Way of the Time Slip (5e Subclass)

Way of the Time Slip

Monk Subclass

The monks of the Time Slip have studied the flow of time itself, and begun to learn to redirect its flow through the people they touch.

Flow of Time

At 3rd level, you begin to think and perceive faster than the common experience of time. As a rection, you may make an arcana, insight, or perception skill check on any creature that attempts a to hit roll as a reaction to their to hit attempt. This roll may give you insight about the feature they just used, or the level they used it at.

• A DC 15 arcana check allows you to possibly identify a magical feature or level. It does not indicate the type of spell or identify the spell used unless that is specifically part of a feature.
• A DC 15 perception check is used to identify a combat feature or level.
• A DC 15 insight check is used to identify a feature or level of some other kind.
• The number of reaction skill checks you may have in a round is equal to your monk level. You may not use your flow of time reaction more than twice in a round if there are more than 10 creatures engaged in combat. This is to keep this feature from bogging down large combats.
• You may use a bonus action to do all three checks at the same time at DC 20, even regarding a creature that has not taken action.

Time Siphon

At 3rd level, when you hit a target with your flurry of blows, you may subtract 1d4 from the target's initiative, and add the same amount to your own initiative.

• If this brings the target's initiative below 1, they lose their next turn, and reroll initiative with advantage for the following round.
• If it brings your initiative above 20, you may subtract 20 from your initiative, taking another turn in the current round.
• Under no circumstances can this or any other ability which modifies an existing initiative number be used twice in the same round by the same character or against the same target.
• The die you use for this ability changes to 1d6/1d8/1d10/1d12/1d20 when you reach level 6/8/10/12/20, if at least half of your levels are monk levels. (You do not go back down to a lower die if you later have less than half of your levels in the monk class.)
• If you use this ability on one enemy in a group of 2 or more that shares initiative, and is of lower CR than your level, the initiative modification applies to the entire group. In this case, lower the die size by one step.

Time Sluice

Starting at 6th level, when you suffer a status effect that lasts for a predetermined amount of time of an hour or less, you may spend 2 ki points to delay its onset until the end of your next turn. You may do this more than once for the same effect.

• If the effect's set duration is strictly longer than 1 minute, you will suffer a point of exhaustion when it eventually takes hold (unless you are immune to the effect at that point).
• If the effect would have ended before it takes hold, it lasts for the number of rounds it was delayed; otherwise, it ends when it would have anyway.
• This ability can be used to delay the side-effects of the Haste spell or the main effect of the Slow spell; in these cases, it only costs 1 ki point per round. It can also work for effects that have a maximum duration but which can end early under certain circumstances (such as multiple saving throws or loss of concentration).
• Example: Columbia, a Time Slip monk, is targeted by the spell Fear. Since this spell imposes the "frightened" condition for no more than 1 minute, she can use 2 ki points to delay its onset. Noting that the spell did not take hold, the mage who cast it immediately drops concentration. At the end of her next turn, she would nevertheless be Frightened, unless she spends an additional 2 ki points. If she does, and then allows the fear to take hold at the end of her second turn, she would remain frightened for 2 rounds, unless some other effect removes that condition.

Time Spout

At 11th level, you can use an action and a ki point to touch a creature and allow them to immediately take a single action as if it were their turn.

• This works even on creatures that are unconscious due to being reduced to 0 hit points, though such creatures must take a saving throw against an ability of their choice in order to take useful actions besides speech in the brief extra moment they are granted.
• Also, if another creature uses their full action to touch you, to make an unarmed melee strike against you, or to cast a harmful touch spell against you, you may spend a ki point to to use your reaction to immediately to take a single full action as if it were your turn.

Time shunt

At 17th level, when you use your Stunning Strike ability, you may spend additional ki points. Each additional ki point you spend increases the save DC by 1, Every 3 additional ki points you spend also increase the duration of the effect, if the target does not save, by 1 round.

• If you use this ability and the target rolls a natural 20 on their saving throw, they will get an additional +10. If the target has legendary saves but fails their save by more than 20, they cannot avoid the effect without using two legendary saves.
• While the target is stunned by this effect and still alive, you may use a bonus action to touch them if you are in melee range; doing so allows you to take an extra turn on their next turn.

General Notes

Under no circumstances may any combination of monk abilities allow you to take more than 2 turns or more than 3 full (non-bonus, non-reaction) actions in a given round. However, if you somehow take a second full turn in a round, you do regain use of your reaction, even if you have already used it this round.

(Designing these abilities, I tried to stay on theme and keep them balanced. But they're all pretty combat-focused. I couldn't think of a well-defined and balanced ability with reasonable non-combat uses. Perhaps move "time sluice" to L11, and make the L6 ability be "as a reaction, touch a creature within range who just performed an action. The action is undone, physically as if it never happened, but both you and the target remember how it happened and what the immediate result was. They may perform it again, or not; if they do, any dice must be re-rolled, and you may decide if that is done so with advantage or disadvantage"... but that's both possibly-game-breaking in some rare circumstances (ie, puzzles) and kinda weak in most other ones.)

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