Monks of the Way of the Ten Shadows have awoken the ability to earn the loyalty of shadows, thus gaining the ability to summon these shadows to aid them in battle. This technique is typically passed down within familial blood, however that is not always the case.

These shadows have assorted abilities, both defensive and offensive, with which they can aid the summoner. After awakening the power to tame these shadows, the monk is initially given access to a Divine Dog.

Shadow Summons

At 3rd level, you gain the ability to summon shadows inherently connected with the Ways of the Ten Shadows.  As an action, you may expend Ki points to summon one of nine different shadows. Shadows follow your commands and are friendly to the party. They act on your initiative in combat. You may summon a shadow in any unoccupied space that you can see within 20 feet.

Once a shadow is summoned, it remains in existence until it drops to 0 hit points or until dispelled. Dispelling a shadow requires a reaction and can be done at any time. If a shadow is dispelled during combat, it may be resummoned without the use of an action. No more than three shadows can be in existence at a time. You can not summon more than one of each shadow at any one time (Divine Dog being an exception, Divine Dog can be summoned twice). Shadows understand whatever languages their summoner speaks.

Different spirits require different levels to summon.  The following table shows the number of levels required as well as the number of Ki points required to summon each spirit:

Shadow Level Requirements

Shadow Spirit	Monk Level	Ki Points
Divine Dog	3	2
Gama	4	2
Nue	5	3
Rabbit Swarm	7	3
Great Serpent	8	3
Divine Dog Totality	9	4
Piercing Ox	10	4
Winged Gama	12	4
Round Deer	13	5
Max Elephant	14	5
Tiger Funeral	15	6
Merged Beast Agito	16	8

Shadow Storage

At 3rd level, you gain the ability to move physical mass in and out of shadows at will. You are able to store items within your own shadow. Items stored can not be larger than your own body. It takes a bonus action to place an item into or retrieve an item from your shadow. Items placed into your shadow can not be seen, touched, or harmed by any other creature.  However, they do count against your Encumbrance; you can not place items into your shadow that exceed your ability to carry weight.

Shadow Step

At 6th level, you gain the ability to move through shadows. As your action, you may enter any shadow that is at least as large as your body and teleport to another shadow that you can see within your range of movement. If in combat, you may not use the same shadow again until the end of combat. This movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity.

Shadow Control

At 11th level, you begin to master control over shadows. You gain the ability to attack from the shadows and the ability to grapple an enemy using their own shadow.

After using your Shadow Control attack feature, as a bonus action, you may make an unarmed strike which deals an extra 6d6 magical bludgeoning damage in addition to your normal unarmed strike damage. If you are within 5 ft. of a Shadow Summon you attack with advantage. Advantage in this manner can only be used once per combat.

After using your Shadow Control grapple feature, the creature must succeed a strength saving throw equal to 8 + your Strength Modifier + your Proficiency Modifier. The roll is made with advantage. If the creature is grappled, at the start of its turn it may roll to escape using the same saving throw as before. You may only attempt to grapple a creature once per combat.

Shadow Master

At 17th level, you gain the ability to summon a special shadow, the Eight-Handled Sword Divergent Sila Divine General. The General does not require Ki points to summon, but may only be summoned once per long rest, as an action.

Each time it is summoned before being tamed, it will hostile to you and each creature within thirty feet. The General does not follow your commands; it is under the DM’s control and will attack the summoner unless a creature is closer to him. If untamed, It receives its own initiative in combat otherwise it matches your initiative. You may summon the General in any unoccupied space that you can see within 60 feet. Once the General is summoned, it remains in existence until it drops to 0 hit points or until the summoner drops to 0 hit points.

If Eight-Handled Sword Divergent Sila Divine General is defeated in combat, it becomes an available shadow summon requiring 15 ki points to summon. The summoner gains the ability to dispel the General. Dispelling the General uses a reaction and can be done at any time. 

After taming the General, the summoner gains a new optional summon, using 12 ki points the summoner can instead summon only the Wheel of the General and can use the trait "Wheel of Adaptation" found on the General's statblock. The wheel follows the same rules as stated with the additional requirement of using your full turn to successfully summon the wheel.