Shifters walk a precarious path between the beast within and the person without. Uneasily accepted in humanoid societies, too humanoid for monstrous societies, not carrying the full stigma of a lycanthrope yet not having the full privileges of being a humanoid. This duality often pushes shifters into one of two paths - subdue their inner beast and strive to integrate into civilized society, or segregate themselves away with others of their kind.

 

Some however forge their own path forward, finding a way to fully embrace both sides, and unifying them into a balanced and powerful force, following The Way of the Shifting Beast. 

 

Followers of the Way move freely between humanoid and shifter societies, knowing themselves so fully that the precarious path becomes a broad road. 

 

They encourage other shifters to join them in their studies, taking apprentices, and guiding them in the monastic traditions. 

 

Catch Their Scent

Beginning at 3rd level in this tradition, extended close combat with your foe allows you to Catch Their Scent, granting you insight about their combat ability. Whenever you hit a creature with one of the attacks granted by your Flurry of Blows, you learn the following attributes about the target: Damage Vulnerabilities, Damage Resistances, Damage Immunities, and Condition Immunities. Catching their Scent also marks them as analyzed.

 

Whenever an analyzed creature misses you with an attack, you can immediately use your reaction to make an unarmed melee attack against that creature. This benefit lasts until you finish a short or long rest.

Knowledge of the Wilds

Beginning at 3rdlevel, you’ve undergone extensive introspection and training, unifying with your inner beast. You learn to speak with animals akin to your inner beast, and you gain proficiency with  the following skills: Survival, and  Nature.

 

Force into submission

 

If you manage to hit a single creature with two or more attacks in one round, you can impose one of the following effects on that target:

• It must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or be knocked prone.
• It must make a Strength saving throw. If it fails, you can push it up to 15 feet away from you.
• It can’t take reactions until the end of your next turn.

Persistent Vigilance

Starting at 11th level, you’ve honed your awareness and reflexes through persistent training . Once per turn, if you’ve already taken your reaction, you may spend 1 ki point to take an additional reaction.

One with the Beast

You gain the ability to shift into your partial beast form additional times per short rest.  You can shift an additional number of times equal to your constitution modifier (minimum +1)..

Weaken Foe

Upon reaching 17th level, you’ve gained the knowledge to temporarily lower a creature’s fortitude by striking a series of pressure points. Whenever you hit a creature with one of the attacks granted by your Flurry of Blows, you can spend 3 ki points to cause the creature to suffer a vulnerability to a damage type of your choice for 1 minute, or until they take damage of that type. A creature who is affected by this feature cannot be affected by it again for 24 hours.

Viscous Shake

When you hit with an unarmed strike, you can spend 3 ki points to viciously shake the target, the after-effects which last for {{classlevel#unsigned}} days. As an action you can end the shaking and the creature must make a CON saving throw (DC {{savedc:wis}}). If it fails, it is reduced to 0 HP. If it succeeds, it tikes 10d10 necrotic damage.

You can have only one creature under the effect of this feature at a time. You can choose to end the shaking harmlessly without using an action.