dungeonstrugglers

Monk: Way of the Sunken Path (Playtest)

Added 2022-01-25 23:31:58 +0000 UTC

Ahoy Strugglers!

I am very excited to announce our first-ever Dungeon Strugglers subclass: Way of the Sunken Path. This monastic tradition for monks focuses on fortitude, battlefield control, and a mingling of body and spirit with elemental earth and stone.

Keep in mind: This is playtest material. I'm eager to release it to you now, before we make the subclass art and final adjustments, so that you can help balance it with your feedback. Most of the features require your monk to be on the ground to use them, so if your campaign is going to be at sea or flying around on clouds, etc. it might not be right for you.

I can't wait to hear your thoughts and experiences if you do play it!
Cheers,
August & Tom

Design goals: I'm a big fan of the 5e monk, having played it for the majority of my characters over the years. That said, the monk class has some issues filling the roles that it claims to excel at. My goal with this subclass was to allow monk players to truly embody the frontline brawler. This means more defensive capability, and a bit more damage output (particularly at higher levels due to the monk's poor damage scaling). I also wanted to reduce the monk's Multi-Ability score-Dependency by shifting its Unarmored Defense and Ki save DC over to Constitution, allowing a player to focus on their Dexterity and Constitution scores.
       I think the Body of Stone and Earthen Might are really the primary selling points for the subclass, however the Sunken Sight and Walker of the Sunken Path have massively game-changing potential for infiltration and enemy detection. Earth Shift and Stone's Embrace fall into the battlefield control toolkit, allowing you to debuff or completely disable enemies from range (as long as they are on the ground).
       Keeping the feel and mechanics of the class cohesive was another goal. Having multiple abilities play off of your tremorsense, which increases in range as you progress, will hopefully feel like your power is growing exponentially as you level up.
       -August