How to Build Jotaro Kujo from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure in D&D 5e
Jotaro Kujo – the stoic 17-year-old who somehow has tires for shoulders and a hat that mysteriously blends into his hair. I have seen cosmic radiation erode away solar systems and this... THIS is a first.
Hey there, meatbags! Today we’re channeling our inner Stardust Crusader and building Jotaro Kujo in Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. This build is all about capturing the essence of Jotaro and his Stand, Star Platinum, in D&D terms. So grab your gakuran school uniform, crack your knuckles, and get ready to yell “ORA! ORA! ORA!” at the top of your lungs.
pdfs at levels. 1, 5, 11, 17, 20.
Goals
To make sure we do Jotaro and Star Platinum justice, we need to hit a few key characteristics. Our build’s centerpieces will be:
An Astral Spirit (Stand) – Jotaro’s Stand, Star Platinum, is like a psychic punching ghost that fights alongside him. We need a D&D feature that lets us manifest a spirit or spectral force to represent Star Platinum (Editor’s note: I might have been watching Persona by accident – wrong show, similar concept). This “Stand” should give us supernatural strength and reach in combat.
Rapid-Fire Punching – You can’t have a three-page-long ORA-ORA beatdown without supersonic punch speed. Jotaro pummels enemies with blinding flurries of blows, so our build must support making multiple unarmed strikes in a single round (the more attacks, the better). We want to recreate that barrage of punches that sends villains flying.
Time Stop (Star Platinum: The World) – At his strongest (late in Part 3 of the series), Jotaro gains the ability to stop time for a few moments using Star Platinum: The World. If we’re building this character all the way to level 20, we want to represent this iconic power. (No build is complete without some way to yell “Time has stopped” and utterly confuse the DM!).
With these goals in mind, let’s dive into the mechanics and make Jotaro in 5e.
Stats
As with all our builds, we’ll use the Standard Array for ability scores (the set of scores 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8 as given in the Player’s Handbook). Feel free to roll for stats if that’s your table’s style, but make sure to prioritize the same key abilities. Jotaro is a physical powerhouse with keen senses and iron will, so we’ll allocate his abilities as follows:
Strength – 15: Jotaro’s raw physical power is immense. He can crack skulls with his fists and toss much larger foes around. We start with a high Strength to reflect his punching power and brute force. (We’ll be using Strength for our attacks for thematic reasons, even though D&D monks often rely on Dexterity – Jotaro hits hard).
Wisdom – 14: Between Jotaro’s battle intuition and Star Platinum’s heightened senses, we want a strong Wisdom. This fuels our Stand’s perception and our own insight. Jotaro often sees through enemy tricks and is perceptive enough to react to threats others might miss. Wisdom will also govern some of our Stand abilities and improve our D&D monk features (like Stunning Strike DC).
Dexterity – 13: While Jotaro is bulky, he’s also surprisingly quick and agile – he catches bullets with his bare hands in the anime. A solid Dexterity gives us good reaction speed, improves our unarmored defense, and helps with initiative.
Constitution – 12: Jotaro can take a beating. He endures knife attacks, emerald splashes, and even a vampire’s road roller assault. A decent Constitution score represents his toughness and stamina, ensuring we have enough hit points to stay standing in a prolonged stand-off. (We’ll look to boost this later for even more durability.)
Charisma – 10: Jotaro is cool, no doubt – intimidating when he glares and says “Yare yare daze.” But he’s also taciturn and not exactly a people-person. A roughly average Charisma (10) feels right: he doesn’t actively schmooze anyone, but he has a certain badass presence. Intimidation will rely more on proficiency and flavor than a high Charisma score.
Intelligence – 8: Books aren’t Jotaro’s focus (he’s more street-smart than book-smart). He’s a clever tactician in fights, but that’s more represented by Wisdom. An 8 Intelligence makes academic knowledge a dump stat – Jotaro isn’t quoting Shakespeare or solving riddles; he’s letting his fists do the talking.
Starting Array after racial bonuses: We’re choosing Variant Human (more on that below), which grants +1 to two ability scores. We’ll apply +1 to Strength (bumping it to 16) and +1 to Dexterity (bumping it to 14) to reinforce Jotaro’s physical prowess and reflexes.
Feel free to adjust Dex and Con prioritization depending on how much you value a higher AC (Dex) versus more HP (Con) for your playstyle. We’re aiming for a balanced but brute-force build.
Background & Species
Species (Race): Variant Human. Jotaro is human, and the Variant Human option lets us start with a feat – extremely useful for bringing his combat style online early. As a human, we also get to increase two ability scores by +1 (we did Str and Dex as noted) and gain an extra skill proficiency. Jotaro doesn’t have any funky racial powers; he’s just a (very intense) human, so this fits perfectly.
Alternative Feat: You could choose Tavern Brawler instead (from the Player’s Handbook) to gain proficiency with improvised weapons and a bonus action grapple after you hit with an unarmed strike, plus a +1 to Strength or Constitution. This can be fun if you want Jotaro to be able to smash foes with random objects (road roller, anyone?) and emphasize his grappling strength. We opted for Fighting Initiate for raw damage, but Tavern Brawler is a solid flavorful choice too (and you can always pick it up later in the build if you really want both!).
Feat (Variant Human): Fighting Initiate (Unarmed Fighting style). We’re immediately grabbing a feat that makes Jotaro’s unarmed strikes hit harder. The Unarmed Fighting style from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything lets our unarmed strikes deal 1d6 bludgeoning damage, or 1d8 if we aren’t wielding any weapons or shield. That’s a big boost to punching damage right out of the gate! Perfect for those ORA-ORA barrages. It also lets us deal 1d4 damage to a creature we’ve grappled at the start of our turn (imagine Star Platinum squeezing an enemy while Jotaro holds them by the collar). This fighting style is a huge thematic win. Jotaro essentially carries no weapons because his fists are lethal weapons. Now in D&D, they’ll hit like it.
Skill Proficiency (Variant Human): We get one free skill. Take Athletics to showcase Jotaro’s physical might and grappling ability. He’s the kind of guy who can physically restrain other Stand users and leap tremendous distances – Athletics covers climbing, jumping, grappling, and other feats of strength. It fits him to a T.
Background: Soldier (or a custom background with similar skills). Jotaro isn’t literally a soldier, but he has the discipline and resolve of a seasoned fighter. The Soldier background gives us proficiency in Intimidation and Perception, both are perfect. Intimidation lets Jotaro mean mug thugs and stand users with a single menacing “Good grief...” and crack of his knuckles. Perception represents Star Platinum’s superhuman eyesight and Jotaro’s habit of noticing the one subtle clue (or murderous orangutan) that others missed. The Soldier background’s feature “Military Rank” can be flavored as Jotaro’s commanding presence. People tend to obey when he barks orders, even if he’s a high schooler in a gakuran coat.
If you go custom background: Make sure you snag Perception (to reflect Star Platinum’s keen senses) and Insight as well. Insight is a great skill for Jotaro – he has a knack for reading people and figuring out if they’re lying or up to no good (e.g., seeing through D’Arby’s tricks or sensing when something’s off about an enemy’s stance). In our build, we’ll actually get Insight from our class, but either way, keep these skills in mind.
Between our race, background, and class (Monk gives two picks), you should aim to have Athletics, Intimidation, Perception, and Insight on your character sheet. Acrobatics or Stealth are other monk skill options, but Jotaro doesn’t do a lot of parkour or sneaking – he tends to walk up and punch things head-on. So we’ll focus on the skills that suit his personality and tactics.
Class Features and Level Progression
Levels 1–6: Way of the Astral Self Monk (Stand User in Training)
We’ll start with Monk as our base class. Jotaro’s fighting style is unarmed and brutal, which screams monk, and the Way of the Astral Self subclass (from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything) is exactly what we need to represent a Stand. As a monk, Jotaro uses his inner ki (think of it as his fighting spirit/Stand energy) to perform superhuman feats. Let’s break down the first six levels:
Level 1 – Monk 1: We get the core of Jotaro’s combat training.
Unarmored Defense: When not wearing armor, our AC is 10 + Dexterity mod + Wisdom mod. At start, that’s 10 + 2 (Dex) + 2 (Wis) = 14 AC. Not too shabby for a tough guy in a school uniform. Jotaro isn’t going to wear armor, so this keeps him reasonably protected by sheer reflexes and combat awareness. (If 14 AC sounds low, don’t worry – we’ll boost our defenses with abilities and by increasing stats as we level up. Plus, Star Platinum will eventually help mitigate damage.)
Martial Arts: This feature is bread-and-butter for monks. It lets us use Dexterity instead of Strength for unarmed strike attack and damage rolls, and it makes our unarmed strike damage a d4 (which normally would scale up as we level). However, thanks to our Unarmed Fighting style, our base unarmed damage is actually 1d8 right now! That means Jotaro hits like a truck even at level 1. We can also make an unarmed strike as a bonus action whenever we use the Attack action, representing a quick jab after the first punch. In summary, at level 1 Jotaro can punch twice per round (one attack + one bonus attack), each for d8 damage – the ORA-ORA count begins.
Roleplay note: At this stage, Jotaro doesn’t yet consciously manifest Star Platinum as a separate entity, but his impressive fighting skills and latent Stand power are already evident. You can flavor his punches as being unusually fast or guided by an unseen force (foreshadowing the Stand).
Level 2 – Monk 2: Here’s where Jotaro starts tapping into his spiritual energy (hamon? no, wrong JoJo part – we’re on stands now).
Ki: We gain access to ki points (Monk’s resource) equal to our monk level. Jotaro’s ki represents his fighting spirit and resolve. We can spend ki to do a few cool tricks: Flurry of Blows, Patient Defense, and Step of the Wind.
Flurry of Blows: After attacking, spend 1 ki to make two unarmed strikes as a bonus action instead of one. Now the ORA-ORA rampage really kicks in – on a Flurry round, Jotaro can attack three times total at level 2 (1 Attack + 2 Flurry attacks). That’s a mini “Stand Rush” every time he spends a ki point. This is perfect for simulating his rapid punches. Picture Jotaro cracking his knuckles, then unleashing a trio of blows so fast the target hardly sees them.
Patient Defense: Spend 1 ki to take the Dodge action as a bonus action (enemies have disadvantage to hit you, and you get advantage on Dex saves for a round). This is Jotaro going into full defense – weaving and blocking with Star Platinum’s help. Not used as often in JoJo, but handy in D&D when you need to turtle up.
Step of the Wind: Spend 1 ki to Dash or Disengage as a bonus action, and double your jump distance. Jotaro isn’t a ninja, but he can certainly move quickly when needed – remember him closing the gap on DIO in their final fight in a split second. This can be flavoured as Star Platinum propelling him forward or simply Jotaro’s athleticism.
Unarmored Movement: Our speed increases by +10 feet when not in armor. Jotaro is surprisingly fast for a guy his size, and Star Platinum’s presence makes him even faster. With a base speed of 40 feet now, he can rush down foes or maneuver around the battlefield easily. Gotta catch that evil orangutan or get in DIO’s face before he throws a road roller!
Level 3 – Monk 3: It’s Stand time! We choose Way of the Astral Self as our monastic tradition, which gives us the ability to summon our Stand’s spectral arms.
Arms of the Astral Self: By spending 2 ki as a bonus action, Jotaro summons the arms of his Stand (Star Platinum) for 10 minutesarcane-foundry-studios.comarcane-foundry-studios.com. Visually, this is where in JoJo the ghostly figure of Star Platinum appears around him (at least the upper half). What do these astral arms do? A whole lot:
When summoned, each creature of your choice within 10 feet must succeed on a Dexterity save or take 2 martial arts die of force damage. (At this level our martial arts die is d4, so that’s 2d4 force.) This burst of energy can be seen as Star Platinum materializing with a concussive shockwave – enemies near Jotaro get slammed by the Stand’s arrival.
Extended Reach: For the next 10 minutes, you can make unarmed strikes with the astral arms and they have a reach of +5 feet beyond normal. That means Jotaro’s punches can now hit enemies 10 feet away – exactly like a Stand that can stretch its arms or strike from a short distance! (Star Platinum’s range in the series is very limited, but a few extra feet in D&D terms is perfect to show he doesn’t always have to be literally touching someone to deck them.)
Use Wisdom for Attacks: You can use your Wisdom modifier for attack and damage rolls of these astral arm strikes instead of Strength or Dexterity, and you use Wisdom in place of Strength for strength checks and saves. Mechanically, this is great for monks who focus on Wisdom. However, we’ve built Jotaro as a Strength-based bruiser for flavor, and currently our Strength is actually higher than Wisdom. So while Star Platinum’s arms could be guided by Jotaro’s willpower (Wisdom), we’ll often still use raw Strength to overpower foes. The key is: we have the option. (Feel free to use whichever is higher in a given situation. As we improve Wisdom later, those ghost punches will be both precise and strong.)
Damage Type: The astral arms deal force damage, which is very fitting – Star Platinum is kind of like a forceful spiritual entity punching you. It’s also great in D&D because force damage is rarely resisted. Your Stand punches hit even things that are resistant to normal physical blows (ghosts, raging barbarians, etc.).
At this point, Jotaro can fully manifest Star Platinum’s arms to fight. You can flavor your attacks as coming from the Stand itself – e.g., Jotaro stands coolly with hands in pockets while Star Platinum’s translucent fists dish out the pain. Mechanically, you still use your own actions to attack, but it’s all flavored as the Stand doing the striking. This is exactly what we wanted for goal #1.
Level 4 – Monk 4: Time to improve our stats or pick up another feat. We have a few tempting options, but we’ll start by pumping up Jotaro’s Strength to superhuman levels:
Ability Score Improvement: Increase Strength by +2 (from 16 to 18). Jotaro’s punches just got deadlier, and his Athletics and overall brute force improve. At this point, he’s as strong as an ogre in D&D terms. Every hit counts when you’re pummeling ancient vampires and pillarmen, so we want that attack bonus and damage as high as possible.
Optional Feat instead: If you’re satisfied with a 16 Strength for now, a feat like Crusher is very thematic here. Crusher (from Tasha’s) lets you add +1 to Str or Con and has two great perks: whenever you hit a creature with bludgeoning damage, you can move it 5 feet to an unoccupied space (knocking enemies around with Star Platinum’s blows), and once per turn, on a critical hit with bludgeoning, you give all attack rolls against that target advantage until your next turnarcane-foundry-studios.com. The 5-foot knockback is a nice way to send bad guys flying (albeit a short distance), and advantage on a crit is devastating. If you took Crusher here, you could raise Strength to 17 (or Con to 13) and get those benefits – very much in line with Jotaro knocking out teeth and shoving foes around with each ORA. We chose to go with the straight +2 Strength for maximum consistency, but Crusher is a fun alternative.
Level 5 – Monk 5: A huge power spike for monks, and it translates perfectly to Jotaro’s ORAORAORA assault.
Extra Attack: Jotaro can attack twice instead of once whenever he takes the Attack action now. This stacks with all our bonus action shenanigans. So without spending ki, he can punch two times per round (Action, with 2 attacks, plus possible one bonus attack from Martial Arts). If he uses Flurry of Blows, he can make four attacks in a round (2 from Attack action + 2 from Flurry) That’s a serious barrage – the “three-page ORA” is now on the table! Star Platinum’s trademark rapid punches are fully online. Cue the ORA ORA ORA!
Stunning Strike: Here’s our answer to Time Stop, albeit in a limited form. When you hit a creature with a melee weapon attack (and yes, unarmed strikes count), you can spend 1 ki to attempt a stun. The target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw (DC = 8 + your proficiency + your Wisdom mod) or be stunned until the end of your next turn. A stunned creature is essentially frozen in time from its perspective – it can’t move or take actions, and attacks against it have advantage. Sound familiar? It’s basically what Jotaro does when he stops time: the enemy is helpless as he lines up his punches. Mechanically, actual Time Stop is a 9th-level spell that would require a level 17 Wizard or Sorcerer – not exactly Jotaro-esque in terms of class choices. Instead, Stunning Strike lets us achieve a similar effect on a single target through pure fighting spirit. In play, you can absolutely describe this as Jotaro briefly stopping time for that foe while Star Platinum rearranges their face. It’s incredibly powerful in D&D and extremely on-brand. Now when you spend ki, you could Flurry for multiple hits and attempt to stun on one or more of those hits. If the enemy fails their Con save, they’re effectively paused, and your follow-up attacks (and your allies’ attacks) all have advantage until the end of your next turn. It’s Star Platinum: The World, baby!
Martial Arts Die Increase: Also note that at Monk 5, the base Martial Arts damage die goes from d4 to d6. Since we’re using the Unarmed Fighting style, we’re still punching with d8s (which is higher), so this doesn’t change our damage output yet. But it’s worth noting our astral arms’ activation blast (which uses the martial arts die) is now 2d6 force instead of 2d4. Every little bit helps.
Level 6 – Monk 6: Jotaro further refines his Stand powers and physical resilience.
Ki-Empowered Strikes: By now, Jotaro’s unarmed strikes count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks. This means creatures that normally shrug off or resist normal punches (ghosts, demons, etc.) will feel the full impact of Star Platinum’s fists. In JoJo terms, think of it as Star Platinum being a spiritual force – it can hit vampires or spirits that regular people couldn’t. In D&D, this just ensures our damage stays effective against a wider range of enemies.
Visage of the Astral Self: The Stand grows in power. At this level, in addition to the arms, Jotaro can summon the visage (face) of Star Platinum for 10 minutes by spending 1 ki (it can be done as part of the same bonus action as summoning the arms, or separately). With the Arms and Visage of the Astral Self both summoned, Star Platinum is half-manifested around Jotaro. Here’s what the Visage gives us:
Spectral Eyes and Ears: You gain 120 feet of darkvision, and you can see even magical darkness. Star Platinum has incredible eyesight (remember Jotaro sniping a vampire falcon from very far away in Part 3, or spotting an enemy stand user in the crowd). Nothing escapes those keen eyes now.
Wisdom Buffs: You have advantage on Insight and Intimidation checks. Perfect! Jotaro can stare down liars and enemies even more effectively. In roleplay, this could be the intimidating aura of Star Platinum looming behind him, or the Stand subtly reading an opponent’s micro-expressions to tell if they’re lying. Either way, our Insight (to discern intentions) and Intimidation (to scare foes into submission) just went through the roof.
Spiritual Speech: You can speak to any creature within 60 feet such that only that creature can hear you, or you can project your voice as a booming echo audible to 600 feet. This is a fun flavor ability. Jotaro isn’t exactly chatty, but if you want to have a private word mid-battle (“Your next line is...”) or shout “ORA!” so loud that the whole battlefield trembles, go for it. It’s reminiscent of how Stand users can sometimes communicate with each other or how Jotaro’s harsh whisper can be as scary as a shout.
At Monk 6, Jotaro (with Star Platinum’s arms and visage out) is a terror to behold. Mechanically, we’ve rounded out the core of the Stand: supernaturally accurate and powerful arms, enhanced senses, and the ability to shut down an opponent with a single well-placed punch (stun). We’ve also buffed our Strength and unarmed damage nicely.
Levels 7–10: Fighter (Echo Knight) – The Stand Manifestation
At this point, we’re going to multiclass into Fighter to represent further combat training and to really emphasize Star Platinum as an autonomous fighting companion. Specifically, we’ll take the Echo Knight subclass (from Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount) – it might as well have been custom-made to represent Stands. An Echo Knight fighter can manifest a spectral duplicate of themselves that fights alongside them, which is exactly what Star Platinum is for Jotaro. This multiclass will also give us extra combat prowess: Action Surge (more attacks) and some handy feats.
Prerequisite note: Multiclassing into Fighter requires at least 13 Strength or Dexterity. We have Strength 18 now, so no worries there.
Level 7 – Fighter 1:
Fighting Style: Upon taking our first Fighter level, we get another Fighting Style. We already have Unarmed Fighting from our feat, so we must choose a different one this time. A great choice for Jotaro is Superior Technique (from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything). This gives us one Battlemaster maneuver and a d6 superiority die to fuel it (which we regain on short rests). We’ll take the Lunging Attack maneuver. Why? Star Finger! In JoJo, Star Platinum can extend its fingers briefly to jab a distant opponent – Lunging Attack lets us extend the reach of one melee attack by 5 feet and add the superiority die to the damage. Since our Stand already has 10 ft reach from Astral Arms, a Lunging Attack can push that to 15 feet for one strike – virtually catching an enemy across the room with a Stand finger poke! It’s a perfect representation of that move. And the extra damage (1d6) is a nice little bonus.
If Superior Technique isn’t your cup of tea, another viable style is Defense (+1 to AC while wearing no armor – which would bump our AC up a bit). Jotaro doesn’t use a shield or anything, so Defense is free AC. We’re confident we’ll manage with other defensive abilities, so we went with the flashy option that adds to our Stand’s repertoire.
Second Wind: Fighter 1 also gives Second Wind, a bonus action self-heal for 1d10 + fighter level HP once per short rest. At this stage, that’s 1d10+1, which is modest but could be the difference between life and death in a tight spot. Think of it as Jotaro toughing it out through sheer grit (or maybe Star Platinum giving him a quick adrenaline boost). It’s not huge, but Jotaro often does push through injuries by willpower, so it fits.
Level 8 – Fighter 2:
Action Surge: Here we go – one of the best features of Fighter. Action Surge lets you take an additional full Action on your turn, once per short rest. This means in one round, you can punch a lot. For example, at this point our Attack action is two attacks (from Monk’s Extra Attack). With Action Surge, you can do that twice. Combine that with Flurry of Blows and… well, that’s potentially 6 attacks in one turn (2 attacks + Action Surge 2 attacks + 2 flurry attacks)arcane-foundry-studios.comarcane-foundry-studios.com. If you also throw an Unleash Incarnation (coming at Fighter 3) in there, it gets even crazier (we’ll get to that next level). This is exactly how you emulate Jotaro’s insane ORA-ORA rushes where time almost seems to slow down as he delivers a dozen hits in a blink. Action Surge is also useful outside of damage – you could use it to Dash and punch, or drink a potion and still attack, etc. But primarily, we’re using it to ORA ORA ORA. Expect your DM to pale the first time you say “I Action Surge and Flurry – that’s six attacks,” but hey, Jotaro doesn’t hold back, so neither will we!
Level 9 – Fighter 3:
Martial Archetype: We choose Echo Knight as our subclass. Now the real Stand mechanic comes to life. As an Echo Knight, you can manifest an “echo” – a translucent, spectral duplicate of yourself – and use it in combat. We’re absolutely flavoring this as Star Platinum materializing next to Jotaro.
Manifest Echo: As a bonus action, you magically summon your echo within 15 feet of you. The echo is a spectral figure that occupies its space, and it lasts until destroyed or dismissed. It has 1 hit point, AC 14 + your proficiency (so AC 14 + 4 = 18 at this level), and it uses your saving throw bonuses. It can move on your turn (no action required) up to 30 feet. Importantly, it can move through creatures and obstacles since it’s not fully solid. This is literally Star Platinum – a ghostly ally that stands by you. In JoJo, only stand users can see stands, but in D&D everyone will see this echo (unless you and the DM decide it’s invisible to non-stand-users for flavor – that’s up to you and not really mechanically relevant).
Echo Combat: When you take the Attack action, you can make the attack from the echo’s position instead of your own. This means Star Platinum can punch a foe while Jotaro himself might be 15+ feet away. In effect, your melee reach is greatly extended via the echo. Star Platinum can be trading blows while Jotaro hangs back a bit, smoking a cigarette (age-appropriate in 1980s Japan? probably not, but he’s a delinquent). This keeps Jotaro safer and confuses enemies – classic stand stuff.
Swap Places: As a bonus action, you can teleport and swap places with your echo at the cost of 15 feet of your movement. This is super cool – if Jotaro gets in a pinch or needs to suddenly be where his Stand is, he can effectively body-swap with Star Platinum’s position. In a fight, this could be him actually moving so fast with Stand assistance that he appears to trade places, or Star Platinum physically dragging him through space – however you want to describe it. It gives great mobility and battlefield presence.
Defense: The echo only has 1 HP, but it isn’t easily destroyed by incidental damage. Enemies can target it to eliminate it, but that wastes their attacks on something that’s not you. If it takes any damage, it vanishes – but you can just resummon it next turn. Essentially, Star Platinum can soak a hit for Jotaro by being targeted instead (though bigger area effects will wipe it). This matches scenes where Star Platinum shields Jotaro from harm (catching a bullet, blocking a knife, etc.).
We can manifest the echo as many times as we want (just one at a time) as long as we have bonus actions, so it’ll be out almost every fight. It’s very ki-efficient since it doesn’t cost ki – it’s a fighter feature, not a spell. And if it dies, just summon it again next round.
Unleash Incarnation: This feature lets you channel your Stand to strike extra blows. Whenever you take the Attack action, you can make one additional melee attack from the echo’s position on that turn, up to a number of times equal to your Constitution modifier per long rest. Currently, our Con is 12 (mod +1), so we can do this once per long rest. We plan to raise Con later which will grant more uses. But even with 1 use, it’s potent: on one Attack action, you can have Star Platinum throw an extra punch. Combine that with Extra Attack and Flurry and Action Surge… you see where this is going. The ORA count is climbing. At level 9, our nova could be: Attack action (2 attacks + 1 extra from Unleash) + Flurry (2 attacks) + Action Surge + Attack action again (2 attacks + maybe no second Unleash unless we have another use). That’s potentially 7 attacks in one turn if we burn resources (without Action Surge it’s 5 with Unleash and Flurry). That is one hell of a beatdown for a level 9 character! Mechanically, it’s limited to once per long rest right now, but later with higher Con we’ll get more uses. Flavor-wise, this is Star Platinum unleashing a rapid flurry simultaneously with Jotaro – basically both the Stand and user punching together to increase the barrage. Exactly what we want.
Tactics: With Echo Knight features, Jotaro can now fight at range (up to 15 feet away via echo, or even farther if you move the echo out 30 feet, make it attack, etc.). In JoJo, Star Platinum’s effective range is about 2 meters (close range stand), so keeping the echo within 15 feet actually is true to that limitation (15 feet is about 4.5 meters, which is a bit more, but close enough). If an enemy tries to run, we can have Star Platinum chase them (the echo moving independently) while Jotaro stays put or vice versa. We also can protect allies by interposing the echo. Later, Echo Knight gets features to further bolster this, but even now, we have a scouting Stand (you can send the echo around a corner or into a room first) and a way to attack around cover (attack from echo’s square). This opens up a ton of strategic possibilities that Jotaro in the anime often leveraged with Star Platinum’s independent actions.
Level 10 – Fighter 4:
Ability Score Improvement or Feat: Time to pick up another feat or stat boost. We’ve maxed our Strength to 18 so far (which is high but we can still go higher), and our Wisdom is 14, Con 12, Dex 14. Let’s grab a feat that fits Jotaro’s combat style. We recommend Sentinel at this point.
Sentinel (Feat): Sentinel makes you a master of controlling the battlefield. When you hit a creature with an opportunity attack, its speed becomes 0 for the rest of the turn (you literally stop them in their tracks). Also, creatures provoke opportunity attacks from you even if they take Disengage, and if an enemy within 5 feet attacks someone else, you can use your reaction to smack them. This is perfect for Jotaro’s personality – he will not let an enemy get away or hurt his friends without retaliation. Think of how he stops an enemy from fleeing with a well-placed kick or how he always intercepts attacks aimed at his allies. With Sentinel, if Dio tries to run past you, you can say “Not so fast!” and plant him in place with a Stand punch to the gut. It also combos beautifully with our echo: an enemy leaving the echo’s reach (not just Jotaro’s) can trigger an opportunity attack from Jotaro or the echo (it’s your reaction but you can make it originate from the echo’s position). So Star Platinum can effectively opportunity-punch someone 30 feet away trying to move, and Sentinel will freeze them. This creates a huge zone of control around the Stand. No one escapes the ORA.
Ability Score Alternative: If you prefer raw stats, you could use this ASI to raise Strength to 20 (from 18 to the cap of 20) for maximum attack bonus and damage. We will do that soon regardless, but taking Sentinel first gives us a fun tactical edge. In our build, Jotaro’s strength and precision are already great, so adding a control feat here feels right. We’ll finish maxing Strength with the next ASI.
Other feat options: Crusher, if not taken earlier, could be taken now for the +1 Str or Con and the knock-back effect. We already discussed its benefits. You could also consider Tavern Brawler here if you skipped it earlier, to bump Con and allow bonus-action grapples (imagine stunning an enemy then automatically grappling them with Star Platinum’s vice grip). There’s also Resilient (Con) if you want to improve Constitution and get proficiency in Con saves (useful for maintaining concentration on spells – though we don’t really use spells – and resisting things like poison). For us, Sentinel felt most in-character at this stage.
By level 10, let’s assess our progress towards the goals:
Stand powers: We have Astral Self arms and visage (Stand physical manifestation, reach, senses) and the Echo (Stand independent action). We’re essentially fighting with Star Platinum at our side all the time now. ✅
Punching speed: We have Extra Attack, Flurry, Action Surge, and Unleash Incarnation. In a nova round we can hit absurd numbers of attacks (5–7+). Consistently, we can do 4 attacks a round with Flurry. This definitely satisfies the “supersonic punches” requirement. ✅
Time stop: We can simulate it with Stunning Strike on a single target, and Sentinel to freeze fleeing foes. We haven’t literally stopped time for everyone, but mechanically we are locking down enemies effectively. We’ll keep this in mind as we reach the capstone levels, but so far so good. ⚠️ (We have a solution, though an actual Time Stop spell is still outside our build – more on that later.)
Levels 11–16: Back to Monk – Advanced Stand Techniques
Having dipped into Fighter for those 4 levels, we’ll now return to Monk to continue improving our Stand abilities and overall ki-powered skills. The next few monk levels will significantly boost our defense and give us some new tricks that fit Jotaro’s narrative of getting stronger and tougher.
Level 11 – Monk 7: (Character level 11, multiclass: Monk 7 / Fighter 4)
Back to our monk progression, Monk level 7 grants two useful features:Evasion: Jotaro becomes extremely nimble against area effects. When you make a Dexterity save for half damage (like a fireball or a dragon’s breath), Evasion lets you take 0 damage on a success, or only half damage on a failure. Essentially, you instinctively dodge out of the blast or Star Platinum shields you in the nick of time. This fits scenes where Jotaro narrowly avoids a spray of bullets or an explosion with a quick leap. Mechanically, it makes you much more durable against spells and breath weapons, playing into Jotaro’s toughness.
Stillness of Mind: You can use an action to end an effect on yourself that is causing you to be charmed or frightened. Jotaro’s sheer willpower (or maybe Star Platinum slapping him out of it) means he’s not easily manipulated mentally. In JoJo, Jotaro has a strong mind – he isn’t one to succumb to fear or mind control easily (he literally let himself get stabbed in the face to defeat a flesh bud controlling Kakyoin, which shows courage over fear). In D&D terms, if some vampire tries to charm Jotaro or a fear spell tries to scare him, he can shake it off after a moment and get back into the fight. It’s situational, but very thematic for his unyielding demeanor.
Level 12 – Monk 8: Monk 8 means another ASI/feat. It’s time to cap out Jotaro’s Strength and/or shore up another stat for defense.
Ability Score Improvement: Increase Strength by +2, reaching the maximum 20. Finally, Jotaro’s raw power is at the peak for a human. He’s now as strong as a D&D character can normally be (short of magical enhancement). Every punch now carries our highest possible Strength modifier (+5) to hit and damage. This ensures our blows land as often as possible and hit as hard as possible. You’ll really feel the difference, especially against high-AC foes. We’ve achieved the physical might that Jotaro’s known for – this is the guy who can punch through solid stone and send enemies flying to the horizon.
Alternative: If you had already maxed Strength earlier (say you took an ASI at Fighter 4 to do it), then here you could instead bump Wisdom (to improve Stunning Strike DC and AC) or Constitution (for more HP and better Con saves). For example, raising Wisdom from 14 to 16 would improve your AC by +1 (since unarmored defense uses Wis) and make your stun/save DC a bit higher. Raising Con from 12 to 14 would net you +1 HP per level (retroactively as well) and increase your uses of Unleash Incarnation if your Con mod rises. Both are solid choices. In our case, we prioritized hitting power first, but Jotaro definitely benefits from both Wisdom and Constitution boosts, so we’ll address those soon.
Level 13 – Monk 9: Monk 9 doesn’t give subclass features (Astral Self’s next feature is at level 11), but the base monk gets a nice quality-of-life bump:
Unarmored Movement Improvement: At Monk 9, your movement speed bonus increases to +15 feet and you gain the ability to move along vertical surfaces and across liquids without falling during the move. In simpler terms, you can run up walls and across water as long as you end on solid ground. This is awesome for Jotaro’s dynamic mobility. We’ve seen Joestar characters run up things or dash across water (okay, that might be more Joseph/Hermit Purple swinging or Jesus doing a cameo… but I digress). Jotaro could plausibly jump from stand-to-stand (pun intended) or dash up a building to punch an enemy Stand user on a higher floor. With a base speed of 45 feet now (thanks to monk progression), plus Step of the Wind if needed, he can cover a lot of ground in combat. You’re basically a short-range teleporter when it comes to terrain – walls? No problem. Water? Star Platinum will carry you through. It makes battlefield positioning much easier. And combined with the Echo swap ability, you have a ton of movement tricks.
Martial Arts die: Also, minor note, at Monk 9 our Martial Arts die becomes d8. This means if you ever aren’t using the Unarmed Fighting style’s d8 (like perhaps if you wield a monk weapon or something), your unarmed strikes are still 1d8 base. But since we are using that style and often empty-handed, we’ve been at d8 the whole time anyway. From here on, as monk levels increase our die, the Unarmed Fighting style ceases to be higher – we’ll keep it for grappling damage and because we can’t change it, but at level 11 monk it would equalize, and at 17 monk the martial arts die (d10) would actually surpass it. (Spoilers: we won’t get monk 17 in this build, as we have multiclass levels, so we’ll stick at d8 damage for unarmed, which is fine.)
Level 14 – Monk 10: Monk 10 grants another defensive buff reflecting Jotaro’s near-superhuman body control.
Purity of Body: You become immune to disease and poison (both damage and the poisoned condition). Jotaro’s body is as pure as his dedication to smackdown! In JoJo, he doesn’t really face much disease or poison (aside from maybe some enemy stands that poison, which he resists through sheer will or gets saved by others). In D&D, this is situational but very nice to have when it comes up. Poison is a common threat (poisoned condition gives disadvantage, poison damage can be nasty) and now we simply don’t worry about it. That exotic assassin’s toxin the DM was excited about? Jotaro crushes the vial and says “poison doesn’t work on me.” It’s a small nod to his incredible endurance – he’s the guy who keeps fighting with broken bones and multiple knife wounds; a little poison isn’t stopping him.
Level 15 – Monk 11: Huge Stand upgrade! This is the capstone feature of the Astral Self subclass (besides the 17th level one). By hitting Monk 11, we unlock Body of the Astral Self.
Body of the Astral Self: When both your Astral Arms and Visage are summoned (2 ki for arms +1 for visage, or 2 if done together at once), you unlock the full power of your Stand’s body. For 10 minutes, you gain two benefits:
Deflect Energy: Whenever you take damage from a nonmagical bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing source, you can use your reaction to reduce the damage by your monk level (which is 11). This is similar to the monk’s Deflect Missiles but for any melee/physical hit, and it doesn’t throw it back. It just subtracts 11 damage from one hit once per round. Flavor-wise, imagine Star Platinum interposing its hands or body to soften a blow, or outright catching a weapon mid-swing. Jotaro often just tanks hits that would floor a normal person – here we have a mechanical reason why. Reducing damage by 11 can turn a lethal sword strike into a glancing blow.
Empowered Arms: Your astral arms now deal extra damage equal to your Martial Arts die once on each of your turns when you hit with any attack using the arms. At our level, Martial Arts die is d8, so one of our hits each turn does +1d8 force damage. Every bit helps, and this basically represents Star Platinum hitting even harder. Think of it like the Stand winding up for a particularly big punch each round (maybe a loud “ORA!” that hits harder than the rest).
Resistance (from Arms of Astral Self at Monk 11): Also, while your Stand’s arms are out, you have resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage from nonmagical weapons. This actually came online at Monk 11 automatically as part of the Astral Arms feature improvement. It means all mundane physical attacks do half damage to you. This is huge for durability. Many enemies (especially humanoids, beasts, etc.) do nonmagical weapon damage – now Jotaro effectively has doubled HP against them. Combined with the Deflect Energy reaction, you are incredibly tanky against weapon-wielding foes. Even against those with magical weapons (or monsters whose natural attacks count as magical), you still have the reaction to shave off some damage.
To summarize: By spending 2 ki to have arms+visage up (which we likely do at the start of any serious fight now), Jotaro becomes a beast on defense. This reflects Star Platinum fully guarding him. In the anime, when Jotaro is really focused, Star Platinum is essentially an extension of his body, blocking and parrying attacks at ultra-speed. Now in D&D, we can actually mirror that.
And don’t forget, at Monk 11 our Stunning Strike DC went up (proficiency bonus increases at character level 13 to +5, and if we’ve boosted Wisdom to 16 by now, Wis mod +3). So our stun DC could be 8 + 5 + 3 = 16, or maybe 17 if Wis 18. Not bad against many foes at this level. We should consider improving Wisdom soon to make that even more potent.
(By level 15 character, our multiclass is Monk 11 / Fighter 4. We have 15 hit dice: 11d8 + 4d10 HP plus Con mods. Our base AC if we haven’t increased Dex/Wis is still modest (10 +2 Dex + 3 Wis = 15 AC). But with resistance to most weapon damage and Evasion, we’re more durable than AC suggests. Still, boosting AC through Wisdom would be wise – pun intended.)
Level 16 – Monk 12: Another ASI/feat. We’ve maxed Strength at 20. Now we should boost our secondary stats for defense and utility. Two top contenders: Wisdom and Constitution.
Ability Score Improvement: Increase Wisdom by +2 (from 14 to 16). This improves a bunch of things for us: our Armor Class goes up by +1 (to 16 AC unarmored, assuming Dex still 14), our Stunning Strike and other ki save DCs go up by 1, our Insight & Perception checks get better, and if we do choose to use Wisdom for our astral attacks it helps those too. Jotaro’s willpower and perception are further honed. Star Platinum was always noted for its exceptional vision and precision – a higher Wisdom cements that. Also, thematically, Jotaro as he matures (into Part 4 and 6) becomes more wise and experienced, so a high Wisdom fits his later character development as well.
Alternative: If you feel your Wisdom is sufficient, you could instead raise Constitution (from 12 to 14) here, for extra HP and +1 on Con saves (useful for resisting things like stun, which ironically many monsters might try on you!). More HP never hurts, especially with our relatively low AC. We went with Wisdom first to help avoid getting hit (and to make our clutch Stunning Strikes more likely to succeed when we attempt them), but plan to bump Con with a later opportunity.
Feat alternative: Another option at this stage could be the Lucky feat (as a nod to Jotaro’s clutch moments where things just go his way). Lucky gives you 3 luck points to reroll attack rolls, saves, or enemy attacks against you. It’s powerful and can represent Jotaro’s near-miraculous survival instincts (like the famous scene where he’s seemingly out, but then he wasn’t, because he put magazines under his shirt to stop a knife – Lucky in game terms could let you turn a hit into a miss, representing such quick thinking). We will actually consider Lucky at level 20, but it’s worth mentioning here if you wanted it earlier.
At level 16 (Monk 12 / Fighter 4), Jotaro is an absolute monster in melee. Let’s recap the highlights:
Offense: Still rocking up to 4 attacks per round base (2 attacks + Flurry), with occasional nova spurts of 6–8 attacks using Action Surge and Unleash Incarnation (Con mod might now be +2 if we raised Con, giving 2 uses per long rest). We have 5 ki per short rest (monk level 12) to fuel Flurries and Stunning Strikes liberally. Our unarmed strikes hit for d8+Str (which is 1d8+5, averaging 9.5 damage each, not counting any bonus damage from arms empower once per turn or superiority die on a lunge). With 4–6 hits, that adds up fast. And we can do it at 10 ft reach, or even 15 ft with Lunging, and via our echo up to 30 ft away. No enemy is safe from being pummeled.
Defense: Our effective HP is high thanks to resistance to common damage types while Stand is out. Evasion covers spells, Stillness of Mind covers mental effects, Diamond Soul (coming at level 17) will cover saves, etc. AC ~16 is a bit low for level 16, but we compensate with these other defensive layers. We also have mobility to avoid some attacks and the echo can sometimes be used to body-block (via its positioning or using the Echo Knight’s later feature at level 18 fighter – which we didn’t take, but echo can still intercept one attack at level 18 via Shadow Martyr if we had gone that far).
Stand utility: We can scout with the echo (and at fighter 3 we got nothing explicitly, but Echo Knight at level 7 would have Echo Avatar for long-range scouting – we won’t reach Fighter 7 in this build, though). We have advantage on Insight/Intimidation from visage, 120 ft darkvision, special voice projection – Jotaro’s got style. We can also teleport swap with the echo for trick plays.
Control: Stunning Strike to lock an enemy down, Sentinel to stop movement, and the sheer damage to break concentration or disrupt plans. We’ve basically got the tools to handle most situations an in-your-face martial character could want.
Now, there’s one more stretch to go: the capstone levels, where we aim to fulfill the Time Stop goal in spirit and finalize Jotaro’s build.
Levels 17–20: Stand Mastery (Star Platinum: The World)
The last four levels (character 17 through 20) we will continue with Monk to maximize Jotaro’s potential. This will give us some of the highest-tier monk features, truly cementing Jotaro as a legend. Notably, Monk 14 gives the amazing Diamond Soul, and Monk 15+ gives a capstone subclass feature at 17 (though we won’t reach Monk 17 exactly, since 17th character level is Monk 13 for us – we’ll go to Monk 14 by level 18, since we have Fighter 4 already).
Our class breakdown at level 20 will be Monk 14 / Fighter 6. We have two fighter levels left un-taken (we stopped at Fighter 4 earlier). We could consider going Fighter 5 and 6 at 19 and 20 for Extra Attack (2) at Fighter 5 and another ASI at Fighter 6, but Extra Attack (2) at fighter 5 is redundant (would only matter if we had stayed fighter to 11 to get a third attack, which we did not). So it’s probably better to stick with Monk for the high-level monk features. However, fighter 6 would grant an extra ASI… This is a potential call: do we want Monk 14’s Diamond Soul and Slow Fall improvement, or Fighter 6’s ASI and a useless Extra Attack? Diamond Soul is so good that I lean Monk 14. But let’s consider: Fighter 5 at char17 would give nothing useful except maybe unlock Fighter 6 at char18 which gives an ASI (which is useful), then char19 Monk 13 for Tongue of Sun and Moon, char20 Monk 14 for Diamond Soul. Actually, we could do that: by level 20 we’d be Monk 14 / Fighter 6, which is exactly the plan originally (we mentioned Fighter 6 by 12, but we stopped at 4 – we can still take Fighter 5 & 6 later). But if we wait until 17 to take fighter 5, we delay Diamond Soul from level 18 to level 20. Diamond Soul is really good to delay, but an extra ASI could let us max Wis and bump Con, etc.
However, since we only have 4 levels left:
If we go Monk 13 (17), Monk 14 (18), Fighter 5 (19), Fighter 6 (20), we’d end up Monk 14 / Fighter 6, but Diamond Soul would come at level 18 which is great, and fighter 5 at 19 gives nothing, fighter 6 at 20 gives ASI.
If instead we had gone Fighter 5 (17), Fighter 6 (18), Monk 13 (19), Monk 14 (20), we’d get an ASI at 18 but Diamond Soul only at 20. It’s probably better to get Diamond Soul earlier at 18.
So yes, we should continue Monk to 14 first, then possibly dip fighter for the last 2 if we want that ASI at 20.
Arcane Foundry didn’t take fighter beyond 4 at all, they went warlock then back to monk 12. Reddit build took fighter to 12 (monk 8). We have option because we left fighter at 4.
But do we need Fighter 5 and 6? Fighter 5 gives Extra Attack 2 (which would actually grant a third attack per Attack action because fighter’s Extra Attack features stack if one of them is the 11th-level version, but fighter 5’s is the same as monk’s, so it doesn’t stack) Actually, rule: “if you gain Extra Attack from two different classes, it doesn’t give you more than two attacks unless one says you can attack three times” – which is fighter 11. So fighter 5 is useless attack-wise.
Fighter 6 gives an ASI. That’s basically the only gain for 2 levels invested.
Monk 15 would give *15th level monk feature Stillness of Mind improvement? Actually we got that at 7. Monk 13 (character 19 if we went straight) gives Tongue of Sun and Moon. Monk 14 gives Diamond Soul.
Monk 15 (if we could) would give Timeless Body (no aging, no food/water needed) which is thematically interesting (Jotaro does age though, he’s not immortal).
But we won’t reach Monk 15 because that would require character 19 to be monk 15 (since we had 4 fighter, to get monk 15 we need char 19, which we can do actually – if we ignore fighter 5/6 and just go monk 15 at 19, monk 16 at 20 or fighter?). But an extra ASI from fighter 6 or monk 16 at char20 (monk 16 doesn’t give ASI, that’s at 16 which it would get one, oh yeah Monk gets ASI at 14 (we did) and at 16, but we probably won’t go that far if we want to pick fighter again).
However, because fighter 5 is empty, maybe just not worth it unless we commit to fighter 6 for ASI at 20. Or skip fighter extra levels entirely and do Monk 15 and Monk 16 at 19 and 20:
Monk 15 (char19) = Timeless Body + another Ki (15).
Monk 16 (char20) = ASI (monk’s last ASI).
That might actually be better than fighter 6's ASI because we get an ASI either way (monk 16 gives ASI too) and we get Timeless Body at 15 and possibly Ki 16 at 16 (though 16 maybe no new feature besides ASI).
Yes, Monk gets ASI at 4,8,12,16,19 (19 if we went that high which we can’t because we have multiclass).
So Monk 16 at char20 yields an ASI, same as Fighter 6 would.
So difference:
Monk 15 gives Timeless Body (no aging, no food/water) – Jotaro doesn’t become immortal or anything in canon, but he does live to Part 6 (which is like 20+ years after Part 3) and is only middle-aged, not old, so not too relevant.
Monk 16 gives an ASI at char20 which we could use for something. That is the same outcome as Fighter 6 would (an ASI).
So going monk all the way to 16 yields one more ki point (16 total vs 14 if we stop at 14), and features at 15 and 16 (timeless body and ASI).
Going fighter 6 yields one ASI and an effectively dead level at fighter 5.
So pure monk progression after 4 fighter is arguably better for final two levels since we get at least Timeless Body (small feature but something) and the ASI anyway.
The only reason to do fighter 5/6 would be if we wanted to push Echo Knight to get Echo Avatar at fighter 7 or something, but we can't reach fighter 7 without dropping monk 14 (we won't because Diamond Soul is too good).
So I’ll stick to Monk 13, 14, 15, 16 for levels 17-20 (character levels) rather than going back to fighter. That gives us:
Character 17: Monk 13 (Tongue of Sun and Moon)
Char 18: Monk 14 (Diamond Soul)
Char 19: Monk 15 (Timeless Body)
Char 20: Monk 16 (ASI)
This means we won't use Fighter 5-6 at all; our fighter stays at 4. We slightly lose out on one ASI compared to the other route? Actually no, we gain the same number of ASIs: at char20 monk16 we get one; if we did fighter6 at char20 we get one. So equal. But we gain Timeless Body as a bonus.
Downside: we remain Fighter 4 not 6, but fighter 5-6 weren't giving anything unique except an ASI we replicate.
So yes, Monk 16 / Fighter 4 final.
Arcane Foundry ended Monk 12 / Fighter 4 / Warlock 4, missing Diamond Soul. Reddit ended Fighter 12 / Monk 8, missing a lot of monk stuff. Ours will have Diamond Soul which is awesome.
Alright, final levels description:
Level 17 – Monk 13:
Tongue of the Sun and Moon: You can now understand and be understood in any spoken language. Basically, a universal translator. This is a classic high-level monk ability that is mostly for roleplay. In Jotaro’s case, you could fluff it as Star Platinum conveying meaning to you or reading lips at a supernatural level. In Stardust Crusaders, the Joestar group traveled all over the world (Hong Kong, Pakistan, Egypt, etc.), and while a lot of it conveniently happened in English/Japanese for the audience, realistically there’d be language barriers. Perhaps Jotaro’s stand helped him intuitively get by (that’s a stretch, but fun to imagine). In any case, this ability means Jotaro can trash-talk or interrogate any opponent, regardless of language, and always understand their retorts. Very handy when dealing with, say, an ancient mummy or an infernal demon – Jotaro can still drop a “Yare yare daze…” and they’ll get the message. Mechanically, it removes any language-based hurdles in social or investigative situations. Not essential, but a cool perk.
(No subclass features here; our next Astral Self feature would have been at Monk 17, which we won’t reach. That one would have been the ability to spend 5 ki to have Arms/Visage last indefinitely and +2 AC while they’re out – unfortunately not in this build, but we have plenty already.)
Level 18 – Monk 14:
Diamond Soul: This is one of the best defensive abilities in the game. Jotaro gains proficiency in all saving throws. Yes, all of them – Strength, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, Cha. He’s covered on every front. And if that wasn’t enough, if you fail a saving throw, you can spend 1 ki point to reroll it (one reroll only per save). This feature truly represents Jotaro’s indomitable will and reflexes. In JoJo, Jotaro often survives things or shrugs off effects that would incapacitate others – Diamond Soul is why. Got petrified by a basilisk gaze? Now you have proficiency on that Wis save, and if you rolled low, spend a ki to try again. Someone cast Dominate Person? Proficiency on the Cha save, and reroll if needed. Fireball? Dex save proficient, Evasion on top. Poison cloud? Con save proficient, and you’re immune to poison anyway! At this point, Jotaro is extremely hard to take down with anything – physical or magical. He’ll power through Za Warudo’s time stop (with maybe a little DM fiat) or a reality warping stand with a sheer saving throw might. This is as close as D&D gets to saying “I reject my fate!”
Gaining Diamond Soul is perfect for fulfilling that feeling that Jotaro is the toughest, most resilient fighter around. Use those ki points for rerolls when it really matters (and remember, your ki regen on short rest, and at this level you have 14 ki, so you’re unlikely to burn them all in one fight just on flurries – save a few for clutch defense).
Level 19 – Monk 15:
Timeless Body: Jotaro’s aging slows to a crawl. Mechanically, you suffer none of the frailty of old age, won’t age magically, and you no longer need food or water. In the context of JoJo, Jotaro does age (he’s in his 40s by Part 6 and it shows), but you could interpret this ability as him being in peak condition even as he ages, or simply an aspect of monks that doesn’t literally apply to JoJo. It’s a ribbon feature in D&D – mostly flavor. You probably won’t notice it in game unless your campaign has a long time-skip or you get magically aged by a ghost’s horrifying visage or something (in which case, hey, Jotaro shrugs it off).
Even if not directly relevant to JoJo canon, it’s kind of fun to imagine Jotaro not needing to eat or drink on long journeys (Avdol and Joseph are cooking kebabs and Jotaro is just chilling, not hungry). Regardless, this is mostly narrative. The real power at these levels came from Diamond Soul.
Level 20 – Monk 16:
Ability Score Improvement: Our final boost. At this point, our Strength is maxed (20). Our Wisdom is 16 (or 17 if we split an earlier ASI differently), our Constitution is likely still 12 or 14 depending on choices, and Dex 14. We have a few ways to go:
Increase Wisdom 16 -> 18 for an extra +1 AC (bringing AC to 17 unarmored if Dex 14), +1 on Wis saves (which we’re proficient in anyway), and +1 on our Stunning Strike DC (bringing it to a very solid 18 or 19). This improves our Stand’s precision and our overall defense.
Or increase Constitution 12 -> 14 (or 14 -> 16 if it was 14) to get more hit points and better Con saves. We’re already proficient in Con saves from Diamond Soul, but boosting the stat helps survivability and increases our Unleash Incarnation uses (which are based on Con mod). For example, if your Con was 12 (+1) and you raise to 14 (+2), you’ll get +1 HP per level retroactively (so +20 HP or so) and Unleash Incarnation uses go from 1 to 2 per long rest. If you were at 14 going to 16, that’d be +2 HP/level retro (+40 HP!) and Con mod +3 which might give 3 uses of Unleash. That’s significant extra staying power and damage opportunities.
Feat option: If stats are fine, you could opt for the Lucky feat here as the cherry on top. With Diamond Soul rerolls and Lucky combined, you’re almost untouchable. You could also consider Tough for +2 HP per level (making Jotaro even beefier) if HP feels low, or Mobile to further increase speed (though we already have lots of mobility). Given Jotaro’s character, Lucky fits that protagonist edge where when all seems lost, he finds a way to turn the tables at the last second (like catching a bullet in his skull cap or having exactly the right trick to beat an enemy). We’ll leave this one to player preference.
For a balanced approach, let’s say we increase Wisdom to 18 with our final ASI. This puts our unarmored AC at 10 + 2 (Dex) + 4 (Wis) = 16, or 17 if you had bumped Dex or wear something like Bracers of Defense. 16–17 AC still isn’t high for level 20, but remember: we have multiple layers of defense (resistance, Evasion, Diamond Soul, lots of HP for a monk thanks to Tough or Con boosts if taken, etc.). In playtesting, you’ll be surprisingly durable for someone in a school uniform. And with Wis 18, our Stunning Strike DC becomes 8 + 6 (prof) + 4 (Wis) = 18, meaning even big bads will fear failing that save and getting ORAORAORA’d while time is “stopped” for them.
Level 20 Capstone: As a 20th-level character (Monk 16 / Fighter 4), we don’t get a flashy class capstone feature (those would be Monk 20’s Perfect Self, which we aren’t, or Fighter 20’s extra feat, which we simulated with Monk 16’s ASI). However, what we do have is an incredibly well-rounded build that fulfills the fantasy of Jotaro Kujo:
Star Platinum is fully represented: a spectral warrior (echo) with extended range and independent action, combined with astral arms that strike with mighty force and protect Jotaro. We even have a semblance of Star Platinum’s The World (time stop) through Stunning Strikes freezing enemies in place and the ability to ruin an enemy’s turn via Sentinel and stun.
The ORA ORA ORA barrage is real – if you unload everything, you can achieve double-digit attacks in a single turn. By level 20, with Con boosts and more uses of Unleash Incarnation, you could theoretically hit around 8–10 attacks in one round: e.g., Action (2 attacks) + Flurry (2) + Unleash Incarnation (1) + Action Surge (2 more attacks) + Unleash again (1) = 8, and if Fighter had been 11 (not in this build) it could be even more, but we prioritize the Stand features instead. Suffice to say, any single target is getting obliterated if you spend the resources. We definitely beat D&D Tulok’s Jotaro ORA count of 7 or 8.
Jotaro’s toughness and willpower are nigh unmatched: proficient in all saves, can reroll fails, resistant to mundane harm, immune to poison/disease, evades fireballs, etc. He’s as hard to kill as the plot demands in JoJo.
We’ve stuck to strictly official 5e material throughout, using features from PHB, Tasha’s, and EGW mostly. And we’ve flavored everything to match the JoJo vibes without breaking any rules. No homebrew Stand class needed!
Pros & Cons
Finally, let’s summarize the strengths and weaknesses of our Jotaro build:
Pros:
Burst Damage: This build can dish out a flurry of attacks like no other. In one round, you can unleash an ORA-ORA barrage of punches that would make any enemy see star platinum. With features like Extra Attack, Flurry of Blows, Action Surge, and Unleash Incarnation combined, you’re able to deliver 6+ attacks in a round when it counts. Few builds can match the sheer number of fist strikes you’re putting out. If something needs to be pounded into oblivion quickly, you’re the one for the job.
Consistent DPR: Even in rounds when you’re not nova-ing, you have reliable damage output. 2–4 attacks per round (with or without Flurry) at 1d8+5 damage each, all of which count as magical, means you chip away nicely at any foe. Plus, your echo can extend your threat range, so you often can be hitting an enemy that thought itself safe.
Stand Versatility: The combination of Astral Self Monk and Echo Knight gives you an incredibly versatile “Stand”. You have 10-foot reach on your melee attacks (15 ft when using Lunging maneuver), you can attack from your echo’s position (so effectively threat area of 30+ feet around you), and you can even swap places with your echo to teleport short distances. The echo also serves as a scout or decoy – send Star Platinum down a hallway to look ahead or set up an ambush by swapping with it. It’s like having a summon that doesn’t require concentration and can’t be permanently killed.
Battlefield Control: You excel at controlling single targets. Stunning Strike can completely take an enemy out of the fight for a round if they fail their save, and you can attempt it multiple times per turn until one sticks. With our high Wisdom (especially by late game) and proficiency bonus, the save DC is respectable. A stunned enemy is basically a sitting duck – which in JoJo is when Jotaro really goes to town on them. In addition, Sentinel ensures that enemies have a hard time escaping you or going after your allies – if they try to move or attack someone else, Star Platinum clobbers them and freezes them in place. Between stun and Sentinel, many foes will effectively be locked down, forced to fight you (and likely regretting it).
High Survivability: While monks are typically a bit squishy due to middling HP and AC, our Jotaro build mitigates that greatly. We have several layers of defense:
Good HP: We invested in Constitution later and/or could take Tough, plus Fighter levels use a d10 Hit Die. So we’re not a frail wizard – you can have a decent HP pool, likely in the 150+ range by level 20 if you bump Con along the way.
Unarmored Defense: Our AC isn’t plate-mail high, but by late levels we got it to a reasonable number (mid-high teens). And because we attack at reach and via echo, we can often avoid being in the thick of melee where every enemy can whack us back.
Evasion and Stillness: You laugh at fireballs and breath weapons (dodging for no damage on successful saves) and can cancel charm/fear effects on yourself. That covers a lot of common save-or-suck scenarios.
Diamond Soul: This one is huge – proficiency in all saves means even normally weak saves (like Int vs mind flayer blasts or Cha vs banishment) are much less likely to take you out. And if you do fail, spending a ki to reroll can turn a clutch failure into a success. You are very hard to knock down with spells or special abilities.
Physical Resilience: Thanks to Body of the Astral Self, when your Stand is active you have resistance to nonmagical physical damage. Many monsters and NPCs deal exactly that, so you essentially take half damage from a large swath of attacks. For magical attacks, you still have your decent saves and Diamond Soul to back you up. And with Second Wind (fighter) and possibly a well-timed Healing Word from an ally, you can bounce back from injuries quickly.
Mobility: Monk speed, teleport swapping with echo, and Step of the Wind mean you can usually dictate the terms of engagement – chase down enemies who try to run, or get out of a bad spot without eating opportunity attacks (Step of the Wind disengage + huge move). It’s hard to pin Jotaro down; conversely, it’s hard for enemies to escape him.
Skill Monkey-ish: You ended up with a nice spread of skills: Athletics and Acrobatics make you great at physical stunts and grappling, Perception and Insight keep you alert to danger and lies, Intimidation lets you flex on fools. With Expertise… oh wait, wrong class; we don’t have that, but still, our proficiencies are well-chosen. We also have universal language and solid social potential (Intimidation advantage from visage, and our presence is intimidating enough!). While not a face or knowledge character, Jotaro in D&D can cover a lot of adventuring day scenarios beyond combat.
No Concentration needed: All our abilities are class features – we’re not relying on buff spells or anything that can be interrupted. That means we can freely use Stunning Strike and other abilities without worrying about maintaining concentration. And since we have no spells (outside maybe a situational utility like Detect Magic if DM allows a feat or item), we’re immune to antimagic shutting our offense down. Our powers work in an antimagic field (the echo is a class feature – though technically one might argue it’s magical creation, but it’s not a spell; DM’s call if an antimagic field dispels an Echo, but likely yes since it’s a magical effect. Even so, you still have your fists).
Cons:
Resource Management: As a multiclass build, we juggle a few different resources:
Ki Points: With high-level monk, we have a good amount (16 by level 20), but we also have many ways to spend them (Flurry, Stunning Strike, Step of Wind, etc.). In long adventuring days, you could run low on ki if you try to stun every single attack and flurry every turn. You’ll need to choose your moments. Typically, saving ki for key Stunning Strikes or a clutch Flurry is wiser than spamming it at every opportunity. Remember you get them back on a short rest; try to short rest when you can to recharge (which also refreshes Action Surge and Second Wind). If you’re in a campaign with few or no short rests, you might feel ki-starved in extended fights. Talk with your DM about pacing so the monk can shine.
Unleash Incarnation uses: This one is tied to Con mod per long rest. We start with maybe 1-2 uses until we pump Con higher. It means you can’t spam the extra echo-attack every single turn, only a couple times per day. Usually, that’s fine – save it for big turns or when you really need to squeeze out extra damage. By high levels if Con is 16, you’ll have 3 uses, which is plenty for most boss fights.
Superiority Die: We only have one (d6) per short rest from the Superior Technique style. It’s nice for one Star Finger (Lunging Attack) or to add a bit of damage, but it’s a one-and-done trick until you rest. Not a huge con, but worth noting you can’t lean on maneuvers constantly.
Action Surge: Only 1 use per short rest. Again, plan when to burst. Most fights you won’t need it; boss fights or dire situations, let it rip. At least it comes back on a short rest, so in multiple encounters per day you can often use it every fight if your party takes short rests between.
Bonus Actions: Both Monk and Fighter give a lot of bonus action options (Flurry of Blows, Step of the Wind, Second Wind, Manifest Echo, etc.). You often can only do one of those in a round, so there’s a bit of a bonus action economy issue. For example, if you want to both heal with Second Wind and Flurry in the same round, you can’t – one of those has to wait. Or if you need to summon your echo again and also want to Flurry, you might have to choose. In practice, this just means you need to prioritize: usually getting the echo out first is smart (bonus action to summon at start of fight), then on later rounds you can use Flurry or Second Wind as needed. It’s a minor inconvenience, but occasionally you may feel you have one too many things competing for that bonus action spot.
MAD (Multiple Ability Dependency): This build uses several ability scores meaningfully. We need Strength for attack and damage (since we leaned into it for flavor), Dexterity for AC and some saves, Wisdom for AC, save DCs, and Perception/Insight, and Constitution for HP and a few class features. That’s four attributes to care about. We mitigated this by having decent starting scores and boosting the key ones (Str, then Wis/Con). But it means some stats won’t be as high as a single-class, single-focus character might have. For example, our Dexterity stayed moderate. That resulted in a lower AC than a typical Dex-based monk who maxes Dex early. We compensated with other defenses, but it’s a trade-off. If your table rolls stats and you get lucky with multiple high numbers, you’ll cover all bases easily; if you’re point-buy/standard array (like we did), you’ll feel a bit stretched. The payoff is you are very well-rounded, but you won’t have a 22 AC or 20 Constitution like some more narrowly focused builds.
Limited Range Options: Jotaro’s build is all about up-close or mid-close combat. We deliberately avoided giving him typical ranged weapons or spells because it doesn’t fit (Star Platinum is a close-range stand). Aside from the Lunging Attack trick and the general 10-15 ft reach, you don’t have much to do at true range (30+ feet) except maybe throw a rock (which you could, thanks to Tavern Brawler or just basic Strength, but without investment it’s not great) or ready your movement to close in. This means enemies that kite or fly high out of reach can be a problem. Now, in JoJo, Jotaro also struggles against super ranged foes until he finds a way to get close (he usually does). In D&D, you might want a backup plan: perhaps carry some throwing knives or a light crossbow just in case, even if it’s not your forte. Or rely on allies who have spells to force ranged enemies closer. The echo teleport can help a bit (you can swap with an echo that’s moved under a flying creature, potentially getting closer), but truly ranged combat isn’t our strong suit. We solve problems by punching them, which requires getting to them.
Low Magic: This isn’t exactly a con, but worth mentioning: as a martial build with no spellcasting, you might miss out on the versatility that spells provide. No healing spells, no teleportation (beyond echo swap), no buffs like Haste (unless a buddy casts it on you). We also don’t have any Stand “special techniques” like shooting emeralds or fire – it’s pure punching and physical prowess. Most of the time that’s fine; just be aware that you overcome challenges with strength, speed, and wits, not arcane tricks. The flip side is you’re also not countered by anti-magic and you don’t rely on spell slots. It’s a trade-off common to martial characters. You can augment this with magic items if your DM allows; for example, Winged Boots could solve the flying enemy problem, or a Headband of Intellect could patch your low Intelligence for puzzle-solving, etc. But out-of-the-box, this build stays fairly one-note: beat the problem into submission. The good news is Jotaro usually finds a clever way to do just that.
No True Time Stop: While we’ve flavored Stunning Strike as “time stop” on an enemy, we should acknowledge that we did not actually gain the Time Stop spell or an ability to freeze all opponents at once. Getting the actual Time Stop spell would have required a heavy multiclass into Wizard or Sorcerer (17 levels!), which was completely off-theme. Instead, we stayed true to Jotaro’s martial nature and made do with what 5e offers monks. So, technically we can’t stop time for everyone on the battlefield – only DIO’s stand The World could do that fully, and Jotaro’s Star Platinum could only do it for a few seconds (which our stun approximates against one target). In narrative terms, you can absolutely describe a Stunning Strike as Jotaro briefly stopping time relative to that creature. But if your goal was to stop time for multiple enemies at once… this build won’t do that without DM hand-waving. It’s a limitation of not actually being a level 17 caster. From a balanced perspective, that’s probably good – Time Stop spell is powerful and would overshadow a lot. Here, you still get the feeling of stopping time just enough to finish the fight, which is usually how it goes in the story.
Complexity: This build incorporates features from two classes and involves a lot of moving parts (literally, in the case of the echo). For newer players, it might feel overwhelming to manage ki, echo positioning, reaction abilities, bonus action options, etc. It’s not a simple “I hit it with my sword” fighter – it’s more like playing a small tactical skirmish game with your Stand. If you enjoy that (we think it’s awesome!), great. But be prepared to strategize and know your toolkit. It pays off, but you have to remember what you can do. Try writing a “combo cheat sheet” listing your favorite moves (e.g., “Start turn: manifest echo, move echo behind enemy, Action: attack twice, bonus: Flurry for two more, reaction: Sentinel if they move”). After a few sessions, it will feel natural, like having a Stand should. Just a consideration if someone was expecting a straightforward build – this one is mighty, but requires a bit of brainpower to utilize fully. Jotaro would approve, given how he’s a clever fighter in the anime.
In conclusion, we’ve created a D&D 5e version of Jotaro Kujo that stays true to the source material: a brawling, determined hero with a supernatural punching ghost at his side. You’ll find this build fun and flavorful if you love JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, and even outside of that context, it’s a strong and unusual multiclass that shows how combining monk and fighter can yield something greater than the sum of its parts. Now get out there and clobber some [Stand] users – Yare yare daze, they never stood a chance!
GOOD GRIEF! You actually made it through this entire build – give yourself a pat on the back (or better yet, have your Stand do it for you). And remember, in the world of D&D (and JoJo), a clever plan and a flurry of punches can solve just about anything.
