You learn the way to master Stances each designed with a different purpose to make you the ultimate warrior.

Stances

Info on how stances work.

you can enter a stance only in combat and only as a bonus action unless stated otherwise. You automatically exit out of a stance when out of combat, becoming incapacitated, paralyzed, petrified, restrained or dead the only exception is when you are in Crane Stance use the Gracefull Balance move. You can neither enter a stance while being incapacitated, paralyzed, petrified, restrained or dead. 

You can only be in one stance at a time and once you have entered a different stance all benefits from the previous stance ends including those with durations that apply to you. If a debuff has been set up an enemy that debuff stays even if you switch stance or exit out of a stance.

You cannot use Stunning Strike on any of the attacks that you do from any moves such as Crushing Blow, Drunken Monkey or the like.

Stance Master

Starting at 3rd lvl you learn 2 stances each with their unique moves and attacks, you learn one additionall stance when reaching lvl 6, 11 and 17.

Tiger Stance: The Tiger Style focuses on single attacks with high damage.

Cobra Stance: The Cobra stance focuses on evasion, precise strikes, counterattacks and lowering the defense of your opponents.

Crane Stance: The Crane stance emphasizes rapidity and range, along with the power to free yourself from any bonds.

Monkey Stance: The Monkey stance focuses on many attacks but low damage and crowd control.

Bear Stance: The Bear stance focuses on crowd control and resilience.

 Praying Mantis: The Praying Mantis focuses on fast attacks and deception. 

Bear Stance

• When entering Bear Stance you gain Temporary Hit Points equal to your monk level.
• Crushing Blow: You hit a target with a heavy blow to the head forcing them to the ground while you stand over them keeping them down with blows. As an action spend 2 ki points and make 2 unarmed strikes against the target. In addition to normal damage, if the first attack hit the target must make a strength saving throw getting knocked prone on a failure and if the second attack hits the creature must make another strength saving throw or become restrained, while you have a creature restrained this way your movement is 0. You cannot restrain a creature of larger size then you with this ability. A creature can use its action to make a strength or dexterity vs Ki DC check to break free from being restrained.
• Crippling Claws: You strike at weak points at the legs crippling your opponent making it hard for them to run. When hitting a target with one of your blows from Flurry of blows you may spend 1 ki point for each creature you hit to reduce their speed by 15ft until the end of your next turn. The speed debuff does not stack.

Cobra Stance

• Cobra dance: While being in Cobra stance when a source you can see forces you to make a dexterity saving throw you can use your reaction to gain advantage on that save.
• Quick Bites: When an enemy misses you with a melee attack you can spend 1 ki point to do an unarmed attack against that creature.
• Piercing Bite: When you hit an enemy with 2 unarmed attacks on your turn you can spend 2 ki point to reduce their AC by 1 for the duration of the combat. This debuff cannot stack.
• Retreating Bite: As an action you can spend 2 ki point and all your movement to move back 50ft and take the dodge action, this movement cannot provoke opportunity attacks. In addition while moving you may make one unarmed attack against a creature you passby.

Crane Stance

• Crane Legs: While being in this stance your unarmed attacks have a reach of 10ft.
• Crane Kicks: You may spend a bonus action and 1 ki point to gain the following benefits while in crance stance. Your flurry of blows now has 4 attacks instead of 2 but your damage dice for flurry of blows decreases one step so 1d6 becomes 1d4, 1d8 becomes 1d6 and so forth.
• Gracefull Balance: When a source you can see forces you to make a saving throw or check that would either grapple, restrain or knock you prone you can spend 1 ki point to gain advantage on that roll. This ability can even be used when not in Crane stance but requires you to use your reaction aswell to be able to use it when not in Crane stance.

Monkey Stance

• While in Monkey Stance you gain +10 in movement speed and can get up from the prone condition by only using 5ft of movement.
• Flying Kicks: As an action you can spend 2 ki points to make 6 unarmed strikes against one creature, each hit deals only your 1+dexterity modifier in damage and pushes your target 5ft backward for every 2 attacks that hit. For every 5ft you push your enemy you follow with it 5ft without using any movement. You can only push a creature if it is of one size larger then you or smaller. At any point when doing the 6 attacks you may stop and cancel any upcoming hits or misses (this is so that you are not forced to push both yourself and an opponent over a chasm or the sorts).
• Drunken Monkey: You do a two 360 round house kicks disorienting your target finishing with a barrel spinning kick while laying down on the ground, As an action you can spend 2 ki points to do 3 unarmed attacks. If both of the 2 first attacks hit the creature needs to make a constitution saving throw or become stunned until the end of its next turn. If the final attack hits the creature gets knocked prone. You can only knock a creature prone with this move if it is one size category bigger then you or smaller.

Praying Mantis Stance

• When in Praying mantis stance your movement is reduced to 0 but you gain one additionall martial arts dice in damage against the first creature you hit each of your turns.
• Lightning Strike: As a reaction to getting hit with a melee attack you can spend 2 ki points and use your reaction to turn that hit into a miss in addition you may make 1 unarmed attack against the attacking creature with advantage (this attack can benefit from the Praying Mantis Passive).
• Leaf Cutting Dash: As an action you can spend 1 ki point to dash 10ft towards an enemy without provoking opportunity attacks and make 1 unarmed strike against it the attack deals double your damage modifier but no martial arts dice. You can spend additionall ki to keep on moving and attack, for each additionall ki point spent you can dash again and make unarmed attack again.
• Invisible Retreat: At the start of your movement you can use all of your movement and spend 2 ki points to jump into the air vanish and appear 30ft away immediatelly after the reappearence you take the hide action for free, if you reappear in dim light or darkness you turn invisible until the start of your next turn, if you attack, cast a spell or take damage your invisibility ends.

Tiger Stance

• Tiger Claws: While being in the tiger stance you may add +1 to all damage rolls with unarmed strikes.
• Tiger Strike: As an action you can spend 2 ki points to do an unarmed strike, on a hit instead of your normal unarmed dice damage you deal your unarmed strike damage modifierx4 in damage (this is affected by the bonus from the Tiger Stance passive)
• Tiger Pounce: When first moving on your turn you can expend 2 ki points and use all of your movement to jump 30ft without provoking opportunity attacks, after the jump you do an unarmed attack against a creature within range, in addition to the normal unarmed damage, if the creature is one size bigger then yourself or smaller you force it to make a strength saving throw or be knocked prone.

Stance Switches

Starting at 6th level you learn to switch between stances at a rapid speed choosing 2 at lvl 6 and one additionall at lvl 11 and 17.

Bear Crane

Crushing Crane: Immediately after using Crushing Blow you may switch from Bear to Crane stance.

Slashing Bear: Directly after using your Crane Kicks Flurry of blows in Crane stance you may switch from Crane to Bear stance.

Cobra Bear

Piercing Bear: Immediately after using the Piercing bite from Cobra stance you may instantly switch from Cobra to Bear stance.

Restraining Cobra: Immediately after using Crushing Blow from Bear stance you may instantly switch from Bear to Cobra stance.

Cobra Mantis

Invisible Cobra: Immediatelly after using the Invisible Retreat move and succesfully become invisible you can switch from Praying Mantis to Cobra stance.

Quick Mantis: Immediatelly after hitting two attacks using the Quick bites attack you can switch from Cobra to Praying Mantis stance.

Cobra Monkey

Quick Monkey: Directly after using the quick bites attack from Cobra stance you may immediatelly change from Cobra to Monkey stance.

Drunken Cobra: Directly after using the Drunken Monkey attack from Monkey stance you may immediatelly change from Monkey to Cobra stance.

Crane Cobra

Retreating Crane: Directly after hitting a creature with the attack granted by Retreating Bite you may immediatelly switch from Cobra to Crane stance.

Kicking Cobra: Directly after using your Crane Kicks Flurry of blows in Crane stance you may switch from Crane to Cobra Stance.

Monkey Crane

Monkey Flurry: Immediately after attacking with Flurry of blows using Crane Kicks you can switch from Crane to Monkey Stance.

Flying Crane: Immediately after using the Flying Kicks attack you may switch from Monkey to Crane Stance.

Praying Bear

Hidden Bear: Immediately after using Invisible Retreat and succesfully becoming invisible you may switch from Praying Mantis to Bear Stance.

Clawing Mantis: Immediately after reducing a creatures speed by 15ft using the Crippling Claws attack you may switch from Bear to Praying Mantis Stance.

Praying Monkey

You learn to switch between Monkey and Praying Mantis stance at blinding speeds.

Lightning Monkey: Immediately after hitting a creature with Lightning Strike you may switch from Praying Mantis to Monkey Stance.

Flying Mantis: Immediately after using Flying Kicks you may switch from Monkey to Praying Mantis Stance.

Tiger Cobra

Biting Tiger: Directly after using Retreating Bite and hitting the unarmed attack granted by the move you may immediatelly switch from Cobra to Tiger stance.

Striking Cobra: Directly after hitting a creature with the Tiger strike attack granted by the Tiger stance you may immediatelly switch from Tiger to Cobra Stance.

Tiger Mantis

Hidden Tiger: Immediately after using Invisible retreat and succesfully become invisible you may switch from Praying Mantis to Tiger Stance.

Pouncing Mantis: Immediately after using Pouncing tiger and succesfully knock a creature using the attack granted from the Pouncing tiger move you may switch from Tiger to Praying Mantis stance.

Tiger Monkey

Flying Tiger: Immediately after using the Flying Kicks attack you may switch from Monkey to Tiger Stance.

Pouncing Monkey: Immediately after using the Pouncing Tiger attack you may switch from Tiger to Monkey Stance.

Endless Focus

Starting at lvl 11 you learn to focus both mind and body to regain lost ki and close your wounds in the midst of battle. When you roll Initiative or reduce an enemy to 0hp you regain 1ki point and 3hp this increases to 2ki points and 5hp at level 17.

Stance Finisher

Starting at 17th level you master all stances you know learning Stance finishers a powerfull move that needs certain prerequisite for it be able to used.

Cobra Finisher.

Prerequisite: You need one of the following things to happen to be able to do the Cobra finisher.

• Hitting a minimum of 3 attacks with the Quick bites attack during a single round.
• Reduce 5 targets AC by 1 each using the Piercing Bite attack during combat.
• Kill a creature using the unarmed strike you get from using the Retreating Bite attack.

Cobra Finisher: As an action you can spend 6 Ki points to make one unarmed strike with advantage against a creature. The attack deals damage equal to your monk lvlx5 in addition the creature must make a constitution saving throw or be poisoned for 1d8 turns. After you make this attack hit or miss you exit out of the Cobra Stance.

 

Crane Finisher.

Prerequisite: You must have one of the following things to happen to be able to do the crane finisher.

• Hit a total of 10 flurry of blows attack from using the Crane kicks attack.
• Escape twice using the Gracefull balance ability.

 Crane Finisher: As an action you can spend 6 ki points to do 1 unarmed attack against a creature. the attack deals normal damage and the creature must make a constitution saving throw or be stunned until the end of their next turn. Hit or miss you can then jump of your target landing 50ft away using 0 movement and taking the dash action for free. You exit your stance after the jump.

 

Monkey Finisher.

Prerequisite: You must have atleast one of the following things to happen to be able to do the Monkey Finisher.

• Hit all 6 unarmed attacks using Flying Kicks attack.
• Succesfully stun and knock the same creature prone using the Drunken Monkey attack.

Monkey Finisher: You become infused with incredible adrenaline and power as if the howler monkey god souls is inside you. As a free action on your turn you can spend 6 ki points to gain the following benefits for the current turn.

• You can spend 10ft of your movement to jump 20ft. 
• Your flurry blows now has 6 attacks instead of 2 and your normal action unarmed strikes now has 3 attacks instead of 2.
• When hitting with 3 or more attacks on the same creature it becomes stunned until the end of its next turn.

 

Tiger Finisher.

Prerequisite: You must have the following things to happen for you to be able to use the Tiger finisher.

• Do a total of 50 damage or more during a single turn.

Tiger Finisher: You maul a target with precise powerful strikes each hit becoming more painfull for the target. As an action you can spend 6 ki points and your action to do 4 attacks against your target. For every hit double the damage modifier for the strikes. Example: If a character had 20 in dexterity and hits all four attacks that would mean a +5 dmg on the first hit, then 10, on the third 20 and on the fourth 40. After the four attacks hit or miss exit your stance.

 

Bear Finisher.

Prerequisite: You must have atleast one of the following things to happen for you to be able to use the Bear Finisher.

• Succesfully use Crippling Claws on 4 or more enemies during a single encounter.
• Succesfully use Crippling blow by knocking a creature prone and restraining it.

Bear Finisher: You crack down with you elbow breaking a bone of your enemy. As an action you can spend 6 ki points to force a creature to make a constitution saving throw and take 8d8 bludgeoning damage or half on a success, in addition if they fail they have their movement speed reduced by 15ft permanently this combat and they become stunned until the end of their next turn. Exit out of bear stance immediatelly after the move.

 

Praying Mantis Finisher.

Prerequisite: You must have atleast one of the following things to happen for you to be able to use the Praying Mantis finisher.

• Crit using the attack from Lightning strike.
• Dash through a minimum of 3 enemies and hit all three attacks gained from Leaf Cutting Dash.

Praying Mantis Finisher: As an action you can spend 6 ki points to do 8 unarmed attacks, each attack automatically hits the enemy but only deals your unarmed strike damage modifier in damage, in addition you may dash up to 20ft between each attack without provoking opportunity attacks.

Alternatively you may use all 8 attacks against the same target without dashing immediatelly after critting with the Lightning Strike attack.

Immediately after the 8 attacks exit out of Praying Mantis stance.