Homebrew Astral Merfolk Species Details

The merfolk of the Aetherial Expanse make their home in the Constellation Isles, where they’re locked in eternal enmity with their age-old foes, the astral merrow. The merfolk of the Constellation Isles tell tales of tumbling into this world of eternal, starlit twilight long ago. And though many of their kind died—or worse, mutated into merrow—over time, they became at home in the aether.

The magic of the Aetherial Expanse has made their skin bright with shining colors, giving them the uncommon ability to shapechange their long tail fins into legs with webbed feet, which allow them to walk comfortably on land. Though astral merfolk are most at home in the aether and try to steer clear of the greed of land dwellers, the allure of those who walk on land and sail on wooden ships often proves too great to resist.

The astral merfolk have built a society in the Constellation Isles around the isle of Larmeath. They try to live a peaceful life despite the constant predation of their fallen kin, the merrow. Nevertheless, some merfolk dream of more than a placid life in Larmeath disrupted by vicious merrow attacks. Longing for more from their charmed life, these merfolk seek out pirate ships, and the glory and danger those ships chase.

 From Ghostfire Gaming's Aetherial Expanse.

Astral Merfolk Base Traits

All astral merfolk characters have the following traits:

Age

The lifespan of an astral merfolk is about the same as a human’s.

Languages

You can speak Common and Aetherian, the language of aetherbeasts.

Astral Merfolk Traits

If you prefer to use the Fifth Edition’s standard approach for defining species traits, your astral merfolk character has the following traits:

Creature Type

You are Humanoid.

Size

You are Medium or Small. You choose the size of the vessel species you select.

Speed

Your walking speed is 0 feet and you have a swimming speed of 30 feet. As an action, you can transform your tail fin into a pair of legs. While transformed, you lose your swimming speed and increase your walking speed to 30 feet.

Aetherbeast Affinity

You learn the animal friendship spell, and when you reach 3rd level, you also learn the animal messenger spell. You can cast these spells without expending a spell slot a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus (both spells count toward the same limit), and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest. When cast this way, the spell can only target aetherbeasts. You can also cast these spells using spell slots you have of the appropriate level. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.

Aetheric Adaptation

You are immune to the effects of aether poisoning (see page 20 of the Aetherial Expanse Setting Guide).

Slipstream

When you take the Dash action while swimming, you gain extra movement equal to twice your swimming speed. Until the end of your turn, when you take the Dash action, you don’t provoke opportunity attacks while swimming. Once you use this feature, you can’t use it again until you complete a short or long rest.