Monks of the Way of the Unseen Current draw from the ancient traditions of the Chimivethar explorers, who navigated vast seas and forged bonds with the primal flows of water and life. These early monks, known as the Själbandir (a term blending ancient Elvish roots for "soul" and "bond" with primordial words for "current"), were soul warriors who mastered the hidden rhythms of the ocean's depths and ecosystems. Their techniques emulate the relentless pull of tides, the subtle shifts of undercurrents, and the interconnected web of life beneath the waves—vague, adaptive forces that erode stone, redirect storms, and bind the essence of beings. Practitioners like you channel this legacy through ki, blending fluid evasion with strikes that disrupt the soul's anchor to the body, reflecting the isolation and defiance of sea-faring exiles who adapted to treacherous, ever-changing realms. Your path echoes a history of severed ties and reclaimed power, where laziness in ritual gives way to raw, intuitive mastery, and nihilistic doubt fuels unyielding strikes against fate's chains.

Unseen Flow

At 3rd level, you attune to the subtle currents of the world, allowing your movements to mimic the ocean's elusive grace. You gain the following benefits:

• Slip Current. When you use your Step of the Wind feature, you take both the Disengage and Dash actions simultaneously as part of the same bonus action. Additionally, opportunity attacks against you are made with disadvantage if you moved at least 10 feet on your turn, as your form shifts like water evading grasp.

• Tidal Surge. When you hit a creature with an unarmed strike or monk weapon, you can spend 1 ki point to force it to make a Strength saving throw against your ki save DC. On a failure, it is pushed up to 10 feet away from you or pulled up to 10 feet toward you (your choice), representing the inexorable draw of hidden flows. The distance increases to 15 feet at 11th level and 20 feet at 17th level.

• Soul Echo. You begin to tap into the Själbandir legacy of soul manipulation. As a bonus action, you can spend 1 ki point to sense the emotional state (such as fear, rage, or calm) of one creature you can see within 60 feet. If you have hit that creature with an unarmed strike or monk weapon in the last minute, you also learn its general location if it is within 1 mile of you, even if it is hidden or invisible, as a faint soul-bond lingers like an undercurrent.

Soul Current Strike

Starting at 6th level, you can move in sudden, swaying ways. You gain the following benefits.

Your strikes channel the ancient Själbandir art of disrupting the soul's tether, echoing the Chimivethar's exile and adaptation to volatile seas—where bonds to land and kin were severed, forcing reliance on inner currents of defiance and survival. When you hit a creature with an unarmed strike or monk weapon, you can spend 2 ki points to attempt a Soul Current Strike. The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your ki save DC or have its soul partially dislodged from its body for up to 1 minute (concentration, as if concentrating on a spell).

While its soul is dislodged:

• The target's body falls unconscious and incapacitated, collapsing prone as if in a deep, current-swept trance.

• The soul appears as a translucent, ethereal version of the creature in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of the body. It retains the target's statistics but can't take actions or reactions, move more than 30 feet from its body, or interact with objects. It is immune to all damage except psychic or force, and it can communicate telepathically with creatures within 30 feet.

• At the end of each of its turns, the soul can attempt a Wisdom saving throw against your ki save DC to return to its body, ending the effect on a success.

If the body takes damage or is moved more than 30 feet from the soul, the effect ends immediately, and the soul snaps back. If the soul is reduced to 0 hit points, it dissipates, killing the creature instantly. The effect also ends if you lose concentration or if the soul willingly returns (no action required).

This feature embodies your people's transformation into sea elves: a defiant severing of anchors, mirroring their isolation on trembling shores and the lazy disdain for rigid rituals, replaced by fluid, nihilistic strikes that question the soul's very hold on existence.

Unseen Wave

At 6th level, You channel the ocean's sweeping power to disrupt foes from afar, your ki manifesting as a spectral wave that crashes with the force of the sea. As an action, you can substitute one of your attacks from the Attack action to unleash a spectral wave targeting one creature you can see within 30 feet. The target must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw against your ki save DC or be knocked prone as the wave sweeps it off its feet. Alternatively, you can choose to shove the creature 10 feet in any direction of your choice (no save required), as the wave redirects its momentum like an undercurrent. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum 1), regaining expended uses after a long rest.

Deep Current Mastery

Starting at 11th level, your command of unseen flows deepens, allowing you to weave the ecosystem's interconnected forces into your ki. You gain the following benefits:

• Ecosystem Bond. When you use your Soul Echo feature, you can spend an additional 1 ki point to extend the sense to all creatures within 30 feet of the target, detecting their emotional states and forming faint soul-bonds. This reveals hidden alliances or deceptions, granting you advantage on your next Insight check against any of them within 1 minute.

• Enhanced Soul Current. When you use Soul Current Strike, the dislodged soul's saving throw DC increases by an amount equal to half your proficiency bonus (rounded down). Additionally, while concentrating on the effect, you can spend 1 ki point as a bonus action to force the soul to move up to 15 feet in a direction of your choice, pulling it through the ethereal currents like prey in an undersea web.

• Resilient Tide. Your body adapts like the sea elves' enduring exile, granting you resistance to cold and force damage and the ability to ignore difficult terrain caused by water or natural growth. Once per turn when you take damage, you can spend 1 ki point to reduce it by an amount equal to your Wisdom modifier + your monk level, as ki flows like a protective current.

Eternal Current Ascendance

At 17th level, you embody the pinnacle of Själbandir mastery, your ki a boundless current that severs souls with the finality of ancient exiles cast adrift. You gain the following benefits:

• Unbreakable Flow. Your Slip Current now causes opportunity attacks against you to automatically miss if you moved at least 20 feet on your turn. Additionally, you can spend 2 ki points as a reaction when you or an ally within 30 feet is hit by an attack to redirect it like a tidal shift, forcing the attacker to reroll the attack and use the lower result.

 

• Soul Severance. When you use Soul Current Strike, you can spend an additional 2 ki points (4 total) to make the dislodgement permanent until dispelled (as by a greater restoration spell or similar magic). The soul's saving throw to return now has disadvantage, and on a failed save at the end of its turn, it takes 4d6 psychic damage from the strain of separation. If the soul is reduced to 0 hit points, the body dies, and the soul is cast into an ethereal void, echoing the Chimivethar's eternal drift and your own nihilistic defiance—questioning whether any bond, even to one's self, is truly unbreakable.

 

• Current Legacy. As an action, you can spend 4 ki points to commune with the ancestral currents of the Själbandir for 1 minute. During this time, you gain truesight out to 60 feet and can sense the location and emotional state of any creature with a soul within 1 mile. This reflects the sea elves' adaptation: a lazy scorn for divine hiding places, transformed into an intuitive, defiant grasp of hidden truths buried in the depths.