Way of the Widow's Kiss [Monk Subclass][PEACH]

[Amechra]

Way of the Widow's Kiss
This esoteric style was supposedly passed down to Drow monasteries by a particularly martial aspect of their spider-goddess Lloth. It teaches the subtle elegance of poison, as well as the terrifying art of turning an enemy's own ki against them.

3 :- The Spider's Tools
You are proficient in Herbalism Kits and Poisoner's Tools if you weren't already.

3 :- Kiss of the Widow
You have learned the signature technique of this art. Once per round when you hit a Poisoned creature, you may roll your martial arts die and deal that much Poison damage.

6 :- Laughing Venom Strike
Whenever a creature fails their saving throw against Stunning Strike, they are also Poisoned for two rounds as your touch turns their ki rancid.

11 :- Secret of Virulence
As a bonus action, you may touch a creature and spend 2 ki points to remove their defenses against poison. That creature makes a Constitution saving throw - if they fail, their ki becomes toxic for one minute. A creature with toxic ki that normally has immunity to Poison or the Poisoned condition loses those immunities. If it normally doesn't, that creature has Vulnerability to Poison and disadvantage on saving throws against being Poisoned. If they succeed on their saving throw, they aren't aware that you attempted to do anything to them.

17 :- Grandmother's Art
You may spend 6 ki to cast Contagion. You may treat diseases inflicted this way as if they were the Poisoned condition for the purposes of Kiss of the Widow.

[Teaguethebean]

The class seems really solid except for 3rd level. It seems like a large hole being left in the kit. It is rather hard to get the poisoned condition inflicted on your foes. The best ideas I would have would be when you use flurry of blows the enemy must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or be poisoned until the end of your next turn.

[Calen]

Another solution to the "hole left in the kit" as Teaguethebean said would be to have an easier way to apply poison to your weapons like as a free action.

Another option or benefit to this would be to have the DC of poisons that you inflict on a target have the DC match your Monk DC or increase by your proficiency bonus.

Overall I am a fan of this.

[Sparky McDibben]

This may be a stupid question, but if a creature has been hit with Secret of Virulence:

11 :- Secret of Virulence
As a bonus action, you may touch a creature and spend 2 ki points to remove their defenses against poison. That creature makes a Constitution saving throw - if they fail, their ki becomes toxic for one minute. A creature with toxic ki that normally has immunity to Poison or the Poisoned condition loses those immunities. If it normally doesn't, that creature has Vulnerability to Poison and disadvantage on saving throws against being Poisoned. If they succeed on their saving throw, they aren't aware that you attempted to do anything to them.

And then the monk tries to hit with Stunning Strike:

6 :- Laughing Venom Strike
Whenever a creature fails their saving throw against Stunning Strike, they are also Poisoned for two rounds as your touch turns their ki rancid.

Does that mean the creature has disadvantage on the saving throw, because the monk is trying to poison them?

I would maybe adjust the language - you refer to the monk turning someone's ki rancid or toxic in a couple of places and that might confuse players who think those effects are supposed to stack.

I friggin' love the idea of the subclass, personally. I'm on kind of a drow kick right now, so I really enjoy this kind of cool world-building content. Thanks!!!

I would second the thoughts of Teague and Calen. If these are drow-inspired, do they get the recipe to Drow Poison? Is there a way to modify Flurry of Blows - say, one of the strikes does no damage, but automatically inflicts the poisoned condition until the end of the monk's next turn?

[Composer99]

Very flavourful. I love it.

I would concur with others that this needs some way of causing creatures to be poisoned earlier. Either that, or make Kiss of the Widow not depend on the target being poisoned.

[Amechra]

Originally, Kiss of the Widow cost 1 ki to use, but was free against Poisoned creatures. I could swap that back in.

Sparky McDibben, I'm actually unsure about that. I would lean towards yes, but I think that'd be up to the DM (or general playtesting).

I'll probably drop the last bit on Laughing Venom Strike to avoid confusion with Secret of Virulence.