The Arcane Athenæum

There is no emotion, there is peace.
There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.
There is no passion, there is serenity.
There is no chaos, there is harmony.
There is no death, there is the Force.

I have seen more than a few “Jedi”-based homebrew.  Some build entirely new classes devoted to the concept, while others will build off existing classes (most commonly the monk, but I have seen a warlock and I believe also a sorcerer).

However, I have issue with many of these concepts, principally because they are presented as literal Jedi.  And perhaps this is pedantic, but I’m not a huge fan of that.  Jedi are from Star Wars (of course), not D&D.  And while it’s great fun to inspire your character around the abilities and mannerisms of Jedi, I personally do not like the idea of literally calling them so.  Something about it kills my immersion of the game and the class itself.  If you want to literally play a Jedi, go pick up Edge of the Empire or Wizard’s own SAGA Edition; that’s what they are for.  But for D&D, you should be a bit more subtle.

When The Last Jedi hit theaters I got inspired to try and design a subclass inspired by the Jedi.  I settled on monk, owing to the Jedi’s “warrior monk” concept and the fact that, really, monks are already half-Jedi as it is.  They control a mystical power within themselves, can run fast and jump high, and they can even deflect missiles.  All they need is the ability to move things with their mind; even the lightsaber is secondary.

And so you now have the document below, the Way of the Mystic Force.  Yes, you eventually get a “lightsaber” out of your own concentrated ki; I like this idea more than actually allowing the character to literally build a conventional lightsaber.  You can spend ki points to cast a limited selection of spells, allowing you to move things with your mind, sense thoughts, and push people away.  The capstone for the subclass is inspired partially by the “capstone” ability for Jedi Masters in SAGA Edition, giving you some quick out-of-combat healing through meditation and opening yourself up to the cosmos to improve your capabilities.

On May the Fourth, 2019, this subclass has officially left draft and is now available on DMsGuild.

Please give it a whirl and let me know how it plays!  And may the Mystical Force be with you.

Downloads

DMsGuild

Changelog

Version 1.3 04Aug2021

Overall

• Changed up the Ki Saber feature a bit to be more flexible and allow for different fighting styles; now you can spend 1 ki point to summon a longsword OR two shortswords, or you can spend 2 ki points to summon two longswords.  Note that yes, at lvl 11+ a one-handed longsword and a shortsword will be doing the same damage thanks to your martial arts die, so there’s not much of a benefit to spending the extra ki to summon the longswords.  You only get much of a benefit if you have the dual wielder feat before then.  Regardless, the option is there for earlier-levels if you want to go that route.
• Fixed some typos, altered some text.

Version 1.2 13Nov2019

Overall

• The Greater Discipline feature has been changed to be much simpler in its design, more like the the way Sorcerer metamagic options work.  Now you just spend a ki point when you cast a spell to double its range or make it last twice as long, with a third option specifically for thunderwave that makes its area of effect larger.  Note that this counts against the amount of ki you are allowed to spend on a spell, so for example if you cast telekinesis, you can only chose one of these Greater Discipline options, because it’s already a 5th level spell and you can’t spend more than 6 ki on a spell at 17th level.

Version 1.1 14Sep2019

Overall

• Changed the Ki Saber feature to a bonus action to summon the blade, rather than an action.

Version 1.0 04May2019

Overall

• The subclass has left the draft stage and is now available on DMsGuild.
• The Mystical Arts feature which allowed you to move objects with your mind has had its wording altered a bit.
• The Meditation feature has been reworked and reworded a bit as well, allowing you to meditate as many times as you want BUT only gaining the benefit of the foresight spell once a day.

Version 0.1 09May2018

• First version.