Warrior of the Dying Light

Monks who follow this tradition understand that strength is weakness, and self-sacrifice is the surest path to victory. Warriors of the Dying Light believe that mortal flesh is intrinsically impure, and only true death can ultimately purge one’s everlasting soul of sin. Their gruesome practices and strict punishments are considered barbaric by many but have made them a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. Warriors of the Dying Light are taught to welcome death, to rejoice in suffering, and to strike at evil when least expected; the moment in which all seems lost. Monks within the sect of the Dying Light take stringent vows when they are initiated into a monastery. These vows gradually teach them to embrace the sensationless void of death, through vows of silence, vows of sightlessness, extreme fasting, and isolation. Some even swear off touch by daily consuming a tincture that numbs their sense of touch. One of the Seven Heroes’ companions, a being known as the Dying Light, was said to have taken vows that allowed her to remove herself from all mortal sensation, and travel between the realms of life and death. Some legends even say she saved Kentigern from death, knowing that it was not yet his time. No monk since has successfully followed in her footsteps. All who deaden their senses have simply died—an event that is nevertheless celebrated by their peers.

All content in this homebrew subclass belongs to Ghostfire Gaming and is part of Raider's Guide to Valika. I do not claim ownership, I'm bringing the subclass to DnD Beyond for ease of use. All features have been left unchanged, only applied to the 2024 monk class.

Level 3: Martial Maneuvers

You have trained in the manner of heroes from the old sagas, and now you can perform certain martial maneuvers. A maneuver requires you to spend maneuver points to use it.
You know three maneuvers of your choice from the list below. You learn additional maneuvers at 5th, 9th, 13th, and 17th level. Each time you learn a maneuver, you can also replace one maneuver you know with a different one you can learn.

Maneuver Points
Channeling the heroes from the old sagas is no easy task, and your pool of maneuver points represents the limit of your abilities to do so. Your class level determines the number of maneuver points you have, as shown in the Maneuver Points column in the Warrior of the Dying Light table below. You regain all spent maneuver points at the end of a long rest.

Transform Ki Points
Your ki can bolster your capacity to use maneuvers. As a bonus action, you can expend 1 ki point to gain 1 additional maneuver point. Up to your proficiency bonus worth of ki points can be converted to maneuver points per long rest. These additional points are lost after a long rest if not used.

Using Maneuvers
You can use one maneuver during each turn. Some maneuvers require concentration, as if concentrating on a spell, or certain conditions to use. Some maneuvers will require your target to make a saving throw to resist the maneuver’s effects.
Martial Maneuver save DC: 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier

Monk Level	Maneuver Points	Maneuvers Known
3rd	6	3
4th	8	3
5th	10	4
6th	12	4
7th	14	4
8th	16	4
9th	18	5
10th	20	5
11th	22	5
12th	24	5
13th	26	6
14th	28	6
15th	30	6
16th	32	6
17th	34	7
18th	36	7
19th	38	7
20th	40	7

 

Dying Light Maneuvers
These maneuvers can be used by anyone who studies the Dying Light saga. The Saga of the Dying Light teaches warriors to accept the inevitable and survive despite hardship. Inspired by the teachings of an ascetic who transcended the realms of life and death, this saga’s maneuvers involve turning a foe’s attacks against them, mirroring their motions, and allowing yourself to be put in harm's way, drawing strength from loss.

Agonizing Lash

The bite of your weapon inflicts incredible pain. When you hit a creature with an attack, you can spend 3 maneuver points to force it to make a Constitution saving throw. On a failure, the creature becomes wracked with agonizing pain until the start of your next turn. While in this state, the creature can’t take reactions, and can only do one of the following on its turn: use its movement, take an action, or take a bonus action. If you use this maneuver with a flail, it deals an extra 2d8 damage.

Bitter Blood

Your blood magically becomes acidic and deadly to others. When a creature within 5 feet of you deals damage to you with a melee weapon attack, you can use your reaction to spend 4 maneuver points to deal the same amount of damage to them as acid damage, and they must make a successful Constitution saving throw or become poisoned until the end of their next turn.

Canticle of Disaster

You chant a hymn of mourning, rhythmically mortifying your flesh with your fingernails. You can spend 3 maneuver points to activate this maneuver as an action and then maintain it by concentrating on it for up to 1 minute. For the duration, whenever a creature you can see within 60 feet makes an attack roll, you can inflict 1d10 points of slashing damage to yourself (no action required) to force it to make the attack roll with disadvantage.

Charge of the Doomed

As an action, you can spend 4 maneuver points to move up to your speed and make one attack with advantage at the end of this movement. This attack deals an extra 2d8 damage per every opportunity attack that targeted you this turn.

Deflect Magic

This technique allows you to deflect harmful magic with your bare hands. When you are hit by a ranged spell attack, you can spend 5 maneuver points to attempt to deflect it as a reaction. When you do so, the damage you take from the attack is reduced by 2d10 + your Dexterity modifier + your level.
If you reduce the damage to 0, you can catch the spell. If you catch a spell in this way, you take 1d4 damage of the type of damage the spell deals per level of the spell. You can then redirect it, choosing a new target within 30 feet and making an attack roll against them using your Dexterity modifier and proficiency bonus.

Final Rapture

The fervor of battle drives you on, allowing you to ignore fatal wounds and endure until the day is won. When you are reduced to 0 hit points, you can spend 10 maneuver points as a reaction to gain the following benefits for the next 1d4 rounds:
• You remain conscious and aren’t incapacitated.
• You are immune to all damage.
• You can use your reaction to end any condition on you as soon as you gain it.
• When you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack, you can end this maneuver early to cause that creature to make a Constitution saving throw. If it fails, it dies. On a success, it takes 10d10 radiant damage.
When this maneuver ends, you die.

Intercepting Throw

You use a hostile creature’s momentum against it, punishing it for the sin of carelessness. As a reaction to a creature hitting you with a melee attack, if your attacker is no more than one size larger than you, you can spend 2 maneuver points to force it to make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failure, the attack misses instead, and the creature falls prone.

Litany of Mortality

If you have half or fewer of your maximum hit points remaining, you can point at one creature you can see within 60 feet as an action, spend 3 maneuver points, and recite a litany that echoes with the sound of dolorous bells. The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or take 1d12 psychic damage, and the next attack made against them before the end of your next turn is made with advantage.

Mark of Anguish

When you hit with a melee attack, you spend pay 3 maneuver points as a reaction to mark the target of your attack with an unsettling glyph where your strike connected. The Mark of Anguish remains for 1 minute or until it’s consumed.
Attacks against a marked creature have advantage. Additionally, a creature marked by this maneuver takes extra radiant damage equal to 2d8 + your Wisdom modifier the next time it’s hit by an attack, after which the mark disappears.

Parting of the Veil

As a bonus action, you can spend 10 maneuver points to you utter a sacred mantra that grows in power as you near death. Each creature that you have attacked this turn that can hear you must make a Charisma saving throw.
On a failed save, a creature suffers an effect based on your current hit points; these effects are cumulative:
• 100 Hit Points or fewer: Disadvantage on the next saving throw it makes before the start of your next turn.
• 50 Hit Points or fewer: Disadvantage on all attack rolls for 1 minute. It can make a Charisma saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success).
• 25 Hit Points or fewer: Vulnerability to one damage type of your choice for 1 minute.
• 10 Hit Points or fewer: Stunned for 1d4 rounds. It can make a Charisma saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success.

Sanguine Charity

The pain you feel reassures you that your sinful nature is being purified, giving you the strength to carry on. As a reaction to taking damage, you can spend 2 maneuver points to gain temporary hit points equal to 1d10 + your level.

Turning of the Wheel

When all seems lost, you spring to your feet with a flourish and knock your enemy down, suddenly reversing the tide of battle. As a reaction to being attacked while you are prone, you can spend 2 maneuver points to target an enemy within range and stand using no movement. If the target creature is Large or smaller, it is knocked prone, and you can make a melee attack against it.

Unnerving Flagellation

Your disregard for your own body disquiets your enemies. As an action, you can spend 2 maneuver points to deal your current weapon’s damage to yourself. Hostile creatures within 60 feet that can see you must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or take the same amount of damage to yourself as psychic damage. If you are using a whip or a flail, creatures make this save with disadvantage.

Level 3: Revelation of Pain

As you lose hit points, you turn the burden of suffering into an advantage. The table below shows what happens as your hit points are reduced. These effects do not stack.

Remaining Hit Points	Effect
Lower than your hit point maximum	You have a +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls with unarmed strikes
Lower than half your hit point maximum	You have a +3 bonus on attack and damage rolls with unarmed strikes.
1 hit point remaining	You have a +5 bonus on attack and damage rolls with unarmed strikes.
0 hit points remaining	As a reaction, you can spend 1 ki point to regain 1 hit point when you are reduced to 0 hit points. You regain this ability when you finish a short rest.

Level 3: Scars of Penance

You gain proficiency with whips and flails. These weapons also count as monk weapons for you. Additionally, when you are wearing no armor and wielding no shield, you revel in the pain of combat. When you take damage from a weapon attack, once per round, you gain a +2 bonus to your AC until the start of your next turn.

Level 6: Mortification

When you are hit by an attack, you can use your reaction and choose to take half damage from the attack. You regain ki points based on the damage resisted, based on the table below:

Damage Absorbed	Ki Points Recovered
5 or less	1
6-10	2
11-20	3
21-30	5
31-50	10
51-100	15
100 or more	20

Once you use this ability, you cannot use it again until you take a short or long rest.

Level 11: Salvation in Sorrow

A voice of redemption spurs you on, driving you to keep fighting even when you are in the pits of agony. If you have fewer hit points than half your hit point maximum (ignoring temporary hit points), you may, as an action, spend ki points to gain temporary hit points. You gain a number of temporary hit points equal 1d10 x the number of ki points you spend.

Level 17: Martyr's Altar

Death is your final act of service. When you die, you release a cry of anguish that shocks your enemies and emboldens your allies. Enemy creatures within 60 feet of you are stunned for one round, and allied creatures within 60 feet of you regain all their hit points.