Homebrew Ethereal Species Details

Ghosts. Shadows. Tricks of the light. That sense of dread you feel when you're sitting alone, but you can't shake the feeling that you're being watched. This is how the common man would describe an ethereal. A race not native to the Material Plane, they are travelers from the oft-forgotten Ethereal plane, which they insist was named for them and not the other way around.

Though commonly mistaken for ghosts and specters, ethereals are very much alive. Their pale visage and uncanny ability to traverse through solid objects only scratch the surface of what it means to be an ethereal. 

Wanderlust

Every ethereal has within them an innate desire to travel and to see new things. Growing up in the Ethereal plane is a rather monochromatic experience. They exist in a monoculture, and the Material plane holds the promise of new ideas, new dangers, and new discoveries. Often perceived as naive or impulsive by other races, it is better to understand that curiosity is what fuels a traveling ethereal. In ethereal culture, they call it the "far-sickness," and treat it as both a rite of passage and a diagnosis. It is expected that every ethereal will one day leave their native plane to travel into new worlds and see amazing things, but they are also expected to one day return and rejoin ethereal society. When an ethereal is slain outside their homeland, or if they have chosen to remain in a different plane for the rest of their days, they are mourned as if they have lost a battle with a terminal illness.

The Great Haar

Ethereals are a race that belongs to the Ethereal plane. When they die, their spirit returns to their native plane, where they are reabsorbed into the mists that gave them life. Their consciousness joins the thousands of others that have passed to watch over all living ethereals as the Great Haar. The elder mages of the ethereals, called fogwatchers, commune with the Great Haar in times of strife, hoping to find wisdom and guidance through their ancestors. 

When an ethereal is brought back from beyond the grave, they rarely return unchanged. They are transformed by the experience in some way. Sometimes it is with the memories of another, of a life they never lived. Other times their personality has changed, where before they were quick to anger, but are now easygoing and difficult to rile. This change is not always internal, as it may manifest as a strange mark or tattoo that wasn't there when they died. Such marks are called Mementos and are venerated in ethereal society. They indicate an ethereal has been touched by the Great Haar and holds within them a divine blessing.

The Ethereal Plane

Very few creatures call the Ethereal plane their home, but the ethereals are true natives of this plane. It is divided into two parts: the Deep Ethereal, which is an ocean composed of dangerous color and unknowable abysses; and the Border Ethereal, which are shores where ethereals thrive. The Border Ethereal is a land of mist and fog, revealing colorless skylines of foreign cities littering its landscape. This section of the Ethereal plane overlaps the Material and Inner planes, copying them and populating the world with echoes of their topography. As such, it's not uncommon for an ethereal to impossibly know the layout of a new city, as they've been well acquainted with its Ethereal counterpart.

Ethereal Names

Ethereals have two names: the first is their given name, which is chosen by their parents. This could be from any language, as the Ethereal plane overlaps with so many different worlds. Their second name is a demonym, a name indicating the location of their birth. Because of the nature of the Border Ethereal, every demonym is derived from the extraplanar locations that the Ethereal plane is modeled after. Most ethereals only use their demonym when introducing themselves for the first time, and otherwise go by their first name.

Ethereal Demonyms: Waterdeep, Daggerford, Nyanzaru, Saltmarsh, Barovia, Brass, Darromar

Ethereal Traits

Your ethereal character has the following racial traits.

Ability Score Increase

Your Wisdom score increases by 2, and your Dexterity score increases by 1.

Age

Ethereals reach adulthood at 20, and can live up to 150 years.

Alignment

Most ethereals embrace the neutrality of their home plane. They have no pull towards law or chaos in particular but do not wish unnecessary harm to others. An ethereal who has spent little time outside of the Ethereal plane may seem cold and aloof, while those better traveled may come across as excitable and more spontaneous.

Size

Ethereals are usually no shorter than 5 feet tall, but rarely taller than 6. Your size is Medium.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and one extra language of your choice.

Phase Shift

As a bonus action, you can change into a semi-incorporeal form. This transformation lasts for 1 minute, until you die, or until you revert to your normal form as a bonus action. While transformed, you gain a 15 ft. fly speed, and your body becomes semi-transparent. Light can shine through you, and your body does not interrupt line-of-sight. While transformed, you can use your bonus action to pass through solid objects. Ending your turn in a space occupied by another object or creature causes you to fall prone in an unoccupied space closest to where you first entered.

Once you transform, you can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest.