Monk Archetype – Way of the Submerged Soul

In the endless rains of the Floodplains, escaping the watery environment is not an option. One must embrace the water or suffer. No one is more connected to the aquatic nature of the Floodplains than the submerged soul Monks.

Through devout meditation and training, they have learned to take the nature of water into their very soul and can use this connection to emulate its effects at will. Their biological affinity for water aids massively in this technique as the creature’s swim speed and lung capacity both play a factor in their success as a submerged soul monk.

True masters of this technique can eventually use their personal connection to the water and force it onto others, making them suffer the force of currents, trapping them in rising bubbles, and even causing them to drown on dry land.

Way of the Submerged Soul Features

Level	Features
3rd	Flooded Soul
6th	Strong Currents
11th	Bubble Trap
17th	Drown

Flooded Soul
(3rd-level Submerged Soul feature)

At level 3 your connection to the water allows you to emulate its effect on your body via your soul’s energy. As a bonus action, you can enter your ‘Flooded Soul’ form. For a duration equal to how long you can hold your breath (Maximum 30 minutes), you behave as though you are underwater. This includes swimming through the air, making use of swim speeds, and the fire resistance being submerged in water grants. You can do this once before taking a short or long rest. You can spend 5 Ki points to enter this form a second time before needing to rest.

In addition, you do not face the combat penalties typically granted by underwater combat.

Strong Currents
(6th-level Submerged Soul feature)

At level 6 you can momentarily force the water’s effects onto others. While in your Flooded Soul form, as an action, you can spend 1 Ki point to make an unarmed strike with a reach of 15ft. If the attack hits, after dealing damage, you can pull or push the target 10ft.

For an additional 2 Ki points, to can also knock them prone.

Bubble Trap
(11th-level Submerged Soul feature)

At level 11 you learn to use the lack of water against your foes. While in your Flooded Soul form, as an action, you can spend 1 Ki point per target and attempt to trap them in a rapidly rising bubble. Target creatures must succeed a Dexterity saving throw or be lifted 30ft into the air (or as high as the ceiling) and dropped.

For an additional 2 Ki points, you can raise the height of the drop by 10ft. This stacks up to a maximum of 6 additional Ki points.

Drown
(17th-level Submerged Soul feature)

At level 17 your soul’s aquatic nature can be put on other by sheer force of will. While in your Flooded Soul form, hostile creatures within 10ft are dragged into the underwater effect and sufferer the penalties of underwater combat and movement.

Designing the Way of the Submerged Soul Archetype

The flavour around this class came to me before the mechanical choices were made. While creating the lore surrounding the realm of the Floodplains, I became inspired to create a subclass that can mimic the effects of underwater combat even while on the surface and the monk class felt like the best fit for this. I really enjoy the opportunity for scaling design that Ki allows for, especially in the form of expending additional Ki points to add additional effects or bypass use limitations. You’ll see both of these designs throughout the archetype.

The primary feature of this archetype is the Flooded Soul feature. This allows the character to temporarily act as though they are fully submerged despite their current location. It’s an ability that can be used for both combat and exploration, especially at later levels when you can expend Ki points for additional uses. This feature does make its effectiveness influenced by the race however, as an aquatic race that can hold its breath for a long time or has a swim speed will be able to better utilise this feature. It’ll be a popular choice for players that enjoy min-maxing or finding synergy in their character choices.

At level 6 the Strong Currents feature becomes available. This adds some limited, yet useful, reach to the mostly melee-focused class. It also let them focus on positioning as they can push or pull their foes into a location that is more advantageous for their party. It’s important to note here that the player must specify whether they want to try and knock the creature prone for the 2 additional Ki points before making the attack. They cannot choose to add it after the fact.

I was unsure about the Bubble Trap feature. I like the flavour behind it more than the mechanical result. However, I decided to leave it in as it creates some fun combo potential with other classes and features. If you find it being used too often then it might be a good idea to increase the Ki cost of this feature. The player will have to be careful who they use this on as flying creatures will be unaffected by the fall. I may come back to this feature in the future and amend it.

The final feature of the Submerged Soul monk is Drown. This very simply forces those nearby to also behave as though they are underwater. For most creatures, this is a negative experience, but be careful you aren’t accidentally buffing an aquatic creature!

Final Thoughts

This is our first dip into archetypes from the Floodplains and we kicked it off with a flavourful addition! I hope you enjoyed this archetype and have found something you’ll take forward into your own designs! If you want to see the creative process live you can join me and the community on Twitch or Discord.

Thank you for reading and may your next session be filled with glory!