Monks who follow the Way of Chakra believe that every living body is a vessel for flowing energy. Through rigorous discipline they learn to open, shape, and store that energy in specialized states of focus known as forms. Each form is a different expression of the same current; one that sharpens the senses and strikes with precision, one that moves the body like water, and one that crashes outward with overwhelming force.
These monks do not simply strike; they cultivate. Every successful blow feeds power into their stored chakra, a growing reservoir they can release in sudden, devastating bursts. At first the forms are separate disciplines that must be entered deliberately. With time and mastery the boundaries between them thin, until a practitioner can hold all three in perfect balance at once. At the peak of the tradition, a monk can pour every drop of stored chakra into a single overwhelming sequence of strikes, turning the accumulated flow of battle into a storm of pure force.
To walk the Way of the Chakra is to treat combat as both art and cultivation; a continuous cycle of gathering, shaping, and releasing energy until the body itself becomes a living weapon of focused will.
Chakra Unleashed
As an action, you can expend all of your Stored Chakra to perform Chakra Unleashed.
You make a number of unarmed strikes equal to the amount of Stored Chakra you expended.
These attacks deal force damage instead of bludgeoning damage, and each benefits from your current form (or from all three forms if you are in Perfect Balance).
Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.
Form Cycle
3rd Level
Starting when you choose this tradition at 3rd level, as a bonus action, you can spend 1 ki point to enter one of the three forms. You remain in that form until you are incapacitated, you choose to leave it, or you enter a different form with this feature.
Once you are in a form, whenever you hit a creature with an unarmed strike, you may freely switch to a different form (or stay in your current one).
Form Benefits:
- Form of Opening Chakra: Your unarmed strikes score a critical hit on a roll of 19 and 20. The first unarmed strike you make on each of your turns deals extra damage equal to your Martial Arts die.
- Form of Flowing Chakra: Your walking speed increases by 10 feet. You can take the Dash or Disengage action as a bonus action without spending ki.
- Form of Closing Chakra: When you hit a creature with an unarmed strike, you can force the target to make a Strength saving throw (DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier). On a failed save, the creature is knocked prone or pushed 10 feet (your choice).
Stored Chakra
While you are in any form, whenever you hit a creature with an unarmed strike, you gain 1 Stored Chakra.
Your maximum Stored Chakra is 5. This maximum increases to 6 at 6th level and to 8 at 11th level.
Stored Chakra lasts until you finish a short or long rest, or until you expend it.
As a bonus action, you can expend Stored Chakra to use the following techniques:
Spend 1 or more Stored Chakra
Choose one of the following:
- Forbidden Chakra
Make one unarmed strike against a creature within reach. On a hit, the strike deals extra force damage equal to (Chakra spent) × your Martial Arts die + your Wisdom modifier. - Howling Fist
Each creature of your choice in a 15-foot cone originating from you must make a Strength saving throw (DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier). On a failed save, a creature takes force damage equal to (Chakra spent) × your Martial Arts die and drops one item it is holding of your choice. On a successful save, it takes half damage and does not drop anything.
Spend 5 or more Stored Chakra
You use both Forbidden Chakra and Howling Fist as part of the same bonus action. Use the full amount of Chakra spent for the damage of each effect.
Refined Form
6th Level
Beginning at 6th level, the benefits of your forms improve as follows:
- Form of Opening Chakra: Your unarmed strikes score a critical hit on a roll of 19–20. The extra damage from the first unarmed strike you make on your turn increases to two Martial Arts dice.
- Form of Flowing Chakra: Your walking speed increases by 15. When you take the Dash action as a bonus action from this form, you also gain the benefits of the Dodge action until the start of your next turn. (You can still Disengage as a bonus action, but it does not grant Dodge.)
- Form of Closing Chakra: When a creature fails the Strength saving throw from this form, it is knocked prone and pushed 10 feet.
Perfect Balance
11th Level
At 11th level, as a bonus action, you can spend 2 ki points to enter Perfect Balance for 1 minute (or until you become incapacitated).
While in Perfect Balance, you gain the benefits of all three forms simultaneously.
Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.