Homebrew Accursed Voidborn Species Details

The legends of the Accursed Voidborn tell of a lost city, Vex’Thal’Zir, where a nameless entity from the Abyssal Deep broke through the Veil and wove its essence into the bloodlines of those who dwelled there. Though the city fell to ruin, the bloodline endured, passing down the dark burden through generations.

Physical Characteristics

The Accursed Voidborn bear unsettling, fragmented appearances, as though they exist on the edge of dissolution.

  • Height & Build: They tend to be gaunt and willowy, their movements strangely deliberate and unnerving.
  • Complexion: Their skin is ashen gray, deep violet, or eerily pale, often marked by shifting Abyssal runes or blackened veins that pulse when their power manifests.
  • Eyes: Completely black or filled with a swirling void, appearing to consume light rather than reflect it.
  • Hair: If present, their hair is wisps of spectral mist, strands of shifting shadow, or tattered remnants of a lost form.
  • Otherworldly Traits:
    • Some Accursed appear partially translucent, as though they flicker between reality and oblivion.
    • Others leave behind afterimages when they move, creating an unsettling echo effect.
    • Their voices often carry a discordant undertone, as if multiple unseen entities are speaking alongside them.

Abilities and Traits

The Accursed Voidborn walk the boundary between existence and nonexistence, burdened with a power that threatens to unravel them.

  • Abyssal Resilience: Resistant to necrotic and psychic damage, as their bodies have become accustomed to the ravages of the void.
  • Lingering Curse: Any creature that reduces an Accursed Voidborn to 0 HP must make a Wisdom saving throw (DC = 8 + proficiency bonus + Charisma modifier) or suffer disadvantage on all saving throws against necrotic or psychic effects for one minute.
  • Tethered to Oblivion: At 3rd level, the Accursed can vanish momentarily into the Void, reappearing up to 30 feet away in dim light or darkness. This ability can be used a number of times equal to their proficiency bonus, regaining all uses after a long rest.
  • Echoes of the Forgotten: At 5th level, the Accursed can unleash an aura of despair, forcing creatures within 10 feet to make a Charisma saving throw or suffer the Frightened condition for one minute. This ability recharges after a long rest.
  • Doomspeaker’s Prophecy: Once per long rest, the Accursed can whisper an omen of inevitable fate into the mind of a creature. The next time the target attempts an attack roll, saving throw, or ability check, they must roll 2d20 and take the lowest result.

Societal Structure and Laws

Accursed Voidborn rarely form traditional societies, as their affliction ensures they are feared, shunned, or hunted. Instead, they cluster in isolated enclaves, ruined temples, or forgotten crypts, drawn together by their shared suffering.

  • The Weeping Chorus: A sect of Accursed philosophers who believe their suffering is part of a grand design, seeking understanding in their misery.
  • The Unbound Wretches: Nomadic groups of Accursed who have cast off all ties, wandering the lands as cursed mercenaries, prophets of despair, or executioners.
  • The Hollow Keepers: A secretive order who safeguard relics of the Abyss, ensuring that forbidden knowledge is neither abused nor forgotten.
  • The Eclipsed Remnants: A militant faction of Accursed who have embraced their doom, using their suffering as a weapon against those who wield forbidden magic.

Cultural Practices

The Accursed exist in the fringes of society, and their traditions reflect their grim existence.

The Mourning Veil

Once a year, Accursed Voidborn gather to chant in the language of the Abyss, reciting lost names and forgotten fates. They believe this ritual keeps their fragmented souls anchored to reality.

The Rite of Binding

Before setting out on dangerous journeys, an Accursed will bind themselves with obsidian chains, a physical representation of their curse. To break these chains is a symbolic gesture of defiance against the Abyss.

Echo Funerals

When an Accursed dies, their body is not buried. Instead, their brethren burn incense and shadow-etched effigies, guiding their lost soul back to the Void, lest it linger as a wraith.

Religion and Philosophy

The Accursed rarely worship traditional gods, as they believe their fate has been sealed by forces greater than divinity.

  • The Whispering Dark: A formless entity believed to be the source of their suffering, neither worshiped nor defied—merely endured.
  • The Fatebreaker’s Oath: A radical belief that their curse can be undone, driving some Accursed to seek the means to sever their connection to the Abyss.
  • The Ever-Tolling Bell: A philosophy that sees existence as a cycle of suffering, entropy, and renewal, with the Accursed existing as the harbingers of an inevitable end.

Naming Conventions

Accursed names are often haunting and sorrowful, their syllables carrying a weight of fate and despair.

  • Male Names: Zekharis (Lament’s Echo), Valtherion (Lost in Shadow), Nihzath (Cursebearer), Thal’Zir (Doomtouched)
  • Female Names: Nyxara (Veil’s Sorrow), Selthia (Eclipsed Fate), Azirha (Whisper of Dust), Lysithra (Void’s Mourning)
  • Eldritch Epithets: Instead of family names, Accursed adopt titles of woe, such as Doomborn, Hollowtongue, Lost Wraith, or The Severed.

Adventurers Among the Accursed

Accursed Voidborn rarely seek out adventure for glory or fortune. Instead, they wander out of necessity, desperation, or a desire to control their fate. Many take up the path of warlocks, shadow sorcerers, or doomed paladins, their powers an echo of their suffering.

Some hope to break their curse, while others embrace their doom, choosing to bring ruin upon those who wronged them. Whatever their cause, the journey of an Accursed Voidborn is one of sorrow, vengeance, and an unrelenting battle against fate itself.

Accursed Voidborn in Aetheris: Broken by Fate or Masters of Destiny?

The Accursed stand as the last remnants of a forgotten tragedy, their very existence a constant reminder of the abyssal horrors that lurk beyond mortal understanding. Will they succumb to the whispers of oblivion, or will they defy the will of the Void and carve out their own destiny?

Their stories are whispered in the hush of shadowed ruins, etched in the dust of lost civilizations, and sung in the final breaths of those who dare to stand in their path.

Accursed Voidborn Traits

The Accursed Voidborn walk the boundary between existence and nonexistence, burdened with a power that threatens to unravel them.

Abyssal Resilience

Resistant to necrotic and psychic damage, as their bodies have become accustomed to the ravages of the void.

Lingering Curse

Any creature that reduces an Accursed Voidborn to 0 HP must make a Wisdom saving throw (DC = 8 + proficiency bonus + Charisma modifier) or suffer disadvantage on all saving throws against necrotic or psychic effects for one minute.

Tethered to Oblivion

At 3rd level, the Accursed can vanish momentarily into the Void, reappearing up to 30 feet away in dim light or darkness. This ability can be used a number of times equal to their proficiency bonus, regaining all uses after a long rest.

Echoes of the Forgotten

  • : At 5th level, the Accursed can unleash an aura of despair, forcing creatures within 10 feet to make a Charisma saving throw or suffer the Frightened condition for one minute. This ability recharges after a long rest.

Doomspeaker's Prophecy

  • Once per long rest, the Accursed can whisper an omen of inevitable fate into the mind of a creature. The next time the target attempts an attack roll, saving throw, or ability check, they must roll 2d20 and take the lowest result.

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