Way of the Astral Familiar

Way of the Astral Familiar

The Calling of A New Self

The astral self is a translucent blue embodiment of the monk’s psyche, soul, and bond. Therefore, the Astral Familiar manifests itself to these things. The Astral Familiar needs a creature, the monk, to bind itself to and has always been looming after the first bond is created. The New Astral self can be manifested as a pet, a loved one, or even as the monk themselves, yet tattered. The Astral Familiar is bound to the monk, but it's own entity. 

When choosing this path, consider the quirks that define your monk. What is their history? What stands out? Are they 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.

Awakening of the Astral Familiar

When you reach the 3rd level, your bond is awaken your Astral Familiar lives, until knocked unconscious. An Astral Familiar can be damaged (health equal to a 1d12 rolled when first awakened + most current Wisdom Modifier + most current Dexterity Modifier) and cannot be healed. When knocked unconscious the Astral Familiar is sent back to the Astral plane because it cannot be full killed. To summon them back to the living plane you must spend a ki point, then the Astral Familiar is summoned back from the astral plane. Your Astral Familiar may be called back and forth between planes, so long it doesn't get knocked unconscious and is within your movement range (this counts as a bonus action). 

An Astral Familiar only knows your native language (say your an elf, it know's elvish) and the language of the creature in which it manifests as. Therefore, the familiar acts as form of translator, it cannot speak verbally and only communicates to you telepathically. The range of this telepathy is 250 ft. When reaching the 7th monk level your Astral Familiar gains the ability to understand all languages.

Arms of the Astral Familiar

 

You learned to condense your Astral Familiar to gain an extra attack. Your Astral Familiar is summoned to you and manifested onto you to be able to do so (if your Astral Familiar is wandering a plane, it is immediately called to you and is no longer able to move until relinquished from the caller over time or by command).

While your Astral arms are summoned, you gain the following benefits:

• You can use your Wisdom modifier in place of your Strength modifier when making Strength checks and Strength saving throws.
• The arms are monk weapons and have a reach of 10 feet. The arms deal radiant or necrotic damage (your choice) on top of unarmed damage. When you attack with the arms, you can use your Wisdom modifier instead of your Strength or Dexterity modifier for the attack and damage rolls.
• Immediately after you use the Attack action with your astral arms on your turn, you can make one extra attack with your astral arms as an extra bonus action. The number of extra attacks increases when you reach certain levels in this class, increasing to two at 11th level and three at 17th level.

 

Mask of the Astral Familiar

While your visage is summoned, you gain the following benefits.

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

Astral Sight. You can see normally in darkness, both magical and nonmagical, to a distance of 120 ft. uninhibited and light blue outlines, to a distance of 45 ft. through barriers (walls doors, etc.).

Expansion of the Astral Familiar

 While you have both your astral arms and visage summoned, you gain the following benefits.

Deflect Energy. When you take acid, cold, fire, lightning, or force damage, you can use your reaction to deflect it. When you do so, the damage you take is reduced by 1d10 + your Wisdom modifier + your monk level.

Empowered Arms. Once on each of your turns when you hit a target with your astral arms, you can deal extra damage (+d4) on top of the extra bonus attack.

Word of the Spirit. When you speak through your visage, you can direct your words to a creature of your choice that you can see within 30 ft. of you , making it so only that creature can hear you in their native tongue. Alternatively, you can amplify your voice so that all creatures within 600 ft. can hear you in the language you choose to speak.

Armored Astral Familiar

 

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

Armor of the Spirit. You gain a +2 bonus to AC while you aren’t incapacitated.

Ki Consumption. When a creature within 10 feet of you is reduced to 0 hit points, you can use your reaction to regain ki points equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum 1).

Movement of the Spirit. With greater maneuverability of the combined Astral beings, your attacks gain advantage. And if the bond is presented as an animal, any movement types of that particular creature are applied to the character for the duration.