Way of the Presence

You follow a monastic tradition that teaches you to harness the energy field created by and connecting all living things. While monks of this tradition refer to this field as The Great Presence, it is known by many names, such as the Weave, the Life Wind, and the Force. Using your ki, you tap into The Great Presence to affect your body and the world around you. Some Presence monasteries teach their acolytes to seek enlightenment by forgoing their earthly attachments and moving past emotion, while others train their acolytes to use emotional extremes as fuel for their powers, to utilize any and all means to attain their goals and grasp their destiny.

No matter which path you choose to follow, all aspects of the Presence are available for you to explore, and your mystic training gives you greater understanding of the workings of the multiverse.

Level 3: Acolyte of the Multiverse

You learn to see how all aspects of the multiverse are connected. You gain proficiency in the Arcana skill, and can use Wisdom, instead of Intelligence, for ability checks you make using the skill.

Level 3: Disciple of the Presence

You learn magical disciplines that utilize the bonds that connect all things. A discipline requires you to spend ki points each time you use it.

You know the Presence Attunement discipline and two other presence disciplines of your choice, which are detailed in the “Presence Disciplines” section below. You learn an additional presence discipline of your choice at 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 9th, 11th, 13th, 15th, 17th, and 19th level. Each discipline is classified as Dark, Light, or Neutral, which are referenced by later Way of the Presence features. You can learn any presence discipline, regardless of its classification.

Whenever you gain a level in this class, you can replace one presence discipline you know with a different discipline.

Casting Presence Spells. Some presence disciplines allow you to cast spells. 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. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for your presence discipline spells.

Once you reach 7th level in this class, you can spend additional ki points to increase the level of a presence discipline spell that you cast, provided that the spell has an enhanced effect at a higher level, as cure wounds does. The spell’s level increases by 1 for each additional ki point you spend. For example, if you are a 7th-level monk and use Presence Heal to cast Cure Wounds you can spend 3 ki points to cast it as a 2nd-level spell (the discipline’s base cost of 2 ki points plus 1).

The maximum number of ki points you can spend to cast a spell 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.

Monk Levels	Max Ki Points for a Spell
7th-12th	3
13th-18th	4
19th-20th	5

Level 6: Disciple's Decision

Each follower of the Presence must choose an ideological path to follow on their journey to mystic mastery: Dark, Gray, or Light. Your choice grants you immediate benefits, and is used by later Way of the Presence features.

Dark. You embrace the path of emotion, training yourself to draw power from emotional extremes. You specialize in disciplines that harm and demoralize your foes. You learn the Shocking Grasp cantrip. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for it, and casting shocking grasp counts as you taking the Attack action with an unarmed strike for the purpose of your monk features.

Gray. You seek balance between the two extremes of Dark and Light, choosing not to deny your emotions but also refusing to allow them to consume you. You specialize in both Dark and Light techniques, seeking greater understanding of the Presence through their interweaving. You learn one additional Dark discipline of your choice and one additional Light discipline of your choice. Neither discipline can have a level prerequisite.

Light. You embrace the path of logic, training yourself to suppress strong emotions and draw power from tranquility. You specialize in disciplines that aim to avoid conflict, but that bolster your allies if you must engage in violence. You learn the Guidance cantrip. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for it, and when you cast guidance, you can roll your Martial Arts die and gain that many temporary hit points.

Level 11: Presence Adept

Your efficiency with your presence disciplines increases, granting you a benefit depending on which path you chose as your Disciple’s Decision. Each benefit reduces the ki point costs of certain types of disciplines. You can reduce the cost of disciplines with this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Dark. When you use a Dark or Neutral discipline, after you determine how many ki points you wish to spend for it, you can choose to reduce the discipline’s ki point cost by 1 for this use.

Gray. When you use a Dark or Light discipline, after you determine how many ki points you wish to spend for it, you can choose to reduce the discipline’s ki point cost by 1 for this use.

Light. When you use a Light or Neutral discipline, after you determine how many ki points you wish to spend for it, you can choose to reduce the discipline’s ki point cost by 1 for this use.

Level 17: Mystic Mastery

You attain mastery of your path’s disciplines, granting you a benefit depending on which path you chose as your Disciple’s Decision.

Dark. It costs you 1 fewer ki point to use Dark disciplines.

Gray. When you use a Dark or Light discipline, you can choose for this use of it to cost 1 fewer ki point. Once you use this ability, you can’t use it again unless you use it to reduce the cost of a discipline of the other type.

Light. It costs you 1 fewer ki point to use Light disciplines.

Presence Disciplines

The presence disciplines are presented in the order of level requirement, and in alphabetical order within those categories. If a discipline requires a level, you must be at least that level in this class to learn the discipline.

Below are a list of the Presence options.