Way of the Coals
Maybe someday we'll get tired of monks, but it's not today. Today, we have another elemental monk, part of the our growing set of monks that together do what Way of Four Elements failed so tragically to do. This particular one is an elemental classic; the fire monk.
Way of the Coals is a tradition not just for controlling flames, but for fully embodying a raging inferno. The archetype is designed to encourage aggressive tactics, and for that aggression to reward you with ways to scorch your way across the battlefield, and punish anyone who tries to get in your way. After all, the idea behind an elemental tradition is not to just pick a damage type to play with; it's to pick a combat philosophy and fighting style, to make your approach to conflict mirror the way your chosen element approaches the natural world. So the fire monk is built to burn hotter as a battle continues, and the hotter it gets, the better it is at burning right through its enemies.
We hope you enjoy the Coals' monk's style of play, and that you're as excited for our next elemental monk as we are excited to design it. If you have an element that you think we should cover next, let us know! These subclasses, according to the Snickering Ghoul at least, have been particularly interesting projects to work on, so if you want more of them, we're more than happy to oblige you.
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Way of the Coals
While most monastic traditions include symbolic and demanding tutelage based on their moniker, the Way of the Coals is more literal than most. Every monk of the Coals holds within themselves a flickering ember, given to them by their mentor, from their master’s own inner fire. This ember requires careful tending, but rather than being fed by oils and wood, the Way of the Coals teaches a monk to feed their anger, their pessimism, and their resentments to the fire, stoking it when they are in their darkest states of mind.
Monks of the Coals, as a result, are bright and friendly nearly everywhere they go, but in combat, they throw themselves into their most bleak and violent impulses to fuel the power of their inner fire.
Stoke the Coals
3rd-level Way of the Coals feature
You have an inner flame that grows as you fight. The second time you attack with an unarmed strike or monk weapon on a turn, or when you take damage, you gain an ember die, which is the size of your Martial Arts die. You can have a number of ember dice equal to your proficiency bonus at one time, and while you have any ember dice, your core glows, shedding dim light in a 10 foot radius.
While you have ember dice, you can use them in the following ways:
When a creature hits you with a melee attack, you can use your reaction and spend an ember die to roll it and deal fire damage to that creature equal to the number rolled + your Wisdom modifier.
As an action, you can spend any number of ember dice to release a gout of built-up flame. Any creatures in a 15 foot cone must make a Dexterity saving throw against your ki save DC, taking fire damage equal to a roll of the spent ember dice on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful save.
At the end of your turn, if you haven’t attacked a hostile creature or taken damage since your last turn, your ember dice are lost.
Furnace of the Soul
6th-level Way of the Coals feature
The fire in your soul burns brighter and hotter. As a bonus action, you can spend 2 ki to let the power of your flame spill out. You gain an ember die, and you gain the following benefits:
You shed bright light in a 30-foot radius and dim light for an additional 30 feet.
Any creatures of your choice within the bright light gain resistance to cold and fire damage.
Your unarmed strikes have a 10 foot reach, and deal fire damage instead of their normal type.
These benefits last for 10 minutes, or until you dismiss it (no action required).
Smothering Veil
11th-level Way of the Coals feature
You have learned not only how to stoke your fire but also to briefly stifle it, turning light and heat into ash and smog. As an action, you can spend 2 ki to cast the fog cloud spell, centered on yourself.
The cloud appears grey and foul smelling, and can only be dispersed by a strong wind, but you can see through the smog cloud as if the area were only lightly obscured. When you cast the spell, you can choose to have the smog cloud move with you, centered on you, or to have it remain in place as normal. As long as you are concentrating on this spell, you cannot gain ember dice.
Living Firebrand
17th-level Way of the Coals feature
The heat of your inner flame can burn through nearly any defense. Whenever you deal fire damage, you ignore resistance to fire damage, and you treat immunity to fire as resistance.
In addition, when you deal fire damage to a creature, you can spend 3 ki to mark them with a smoldering brand. Whenever a branded creature is hit with an attack, roll your Martial Arts die and deal fire damage to the creature equal to the number rolled. The brand lasts for 1 hour, until the creature receives magical healing, or until you use this feature again.