Stillhand

Stillhands are assassins who study the body as carefully as others study the blade. Through rigorous training, they learn the location of nerves, joints, arteries, and other vital points, allowing a precisely placed strike to cripple an opponent as easily as another might draw blood.

To a novice Stillhand, these techniques are matters of anatomy and practiced precision. With experience, however, they begin to perceive something deeper. Every creature possesses pathways through which its vital essence flows, and these hidden meridians can be disrupted just as readily as flesh and bone.

A Stillhand does not overwhelm a victim through brute force. Each strike is deliberate, testing defenses and compromising vital points until the assassin understands exactly where the final blow must fall. By the time a master Stillhand delivers their killing stroke, the victim's fate may have been decided several strikes earlier.

Level 3: Vital Anatomy

Your study of anatomy has taught you that precision is often deadlier than force. You know how to identify vulnerable nerves, joints, organs, and other vital structures and exploit them with deadly accuracy.

You gain proficiency in the Medicine skill. If you already have proficiency in Medicine, you gain proficiency in another skill of your choice from the Rogue's skill list.

In addition, you can use Dexterity in place of Wisdom when making a Medicine check to examine a creature's anatomy, injuries, cause of death, or physical vulnerabilities.

Level 3: Pressure Points

You have learned to target vital points within a creature's body, sacrificing immediate damage to prepare it for a killing blow.

When you hit a creature with an attack to which you can apply your Sneak Attack, you can use one Pressure Point Technique you know. Each technique requires you to sacrifice a specified number of Sneak Attack dice. Sacrificed dice aren't rolled as part of the attack's Sneak Attack damage. You can sacrifice all your Sneak Attack dice in this way.

For each Sneak Attack die sacrificed, the target gains one Vital Mark, and the sacrificed die becomes an Execution Die stored in that mark. An Execution Die is a d6.

A creature can bear a maximum of three of your Vital Marks. You can't sacrifice more Sneak Attack dice for a Pressure Point Technique than the number of additional Vital Marks the target can receive.

The target makes a Constitution saving throw against your Pressure Point save DC. On a failed save, it suffers the chosen technique's effect. On a successful save, it doesn't suffer that effect, but the Vital Marks are still placed. The technique's effects occur immediately after the triggering attack's damage is resolved.

Pressure Point Save DC = 8 + your Dexterity modifier + your Proficiency Bonus

You can use only one Pressure Point Technique per Sneak Attack. If you also use Cunning Strike, all sacrificed dice are taken from the same Sneak Attack damage dice, and you must pay each effect's cost separately.

Vital Marks. Your Vital Marks last for 1 minute. Only one creature can bear your Vital Marks at a time. If you place a Vital Mark on another creature, all your Vital Marks on the previous creature immediately disappear. When a Vital Mark disappears without being consumed by a feature, its stored Execution Die is lost.

Pressure Point Techniques. You know the following techniques:

Nerve Strike (1 Die). You strike a cluster of nerves responsible for the target's reflexes. On a failed save, the target can't take Reactions until the start of your next turn.

Crippling Strike (1 Die). You strike a joint, tendon, muscle, or similar structure responsible for movement. On a failed save, the target's Speed is halved until the start of your next turn.

Disrupting Strike (2 Dice). You strike a vital point responsible for muscular coordination. On a failed save, the target has Disadvantage on attack rolls until the start of your next turn.

Concussive Strike (2 Dice). You strike a vulnerable point that briefly disrupts the target's senses. On a failed save, the target can't take Bonus Actions until the start of your next turn, and the next attack roll made against it before then has Advantage.

Level 3: Killing Stroke

Once you have mapped enough of a creature's vital points, you can exploit the weaknesses created by your previous strikes to deliver a devastating blow.

When you hit a creature bearing three of your Vital Marks with an attack to which you apply your Sneak Attack, you can consume all three marks to perform a Killing Stroke.

Roll the three Execution Dice stored in those marks and add the total to the attack's damage. This additional damage is the same type as the triggering attack's damage.

Execution Dice aren't Sneak Attack dice when rolled as part of Killing Stroke, and they aren't doubled on a Critical Hit.

Level 9: Advanced Pressure Points

Your understanding of the body's vital systems allows you to disable your victims with increasingly dangerous precision. You gain the following Pressure Point Techniques, which follow the rules of your Pressure Points feature.

Sensory Strike (2 Dice). You strike a vital point connected to the target's senses. On a failed Constitution saving throw, the target has the Blinded condition until the start of your next turn.

Meridian Lock (2 Dice). You disrupt the signals controlling the target's movement. On a failed Constitution saving throw, the target's Speed becomes 0, and it can't take Reactions until the start of your next turn.

Breathless Strike (2 Dice). You strike a point responsible for breathing, speech, or an equivalent function. On a failed Constitution saving throw, the target can't speak or provide the Verbal component of spells until the start of your next turn. In addition, the next Constitution saving throw it makes to maintain Concentration before then is made with Disadvantage.

Level 9: Exploit Opening

Your careful study of a marked opponent allows you to recognize and exploit even the smallest mistake in its defenses.

When a creature bearing one or more of your Vital Marks misses you with an attack roll while it is within 30 feet of you, you can use your Reaction to make one attack against that creature with a Finesse or Ranged weapon, provided the creature is within the weapon's range.

If the attack qualifies for your Sneak Attack, you can use a Pressure Point Technique as normal.

Level 13: Meridian Mastery

Your mastery of anatomy has revealed a network of vital energy beneath flesh and bone. You can perceive and disrupt these pathways even in creatures whose bodies bear little resemblance to your own.

Your Stillhand features can affect creatures regardless of their anatomy or creature type. A creature's lack of conventional organs, nerves, or other physical vulnerabilities doesn't prevent it from being affected by these features, though its normal condition immunities still apply.

In addition, while you can see a creature bearing one or more of your Vital Marks, you know whether its current Hit Points are above half its Hit Point maximum, at or below half its Hit Point maximum, and whether it has 50 Hit Points or fewer.

You don't learn the creature's exact number of Hit Points.

Meridian Severance

You can sever the vital pathways you have mapped within a creature, sacrificing the lethal force of your Killing Stroke to temporarily shut down its body.

When you would perform a Killing Stroke, you can instead consume the three Vital Marks to perform a Meridian Severance. The Execution Dice stored in those marks are lost.

The target must make a Constitution saving throw against your Pressure Point save DC. On a failed save, the target has the Stunned condition until the start of your next turn. On a successful save, its Speed is halved and it can't take Reactions until the start of your next turn.

Death's Touch

You have learned to do more than exploit a creature's vital points. With a precise sequence of strikes, you can sever the pathways that sustain its life.

When you perform a Killing Stroke, you can turn it into a Death's Touch, forcing the target to make a Constitution saving throw against your Pressure Point save DC.

On a failed save, roll a number of additional d6s equal to the number of Sneak Attack dice granted by your Rogue level and add the total to the damage of the Killing Stroke. These additional dice aren't doubled on a Critical Hit.

If the damage from the triggering attack and Death's Touch leaves the target with 50 Hit Points or fewer, it dies.

On a successful save, the target takes the normal damage of your Killing Stroke.

Once you use Death's Touch, you can't use it again until you finish a Short or Long Rest.