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About this mod
Become the Avatar you always wanted to be: this is the Way of the Four Elements.
This is a hybrid between a melee striker and an area of effect blaster caster with higher scaling versions of Thunderwave, Burning Hands, Shatter, etc. At level 11 there are four new enhanced spell options.
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New Features
Removed Features?
With the added power and possibility of consistent Ki regeneration and bonus action spells, something had to give. Flurry of Blows and most bonus action kicks have been removed when you take the Way of the Four Elements subclass. Casting your spells still triggers bonus action kicks however, in case you want to conserve Ki. Unarmed attacks do not have a chance of regenerating Ki, however.
Full Progression
New Spells:
Known Issues Features:
Unknown Issues:
Future Plans
Balancing Considerations:
TLDR; I redesigned the damage numbers for the spells to make them far more valuable to cast, especially in the late game where I bumped their minimum damage up quite significantly by adding more smaller dice thus raising the average damage but not blowing up the damage ceiling. By the end of the game, your Burning Hands will hit as hard as a level 3 Fireball but with a MUCH higher minimum damage (and amazing synergy with Elemental Adept).
I also redesigned the melee emphasis to be on weapon attacks to encourage a different monk playstyle which also results in the ability to see some really cool spell casting animations, especially with Fangs of the Fire Snake. This is also to encourage alternating between building and spending Ki points, though Ki cost may need tuning to higher costs as 13 Ki at the end of the game means you will be able to sling damage spells like no other class. We're talking four turns in a row of lvl 3 Fireball + a cantrip equivalent damage, and then you can short rest and do it again without ever passing a Nature's Plenty check. I may need to make spells more expensive. But also just cast Flames of the Phoenix. Its a literal level 6 Fireball. Just do it.
Suggested mods to accompany this:
My mods on mod.io. I may be biased, but I think they are fantastic.
Compatibility:
Any mod that alters the Four Elements subclass, passives, spell lists, or spell level maps will conflict with this mod.
- Unique "Ki Weapon" feature: reflavored Pact Weapon spell effect replacer for 'Harmony of Water and Fire' that causes your melee weapon attacks (not unarmed) to scale off of your Wisdom instead of Strength or Dexterity.
- Nature's Plenty: Four Elements monks now can regenerate Ki points with melee weapon attacks via this new class passive feature. All you need is to pass a 17 DC 'Nature' skill check. Nature proficiency is unlocked for free at level 5, and expertise at level 9 (see known issues).
- Bonus action 'cantrip' like spells: Chill of the Mountain, Fangs of the Fire Snake, and Touch of the Storm all cost 1 Ki point and a bonus action to use.
- Vastly improved spell scaling from level 7 and beyond for most spells (see known issues). See images for a few previews!
- Fangs of the Fire Snake is now a Wisdom based attack roll. Chill of the Mountain is counted as a melee attack roll, though it still has the same range.
- Ride The Wind no longer requires concentration. Nice job taking Four Elements Monk all the way to level 11 AND sacrificing a known spell for all day flight.
- Flames of the Phoenix now costs an Action, Bonus Action, and 6 Ki points. But it deals 12d6 damage. Sozin's Comet is here.
Removed Features?
With the added power and possibility of consistent Ki regeneration and bonus action spells, something had to give. Flurry of Blows and most bonus action kicks have been removed when you take the Way of the Four Elements subclass. Casting your spells still triggers bonus action kicks however, in case you want to conserve Ki. Unarmed attacks do not have a chance of regenerating Ki, however.
- No more Martial Arts: Dextrous Attacks (this passive has a habit of overriding effects like Shillelagh in the vanilla game)
- No more Flurry of Blows. Sling those spells instead!
- Far fewer roundhouse kicks, and dramatically reduced roundhouse kick power due to unarmed attacks only scaling off of strength (unless you take Tavern Brawler of course).
- 'Harmony of Fire and Water' no longer restores Ki points once per day. Spell entirely reworked into a weapon buff, animations and sounds remain in tact.
- 'Harmony of Fire and Water' is effectively a reflavored Pact of the Blade spell. However, it does not grant proficiency with the weapon you use the spell on. You still need a source of proficiency.
Full Progression
- Level 3:
- Harmony of Fire and Water - Attune your weapon with your ki, causing your attacks with that weapon to roll with Wisdom instead of Strength or Dexterity.
- Unlock 4 elemental spells from the level 3 Four Elements spell list
- Nature's Plenty - On an attack that deals damage, roll a 17 DC Nature check. If you pass the check, regenerate 1 ki point up to your maximum.
- Removed features: Flurry of Blows and most instances of the bonus action punch (you can still bonus action punch after casting a spell with an action)
- Gain Nature Proficiency
- Level 5:
- Gain Nature Expertise
- Student of the Elements - Bonus action ki attacks (Chill of the Mountain and Touch of the Storm) deal an extra dice of damage. 1d10 -> 2d8
- Level 6:
- Unlock 1 new elemental spell from the level 6 Four Elements spell list
- Unlock 1 new elemental spell from the level 6 Four Elements spell list
- Level 7:
- Adept of the Elements - Several of your damaging ki spells deal additional damage. As with Student of the Elements, some of them may decrease in dice size and increase in quantity which will raise average damage without significantly raising maximum damage. Clench of the North Wind can target two enemies, and Embrace the Inferno fires an additional ray.
- Adept of the Elements - Several of your damaging ki spells deal additional damage. As with Student of the Elements, some of them may decrease in dice size and increase in quantity which will raise average damage without significantly raising maximum damage. Clench of the North Wind can target two enemies, and Embrace the Inferno fires an additional ray.
- Level 9:
- Expert of the Elements - Water Whip, Fist of Unbroken Air, Chill of the Mountain, and Touch of the Storm deal extra damage. Water Whip and Unbroken Air: 3d10 -> 4d10. Chill of the Mountain and Touch of the Storm 2d8 -> 2d12
- Unlock 1 additional elemental spell from the Monk spell list.
- Level 11:
- Master of the Elements - Most of the your damaging elemental effects have increased in damage, especially average damage.
- Unlock 1 additional elemental spell from the Monk spell list, including all day flight, a level 6 Fireball equivalent, and four new spells.
- Level 12:
- Option to replace one known spell with an additional spell from the level 11 spell list.
- Option to replace one known spell with an additional spell from the level 11 spell list.
New Spells:
- Monastery of Ice (Wall of Ice) - Functions just like Wall of Ice, but it costs an Action + Bonus Action + 6 ki points to cast.
- Light of Lathander (Sunbeam) - Functions as a one off sunbeam without the recast functionality (similar to the sunbeam from the Blood of Lathander). Costs an Action + 4 ki points to cast (lower cost because it only deals 8d6 damage and doesn't benefit from Elemental Adept)
- Wrath of the Skies (Chain Lightning) - Functions exactly like Chain lightning, but it costs an Action + Bonus Action + 8 ki points to cast (because chain lightning is waaaaaaay stronger than a level 6 fireball)
- Thunder of the Gods (Destructive Wave) - Functions exactly like Destructive Wave but deals increased damage equal to 12d6 over the two damage types. Costs an Action + Bonus Action + 4 ki points to cast (lower ki point cost because positioning on this is a much harder requirement than the fireball equivalent so it needs some benefit otherwise it is just worse)
Known I
- You can currently attack anything (including allies and objects) for a Nature's Plenty check meaning you can always have full Ki at the beginning of each fight. The power of this is mitigated because Ki cannot overstack like Sorcerery points. You are limited to your maximum number of Ki points (and you are likely to short rest between most fights anyway which refills your Ki completely). - But also, is this an issue? Return things to the elements and you are rewarded!
- This mod *may* upset your load order. I am not familiar with the issue but you can check out the comments on the mod to see others who have had the issue and an attempted solution. I have tried to leave the mod naming alone when exporting this time so that the name in the mod.lsx and the folder name all match as one commenter suggested, but I am unsure if this fixes the problem. My apologies if this is an issue for you.
Unknown Issues:
- I am unsure if this affects the Githyanki Monks in the game. If it does, and you get absolutely wrecked, I am so sorry. If it does, and it nerfs them into the ground, I am also sorry. - Upon further inspection, it likely affects NPC Four Elements monk spells as I edited the spell stats and scaling. Uh oh (for the one fight in the game).
- Harmony of Fire and Water currently works on whatever main hand weapon is currently in your hands, melee or ranged. Is this a problem? It enables you to attack with ranged weapons using your Wisdom which is pretty neat, and ranged attacks do not benefit from Nature's Plenty so I think this is balanced and cool. No other class gets or gives the ability to make ranged weapon attacks using a spell casting stat, so there is a niche use of this as a multiclass feature for Spore Druids, Clerics, or Rangers. Harmony of Fire and Water is also limited to only one weapon, so it does not work with hand crossbows, and it will not work on your ranged weapon and melee weapon at the same time.
- The level 11 "Replace Spell" feature does not have the ability to replace a 'lower level' spell with one of the new options. This means you have to pick just one capstone spell until level 12 at which point you can get a maximum of 2 of the spells. Is this a problem? I don't know. If you could replace a spell at level 11, you would still only get 3 of the spells soooo. Whatever.
Future Plans
Balancing Considerations:
TLDR; I redesigned the damage numbers for the spells to make them far more valuable to cast, especially in the late game where I bumped their minimum damage up quite significantly by adding more smaller dice thus raising the average damage but not blowing up the damage ceiling. By the end of the game, your Burning Hands will hit as hard as a level 3 Fireball but with a MUCH higher minimum damage (and amazing synergy with Elemental Adept).
I also redesigned the melee emphasis to be on weapon attacks to encourage a different monk playstyle which also results in the ability to see some really cool spell casting animations, especially with Fangs of the Fire Snake. This is also to encourage alternating between building and spending Ki points, though Ki cost may need tuning to higher costs as 13 Ki at the end of the game means you will be able to sling damage spells like no other class. We're talking four turns in a row of lvl 3 Fireball + a cantrip equivalent damage, and then you can short rest and do it again without ever passing a Nature's Plenty check. I may need to make spells more expensive. But also just cast Flames of the Phoenix. Its a literal level 6 Fireball. Just do it.
Suggested mods to accompany this:
My mods on mod.io. I may be biased, but I think they are fantastic.
Compatibility:
Any mod that alters the Four Elements subclass, passives, spell lists, or spell level maps will conflict with this mod.