Homebrew Astral Emergent Species Details

You were born from the thoughts and dreams of mortal beings. Your consciousness was once a string of thoughts and desires lost within the aether’s vastness. Then, your peaceful existence as thought alone was disturbed when a body crashed into the aether. This body was torn, broken, and dying—or dead already. Your essence surged into this shattered vessel, and you willed the aether to heal its flaws.
Not long after, you emerged from the waves and marveled at your new, physical form. It was a body, one that had limbs, senses, and lifeblood: things you could only dream of as a flickering, aetherial thought. The body you emerged from the astral waves with was once rent asunder but is now healed; the former wounds glowing with the light of stars and nebulae.

Your features resemble those of the creature who died beneath the aetherial waves, but your thoughts and feelings are wholly new, fashioned from the collective consciousness of the cosmos.

From Ghostfire Gaming's Aetherial Expanse.

Astral Emergent Base Traits

All astral emergent characters have the following traits:

Age

Astral emergents age at the same rate as members of their vessel’s species. You likely inherited the body of an adult seafarer lost to the aetherial waves. You recall hazy echoes of that person’s memories, including how to speak, move, eat, and any other functions a humanoid needs to survive.

Languages

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

Astral Emergent Traits

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

Creature Type

You are a Humanoid of the same subtype as your vessel species.

Size

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

Speed

Your walking speed is 30 feet, and you have a swimming speed equal to your walking speed. If your vessel had other movement options, such as a flying speed, those limbs no longer function to provide that form of movement.

Aetheric Adaptation

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

Formed of Aether

The Aetherial Expanse wishes to reclaim your body. You take 1d4 force damage when you touch aether for the first time on a turn or start your turn in contact with it. While fully immersed in aether, as an action at the start of each of your turns, you can make a DC 13 Charisma check to fight against the aether and reverse the process. On a success, you gain 1d8 temporary hit points instead of taking the force damage.

One with the Sea

When you die, you can’t be resurrected except by a wish spell. Your form melts away as your body and mind return to the Aetherial Expanse. A creature that casts speak with dead while touching the aether must make a successful DC 21 Charisma (Investigation) check to discern your mind from among the flickering egos within the sea.

Unusual Nature

You don’t require air, food, or drink. When you sleep or fall unconscious, your form flickers and wavers, becoming translucent and revealing the constellation of lights that make up your bones.