Homebrew Aetherborn Race Details

"If you have just a few years to live your entire life, what would you do with it?" This is a dilemma every Aetherborn must face from the moment they are born. Given just a few short years to live, each Aetherborn views time as exceedingly precious. As a result, Aetherborn tend to live each moment to its fullest; some find meaning in striving to have excessive wealth or power, others just want to explore the world and see everything it has to offer.

The Aetherborn of Kaladesh come into being spontaneously as part of the plane's Aether refinement process. Their bodies and minds are apparently formed out of some interaction between the volatile elements of Aether that are removed during refinement and the psychic impressions created by the people involved in the process. But each Aetherborn is a unique individual, not a mere copy of some other person’s mind and shape. This race is little understood, and few Aetherborn are willing to waste any of their short lives allowing the plane's Vedalken scholars to study their biological and psychological characteristics.

With that said, Aetherborn could be applied to any campaign setting, given there's a location in the world with an influx of magical energy. Aetherborn are a race from Magic the Gathering, which uses the Aether as the means to cast spells and perform magical effects, while D&D uses the Weave. Many consider the Weave and the Aether to be very similar and maybe even the same thing. Maybe Weaveborn might be a more fitting name for some, but the concept for the race is universal.

Living and Gender

Aetherborn are a strange living by-product of the process of Aether refinement, cast in humanoid form but lacking any of the biological qualities of other races. They don’t eat or sleep, and they don’t reproduce—nor do they have any physical sexual characteristics. Language that categorizes people into male or female categories thus breaks down when it comes to Aetherborn. Most Aetherborn prefer that others use the pronoun “they” to refer to them, since it doesn’t attribute a gender that they don’t possess. Only a relative few prefer “he” or “she,” having chosen to adopt a gender.

Aetherborn Tendencies

Due to the short amount of time Aetherborn have to live, they tend to find themselves pressured into finding meaning in life almost immediately. Some seek to explore the world or invent something great to help the future; but since the Aetherborn don't sleep, many find themselves in the world of crime to pursuing fortune and power. Either way most seek to, one way or another, build themselves a legacy. One that will endure longer than any life they could live.

Aetherborn Traits

"When you have the chance, take it. Laugh, sing, dance. Make the night last. And when it does come to an end, let go. Nothing lasts forever."

Ability Score Increase

Your Wisdom score increases by 1, your Constitution score is reduced by 1, and two other ability scores of your choice increase by 1.

Age

Aetherborn come into existence as adults and live no more than a few years.

Alignment

Aetherborn can range significantly in terms of alignment. Depending on what they find as meaningful to themselves and their outlook on the world, Aetherborn range from good to evil. Good Aetherborn generally find the world to be an amazing place and tend to just want to make the most of their time in it, they generally are the ones who spend their time exploring the world or inventing something to help the world, leaving their mark. Evil Aetherborn are often driven by hedonism and self-interest, usually involving themselves in the criminal underworld in pursue for wealth and power. Many Aetherborn find themselves evil and criminals out of jealousy for the other races in the world, races who, unlike them, are given the opportunity to live long prosperous lives.

Size

Aetherborn are about the same size as humans, ranging from 5 to 6 feet tall. They are quite light—only about 100 pounds—and their weight diminishes as they age with more and more of their substance beginning to dissipate. Your size is Medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Darkvision

Accustomed to life at night, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Innate Prowess

You gain proficiency in a skill of your choice.

Live Fast

For an Aetherborn, each and every moment of life is precious. Luckily, being a creature made of pure Aether byproduct, you lack the biological qualities of most other creatures and gain the following benefits.

You have advantage on saving throws against being poisoned, and you have resistance to poison damage.
You are immune to disease.
You don’t need to eat, drink, or sleep.

Die Young

From the moment you enter into the world, you begin to fade away and die. Through your entire life a smokey dust exfoliates from your skin, a constant reminder of your body withering away. As you age older, your body dissipates at a faster rate until you finally disintegrate away in a cloud of smokey dust.

After being about a year old, your body gives off so much smoke that it begins to have a negative effect on your ability to hide and be stealthy. You have disadvantage on Stealth ability checks that rely on sight.

After being about one and a half to two years old, you start to feel the effects of your body withering away. At the end of each week, you must make a Constitution saving throw with a DC 12. On a failed save, your Constitution score is reduced by 1d2 permanently.

Gifted Aetherborn

"A few Aetherborn have discovered a way to sustain their own existences at the cost of an insatiable hunger for the life essence of other beings."

When you reach 15th level, you have unlocked a way to sustain your own existence and potentially live forever, something Aetherborn could only hope for in their wildest dreams, but it comes at the cost of another.

As an action, you may touch a willing or unwilling creature to attempt to extract some of its essence to sustain yourself. If the target is unwilling, they must make a Constitution saving throw with a DC 12 and if they are unconscious, they make the saving throw with disadvantage. On a failed save, the target's Constitution score is reduced by 1d2 permanently and you are unaffected by your Die Young racial trait for the next week (the Constitution already lost from the Die Young racial trait does not return).