Witches and monks of the Way of the Specter walk the razor’s edge between life and death. Through years of grueling physical discipline and occult study, they undergo a covenant ritual in which their souls are briefly severed from their bodies and sent to the realm of the dead. Most do not return whole—if they return at all. Those who survive bear a permanent mark of their passage: hands twisted by spectral power, half-living conduits for the spirits they channel.

By binding their bodies to these restless spirits, monks of this tradition learn to weaken enemies with ghostly strikes, draining their vitality and feeding upon their essence. Their movements are fluid and otherworldly, their blows charged with whispers from beyond the veil. As their mastery grows, they can manipulate the very soul of their foes, unraveling body and mind alike through spiritual corruption.

Those who follow this path are feared even among other witches. They are living revenants, walking the line between mortal and spirit—guardians of balance, or harbingers of decay.

Weakening blows

When you hit a creature with an unarmed strike or monk weapon, you can spend 1 ki point to force it to make a Constitution saving throw.
On a failed save, the creature gains 1 level of exhaustion as spiritual energy from your strike saps its vitality.

You can spend 1 ki point per attack to repeat this effect, but no creature can have more than three levels of exhaustion from this feature.

At the end of each of the affected creature’s turns, it loses one level of exhaustion gained from this ability.

Death Spiral

At 6th level, you learn to twist the spiritual energy you’ve infused into a creature’s body, causing internal agony that mirrors their fading vitality. Whenever you hit a creature with an unarmed strike or monk weapon that currently has at least one level of exhaustion from your Weakening Blows feature, you deal extra damage equal to one additional Martial Arts die per level of exhaustion affecting the target. For example, a target with two levels of exhaustion takes two extra Martial Arts dice of damage. This bonus damage represents the spirits tearing at their weakened essence

Siphoned Life

At 11th level, your mastery over spectral energy allows you to steal life itself. Whenever you use your Weakening Blows feature to inflict a level of exhaustion on a creature, you regain hit points equal to the damage you dealt with that attack.

You can use this ability a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum 1). You regain all expended uses after finishing a long rest.

Siphoned Essence

At 17th level, your mastery of spectral manipulation lets you wound the essence of your foes. Choose one ability score other than Constitution when you use this feature. When you hit a creature with an unarmed strike, you can spend 5 ki points to force that creature to make a saving throw using that ability score.

If the creature isn’t surprised, it makes the saving throw with advantage. On a failed save, you roll your Martial Arts die, and the target’s chosen ability score is reduced by half of the roll (rounded down).

While reduced to 0 in that ability score, the creature automatically fails ability checks and saving throws tied to that ability. You must maintain concentration on this feature as though concentrating on a spell. The effect ends early if you lose concentration, either you or the target reach 0 HP, or 1 minute passes.

You can use this ability a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum 1), and you regain all uses after a long rest. Whether the target succeeds or fails, you can’t target the same creature with this feature again until after you finish a long rest.