Dungeons & Dragons’ New Subclass Pulled Straight Out of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure

Dungeons & Dragons fans can now roleplay as a character from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, thanks to a new subclass released earlier this week. The Dungeons & Dragons team released a playtest for the Way of the Astral Self, a new Monk subclass that allows the monk to coalesce their mystical energy as a representation of their true form as an astral self. The Astral Self is a “translucent embodiment of the monk’s psyche and soul” and can take on many forms based on how the monk views themselves. In addition to looking cool, the Astral Self also has a variety of abilities, ranging from attacking opponents to psychically directing your words so that only a single person can hear them.

The Internet quickly noted the similarities between the Monk’s Astral Self and Stands from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, a popular manga and anime series by Hirohiko Araki. Many of the characters in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure possess Stands, a manifestation of a person’s psychic power that takes the form of a familiar standing close to them. Stands take many forms and have a host of bizarre abilities, ranging from super-strength to briefly stopping time.

While Stands and a monk’s Astral Self clearly comes from two different origins, there are some notable similarities. For instance, a Stand user can see through their Stand’s eyes and can communicate through their Stand. As we noted above, a monk can use their Astral Self to communicate and also has Darkvision when their Astral Self is active. A monk’s Astral Self can also make additional attacks as a bonus action – an ability that a few have compared to the Ora Ora Rush attack of Star Platinum, the Stand of Jotaro Kujo.

You can compare the Way of the Astral Self with JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure by checking out the subclass here. You might also want to shout “Ora Ora Ora” the next time your Monk uses an Astral Self to attack, just to see if anyone gets the reference.

What does your Stand…I mean Astral Self look like? Let us know in the comment section, or find me on Twitter at @CHofferCBus to chat all things D&D!