Homebrew Aetherborn Species 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. 

Aetherborn Traits

Aetherborn Traits.

Ability Score Increase

Your Charisma score increases by 2, and two other ability scores of your choice increase by 1.

 

Born of Aether

You have resistance to necrotic damage. You don't need to eat, drink, or breathe. Whenever you take a long rest, you only need to spend 4 hours in an inactive state instead of taking the full 8 hours. You may still take watch while in your inactive state, and you gain a bonus to perception checks equal to your proficiency modifier.

Menacing

You gain proficiency in the Intimidation skill.

 

Gift of the Aetherborn

An aetherborn with this gift gains the Drain Life ability: a natural attack that deals 1d6 necrotic damage and restores the same number of hit points to the aetherborn. However, if the aetherborn goes for 7 days without dealing this damage, their hit point maximum is reduced by 1d6 per week. This reduction can’t be removed until the aetherborn has used their Drain Life ability and completed a long rest.