Way of the Thirsting Reaper

Where others see majestic beasts, proud humanoids, and awe-inspiring dragons, you see thrumming power, ripe for the taking. A creature too weak to defend its soul from your bottomless hunger doesn’t deserve the precious gift of existence. There are few, if any, formal schools of the Way of the Thirsting Reaper, and some scholars believe such monks are born, not trained. In your heart is an endless thirst, a mighty need for the mystic energy that binds all living beings. You want more. Always more. And you know how to take it.

These monks sacrifice much for their power. You lose the ability to regain ki during a short rest, instead gaining the forbidden knowledge to siphon it from the recently deceased. Doing so fills you with energy, allowing you to channel far more ki than normally possible, but only for a short time. As you advance in this discipline, you learn to use this extractive process to mend your wounds, and eventually perform it in an instant, ripping your enemy’s ki from its body as you strike a killing blow.

Way of the Thirsting Reaper Features

Monk Level	Feature
3rd	Ki reaper
6th	Death strike
11th	Assimilation
17th	Swift harvester

Ki Reaper

When you choose this tradition, at 3rd level you no longer recover your expended ki when you finish a short rest, instead you utilize a short ritual described below. You still recover all expended ki when you finish a long rest.

By concentrating for one continuous minute next to the body of a creature slain in the last hour, you can extract a portion of that creature’s soul to replenish your ki. You gain a number of ki points equal to the creature’s hit dice. Ki gained in this way can exceed your normal maximum ki. Any ki points above your maximum are considered temporary ki. They are used first when spending ki points, and are lost when you take a long rest, if unspent. Like temporary hit points, if you have temporary ki and would gain more, the higher value replaces the lower one, they aren’t added together. (For example, if you have 4 temporary ki and would gain 5 more, you would have 5 temporary ki, not 9.)

This ability doesn’t function on constructs, and certain other creatures might be immune at the GM’s discretion. A creature subjected to this ability can’t be brought back to life by anything less than true resurrection or wish.

Once you have used this feature, you must finish a long rest before you can use it again. At 11th level you gain a second use of this feature.

Death Strike

At 6th level, you can empower your strikes with your ill-gotten ki. When you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can spend up to 3 ki to deal an additional 1d10 necrotic damage per ki spent. If you use this ability when you deal damage to a creature that has 0 hit points, it is killed instantly.

Assimilation

By 11th level your act of extracting a fallen creature’s ki also heals your wounds. When you use your Ki Reaper feature, you also regain 5 hit points per ki point you gain. Hit points you would regain past your hit point maximum are instead gained as temporary hit points which last until your next long rest (whichever comes first).

Swift Harvester

At 17th level, you can extract ki from your fallen enemies with ruthless efficiency. If a creature adjacent to you is reduced to zero hit points, you may use your reaction to expend a use of your Ki Reaper, gaining its full benefits instantly. Once you have used this feature, you must finish a short or long rest before using it again.