Monk - Way of Steel

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## Monastic Tradition

### Way of Steel
Most monks are agile and speedy warriors, favoring precise strikes over a knight's clumsy chops. But some monks find the protection of heavy armor indispensable — while most threats can be dodged, some must simply be withstood. The Way of Steel is for monks who are willing to don heavy armor and take up the shield. They still follow tenets of monastic practice, but believe in a powerful defense rather than a nimble one.

Way of Steel monks have no particularly tendency in their backgrounds. They are perhaps slightly more likely to have martial experience, or be related to those who do; the Way of Steel makes sense for a monk who nonetheless wants to wear her family's heirloom armor. Similarly, alignment does not govern who takes up the Way of Steel, only combat philosophy.

#### Way of {subclass-name} Features
| Monk Level  | Feature |
|:---:|:-----------|
|  3rd | Iron Discipline, Armored Warrior |
|  6th | Iron Fist, Awakened Steel |
| 11th | Ironclad Resilience |
| 17th | Brutal Defense |

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#### Iron Discipline
At 3rd level, you connect your monastic techniqued to armored combat. You gain the following benefits:
* You gain proficiency in light, medium, and heavy armor.
* You can use your Martial Arts and Unarmored Movement features while wearing armor, but Unarmored Movement's speed bonus is halved.
* You can use your Strength in place of Dexterity for your Deflect Missiles feature.
* You gain proficiency in smith's tools.

#### Armored Warrior
Also at 3rd level, you adapt your martial techniques to take advantage of your armor. You can use your Deflect Missiles feature to reduce the damage from any weapon attack, including melee attacks. After you reduce the damage from a melee attack, you can spend 1 ki to make one unarmed strike against the attacker as part of the same reaction.

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> ##### But I Could Already Do That?
> If you're playing an edition where monks can already deflect melee attacks (2024E, say, or 5E++), then consider the following buff to Armored Warrior: you can add one roll of your martial arts die to the damage of the retaliatory attack.

#### Iron Fist
At 6th level, you focus your skills towards punishing disadvantaged enemies. The first time on your turn you hit with a melee attack against a creature that is grappled, prone, or stunned, you deal bonus damage equal to one roll of your martial arts die.

#### Awakened Steel
Also at 6th level, you connect your soul to your armor in a profound way. While you are wearing and attuned to magical armor, you can apply that armor's magic bonus to the attack and damage rolls of your unarmed strikes.

In addition, while you are wearing armor and not wearing a shield, you can add your Wisdom modifier to your armor class.

#### Ironclad Resilience
At 11th level, your resilience is astounding to behold. As a bonus action, you can spend a number of ki up to your proficiency bonus to gain temporary hit points equal to 10 times the amount spent. These temporary hit points disappear at the end of your next turn.

#### Brutal Defense
At 17th level, you gain an additional reaction that can only be used to make an opportunity attack or deflect a melee attack (as in your Armored Warrior feature).

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### Way of {subclass-name} quirks
The following are some optional quirks for a player of this subclass to choose from.

| d6  | Quirk |
|:---:|:-----------|
|  1  | You polish your armor obsessively. |
|  2  | You regularly engage in strength contests against your comrades. |
|  3  | You attach trinkets and curios from fallen enemies to your armor. |
|  4  | You have been known to skip leg day. |
|  5  | Your armor is battered and dented, and has been passed down through generations within your order. |
|  6  | When repairing your armor, you sometimes simply punch the dents out. |

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## Change Log
#### v{current-version}
* Added missing clause about Martial Arts working in armor
* Removed Str Unarmored Defense (you can pick up chain or splint mail by level 3 and equal your dex-monk friends for AC)
* Added +Wis to AC at level 6, so you can stay ahead of your dexmonk friends for AC

#### v0.2
* Added a buff note to Armored Warrior
* Reworked Iron Fist
* Converted Ironclad Resilience to a bonus action

#### v0.1
* Rough Draft

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> ##### Credits & References:
> Way of {subclass-name} created by [somanyrobots](https://www.somanyrobots.com "somanyrobots.com")</br>
> [Discord](https://discord.gg/6p6DqCxTTw "Discord") | [Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/somanyrobots "patreon.com/somanyrobots")
>___
> ##### Art
> Boonweaver Giant, by Adam Paquette © Wizards of the Coast LLC
> ___
> ##### Background Image Stains
> [Jared Ondricek](https://watercolors.giantsoup.com/)
> ___
> ##### License
> © 2025 somanyrobots, [CC BY-NC 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/)
> ___
> ##### Fan Content Policy
>
> This work is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.
> ___
> ##### 5E SRD Content
> * This work includes material taken from the System Reference Document 5.1 (“SRD 5.1”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC, [available here](https://dnd.wizards.com/resources/systems-reference-document "SRD 5.1").
> 
> * The SRD 5.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License [available here](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode "CC-BY").