School of the Vedari

"An ocean wave is the ocean in motion,
A desert twister is nothing but sand and wind,
A flock of birds has no thought of its own,
A word is a sound that pretends to carry meaning.

From the Flow, the Veil arises, like a mirror reflecting reality.
Because it is only a mirage, it has no potency.
When names and imaginary things take control of the Flow,
we call it Magic."
-- The Way of the Vedari, second suktam

In Vedari philosophy, reality has two aspects: the Flow, which is the fundamental energy of the universe, and the illusory Veil, which hides reality's true nature. Through natural processes, the Flow gives rise to the Veil, like how speech is made from sound energy, but carries meaning we can understand. Vedari wizards see magic as a process where beliefs and ideas that originate from the mind are manifested in reality. This perspective on magic is the foundation of the School of the Vedari.

Initiates to the school of the Vedari are taught two fundamental skills: thought and meditation. Using thought, the Vedari can step out of the moment, taking a bird's-eye perspective on the situation, understanding hidden patterns, and making predictions for the future. Through meditation, the Vedari steps into the moment, shedding their beliefs and biases, freeing their mind from illusions, and realizing their true selves. Over time, these practices fundamentally change the way the Vedari sees the world.

Meditation

When you adopt this subclass at 2nd level, you learn how to enter a meditative state that takes you away from thoughts about past and future, and turns your attention to the world as it exists here and now. As an action or bonus action, you can begin to Meditate. While Meditating, you have advantage on Wisdom checks and saving throws, as well as Constitution saving throws to maintain concentration. The effect lasts until the end of your next turn, unless you spend your action or bonus action to maintain it. 

Bonus Proficiencies

Your Vedari training has taught you to apply a harmony of logic and intuition as tools to solve problems. Also at 2nd level, you gain proficiency with Insight and Investigation. For either of these skills, if you are already proficient, you gain expertise instead.

Manifest Imagination

Starting at 6th level, you gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between real and imaginary, transcending boundaries you used to believe were inviolable. While Meditating, you can cast a spell from your wizard's spellbook that you have not prepared, expending a spell slot and material components as usual.

You can use this feature once. You regain the use when you finish a long rest, or by expending a use of your arcane recovery feature at the end of a short rest.

Part the Veil

Beginning at 10th level, you have seen through the Veil of reality and realized how thoughts are illusions that hold no power over your true self. While Meditating, you now gain the following benefits.

• You have resistance to psychic damage.
• You can choose to be unaffected by effects that require you to understand or share a language.
• You can magically abolish meaning from your speech. The sounds can still be understood by creatures who share your language, but is treated as neither a truth nor a lie, cannot be translated by magic, and cannot be used to activate magical triggers.
• If a creature tries to read your mind, you decide what it reads if you are aware of it. If you are not aware of it, it reads as if you have no thoughts.

Mind Malfunction