Way of the Kensei
Monks of the Way of the Kensei train relentlessly with their weapons, to the point where the weapon becomes an extension of the body. Founded on a mastery of sword fighting, the tradition has expanded to include many different weapons.
Whatever the weapon, the kensei views it as a tool used to express the beauty and precision of the martial arts. That such mastery makes a kensei a peerless warrior is but a side effect of intense devotion, practice, and study.
Initiate of Blade and Bow
3rd-level Way of the Kensei feature
You have focused your training less on fist and foot and more on blade and bow. You gain proficiency with all melee weapons that lack the heavy property and all ranged weapons that lack the loading property. They count as monk weapons for you.
Additionally, you gain the following benefits:
- Agile Parry. Your training in the way of the blade has given you a new way to defend yourself. When you are targeted by a melee attack, you can use your Patient Defense as a reaction, including against the triggering attack, potentially causing it to miss you.
- Kensei's Shot. Your training in the way of the bow has allowed you to make your ranged attacks deadlier. You can use a bonus action to cause your ranged monk weapons to deal extra damage equal to your martial arts dice until the end of the current turn.
Extension of the Body
6th-level Way of the Kensei feature
Your weapons have become suffused with your ki, granting you a number of benefits:
- Agile Riposte. You have learned the art of deflecting and striking in a single, fluid motion. When you use your Patient Defense, if it causes a melee attack to miss you, you can spend 1 ki point to make a melee weapon attack against the attacking creature as a reaction, or as part of the same reaction if you used your Agile Parry feature.
- Ki-Imbued Weapons. The ki you have infused into your monk weapons allows them to cleave through even the toughest hides. Your attacks with your monk weapons count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.
- Return to Sender. You have learned to draw out the maximum potential of your bows. When you use your Deflect Missiles feature to make a ranged attack while holding a ranged monk weapon, the ranged attack uses the range of your weapon instead.
Fluid Aggression
11th-level Way of the Kensei feature
You have honed your weapon skills to such a degree that you can deliver rapid attacks in the blink of an eye, granting you the following benefits:
- Flurry of Steel. When you use your Flurry of Blows, you can use a monk weapon instead of an unarmed strike for the bonus attacks.
- Volley. You spend 2 ki points to make a ranged attack against any number of creatures within 10 feet of a point you can see within your weapon's range. You must have ammunition for each target, as normal, and you make a separate attack roll for each target.
- Whirlwind Attack. You can spend 2 ki points to make a separate melee weapon attack against any number of creatures within your movement speed, moving between each attack. This consumes your movement as normal, but you do not provoke opportunity attacks. You can only target each creature once.
Unerring Accuracy
17th-level Way of the Kensei feature
Your mastery of weapons grants you incredible accuracy. If you make an attack roll with a monk weapon and miss, you can reroll it. You can only reroll one attack on each of your turns.
Additionally, when you hit with an attack using a monk weapon, you can spend 1 ki point to deal additional damage equal to your martial arts dice. You add additional martial arts dice to the damage roll for each additional ki point spent beyond the first.
