Homebrew Dreamborn Species Details

"When I was nearing my third decade, I noticed a mark on my underarm. It slowly grew to a pustule, and then a boil. Having it lanced, bled, or excised did nothing but cause me excruciating pain, for the mark healed unnaturally quick. When it was damaged black corruption oozed out, leaving me as I often was: Paranoid for my life. 30 days after the growth first appeared, it split open. That was the first of my vestigial eyes. That was when I realised, I did not know what I was."

- Unnamed Dreamborn quoted in Izif's Guide to Corrupted Souls

 

Dreamborn can live within various societies, and for much of their life are only identifiable by their unnerving emotional detachment and eccentricities. With a natural proclivity to psionic powers and intense paranoia, an adolescent Dreamborn can be a lethal danger to the community they lurk within.

An Aberrant Birth

A Dreamborn's existence begins with a Beholder experiencing a dream of themselves as a weak humanoid in excruciating pain. This incredibly rare occurrence leads to a Dreamborn foetus manifesting within the body of the closest humanoid able to give birth. The Dreamborn takes on the physical racial attributes of it's host mother, and upon its birth is raised within the mother's society. This phenomenon can often appear as an immaculate conception, as the host mother does not need to be sexually active for this to take place. The Dreamborn is raised unknowing of its aberrant origin, and are likely to fully believe they are exactly alike the other humanoids it grew up with. 

 

Alien Eccentricities

The first sign of a Dreamborn's existence is the plethora of eccentricities they are likely to develop as a result of their Beholderkin origin. Many Dreamborn are characterised by a crippling form of paranoia, to the point where if a Dreamborn were to lightly inconvenience a close friend, they would spend much of their next week fearing brutal and lethal retaliation. This leads many Dreamborns to be reclusive, or otherwise perform strange rituals they believe will protect them. Another quality common to Dreamborn are their perceived emotional and intellectual detachment from the physical world. Often a Dreamborn will seem slow to react, lost in thought, or oblivious to those around them. This is not a result of being uncaring or uninterested, but rather a Dreamborn's inner dialogue is sometimes so loud it manages to drown out the world around them. While these are the two most common eccentricities of a Dreamborn, they are also known to be unendingly curious, avid collectors, predisposed to narcissism, and naturally stoic.

 

Grotesque Development

The development of a Dreamborn initially matches that of the race its host mother originated from. They pass through infancy, childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood physically identical to those born alongside them, albeit with the Dreamborn's characteristic personality quirks developing quite early on. Once a Dreamborn reaches adulthood however, they begin to physically shift away from their assumed brethren. Eyes manifest across their bodies, starting where the Dreamborn's skin is likely weakest: the armpits, neck, and groin regions. These take about a month to develop fully, and each one is fully functional. As this happens, the Dreamborn's skin slowly changes to more resemble that of a beholder, meaning it could be a wide variety of textures and colours. Most common is the marbled beige tones and rough rubbery texture of a classic beholder, but the variety is large and unpredictable. From this point there is no uniform development of a Dreamborn; some may experience changes to their eye colour, appetite, teeth shape, or more. Ultimately, a Dreamborn is likely to live twice as long as their brethren species unless unnaturally cut short, their life force bolstered by aberrant psionics.

Other than their physical development, also key to understanding the growth of a Dreamborn is their developing psionic abilities. An Dreamborn in infancy and childhood are unlikely to experience these psionic gifts, but once they reach adolescence they are quite suddenly given a rush of destructive power. This comes in the form of unpredictable and devastating psionic beams. It is a long held belief these beams emanate only from a Dreamborn's eyes, but the nature of their psionics means it is just as likely to originate from anywhere within their body. As a Dreamborn ages further these beams become more powerful and destructive, leading many who know of the existence of Dreamborn to view them as innately dangerous.

 

Dreamborn Traits

Dreamborns have various traits, but all relate to their Beholder origins

Ability Score Increase

Your Intelligence score increases by 2, and your Charisma increases by 1.

Age

The Dreamborn ages at the rate of the race it has been born into. It is thought they can live twice as long as those is their inherited race.

Language

You can speak, read, and write Common and Deep Speech.

Alignment

Dreamborns tend towards evil, but many forsake this and act more neutral or good. While some Dreamborns align similar to their Beholder kin and are lawful and rigid, a Dreamborn's paranoia might lead them down a more chaotic path.

Type

You are humanoid and aberration.

Psionic Beams

You can use your action to unleash beams of destructive force. These beams are created by psionic energy, and may emanate from your eyes, fingers, or elsewhere. The damage type and saving throw of this beam is decided each dawn by rolling on the Beam Type table. When you use this ability, select up to two creatures within 30 feet of you, and make a ranged spell attack, with intelligence as your spellcasting modifier. On a hit, deal 2d8 damage at 1st level, 3d8 at 6th, 4d8 at 11th and 5d8 at 16th. This action may only be taken twice between rests.

 Beam Type

1	Psychic
2	Cold
3	Necrotic
4	Force
5	Thunder
6	Lightning
7	Fire
8	Psychic

Momentary Buoyancy

When you fall from a distance high enough to cause fall damage, you can use a reaction to experience a sudden inexplicable rush of buoyancy and gain resistance to fall damage.