Homebrew Chiroptera Species Details
"Creatures inhabiting the Astral Sea may not be a surprise to many. Although, these creatures seem to have adapted to it and ingrained it into their physical manifestation! I'm rather disheartened at the fact that even they seem to disregard their own previous lives and histories... however, I witness their capabilities with interest and great curiosity. I wonder how they will fare in Dawnrise and other places within the Material Plane!"
Hospitable Hideaways
The Astral Sea's unlimited space is teeming with Chiroptera's free-floating towns, yet their relatively tiny footprint on the place hid them from other planes of existence until now. They have their own society separate from other species. In the Astral Sea, Chiroptera are natural masters of astralcraft. By exerting one’s will on the murky astra that drifts all around the Astral Sea, one can shape any tangible objects they can imagine. Everything tangible there is either brought in from elsewhere or made of astra. Chiroptera are born surrounded by it and live among it. Astra sustains a Chiroptera (though they can also digest typical humanoid food, with a few days of initial bellyaches). For a Chiroptera, willing an object into existence is second nature.
Astral Ascension
Chiroptera homes are clustered together in a loose arrangement of bizarre astralcraft constructions. Their homes serve more as ongoing art installations; the Astral Sea has no weather to protect oneself from. Chiroptera build sprawling mansions, gigantic representations of tiny objects, and anything else they can dream of. They spend their lives inventing new ways to stretch and shape their own world.
Endearing Expressions
Self-expression is the beginning and end of Chiroptera culture. Almost everything they do is out of immediate curiosity and fleeting impulse. Chiroptera are often swept up by a sudden artistic inspiration, which consumes them until they can see it realized from their own minds. In the Astral, one’s paintbrush or block of marble is always on-hand. Chiroptera living in the Material Plane are often frustrated by the scarcity of stuff. Not only that, but Chiroptera often are confused- yet interested in cultures and practices of the Material World denizens and how they differ from their own. For example, Chiroptera may find it strange that humans don’t sleep upside down clinging to a wall, or why libraries and scholars bother with their work when the world is right in front of them to explore!
Plane Pockets
Chiroptera keep part of the Astral with them when they travel to the Material Plane. Every Chiroptera has an extraplanar space called a cheiropocket within their body. Its existence was unknown to them before arriving in a world other than the Astral, and it’s part of why Chiroptera are eager to visit the Material Plane often. The cheiropocket sits in the inside of a Chiroptera's wings, summoned with a thought. When the portal is open, their wings glow with the same eerie, blue light as their home. Both wings are a gate to a Chiroptera's personal, self-contained portion of the Astral Sea.
Forgotten Fates
Chiroptera culture has no notion of the ideas of history, legacy, or memory beyond one’s own lifetime. Chiroptera know and love their own families, they make friends, and they create art for those around them. They learn everything they need from the lessons of their parents and peers. Everything beyond these things is irrelevant. Chiroptera towns have floated in the infinite blue of the Astral Sea for as long as any of them can remember. Their lack of historical record makes it impossible to determine anything about their origins or creation. Even their general number is unknown; scholars guess that there are over a million Chiroptera in the Astral, but there’s no way to know for sure. Chiroptera are unbothered by this ignorance of the past. They value firsthand experience more than any secondhand account. Needless to say, this has vexed curious scholars and arcanists since their appearance in the Material Plane.
Curious Companions
As a species from a place without solid ground or gravity, Chiroptera are eager to explore the alien Material Plane for new inspiration and friends. Their place in the larger machinations of the world has yet to be determined, but their scarce number makes them popular most everywhere they go. As of now, only a few Chiroptera have attempted to settle permanently on the Material Plane. Most travel back and forth between the Astral Sea and the Material Plane by their own magical means.
Mirthful Monikers
Chiropteran names are a symphony of ultrasonic chirps, deep thrums, and rhythmic clicks, unintelligible to most but carrying rich meaning in Deep Speech. Their names often reflect motion, sound, or fleeting sensations, embodying their innate curiosity and free-spirited nature. To outsiders, they adopt playful, evocative nicknames like Echo, Zephyr, Drift, or Whimsy, chosen for their pleasing sound and loose connection to their true name’s essence. Each name is as fluid as the Chiropterans themselves, shifting with new experiences and personal growth.
Chiroptera Traits
As an Chiroptera, you have the following racial traits.Ability Score Increases
Although their physical forms are more akin to that of the Astral Sea, it appears that each Chiroptera have managed to adapt rather quickly to their newfound environments. Their ability to reshape their form allows for them to meld into different strengths seemingly at ease.
You may increase one score by 2 and increase a different score by 1, or increase three different scores by 1.
Languages
Chiroptera previously spoke solely in Deep Speech while in the Astral Plane. However, after exposure with the Material Plane and its denizens... they managed to add Common in order to properly communicate with other creatures outside of their own species.
Your character can speak, read, and write Common and Deep Speech.
Creature Type
Hailing from the Astral Sea has allowed their physical form to manifest to that of a humanoid-like shape. However, they are still incredibly foreign and display such traits through their Astral connections.
As such, you are an Abberation.
Size
Your size is Medium.
Speed
Although your claws are too inefficient for combat, they are sturdy enough to allow you to walk and climb with relative ease.
Your walking speed is 30 feet, and you have a climbing speed equal to your walking speed.
Wings
While a Chiroptera's wings don’t allow for flying outside of the Astral Sea, they can still make an otherwise deadly descent into a breezy float downward. While your arms are free, you fall at least 10 feet above the ground, and you are not wearing heavy armor, you can extend your wings to fall at a speed of 30 feet per round. For every foot you descend, you can also move a foot horizontally (this costs movement as normal).
While in the Astral Sea, Chiropter's wings allow for further mobility than other creatures. While navigating the Astral Sea through the Travel by Thought Alone feature, your multiplier is 6 instead of 5 (6 × your Intelligence score when determining your flying speed rounded up).
Cheiropocket
Every Chiroptera carries a connection to the Astral Sea while in another world. This cheiropocket is an extraplanar space accessible through the inner membrane of their wings.
As a bonus action, you can touch the inside of your wing to open your cheiropocket or close it again. While it’s open, your wings emanate the glow of the Astral Sea, and you can stow or retrieve an item as an action. Your cheiropocket can hold cubic feet of nonliving material up to 12 x your Intelligence modifier (minimum 12 cubic feet). If you attempt to stow living material, or an item that’s too large, it passes through your wing and falls to the ground behind you. You take any damage that the pocket’s contents deal to its interior. If you die, the pocket’s contents spill forth, unharmed. The space of your cheiropocket cannot exist in the Astral Sea when your body is also present there. Traveling to the Astral collapses your cheiropocket and leaves its contents behind in your space the moment you cross over
If an extradimensional space, such as a Bag of Holding, Handy Haversack, or Portable Hole, is placed inside your cheiropocket, both it and all contents within are immediately shunted into the Astral Sea, lost beyond reach. This process is unpredictable, and anything lost this way may reappear in a random location within the Astral Sea or be forever adrift in its vast emptiness.
Astral Echoes
Your voice resonates beyond the bounds of the material, allowing you to navigate the world through sound. As a bonus action, you can emit an inaudible pulse of astral-toned sound that grants you blindsight within 30 feet until the end of your next turn. This blindsight does not function if you are deafened or in an area of magical silence.
While in the Astral Sea, your connection to the realm of thought amplifies your senses, extending this blindsight to 60 feet instead. You can use this ability a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, regaining all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
Aethermarked Awareness
Born of the Astral Sea, you navigate its endless expanse with an innate understanding. The shifting tides of the Aether are as familiar to you as the pull of gravity is to others.
You have advantage on Intelligence (Arcana), Intelligence (Investigation), and Wisdom (Perception) checks made to identify or track creatures or information native to the Astral Plane, as well as to recognize astral phenomena and the presence of portals leading to or from the Astral Sea.
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