Monk: Way of the Enlightened Fist (5e)
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A proper spellcasting path for the 5e monk. As you might be able to tell by the name¸ it is a spiritual successor to 3.5e's Enlightened Fist prestige class¸ which required unarmed prowess and arcane spellcasting to qualify for. While I like the Way of the Four Elements from the PHB (it starts out weak but really pays off in the endgame¸ when you have a bunch of Ki per rest)¸ I have trouble observing it as a proper spellcasting path. This path gives the monk the Spellcasting feature at 3rd level - just like the Eldritch Knight and Arcane Trickster. The spell progression is also identical (1 caster level per 3 character levels)¸ but the monk gets arguably crappier schools to work with. It also gets features that combine its spellcasting with its monk abilities. WotC note that the monk already has a lot of capability and that adding more through a path is a slippery slope. This is why this monk's spellcasting is Intelligence-based¸ adding a dependency to a previously unneeded ability score¸ which (in my experience) balances it out pretty well. I've been playing this path for over 10 levels in a campaign. It results in a very nice jack-of-all-trades character that works out in all sorts of situations¸ but doesn't really excel in any. Made with the Homebrewery. P.S. This version of the.pdf is free of images because I am unable to contact all applicable artists for permission. If anyone wants the nice version with the pretty pictures¸ feel free to email me at danko.rancic@gmail.com. P.P.S. Any comments and feedback are welcome! Especially if someone else tries it out in actual gameplay. Please leave your impressions in the comments below!