Monks, Warlocks, and Lightsabers: Crafting Your Jedi Knight in D&D 5E
Well, huzzah, and welcome back to ye olde blog, fellow dungeon delvers! Today, we’re mashing up the universes and seeing what pops out the other end. We’re talking about Dungeons & Dragons, we’re talking about Star Wars, and we’re talking about how to roll up your very own Jedi Knight. You heard me right — let’s see how the Force fares in Faerun!
Hold on to your polyhedral dice because we’re going for a ride.
Race:
Let’s start with the race. I’m feeling Variant Human here. Why? Well, let’s see. Humans are adaptable, tenacious, and full of that unpredictable oomph that makes us a headache for any self-respecting Sith. The Variant Human’s extra skill and the starting feat give us a head start on being exceptional, just like our Lightsaber-swinging inspirations.
Classes:
Now onto classes. You can only swing a lightsaber with a decent class, right? Our base class will be the Monk — Way of the Kensei. Monks have that ascetic Jedi vibe, and the Kensei subclass lets us choose a weapon to master (Lightsaber, anyone?) as a monk weapon. That’s our Level 1 to 6 sorted.
At 7th level, let’s multiclass into Warlock — Pact of the Blade with a dip of 5 levels. Who’s our Patron? The Celestial, of course, is a stand-in for the Light side of the Force. The Blade pact lets you summon your weapon to your hand, mimicking that classic lightsaber throw and return. Not to mention access to spells for that Force manipulation flavor!
After that 5-level dip, we’re back to Monk for the remaining levels. This will give you all that sweet unarmed combat goodness, additional Ki points, and the high-level benefits of the Kensei path.
Skills and Feats:
For our initial skills, let’s go with Insight and Perception. You need to see through the lies of the Jedi, after all. For our bonus human skills, we’ll take Acrobatics. Jedi need to flip, right?
Now onto feats. Thanks to our Variant Human choice, our first feat will be Mage Slayer. Why? Because Jedi need to be able to resist and reflect those pesky Force Lightning attacks. At 4th level (Monk), we’ll take the Mobile feat — because if you’re going to run up the side of a Trade Federation Starship, you need to do it with style!
After our 5-level Warlock dip, we’re back to Monk, and at Monk 8 (character level 13), we’ll take War Caster. This will keep our concentration up for those crucial “Force” spells in the heat of melee combat.
Weapons and Spells:
Your Kensei weapon, naturally, will be a longsword — reskinned as a lightsaber. At Warlock 3, you can pick the Improved Pact Weapon Eldritch Invocation to summon any proficient weapon and use it as a spellcasting focus. Sounds like a lightsaber to me!
For your Warlock spells, think utilitarian. Cure Wounds is your essential Force Healing. Guiding Bolt and Sacred Flame can be your push and pull Force abilities. Levitate, Hold Person, and Fly are self-explanatory. And if your DM lets you use Hex as a sort of “Force mind trick” to give a disadvantage on certain ability checks, that’s just the cherry on top!
There you have it, adventurers. Now, you’re ready to bring a touch of the Force to your next D&D campaign. Just remember to use your powers wisely. After all, I’ve got a bad feeling about what happens if you stray too close to the Dark Side… cough Sith Warlock cough. May your dice rolls be in your favor, and may the Force always be with you. Until next time, adventurers!
