Homebrew AetherBorn Species Details

When the events of a lifetime are compressed down to almost nothing, each fleeting moment must be savored—drained of every drop of enjoyment it can offer. This is the philosophy that informs the lives and minds of the aetherborn. Given just a few short years—or sometimes only a few months—to live, each aetherborn views time as exceedingly precious. Each moment spent in a way that does not bring delight is a wasted moment. And though aetherborn differ in their drives and pleasures, nearly all of them share this desire to squeeze the most out of the brief time they are given.
Aetherborn come into being spontaneously as part of the aether refinement process. Their bodies and minds are apparently formed out of some interaction between the volatile elements of aether that are removed during refinement and the psychic impressions created by the people involved in the process. But each aetherborn is a unique individual, not a mere copy of some other person’s mind and shape. This race is little understood, and few aetherborn are willing to waste any of their short lives allowing vedalken scholars to study their biological and psychological characteristics.

Aetherborn and Gender

Aetherborn are a strange living by-product of the process of aether refinement, cast in humanoid form but lacking any of the biological qualities of other races.
They don’t eat or sleep, and they don’t reproduce—nor do they have any physical sexual characteristics. Language that categorizes people into male or female categories thus breaks down when it comes to aetherborn. Most aetherborn prefer that others use the pronoun “they” to refer to them, since it doesn’t attribute a gender that they don’t possess. Only a relative few prefer “he” or “she,” having chosen to adopt a gender.

Aetherborn Politics
The relationship between aetherborn and the Consulate is complicated. On the one hand, aetherborn understand that their race wouldn’t exist without the Consulate’s aether refining operations, so they feel at least some motivation to ensure that those operations continue to run smoothly. On the other hand, few aetherborn have any patience for the tedious and cumbersome politics and regulations of the Consulate, which gives them at least a little sympathy with renegade philosophy. Typically, aetherborn are drawn to one side or the other more by the lure of excitement and entertainment than by any serious political beliefs.

Aetherborn Traits

Your aetherborn character has certain traits deriving
from your unusual nature.

Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score in-
creases by 2, and two other ability scores of your choice

increase by 1.
Age. Aetherborn come into being as adults and live
no more than a few years.

Alignment. As a rule, aetherborn are driven by he-
donism and self-interest, making them neutral at best and thoroughly evil at worst. Neutral aetherborn might
devote much of their time (and wealth) to parties and

social activity, while evil aetherborn are usually in-
volved in the criminal underworld.

Size. Aetherborn are about the same size as humans,
ranging from 5 to 6 feet tall. They are quite light—only
about 100 pounds—and their weight diminishes as they
age and more and more of their substance returns to the
aethersphere. Your size is Medium.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Darkvision. Accustomed to the night, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Born of Aether. You have resistance to necrotic damage.

Menacing. You gain proficiency in the Intimidation skill.

Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and two other languages of your choice.

Gift of the Aetherborn
An aetherborn with this gift gains the Drain Life ability: a natural attack that deals 1d6 necrotic damage and restores the same number of hit points to the aetherborn. However, if the  etherborn goes for 7 days without dealing this damage, their hit point maximum is reduced by 1d6 per week. This reduction can’t be removed until the aetherborn has used their Drain Life ability and completed a long rest.

AetherBorn Traits

Your aetherborn character has certain traits deriving from your unusual nature.

Ability Score Increase

Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 2, and two other ability scores of your choice

Darkvision

Darkvision. Accustomed to the night, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Born of Aether

Born of Aether. You have resistance to magic, but are vulnerable to dispel magic effects, taking 1d6 damage per spell level. Anti-magic type spells affect you in the same manner as going 7 days without using your drain life ability.

There is also a small chance that you will absorb the magical energy of any spell cast upon you, equal to 5% per character level, healing you for 1d4 per spell level.
Your physical form is also resistant to all forms of necrotic damage.

Menacing

Menacing. You gain proficiency in the Intimidation skill.

Gift of the Aetherborn

Gift of the Aetherborn
An aetherborn with this gift gains the Drain Life ability: a natural attack that deals 1d6 necrotic damage and restores the same number of hit points to the aetherborn. However, if the  etherborn goes for 7 days without dealing this damage, their hit point maximum is reduced by 1d6 per week. This reduction can’t be removed until the aetherborn has used their Drain Life ability and completed a long rest.

This gift also provides a limited version of blindsight, as the very life essence the gifted Aetherborn craves acts as a beacon. An Aetherborne with the gift may sense the presence of living beings within 30' of them

Languages

Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and two other languages of your choice.

Languages

Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and two other languages of your choice.

Aetherborn Magic

As a creature of magic, you have acces to the following abilities:

You learn the magehand and Prestidigitation cantrips.

You may cast detect magic at will, but doing so causes your body to radiate a dim light for 1d4 hours.

You may cast the Misty Step and Blur spells 3 times between long rests.

Due to your magical nature, your racial spells do not require concentration to maintain them.