Way of Maladies

Monks of the Way of Maladies use their expertise in anatomy to deliver devastating blows to their foes’ weak points. These monks’ opponents often find themselves gradually weakened by well-places strikes until they are rendered unable to fight back, leaving them to suffer a slow death at the monk’s fists.

Frequently found in monasteries alongside monks of Mercy or The Long Death, these monks often dissect their fallen enemies, learning about the intricacies of their bodies and applying this knowledge in future combat, where they can debilitate creatures, one strike at a time.

Master of Maladies

When you choose this tradition at 3rd level, you gain proficiency in the Medicine skill and the poisoner’s kit.

Dreadful Strikes

Also at 3rd level, you learn to use your ki to debilitate your opponents with precise strikes. Whenever you hit a creature with one of the attacks granted by your Flurry of Blows, you can impose one of the following effects on that target, instead of dealing damage:

• You strike the target’s sensory organs. It becomes blinded and deafened until the end of its next turn.
• You strike the muscles that carry your target’s weight. It is knocked prone.
• You strike the muscles the target uses for locomotion. Its speed becomes 0 until the end of its next turn.

You can spend 1 ki point to use this feature with every unarmed strike on your turn.

Superior Stunning Strike

Beginning at 6th level, you have become a master of disrupting the flow of ki within your foes. When a creature is stunned by your Stunning Strike, you can spend 1 ki point to extend the duration of the stunned condition to 1 minute. The stunned creature can repeat its saving throw at the end of each of your turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

Deadening Blows

At 11th level, you learn to target your foes’ nervous system, with devastating results. When you make an unarmed strike, you can spend 1 ki point. If the attack hits, the target suffers one of the following effects, instead of taking damage:

• You strike nerves that control the target’s movement. It becomes paralyzed until the end of its next turn.
• You strike the nerves that transmit pain, causing the target to be overcome with agony. It falls prone and is incapacitated until the end of its next turn.
• You deal a devastating blow to the target’s brain, causing it to briefly shut down. It becomes unconscious for 1 minute, until it takes damage, or someone uses an action to shake it awake.

Fist of Certain Doom

At 17th level, you can imbue your strikes with power the pierces both the body and mind. When you hit a creature with an unarmed strike, you can spend 1 ki point to attempt to debilitate it. The creature must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or be affected for 1 minute. An affected target’s speed in halved, and it has disadvantage on attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws. If the target tries to cast a spell, it must first succeed on a Constitution saving throw, as if to maintain concentration, or the casting fails and the spell is wasted. An affected target can make a Constitution saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success.