Path of the Machine

Finding Meaning

Race Restriction: Warforged Only.

The Warforged of the Shi-Lor monastery are the first of their kind: created in a freak accident, an attempt to breathe life and a soul into an inanimate shell. Initially confused and furious, these Warforged turned on their masters - killing the mage who created them and attempting to sweep through the Yunarial academy. It was only at the hand of Headmaster Lyrus that they were thrown through an unstable portal, banished to a far-flung continent.

With their gauntlets still soaked in the blood of their masters, these Warforged slowly came to their senses within the monastery, finding themselves in an ancient ruin of a long-dead civilisation. They perused the dusty libraries, learning of this civilisation's philosophies: Of morality, of existence, of the value of mortal life and the permanence of death. Wrecked with grief at their own actions, these Warforged dedicated themselves to the practice of balance, learning how to channel their violent urges into self-discipline.

Despite their newfound peace, these Warforged are still terrifying forces on the battlefield, and when provoked will not hesitate to remove a threat immediately, and with extreme prejudice.

The Ultimate Machine

The Ultimate Machine is a concept known only to the Warforged of the Shi-Lor monastery. It is the spiritual belief that all things, both organic and mechanical, are connected in a constant dance of cause and effect.

Even on the most microscopic level, life exists as a machine - things breathe, live and die on the basis of the absurd acts of chemicals and physical or magical laws.

The most powerful of Shi-Lor monks can tap into this machine to grant them incredible powers, allowing them supernatural intelligence, increased perception, and unprecedented precognition. They are said to achieve this by visualising the weave of the Ultimate Machine, accessing the unravelling laws of the universe in order to see the way things truly are.

Ki-Enhanced Plating

Starting when you choose this tradition at 3rd level, you may channel your inner energy, referred to by the Warforged as Ki, into your melee strikes. Doing so charges your body with Ki, heating it and making you harder to hurt.

When you use your Flurry of Blows feature, you gain the following benefits until the start of your next turn:

A hostile creature that starts its turn within 5ft of you takes fire damage equal to your Wisdom modifier.

When hit by an attack from a creature within 5ft of you, you may use your reaction to reduce the damage by your Monk level.