Way of Famine

Rooted in cultures where scarcity holds deep philosophical significance, practitioners of the Way of Famine believe that enduring hardship and embracing scarcity is a pathway to spiritual purity. They hone their martial skills to thrive in harsh conditions, seeing deprivation as an opportunity for growth and self-discovery.

For some monks, personal experiences with scarcity, deprivation, or loss fuel their dedication to the Way of Famine. Survivors of famine, poverty, or natural disasters understand the importance of resilience and adaptation in the face of adversity. They channel their hardships into martial training, seeking to embody the principles of survival and endurance.

Survivor's Adaptation

You have honed your body's ability to endure harsh conditions and scarcity. You gain proficiency in the Survival skill, and if you are already proficient, you add double your proficiency bonus to checks made with that skill.

Additionally you gain proficiency in a tool of your choice.

Debilitating Strike

You have learned to exploit your opponent's weaknesses, aiming for vital pressure points. When you hit a creature with an unarmed strike, you can choose to expend 1 ki point to impose disadvantage on the target's next attack roll.

Eternal Hunger

At 6th level, your connection to the Way of Famine deepens, infusing your unarmed strikes with an insatiable hunger for life force. Your unarmed strikes deal necrotic damage instead of bludgeoning damage. Additionally, as a free action, you can add an additional martial arts die to your damage roll, you can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest.

Hungering Blow

At 11th level, your mastery of spiritual energies and chakras grants you a profound insight into the body's vital centres. With precision, you can direct your strikes to disrupt the flow of energy through the navel chakra. Upon making an attack against a foe, you may expend 2 ki points to force the target to succeed a Constitution saving throw or suffer a point of exhaustion. For each point of exhaustion caused by Hungering Blow, the Constitution saving throw DC is decreased by 1.

Ravenous Hunger

At 17th level, when you make an unarmed strike against a foe you syphon their energy, causing each successive blow to gain a +1 to hit until the end of your turn. Additionally once per short rest you can forgo the increase to your chance to hit to instead absorb the energy gained to increase your armour class by +1 per hit landed until the beginning of your next turn. When you expend a use of your Eternal Hunger feature, you regain hit points equal to half the damage dealt from the attack.