Aetherborn

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.

Gift of the Aetherborn

An unknown aetherborn, desperately seeking a means to extend their short life, discovered a process of transformation that prolonged their existence—by giving them the ability to feed on the life essence of other beings. Since then, other aetherborn have learned and carried out this monstrous transformation, and aetherborn with this “gift” have become a small minority among an already small population.

A gifted aetherborn has the ability to drain the life essence of other beings. Similar to the way heat is transferred from a warm object to a cold one, a gifted aetherborn need only touch another living being with a clawed hand to draw life essence out, fueling their own continued existence while draining strength and vitality from their victim.

For many aetherborn, living as they do for indulgence and instant gratification, the concepts of “want” and “need” are virtually synonymous. But Aetherborn with this gift understand what it is to truly need, for they develop a hunger for life essence that far exceeds any desires they might have felt before their transformation. A gifted aetherborn who abstains from this feeding deteriorates even more rapidly than other aetherborn, while enduring unspeakable agony caused by the deprivation of life energy.

Crafting their “Gift”

At the DM’s option, an aetherborn character can research methods of achieving this dark “gift.” The process is similar to inventing and manufacturing a rare magic item. Details for creating magical items can be found in chapter 6 of the Dungeon Master's Guide, with a few modifications to the requirements.

A crafter must have access to a schematic or must invent one; if an aetherborn creates this dark “gift” on their own, they must make a DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check each day of crafting. On a failed attempt, they still expend the gold for that day's work, but it does not count towards progess made. Rather than consuming and requiring aether, the process requires a variety of rare unguents and unusual ingredients that make up the cost of researching and undergoing the transformation.

An aetherborn with this gift gains the Drain Life ability, as detailed in the Aetherborn Traits section.

Aetherborn Traits

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

Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases
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. However, some might live indefinitely with their Drain Life ability.

Alignment. As a rule, aetherborn are driven by hedonism 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 involved 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 as 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 120 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.

Drain Life. You unlock this ability only at your DM's discretion, as detailed in the Gift of the Aetherborn callout.

You gain a natural melee weapon attack, which you can use to make an unarmed strike. If you hit with this attack, you deal 1d6 necrotic damage instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike. When you hit a living creature that is not immune or resistant to necrotic damage with this attack, you restore a number of hit points equal to the damage dealt.

However, if you go for 7 days without dealing this damage, your hit point maximum is reduced by 1d6 per 7 days. This reduction can’t be removed until you have used your Drain Life ability and completed a long rest.

Aetherborn Sourcebooks

This version of the aetherborn race is NOT official D&D material. It was taken from Planeshift: Kaladesh.

Officially the only world/plane/continent in which aetherborn exist is the Magic: The Gathering plane of Kaladesh. It's a world full of magic and inventions—as if steampunk were super bright and magic permeated everything. Kaladesh owes its bright existence to the tangible presence of aether—a raw form of magical energy that fills the space between planes.

Copyright Stuff

Most of the words in this document are copyright of Wizards of the Coast, either directly or indirectly. Words were written using the phrasing present in Wizards' official documents.

LtKodiak's goal is to have 100% of the images be usable under Wizards' Fan Content Policy. The vast majority of images in these documents are from Magic: The Gathering, some from official D&D documents, and the rest from various places on the internet (mtgpics, artstation, deviantart, etc.). All artists and sources are listed in the section below. Some have been modified to better fit the formatting of this document, including color changes, mirroring, and/or alterations. As such, anyone who has access to this document CANNOT SELL IT. That'd be illegal (and against the aforementioned Wizards' Fan Content Policy). It's just for fun, giving D&D players an easier to read document for their favorite races and classes.

Credit for the formatting of this document goes to The Homebrewery, for making an awesome, easy-to-use website utilizing the powers of HTML and CSS.

If you see anything in this document that needs to be ammended, have any suggestions for edits or additions, or have any legal concerns, please reach out!

This Document's Credit

This document was compiled, formatted, adjusted, copy edited, and (semi)-balanced by LtKodiak.
homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/user/ltkodiak
Google Drive folder with downloadable PDFs
BigBeard.Design/LtKodiak