Way of the Mighty

Monks of most traditions are nimble warriors, flitting about a battlefield with effortless grace and relying on their speed and agility to deliver precise blows and keep them out of harm's way. Many of these folk perfect such techniques to compensate for a lack of physical strength, either because they find such strength brutish and distasteful or because they simply lack it.

Monks of the Way of the Mighty are different. Instead of eschewing raw force, they embrace it, learning to use it to their advantage. Monks of this discipline favor close quarters combat, where they can bring their power to bear to harry foes, restrict their movement, and pummel them with precise, devastating blows.

Strong Defense When you choose this tradition at 3rd level, you learn how to use your strength to your advantage while defending yourself. While you are wearing no armor and not wielding a shield, your AC equals 10 + your Strength modifier + your Wisdom modifier.

Powerful Strikes Also at 3rd level, you learn how to put the full force of your body behind your blows. If you make an unarmed strike or attack with a monk weapon using two free hands, you use the next larger size die available instead of your normal Martial Arts die. For example, a d4 becomes a d6, and a d10 becomes a d12. Additionally, when you hit a creature an unarmed strike or monk weapon on your turn, you can attempt to grapple or shove that creature as a bonus action.

Menacing Feint At 6th level you learn how to menace and disrupt foes that approach you. When a creature makes a melee attack roll against you, you can spend 1 ki point as a reaction to impose disadvantage on the attack and force that creature to make an Intelligence saving throw. On a failed saving throw, the attack misses regardless of the roll, and that creature has disadvantage on attack rolls against you until the end of your next turn. When you gain Weapon Interception at 11th level, if you use Menacing Feint and the attack misses you can use Weapon Interception as part of the same reaction, spend ki points for both abilities. Menacing Feint vs. Patient Defense. Compared to the Patient Defense ability that all Monks learn at 2nd level, Menacing Feint has situational advantages. It uses a reaction as opposed to a bonus action, and can entirely nullify an attack. In exchange, it works only on melee attacks, and only against a single target.

Weapon Interception At 11th level you gain the ability to intercept an enemy's strike and trap their weapon. When an enemy misses you with a melee weapon attack, you can spend 3 ki points as a reaction to attempt to catch their weapon. You must have at least one free hand, or two free hands if the creature making the attack is 1 or more sizes larger than you. Make a Strength (Athletics) check. If the total of your check equals or exceeds the missed attack roll, you trap the weapon, and the creature making the attack is grappled. A creature grappled in this manner can't attack with the weapon you have trapped until the grapple ends. If the weapon can be dropped, doing so immediately ends the grapple (requiring no action). Additionally, a creature has disadvantage on ability checks to avoid being disarmed of a trapped weapon. If the weapon belongs to a creature two or more sizes larger than you, instead of grappling it, use the rules for climbing on bigger creatures found in the DMG on page 271.