Aetherborne
Aetherborne
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.
Darkvision. Thanks to your heritage, 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 have proficiency in the Intimidation skill.
Go Out with a Bang. If an aetherborn dies before its time has come the magical energy inside of it has not had time to properly and slowly leave. If you don't die from old age, your remaining magical energy explodes in a 10-foot radius centered on you. Each creature in that area must make two saving throws. First, they must make a Dexterity saving throw or take 4d6 force damage. Then, they must make a Constitution saving throw or be blinded until the end of their next turn. The DC for both of these saving throws is equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier. At 5th level, this radius increases to 20 feet, and the dice increase to d8s. At 11th level, the radius further increases to 30 feet, and the dice increase to d10s. At 17th level, the radius further increases to 40 feet, and the dice increase to d12s.
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.
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