1. Characters
Concept
Every player character is human, born in or wandering through Veyrith. Each carries a small Aether Affinity — an inborn pull toward one of the 16 Aether types. This is not "playing an elemental"; it's a flavor hook plus a small mechanical lean.
Identity fields on the sheet
- Name, pronouns, home region
- Path — one of five starting archetypes
- Level — 1 to 20, advances with story milestones
- Primary Aether Affinity — one of the 16 types
- Aetheric Trait — one named quirk tied to the affinity
- Backstory — couple of paragraphs
Aetheric Trait examples
A small, evocative inborn quirk. Mostly flavor; the DM can lean on it for moments of grace.
| Affinity | Trait | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Flame | Forge-touched | Matches and torches light at your touch. You shrug off mild burns. |
| Tide | Stillwater | You can sleep underwater an hour without drowning. |
| Verdant | Greentongue | Plants lean toward you; you can taste-test if water is safe. |
| Storm | Stormlit | Your hair stands on end seconds before lightning strikes nearby. |
| Frost | Coldborn | Snow doesn't stick to you. You never feel winter cold. |
| Gale | Windsong | You can whistle a tone that carries impossibly far in open country. |
| Earth | Stonebraced | You can sleep on raw rock. Falls of less than 20 ft don't injure you. |
| Metal | Forgekin | You can tell the alloy and origin of any worked metal by holding it. |
| Venom | Bittertongue | You can taste a single drop of poison and name its source. |
| Spirit | Wake-walker | You can see your breath where the recently dead lingered. |
| Shadow | Quietfoot | Your footsteps make no sound on still nights. |
| Mind | Clearwater | You shake off mental confusion in one round, every time. |
| Light | Dawnsung | A small radiant glow when you sing or pray; gone otherwise. |
| Dream | Half-sleeper | You remember every dream. Sometimes they are useful. |
| Beast | Pack-known | Wild Auremon don't flee you on sight. They may still attack. |
| Myth | Old-blood | One Auremon you have not yet met has heard of you. You don't yet know which. |
Pick freely. Players can write their own.
2. Vital Pools
Four numbers you actually track in play. All tied to your level and Path.
| Pool | What it does | Starting value |
|---|---|---|
| HP | Your life. At 0 you fall unconscious; your Auremon flees or guards you. | 8 + Body × 2 |
| Speed | Feet of movement per round on foot. | 30 ft |
| Aether Pool | Fuel for empowering Auremon, swapping without a turn, pushing a move past its limit. | 3 + Bonding |
| Resolve | Mental fortitude. Spend to resist fear, charm, despair, or to keep moving past a moment you'd otherwise freeze. | 3 + Tactics |
Recovery
- Short rest (10 minutes): regain Resolve fully, recover 1 Aether.
- Long rest (8 hours): full HP, Aether, Resolve.
3. Aether Prowess
Replaces D&D's six attributes. Each starts at +0 to +2 at level 1; rises every 4 levels.
| Stat | Covers | D&D analogue |
|---|---|---|
| Bonding | Calming wild Auremon, deepening pacts, reading their moods. | CHA (with Auremon) |
| Tactics | Battle sense, initiative, choosing when to switch or empower. | INT (combat) |
| Vigil | Spotting threats, scouting, listening, tracking. | WIS perception |
| Lore | Knowing things — Aether, factions, ruins, Auremon species. | INT knowledge |
| Body | Climbing, hauling, soaking a hit yourself, melee without an Auremon. | STR + CON |
| Grace | Dodging, balance, sleight of hand, fast hands. | DEX |
Roll resolution: d20 + Prowess vs DC 10 (easy) / 13 (moderate) / 17 (hard) / 20 (legendary). Add proficiency on Path-favored checks (+2 at level 1, scaling).
4. Paths
A Path is the player's starting archetype. Choose one at character creation.
| Path | Theme | +1 to | Starting feature |
|---|---|---|---|
| Walker | Wandering generalist | Bonding | Quiet Bond — once per long rest, one Aether Seal attempt automatically succeeds. |
| Warden | Aetherwatch ranger | Vigil | Wildmark — you can name and remember every Auremon you've seen. |
| Researcher | Field scholar | Lore | Field Notes — 1 minute observing reveals a creature's type matchups and one ability. |
| Duelist | Tournament fighter | Tactics | Read the Field — once per combat, swap two of your party's Auremon turn order. |
| Speaker | Faction diplomat | Bonding | Open Hand — in non-combat social situations, your active Auremon doesn't count against the room's tension. |
Each Path gets new features at levels 3, 6, 10, 14, and 18 — design these as the campaign reveals what suits each character.
5. Auremon Bonding & Seals
Aether Seals replace Pokéballs. They are not magic prisons — they encode an offered pact.
A successful seal requires:
- The Auremon is weakened (below half HP), calm (post-bonding moment), or impressed by the trainer.
- The trainer makes a Bonding check vs DC determined by the creature's rarity.
| Rarity | DC |
|---|---|
| Wild common | 10 |
| Wild rare | 13 |
| Pseudo-legendary | 16 |
| Legendary | 20+ (story-only) |
Party size: Up to 3 bonded Auremon may be active at any time. Additional bonds wait at home, in a Keeper's roost, or at the field lab.
What breaks a bond
- Repeated cruelty or neglect.
- Forcing an Auremon to fight against its nature (e.g. Mistrel forced to kill).
- Using a corrupted (Riftborn) seal.
- The Auremon's chosen sacrifice — if it leaves you, the bond is honored, not broken.
6. Designing Auremon
Stat block
- CR (Challenge Rating): tier of power.
- HP · AC · Speed.
Moves
Each Auremon learns a small set — 2 at stage 1, 3 at stage 2, 4 at stage 3. Plus 1 unique move learned at the story-triggered evolution moment.
Format every move with: name • type • damage • effect.
- At stage 1: one damaging + one utility. Don't double up on damage.
- Use Aether types — the type chart should pay off in play.
- Let moves scale on 1 Aether spent (e.g. "1d6, or 2d6 with 1 Aether").
- Favor conditions over bare numbers: Marked, Smoldering, Slowed, Surprised.
Abilities
One ability at stage 1, 2 at stage 2, 3 at stage 3. Abilities are always-on or trigger-based — not turn-spending.
- One flavor-first ability: "in forest terrain, advantage on Vigil checks".
- One combat-trigger ability: "when its trainer takes damage…", "when reduced to 1 HP…".
- Save raw damage bonuses for legendaries — at stage 1 they make creatures samey.
Worked examples
Open the compendium and view Spriglet, Emberkit, or Bubblusk — they're filled in as templates.
7. A Session in Play
Each session cycles through 2–4 of these phases. Don't railroad — let players choose the next one when it's natural.
| Phase | What happens |
|---|---|
| Travel | Open terrain, encounters, navigation. Vigil and Lore shine. |
| Encounter | Combat or charged social — wild Auremon, rivals, faction reps, haunted ruins. |
| Bond | Quiet moments. Feeding an Auremon, bandaging a wound, a whispered confession. Should sometimes grant a permanent boon. |
| Camp / Rest | Short or long rest. Equipment, planning, lore exchange. Auremon may evolve here if story-trigger has been met. |
8. Combat Flow
- Initiative — Tactics + d20. Highest acts first.
- On a trainer's turn, pick one Trainer Action:
- Command — your active Auremon makes a move.
- Empower — spend 1 Aether; next move adds +1 die or extends its range.
- Swap — bring out a different bonded Auremon. Free if you spend 1 Aether, otherwise costs your turn.
- Trinket — use an item.
- Personal — climb, throw, persuade, push. Roll a Prowess vs DC.
- The active Auremon also takes a turn: 1 move + reactions.
- Status effects resolve at the start of the affected creature's turn.
- A bonded Auremon at 0 HP falls unconscious; the bond holds. Heal in 1 hour of rest.
Status conditions
| Condition | Effect |
|---|---|
| Marked | Next attack from an ally adds +1 damage die. Removed when triggered. |
| Smoldering | 1 flame damage at start of each turn. Action to extinguish. |
| Slowed | Half speed. Acts last in initiative this round. |
| Tired | Disadvantage on physical Prowess (Body, Grace). |
| Surprised | Next attack against this creature has advantage. |
| Tangled | Cannot move. Action to break free. |
| Charmed | Cannot harm the charmer. Save at end of each turn. |
| Riftborn | Auremon corrupted by an Aether storm. Random attack target each turn. |
9. Levels & Growth
| Level | Trainer features | Auremon impact |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Path feature 1; +1 to one Prowess of choice. | Stage 1, CR 1/8–1. |
| 3 | Path feature 2; +1 Prowess. | First evolution to stage 2 via story trigger. |
| 5 | Aether Pool +1. | CR cap rises to 3. |
| 6 | Path feature 3. | — |
| 8 | +1 Prowess. HP refresh. | First stage 3 evolutions possible. |
| 10 | Path feature 4. | CR cap rises to 6. Pseudo-legendaries open. |
| 14 | Path feature 5. | CR cap rises to 10. |
| 18 | Path feature 6. | Legendary encounters possible. |
| 20 | Capstone — DM-designed Legendary-touched boon. | — |
10. Designer Checklist (new Auremon)
- What's its role in a fight? Bruiser? Support? Scout? Glass cannon?
- Is its typing working with or against an Auremon you've already built?
- Does the stage-1 move set mix one damaging + one utility move?
- Does its ability feel like something a player would describe out loud — not just a +X bonus?
- Is there a moment a trainer might want to spend 1 Aether on it?