Way of the Four Elements (5A)

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You follow a monastic tradition that teaches you to harness the elements. When you focus your ki, you can align yourself with the forces of creation and bend the four elements to your will, using them as an extension of your body. Some members of this tradition dedicate themselves to a single element, but others weave the elements together.

Many monks of this tradition tattoo their bodies with representations of their ki powers, commonly imagined as coiling dragons, but also as phoenixes, fish, plants, mountains, and cresting waves.

Source: Player's Handbook

Subclass Abilities

Essence Pool

At 3rd level, you get a pool of points that can only be used to power your elemental disciplines. This pool has a number of essence points equal to the number of ki points you have in your Ki Pool. When you recover ki points for any reason, you also recover essence points in the same way.

Disciple of the Elements

When you choose this tradition at 3rd level, you learn magical elemental disciplines that harness the power of the four elements. A discipline requires you to spend ki points each time you use it.

You know the Elemental Attunement discipline and one other elemental discipline of your choice. You learn one additional elemental discipline of your choice at 5th, 9th, 15th, and 17th level.

Whenever you learn a new elemental discipline, you can also replace one elemental discipline that you already know with a different discipline.

Casting Elemental Spells. Some elemental disciplines allow you to cast spells. See chapter 10 for the general rules of spellcasting. To cast one of these spells, you use its casting time and other rules, but you don't need to provide material components for it.

Once you reach 5th level in this class, you can spend additional ki points to increase the level of an elemental discipline spell that you cast, provided that the spell has an enhanced effect at a higher level, as Burning Hands does. The spell's level increases by 1 for each additional ki point you spend. For example, if you are a 5th-level monk and use Sweeping Cinder Strike to cast Burning Hands, you can spend 2 ki points to cast it as a 2nd-level spell (the discipline's base cost of 1 ki point plus 1 for the additional spell level).

The maximum number of ki points you can spend to cast a spell in this way (including its base ki point cost and any additional ki points you spend to increase its level) is determined by your monk level, as shown in the Spells and Ki Points table.

Spells and Ki Points

Monk Levels	Maximum Ki Points for a Spell
3rd-4th	1
5th-8th	2
9th-12th	3
13th-16th	4
17th-20th	5

When rolling damage for a spell cast this way, you can replace each die with your martial arts die.

Basic Studies

At level 6 you can choose an elemental discipline available at level 3.

Intermediary Studies

At level 11 you can choose an elemental discipline available at level 5. level.

Advanced Studies

At level 17 you can choose an elemental discipline available at level 9.

Way of the One Element

A variant of this monastic tradition masters only one element: Air, Earth, Fire, or Water. If you take this variant, you can only use Elemental Disciplines that match your chosen element.

Essence Pool

At 3rd level, you get a pool of points that can only be used to power your elemental disciplines. This pool has a number of essence points equal to the number of ki points you have in your Ki Pool. When you recover ki points for any reason, you also recover essence points in the same way.