you have the spell levels to cast them. Unlocking a quirk also retroactively grants any abilities that you would have learned if taking that quirk at a lower level (ie unlocking Danger Sense at level 9 also unlocks the passive abilities danger sense (barbarian ability) and quirk awareness which would have been unlocked at level 6 and 7 if you had unlocked the Danger Sense quirk earlier)

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 LEVEL 16 - Perfect Full Cowl (PREREQ - must have unlocked Fa Jin quirk category) JR HOMEBREW

The lightning charge attack and damage roll buff increases to +3. Burst damage increases to 3(d10) after building 5 charges. lightning attack roll buffs, damage roll buffs, and burst damage only apply to unarmed attacks

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LEVEL 18 - Unlock New Quirk 8

Choose a new quirk category to unlock and gain the corresponding spells provided you have the spell levels to cast them. Unlocking a quirk also retroactively grants any abilities that you would have learned if taking that quirk at a lower level (ie unlocking Danger Sense at level 9 also unlocks the passive abilities danger sense (barbarian ability) and quirk awareness which would have been unlocked at level 6 and 7 if you had unlocked the Danger Sense quirk earlier)

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LEVEL 20 - Parallel Processing JR HOMEBREW

You can concentrate on 2 quirk spells and add your proficiency bonus to maintaining concentration checks. Make a different concentration check for each spell active

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MISC - JR Homebrew Spell "Passing Torch" (PREREQ - must have unlocked 9th level spell slots and Transference quirk category)

Using an action and a level 9 spell slot, the user can apply the Passing Torch condition to themself and 1 other ally they can touch. Both creatures gain temporary hit points equal to the caster's max hp. The passing torch condition ends when those temporary hit points are reduced to zero. While under the passing torch condition, the below benefits are granted:

To the Caster
- full restoration of any used class consumables (spell slots, ki points, shape smokescreen charges, etc.)

To the Target
- full restoration of any used class consumables (spell slots, rage charges, ki points, bardic inspirations, etc)
- access to any abilities the caster has unlocked from the quirk spell categories. If the target's class does not provide the necessary class consumables (ki points, shape smokescreen charges, leveled spell slots, etc.), the target shares those consumables with the caster. For example, if the target does not have access to a level 7 spell slot but wishes to cast Earthquake, the target may do so by spending one of the caster's 7th level spell slots. For any abilities that require a spellcasting ability modifier, the target uses their highest stat if they do not already have a spellcasting ability modifier.
- if unlocked by the caster, Full Cowl, Improved Full Cowl, or Perfect Full Cowl apply to any weapon attacks (ranged or melee) made by the target

Additionally, both the caster and target each receive the below penalties until they hit zero total hit points
- 2(d10) damage to self at the start of the character's turn. This damage increases by an additional 2(d10) on each of their subsequent turns (ie. for the first turn a character starts after receiving the Passing Torch condition, they would take 2(d10) damage, on their second turn 4(d10), etc.)
- Upon hitting zero total hit points, the character receives 2 death save fails and 5 levels of exhaustion

Once the Passing Torch condition ends, all available class consumables return to what they were before the Passing Torch condition was applied. Neither the caster nor target can cast Passing Torch while already under the Passing Torch condition.

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Thanks for reading all!

The subclass creator required me to put text here as well

If I didn't put text here

then the program wouldn't let me post

that's all

bye!