Homebrew Driftkin Species Details

The untethered, lost siblings, driftlings, but most commonly known as the Driftkin. A race that was not always known amongst the ordinary world. No one is quite sure at what time they came to be, perhaps they always existed but after a time they sought each other out and began to form a society. Existing primarily in the astral plane it is rare to see a Driftkin return to their roots in the material plane. They most often fight the other Astralians in the vast astral sea, sending out regiments of Spell Knights from their Rainbow Bastion.

Ethereal Reflections

All Driftkins have a few similar identifying features: they have skin colors ranges from shades of white to shades of dark grey; completely bleached pure white hair; colorless black eyes without pupil or iris; and most strange, a few ethereal, glowing, untethered, silver threads wrapped tightly around parts of their body, the ends floating listlessly without wind. These are some of the only identifiable traits of the Driftkin besides their classic stained glass armor that officials, spell knights, warriors, and some civilians wear.

Driftkins otherwise come in all shapes, some look human, others like dwarves or elves, some even look like trolls and ogres! This is due to their roots. When a powerful wizard casts their soul out into the astral sea or some unlucky soul accidentally slips through a portal to it or blend in reality. They often appear ghostly but with a thread attaching them back to their bodies. If this thread gets cut, their body will go into an endless coma and their soul will forget their identity. Though this might be the end for the body, it is not the end for the soul. The thread wraps around the soul, solidifying it to make sure it doesn't dissolve into essence, this process turns the soul into a Driftkin. Driftkins don't remember their old life nor their body, but their souls had the experiences nonetheless. Often Driftkin will recall an emotional experience as though it were an old dream they had long ago.

A Dynasty both New and Ancient

Almost all driftkin even those newly lost in the astral sea are drawn to one Arch Driftkin, the only driftkin with color on their body, Empress Lasoru Nijiris. Lasoru is the empress of the Glass Dynasty an empire made up of all the driftkin that were drawn to their mysterious call. Lasoru is a complicated person not one gender, both young yet old at the same time, most who meet him describe her as an embodiment of chaos. their orders and goals are strange and often don't make sense. They battle with some of the other astralians of the astral sea, most notably the Gith-yanki due to the fact that Lasoru stole a piece of their capital city and built their bastion atop it.

One of the most argued notions among the great wizards of the era that have been to the bastion and its surrounding city of A'bivgroy if they were taken from the Gith-yanki before the Scorning or not. Such wizards have also noted that the officials of the dynasty are not the best at keeping records, one great example is the ever unknown fact of when the dynasty was actually officially founded.

The Rainbow Bastion

The Driftkin make their home on the capital of their dynasty: the Metropolis A'bivgroy. Sometime near the dynasty's founding Empress Lasoru led her driftkin army to the capital city of the gith-yanki and ripped a large piece of it off. This set off the gith-yanki causing them to wage an everlasting war against the Driftkin. It was upon this chunk they had torn off that they built their metropolis. The piece of the giant dead titan they had torn off was about have of the upper chest.

Unlike the gith-yanki the driftkin did not built their city atop the ribs of this deceased god but instead filled out the interior of the ribcage. A'bivgroy the city of mosaic glass  is a strange almost vertical like city made out of stained glass buildings connecting the back of the ribcage to the front. Using gravity spell glass for the streets the driftkin build roads that warp one's sense of up and down. Walking in the city you may see denizens going down streets on walls or on ceilings. The Rainbow Bastion itself is built out of the heart cavity of the titan, looking at the ribcage from the outside it appears to almost have a glowing heart with shining rainbow tendrils climbing out from inside it. atop the ribcage is the ruins of the old gith-yanki city.

Chasing Memories

Driftkin are often driven by regrets they still had in their past life, they don't often remember what those regrets were exactly but most feel a drive to accomplish them. This can create a strong desire among them to explore, to try and decipher their leftover emotions and memories from their previous life. The ones that venture out of A'bivgroy often find them selves drawn back to the material plane where they might perform odd jobs here and there trying to find their origins all while reconnecting to a danger-filled world.

Driftkin Names

Driftkin due to their strange births are most often born already mentally developed, or if by coincidence not, then they most often mature while spending long spans of time traveling the astral sea. Due to them forgetting their past selves most often the new name they give themselves are warped versions of their old ones, with some syllables changed or swapped. Their name also might be a word for something they favored greatly in their last life, like 'cake' for example. If the driftkin has nothing like that then they may simply spawn a name out of nothing, a weird mix syllables that is most often hard to pronounce. If you choose the later name route one thing suggested would be to randomly type out letters and then add vowels between them to form sounds.  

 

Favored Names: Autumn, Archery, Battle, Beauty, Bed, Blood, Books, Butter, Cats, Dogs, Flying, Foliage, Gamble, Glory, Green, Home, Kittens, Knowledge, Magic, Music, Ocean, Painting, Power, River, Running, Silence, Sledding, Swords, Validation, War

Chaos born Names: Avagohg, Aben, Bodfogyu, Cawrdobb, Doyc, Dejuh, Eieof, Fablnehuh, Geec, Hobah, Icavlb, Judifugh, Kasasad, Lohogogof, Mawod, Negeh, Nunib, Oudifegebh, Pocni, Qwcin, Qaputr, Roqxic, Sobav, Tlijag, Uqdocic, Vohrgac, Wofdix, Xjbz, Yzer, Zikjif

 

Driftkin Traits

Your Driftkin character is granted ethereal powers, some gathered by years alone spent wandering the astral sea others by their unnatural bodies.

Ability Score Increase

Your Wisdom score increases by 1, your Intelligence score increases by 1, and your Charisma score increases by 1.

Age

Driftkin are essentially solidified souls, their bodies are not heavily weighed down by time, but they still age albeit slowly. To determine how long your driftkin will live for pick a character race for what their pervious life was and multiply that races' max age by 10. driftkin are born mature with tightly wrapped silver threads, however as they grow old in life those strings loosen. As they approach the end their boy almost seems to have mist coming off it. When they die a driftkin seems to dissolve into mist as their essence flows into the astral plane (ethereal plane instead if death is on a material plane). This essence though can be collected as it is naturally drawn to adhere to magical items, making it possible to resurrect a character that fell in battle.

Size

Souls tend to warp as their soul threads are snipped most often making them medium size, but not always. Unless you get permission from your Dungeon master, your size is Medium. Another note is your character's weight is half what your previous life's weight was.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Ethereal Sight

Being a ghost like creature yourself you can see into the Ethereal plane up to 60 ft. Ethereal creatures and objects appear ghostly and translucent.

Driftkin Spell Armor Training

As a Driftkin you have already been trained to use Spell Glass type magic items, and spells that are stored in these items that aren't part of your classes spell list you can still cast them with your proficiency bonus added to your spell attack modifier and spell save DC.

Alignment

Driftkin are untethered both literally and metaphorically. Often detached and viewing life like a dream from a afar. Afterall they can feel they are both alive and not at the same time, this can make it hard for them to connect to their living counterparts in the material plane. Most carry regrets from their old life, things or choices they were never able to do. With this new second chance they are eager to fulfill those regrets making them a bit of a chaotic race. Driftkin are most often any alignment except lawful and/or evil, but like any mortal there are exceptions.

Planarcunning

You have proficiency in the Arcana skill. Whenever you make an Intelligence (Arcana) check related to planar portals, you add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and either your choice of Deep Speech, Gith, or Primordial. Gith is most common as they are one of the only other sentient races occupying the Astral plane and have had numerous encounters with the driftkin. Primordial is next most common as it is the language of elementals whose planes neighbor the astral sea, meaning they might have more encounters with the driftkin. Deep Speech was a language more well known among the older driftkin, when Mindflayers still roamed the astral sea on their nautaloids It was a more common language.

Semi-Etherealization

Being Ghost-like you have the ability to semi-etherealize your body dipping it into the border between the material and ethereal planes, making your body almost ghost-like. This trait gives you the following abilities: You know the resistance cantrip and can cast it only on yourself; when you reach 3rd level, you can cast the feather fall spell once only on yourself with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest; and when you reach 5th level, you can cast the invisibility spell once only on yourself with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest.

Soul Body

Due to not technically having a body your, soul replicates one, this replication does not have the same requirements a real body does. Your Driftkin does not need to eat, drink, or breath.