Way of the Astral Self Rework

by thingwhatsqueaks

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Warrior of the Astral Self

Manifest Your Astral Self to be Your Weapons and Armor.


Warriors of the Astral Self believe their body is an illusion. They see their power as a representation of their true form, an astral self. This astral self has the capacity to be a force of order or disorder, with some monasteries training students to use their power to protect the weak and others instructing aspirants in how to manifest their true selves in service to the mighty.

When choosing this path, consider the quirks that define your monk. Are you obsessed with something? Are you driven by justice or a selfish desire? Any of these motivations could manifest in the form of your astral self.

Level 3: Spiritual Combatant


You can use your Wisdom modifier in place of your Strength or Dexterity modifier for the attack and damage rolls of your unarmed strikes as long as you aren't wearing armor or using a shield and are unarmed or using a monk weapon.

Level 3: Arms of the Astral Self


As a bonus action, you can spend 1 Focus Point to summon the arms of your astral self. When you do so, each creature of your choice that you can see within 10 feet of you must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or take Psychic damage equal to two rolls of your Martial Arts die. At 11th level, this damage increases to three rolls of your martial arts dice.

For 10 minutes, these spectral arms hover near your shoulders or surround your arms (your choice). You determine the arms' appearance, and they vanish early if you are incapacitated or die.

While the spectral arms are present, you gain the following benefits:

Astral Strength. You can use your Wisdom modifier in place of your Strength modifier when making Strength checks and Strength saving throws.

Spectral Strikes. You can use the spectral arms to make unarmed strikes. Their damage type is Psychic. In addition, when you make an unarmed strike with the spectral arms on your turn, your reach for it is 5 feet greater than normal.

Spectral Burst. While the spectral arms are active, you can spend 1 Focus Point as a bonus action to repeat the Wisdom saving throw effect of the activation of your spectral arms.

Level 6: Visage of the Astral Self

You can summon the visage of your astral self. As a bonus action, or as part of the bonus action you take to activate Arms of the Astral Self, you can spend 1 Focus Point to summon this visage for 10 minutes. It vanishes early if you are incapacitated or die.

The spectral visage covers your face like a helmet or mask. You determine its appearance.

While the spectral visage is present, you gain the following benefits.

Astral Sight. You can see normally in dim light and darkness, both magical and nonmagical, to a distance of 120 feet.

Wisdom of the Spirit. You have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) and Wisdom (Insight) checks.

Word of the Spirit. You can form a telepathic connection between your mind and the mind of another. As a bonus action, choose one creature you can see within 30 feet of you. You and the chosen creature can speak telepathically with each other while the two of you are within a number of miles of each other equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of 1 mile). To understand each other, you each must speak mentally in a language the other knows.

The telepathic connection lasts for the duration of of your Visage of the Astral Self. It also ends early if you have the Incapacitated condition, die or if you use this ability to form a connection with a different creature.

Level 11: Body of the Astral Self


When you have both your astral arms and visage summoned, you can cause the body of your astral self to appear (no action required). This spectral body covers your physical form like a suit of armor, connecting with the arms and visage. You determine its appearance.

While the spectral body is present, you gain the following benefits.

Absorb Energy. When you reduce the damage you take with Defect Attacks to 0, you also gain resistance to that damage type until the start of your next turn.

Empowered Arms. Once on each of your turns when you hit a target with the Arms of the Astral Self, you can deal extra damage to the target equal to your Martial Arts die.

Level 17: Awakened Astral Self

Your connection to your astral self is complete, allowing you to unleash its full potential. As a bonus action, you can spend 5 Focus Points to summon the arms, visage, and body of your astral self and awaken it for 10 minutes. This awakening ends early if you are incapacitated or die.

While your astral self is awakened, you gain the following benefits.

Armor of the Spirit. You gain a +2 bonus to Armor Class.

Astral Barrage. Whenever you use the Extra Attack feature to attack twice, you can instead attack three times if all the attacks are made with your astral arms.

2024 update

2024 PHB broke the original and my rework. Bleh. Here's what I changed:

  • All mentions of Ki are now Focus Points
  • Using Wis for your unarmed strikes is a separate passive feature to let you use it even when you're are out of focus.
  • Damage of Astral arms is now Psychic since you can now do Force damage with Empowered Strikes.
  • Activation damage is also Psychic to keep in theme with previous change, is a Wisdom save, and you can activate it again it while the spectral arms are up.
  • Intimidation advantage changed to Perception for Visage
  • Astral Sight also works in dim light.
  • Word of the Spirit lets you speak telepathically instead of the volume control thing.
  • Defect Energy doesn't work the same as the new core feature. Changed to Absorb Energy that lets you gain resistance to the damage.
 

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