Monks of the Way of the Gentle Spirit treat combat not as a desperate struggle to survive, but as a dialogue between two turbulent souls. Whether through peaceful discussion or fierce battle, these monks aim to reconcile conflicts between hostile parties, calm intense emotions, and turn furious foes into docile, reasonable people.
    Practitioners of this tradition learn to conserve their energy in battle, using only the barest movements necessary to evade attacks, and striking back as they move aside. Despite the intensity of battle, monks of the Gentle Spirit are trained to remain calm and focused in combat, preferring to respond to a foe’s aggression rather than attempt to overwhelm the foe themselves. Sword swings are met with strikes to the wrists, sailing arrows are caught and tossed to the ground, and swift spells are dodged at the last second as these monks turn the enemies’ momentum against them.

Bonus Proficiencies

While training for this tradition, you studied the intricate system of nerves and pressure points in creatures. At 3rd level, you gain proficiency in the Medicine skill if you aren't already proficient in it. If you are already proficient in Medicine, you learn a different skill of your choice.

Gentle Technique

Also at 3rd level, you can weaken a creature by manipulating their ki through your strikes. Whenever you hit a creature with two unarmed strikes before the start of your next turn, you impose one of the following effects on the creature, which lasts until the end of your next turn or until you use this feature on the same creature again:

- The creature must make a Constitution saving throw. On a failure, it deals half damage on attacks which use its Strength or Dexterity modifier.
- The creature has disadvantage on Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution checks and saving throws (choose one ability).
- The creature’s speed is reduced by half, and it cannot take the Dash, Disengage, or Dodge actions.

You can apply an effect to more than one creature at once. You can’t apply multiple copies of the same effect on a single creature, but you can apply different effects on that creature.

Karmic Retribution

At 3rd level, you learn how to counter attacks against you with uncanny speed. Whenever a creature attacks you, you can use your reaction to make a melee attack against that creature. You can make this attack after the creature hits or misses you, but before any damage is calculated or any other effects take place. If you would apply a Gentle Technique effect on the creature with this attack, the feature’s effect is applied before the damage from the creature’s attack is calculated.

Peace of Mind

Starting at 6th level, you learn how to create an air of tranquility around you, using your ki to affect creatures’ moods. As an action, you can spend 2 ki points to cast the calm emotions spell, centered on yourself. If you cast the spell in this way, the radius only extends out to 10 feet. This suppression only lasts as long as a chosen creature remains in the radius. The spell ends after 1 minute, or when you break concentration (as if concentrating on a spell). You can also end the effect voluntarily.
    The radius of this feature increases to 20 feet at 11th level, and 30 feet at 17th level.

Tranquil Touch

Beginning at 11th level, you can calm a creature’s mood by tapping directly into their ki. This manipulation can even influence them to make them friendly to you.
    As an action, you can spend 2 ki points to touch a creature, ending the charmed or frightened condition on them, or charming the creature. An unwilling creature must make a Wisdom saving throw against your Ki save DC.
    If you attempt to charm a creature with this feature and the creature fails its save, it becomes charmed by you for 1 hour. While charmed, the creature cannot attack you or any creatures you designate. The charm ends early if you or a creature you designated as a non-target deals damage to the charmed creature. If the creature takes damage from any other source, it can repeat its Wisdom saving throw, ending the charmed condition on a success. If a creature succeeds on its Wisdom saving throw, or when the charmed condition ends for it, that creature is immune to this feature from all monks for 24 hours.

Untouchable

At 17th level, you have become a master of defense, able to avoid almost all earthly assaults. As long as you are not incapacitated, you can turn any critical hit against you into a normal hit, and any effects triggered by a critical hit are canceled.
    In addition, if an attack would hit you, you can use your reaction to spend 5 ki points to force the attack to miss (unless it would have been a critical hit). If you fail a Strength or Dexterity saving throw, you can spend the same amount to instead succeed on the save.