Control the Flow of Life and Death as a Way of Mercy Monk from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything

Salutations, nerds! Today I’m taking a closer look at manipulating the life force of others to bring aid to those in need through the Way of Mercy for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons. Monks who follow this 5E D&D Monastic Tradition from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything are skilled in the art of healing and often go around with their faces concealed by masks. I’ve got a huge soft spot for characters in masks.

Faceless bringers of life and death in 5E D&D

I’m currently playing a Way of Mercy monk in Quill and Sword on Twitch every other Thursday with VOD on YouTube the following week. So! Mysterious healer monks for 5E D&D. Let’s crack into this and see what there is to play with, shall we?

“Plague doctor—some looks never go out of style.” — Tasha’s commentary on the Way of Mercy Monastic Tradition in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything

Way of Mercy features

• Implements of Mercy. These monks gain proficiencies in Insight and Medicine as well as the herbalism kit. And a mask. There’s a table for what the mask could look like but you’re also permitted to design it yourself and since there are only six things on the table designing your own might be more your cup of tea.
• Hands of Healing. When you follow this Monastic Tradition you can touch people and heal them with your mystical ki points. It’s not a big heal but when you use Flurry of Blows you can replace one of the attacks with a use of this feature without spending another ki point for the healing and that’s pretty great for in the middle of combat.
• Hands of Harm. Basically the same thing except instead of healing you’re deal extra necrotic damage with an unarmed strike. This makes a lot of sense thematically since knowing how to put a body back together is gonna teach you something about taking it apart, too.
• Physician’s Touch. With this feature a Way of Mercy monk can remove conditions from creatures or give an enemy the poisoned condition.
• Flurry of Healing and Harm. This feature transforms your Flurry of Blows into a flurry of comfort or hurt. You can replace each of your unarmed strikes with Hand of Healing. You can also use Hand of Harm to deal extra necrotic damage without spending ki but still only once per turn.
• Hand of Ultimate Mercy. The Way of Mercy capstone feature opens the door to the ultimate mercy. You can spend 5 ki points and return a dead creature to life. Basically your hands become the life and death light switch. Considering how expensive most revival spells are this is excellent.

Long story short if you’re in a party, no one rolled a character with healing abilities and you really don’t want to play another cleric (or a Real Healbot) then the Way of Mercy isn’t a bad substitute. This Monastic Tradition from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything lets you deal damage and do cool monk stuff while keeping everybody on their feet in the midst of combat at the same time. Even if you just love the aesthetic of a mysterious masked monk with healing abilities this is a really fun and versatile subclass for 5E D&D monks. The Way of Mercy is not the most powerful healer in the game by any stretch but it is certainly a very memorable one and well worth your time — especially if you get heavily into roleplaying.

Let us know in the comments, connect with us on Facebook and @Nerdarchy or come see me after class @Pyrosynthesis and of course, stay nerdy!

*Featured image — A wood elf Way of Mercy monk as seen in the fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. [Image courtesy Wizards of the Coast]

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Over at Nerdarchy the YouTube channel Nerdarchists Dave and Ted did not discuss the Way of Mercy Monastic Tradition from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. So instead here’s them creating a Monastic Tradition of their own. (There’s a writeup on the website too! Check it out here.)