Way of the Homeward Blade

Monks of the Way of the Homeward Blade usually follow a traditional style of swordplay where violence is as natural as breathing, being an encouraged force of power.

In worlds such as the Forgotten Realms, they can be found through a mercenary band prowling the seas, the Azure Cloths, lending their blades to whatever combat is worthier. In others such as Eberron, this fighting style was born on the battlefield by berzerkers who had finally internalized their aggression, learning to let it go in violent outbursts aimed at others.

A subclass by The Undertomes, inspired by Project Moon's Limbus Company, specifically Intervallo V: Yield My Flesh To Claim Their Bones. Ideas and class features adapted from Bamboo-Hatted Kim, mentor and leader of the Blade Lineage.

Level 3: Swordplay of the Homeland

At 3rd level, you've honed your swordplay enough that you feel confident in representing your homeland, creed or wherever you've gained your style in combat without the risk of disgracing it. As such, you gain proficiency with Longswords, also treating them as if they had the Finesse property, as you may chose to wield them with grace instead of sheer force. You also may use your Flurry of Blows while wielding a slashing weapon, and you may choose to deal slashing damage instead of bludgeoning. (Note: This does NOT change the hit dice of Flurry of Blows.)

Additionally, you gain access to Swordplay Techniques, special abilities that you may employ at the cost of Ki Points as shown in the following:

Draw of the Sword. By spending your bonus action and one Ki point, you enter a stance with your sword sheathed. When you do so, when you take the Attack action, you forgo any additional attacks you might have, instead adding one roll of your Martial Arts die for each attack you have foregone on your next damage roll.

Upon reaching 6th level, slashing damage caused while using this Technique surpasses resistance to slashing damage, instead being dealt normally, and if the target would be immune to slashing damage, it is considered resistant to it instead.

Remembrance of Blades. By spending a bonus action and one Ki point, you take a moment to briefly steel yourself, sinking your thoughts into the teachings of your homeland and poising yourself up. You gain an amount of Poise equal to your proficiency bonus.

Acupuncture. When you would perform a Flurry of Blows, you may spend an additional Ki point to use the movement of your blade to better ready yourself for more magnanimous slashing. Whenever you land a hit during this Flurry of Blows, the effects of Poise do not trigger, however you gain one Poise for each successful hit.

Level 3: Poised Breathing

Also at 3rd level, you begin to study breathing techniques to focus your strikes with deadly accuracy. You are able to gain the Poise condition.

Poise is a condition that grants you the ability to perform a Posture Critical hit, of which you do by rolling a 19 on attack, before adding any modifiers. This threshold is reduced by each additional Stack of Poise you have after the first, up to four (triggering a critical hit on a roll of 16 or higher) and being reduced by half when you land a Posture Critical hit. When this effect is triggered, you deal an additional 1d6 damage on a hit of the type equal to your attack's damage type per stack of Poise on yourself. If you have 6 or more stacks of Poise, you deal an extra d6 of damage for each stack above 6. (i.e. at 6 stacks, you start adding 2d6 for each stack.) Outside of additional effects from class features, you gain 1 Poise at the start of every odd-numbered turn.

Level 6: Unrelenting Willpower

By the time you reach 6th level you've learnt that despite any shortcomings of the moment that a lack of hesitation may bring, to truly hone your style you must face troubles head on. As such, when you would attempt an attack roll or a skill check, before rolling, you may declare that you are performing this action Without Relent. When doing so, you gain a bonus modifier equal to two rolls of your Martial Arts die. If the roll is still a failure, however, you suffer the side-effects of such relentlessness, hurting yourself in the process, you take an amount of d4 in damage equal to half the difference between the DC of the skill check or AC of the creature you tried to hit compared to your roll without the Martial Arts die bonus. This damage cannot be reduced in any way and is considered either slashing or psychic damage, whichever is most appropriate being determined by the DM.

Level 11: Yield My Flesh

Upon reaching 11th level, the scars you've gained are a testament to your fearlessness, and the wounds to be fuel your outward agression. When you suffer a critical hit or when you take damage that is equal to or greater than a third of your maximum hit points in one attack, rounded down, you may spend 3 Ki Points to perform the To Claim Their Bones action, as described in the following:

To Claim Their Bones. There is no anguish you can't stand, and there is no pain you won't let out through your blade. By spending your reaction when you would be able to use To CLaim Their Bones, you perform four devastating swipes of your blade, rolling to hit every creature within a 15-ft wide, 5-ft long rectangle of you, with each attack roll being treated as if attempting to hit each individual creature within the area. The damage dealt by this attack is equal to two rolls of your Martial Arts Die plus one additional Martial Arts Die per hit after the first attack of this reaction and its damage type is slashing. For each 4 stacks of Poise on you, the area of effect of To Claim Their Bones increases by an additional 5-ft to the sides and an additional 5-ft in front of you, to a maximum of becoming a 25-ft wide, 15-ft long rectangle.

Additionally, as long as you have two Ki Points or more remaining, you may choose to keep on fighting even when your body would fail you. When you would be reduced below one hit point, you may choose to spend two Ki Points you may choose to remain at one hit point until the start of your next turn instead. At the end of combat, you gain one point of Exhaustion for each time you avoided falling below one hit point like this.

Level 17: Memento Mori

Where your fellows may have perished, you lie there in remembrance of them. Where one would falter near death, you only grow stronger. At 17th level and onward, you only find your resolve boldened through the edge of death. As such, when you are below three fourths of your maximum hit points (rounded down), you gain a +1 to hit and a +1 to your damage rolls. This bonus increases for each additional fourth of missing hit points.

If you have only a single hit point left, you instead gain a +4 to hit and a +4 to your damage rolls, also delivering a critical hit on a dice result of 19 or 20. This stacks with Poise, resulting in a Critical threshold of 15 at 4 Poise.