Monks got a new subclass in Fizban's as well. With Bahamut as well as several gold dragons depicted as monks or running monasteries where martial artists could learn their disciplines, it makes sense to me to have an explicitly draconic monastic tradition.
D&D's dragons tend more toward a Western version of the dragon myth, but dragons are also a huge part of East Asian culture, which is, of course, where D&D's monk class finds its inspiration.
The Way of the Ascendant Dragon has the monk take on various draconic features and techniques, channeling draconic power into their fighting style.
Let's take a look:
At 3rd level, you get Draconic Disciple. You get a few benefits from this. Draconic Presence lets you re-roll a failed Charisma (Intimidation) or Charisma (Persuasion) check with a reaction. Once it succeeds, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest. I really like these "use it until it actually works" features, which make things that would be pretty underwhelming into a more solid bonus.
Also part of this feature is Draconic Strike. When you hit a target with an unarmed strike, you can change the damage to acid, cold, fire, lightning, or poison. Granted, this becomes less useful at level 6 because there's basically no damage type with fewer monsters that can resist it than magical bludgeoning. Still, this will give you three levels of bypassing resistance to nonmagical damage, can take advantage of vulnerabilities, and of course make for some cool flavor.
Finally, you get Tongue of Dragons, letting you speak, read, and write Draconic, or some other language (presumably this clause, like with the Drakewarden, is in case you've already picked up Draconic).
Also at 3rd level, you get Breath of the Dragon. When you take the attack action on your turn, you can replace one of your attacks with an exhalation of draconic energy in either a 20-foot cone or a 30x5 foot line (your choice). You choose acid, cold, fire, lightning, or poison, and each creature in that cone or line must make a Dex save against your ki save DC, taking damage of that type equal to two rolls of your Martial Arts die on a failure, or half on a success. At level 11, this increases to three rolls of your Martial Arts die.
You can use this a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, regaining all uses when you finish a long rest, but you can also spend 2 ki to use it if you're out of charges.
So let's do some math here: the damage of the breath is going to probably be a little low for single-target until you hit level 11. Levels 3 and 4 it's going to do 2d4 (5) damage, when you're probably going to be doing 1d8+3 or +4 (7.5 or 8.5) with a regular attack if you've got a quarterstaff. Of course, not only will this get around damage resistance in most cases, but it's obviously designed to hit multiple enemies - something that a Monk generally can't do (I still really wish the Drunken Master could do some kind of flaming booze cone attack like a Brewmaster Monk in World of Warcraft). At levels 5-10, it's going to do 2d6 (7) damage, which, again, is not quite as good as a single melee strike.
But at level 11, the damage hits 3d8, or 13.5, which starts to look pretty good in single-target. And then, by tier 4, it's 16.5. Even if you had a +3 weapon at that point (these are taking the place of your regular attacks, recall, so it could be with a weapon) the average damage of a single +3 monk weapon attack at level 17+ is going to be 1d10+8, or 13.5 - which is less than the 16.5 damage you'll be doing on average with the breath.
And, much as I was discussing the new Dragonborn breath weapons, any misgivings go out the window the moment you can get a second target in there.
At level 6, you get Wings Unfurled. When you use Step of the Wind, you can get spectral wings that appear on your back and then vanish at the end of your turn. While you have those wings, you have a flying speed equal to your walking speed (and you're a monk, so it's pretty fast). You can use this a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus. So, yeah, you can't just burn Ki every round to fly constantly, but this seems really useful for moments where you really need it. Maybe not the most mind-blowing (Monks have pretty good mobility in general) but still pretty cool.
At level 11, you get Aspect of the Wyrm. As a bonus action, you can create an aura around yourself that radiates 10 feet from you for 1 minute. While it's up, you gain either Frightful Presence or Resistance. Frightful Presence allows you to, when you create the aura, and as a bonus action on subsequent turns, choose a creature within the aura. They must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your ki save DC or become frightened of you for 1 minute. They can repeat the saving throw at the end of each turn, ending the fear on a success. If you pick Resistance, you choose acid, cold, fire, lightning, or poison damage, and you and any allies within the aura have resistance to that damage type.
Once you create the aura, you can't do so again until you finish a long rest or spend 3 ki points.
So. Frightening Presence has one issue, which is that it takes up your bonus action, which Monks generally want to use for their unarmed strikes or flurry of blows. Granted, because the fear leasts 1 minute, you might only have to actually use the bonus action every couple turns. Resistance, on the other hand, is pretty straightforward and seems broadly useful (and great for keeping the front lines a bit safer from fireballs and other aoe effects.)
At level 17, you get Ascendant Aspect. This does three things. The first is Augment Breath. When you use Breath of the Dragon, you can spend 1 ki point to augment its shape and power. This makes it either a 60-foot cone or 90x5 foot line, and each creature takes damage equal to 4 rolls of your Martial Arts die on a failed save or half as much on a success (so, 4d10).
Next, you get Blindsight, out to a range of 10 feet.
Finally, you get Explosive Fury - when you activate Aspect of the Wyrm, you can choose any creatuers you can see within the aura, and they have to make a Dexterity saving throw against your ki save DC or take 3d10 acid, cold, fire, lightning, or poison damage (your choice of damage type).
Ok, so this improves Breath of the Dragon, but only if you spend some ki to improve it - at level 17 and higher 1 ki is not too bad for a much bigger area and more damage. Explosive Fury, honestly, I think is a bit underwhelming - a one-time possible bit of damage (that foes can save against to take nothing) is somewhat meh. Blindsight is fairly cool, though of course with a 10-foot range it's limited.
I think it's pretty clear that Breath of the Dragon is the real headliner feature of this subclass, and that one is probably the most successful aspect of it. While that's certain to be a very useful ability, I don't think there's anything here that totally wows me. Comparing it with the Drakewarden, it's a bit odd - the Drakewarden is simple and straightforward, but to me it seems to nail the fantasy of the subclass completely. Ascendant Dragon feels like some of its concepts are being held back in the name of balance, which waters down the possibilities.
To be clear, I don't think this is a bad subclass, per se. But I think I'm just more impressed by the execution with the Drakewarden.
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