Aasimar

Description

(From Dungeon Master's Guide - 2014 [credits])

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Whereas tieflings have fiendish blood in their veins, aasimar are the descendants of celestial beings. These folk generally appear as glorious humans with lustrous hair, flawless skin, and piercing eyes. Aasimar often attempt to pass as humans in order to right wrongs and defend goodness on the Material Plane without drawing undue attention to their celestial heritage. They strive to fit into society, although they usually rise to the top, becoming revered leaders and honorable heroes.

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(from Mordenkainen's Monsters of the Multiverse - 2021 [credits])

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Whether descended from a celestial being or infused with heavenly power, aasimar are mortals who carry a spark of the Upper Planes within their souls. They can fan that spark to bring light, ease wounds, and unleash the fury of the heavens.

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Aasimar can arise among any population of mortals. They resemble their parents, but they live for up to 160 years and often have features that hint at their celestial heritage. These often begin subtle and become more obvious when the aasimar gains the ability to reveal their full celestial nature.

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(from Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix II - 1995 [credits])

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Just like tieflings, aasimar are plane-touched creatures that can’t quite be called human. In their veins flows the blood of both humankind and one of the races of the Upper Planes – the rilmani, the eladrins, or the [aasimon] (formerly guardinals, who are now the ancestors of the Aardling race instead)]. Aasimar are beautiful creatures, with calm, serene features and an inner radiance that shines from their faces. They’ve got long manes of white-gold hair, and bright, piercing eyes that seem to look right though a basher. It’s easy to mistake an aasimar for a human of unnatural purity, a half-elf, or even an agathinon. Aasimar tend to be noble, honest, and courageous cutters, but a body shouldn’t always assume an aasimar means him well; they are a few cross-traders and knights of the post among the aasimar, despite their noble birth.

 

Aasimar are beautiful creatures, with calm, serene features and an inner radiance that shines from their faces. It’s easy to mistake an aasimar for a human of unnatural purity, a half-elf, or even an agathinon. Aasimar tend to be noble, honest, and courageous cutters, but a body shouldn’t always assume an aasimar means him well; they are a few cross-traders and knights of the post among the aasimar, despite their noble birth.

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Aasimar are scattered throughout the Outlands and Upper and Neutral Planes, but naturally avoid prolonged stays on any of the Lower Planes. (They’re too likely to be mistaken for an aasimon of some kind, and a tanar’ri or baatezu can’t stand the sight of an aasimon.) They usually dress to fit in with the population around them, so an aasimar living among the elven folk of Arborea dresses like an elf and assumes many of his hosts’ mannerisms. When an aasimar’s moved to great emotion, his heritage shines through his face like sunlight through clouds. There aren’t many evil bashers who can look an angry aasimar in the eye.

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As noted above, aasimar prefer to blend in with their neighbors and form no independent societies. They tend to be great travelers and wanderers, since they are welcomed anywhere on the Upper Planes and can pass without notice in most other places. Some aasimar set themselves up as traders and merchants; these cutters do a good business, since everyone knows they’re trustworthy. In fact, when an aasimar bobs some sod, he’s likely to get away with it since most people’ll take his word over his victim’s.

 

Aasimar commonly intermarry with the people around them: in fact, it’s rare to find an aasimar bloodline more than four or five generations old. Unlike tieflings, aasimar are rarely outcasts or orphans. Instead, they usually have the benefit of a respectable upbringing on the side of their moral parent. On rare occasions, aasimar are born into primc-material worlds where no one knows their true heritage. In these settings, the young aasimar often becomes a great leader or hero.

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Aasimar’s expertise at fitting in with their settings makes them model citizens. They are upright and honest in their dealings, live clean and moral lives, and aren’t afraid to stand up for what’s right. This is all fine on the Upper Planes, but in neutral places like the Outlands it means that aasimar are born troublemakers. They’ve got an uncanny ability to ferret out underhanded schemes and put a stop to them. Aasimar’re as safe as the next body on their native planes, but in Sigil they’ve got to watch their step and curb their impulses.

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Aasimar can eat about anything a civilized human can. They have little liking for raw meat, fiery brews, or other such falre. Most aasimar have very discriminating palates and enjoy only the finest viands and wines of mortals.

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There’s a natural rivalry between tieflings and aasimar. Tieflings heartily resent them because their mixed heritage isn’t perceived as a fault like the tieflings’ own commonly is. To the tiefling mind, an aasimar is a coddled half-breed who’s had everything handed lo him on a silver plate. Assimar find it difficult not to be suspicious of tieflings in return.

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Combat: Aasimar are upright and fair warriors with deep respect of strength and faith. Unfortunately, their mixed blood makes them somewhat frail. All aasimar gain bonusses of +1 to Strength and Wisdom, and suffer a -2 penalty to Constitution. It’s real hard to sneak up on basilar; they’ve got senses like a cat’s, it seems. All aasimar have infravision to a range of 60’ and gain a +1 bonus to surprise checks due to their unnatural hearing and alertness. Aasimar suffer only half damage from fire and cold, and gain a +2 to saving throws versus any kind of charm, fear, emotion, or domination effect.

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The typical NPC aasimar described above is a warrior. Most aasimar favor well-made heavy armor such as plate mail, field plate, or banded mail. They’re likely to wear beautifully decorated suits, emblazoned with their coats-of-arms or other such frippery; an aasimar likes to stand tall and proud, and doesn’t care who knows it. Because aasimar seem to pick a lot of scraps with powerful evil creatures, they are fond of large weapons that take advantage of their natural strength. An aasimar’ll rarely be seen with an assassin’s weapon like a hand crossbow or poisoned dagger: they like big two-handed swords, halberds, and maces, and mighty long bows.

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About 25% of all aasimar are priests or fighter-priests, with the spell abilities of a 3rd-level cleric. About 10% more are mages of 3rd to 7th level, with four-sided Hit Dice. Aasimar mages do not gain the 10% magic resistance of the race.

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(from Volo's Guide to Monsters - 2016 [credits])

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"I saw her, wreathed in wings of pure light, her eyes blazing with the fury of the gods. The bone devils stopped in their tracks, shielding their faces. Her blade, now a brand of light, swept once, twice, three times. The devils' heads hit the ground, one after another. And thus we learned that an aasimar traveled in our ragtag band."

-Geldon Parl, Of the Tyranny of Dragons

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Aasimar bear within their souls the light of the heavens. They are descended from humans with a touch of the power of Mount Celestia, the divine realm of many lawful good deities. Aasimar are born to serve as champions of the gods, their births hailed as blessed events. They are a people of otherworldly visages, with luminous features that reveal their celestial heritage. 

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Aasimar are placed in the world to serve as guardians of law and good. Their patrons expect them to strike at evil, lead by example, and further the cause of justice.

 

From an early age, an aasimar receives visions and guidance from celestial entities via dreams. These dreams help shape an aasimar, granting a sense of destiny and a desire for righteousness.

 

Each aasimar can count a specific celestial agent of the gods as a guide. This entity is typically a deva, an angel who acts as a messenger to the mortal world.

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While aasimar are strident foes of evil, they typically prefer to keep a low profile. An aasimar inevitably draws the attention of evil cultists, fiends, and other enemies of good, all of whom would be eager to strike down a celestial champion if they had the chance.

 

When traveling, aasimar prefer hoods, closed helms, and other gear that allows them to conceal their identities. They nevertheless have no compunction about striking openly at evil. The secrecy they desire is never worth endangering the innocent.

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An aasimar, except for one who has turned to evil, has a link to an angelic being. That being - usually a deva - provides guidance to the aasimar, though this connection functions only in dreams. As such, the guidance is not a direct command or a simple spoken word. Instead, the aasimar receives visions, prophecies, and feelings.

 

The angelic being is far from omniscient. Its guidance is based on its understanding of the tenets of law and good, and it might have insight into combating especially powerful evils that it knows about.

 

As part of fleshing out an aasimar character, consider the nature of that character's angelic guide. The Angelic Guide tables offer names and natures that you can use to flesh out your character's guide.

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Despite its celestial origin, an aasimar is mortal and possesses free will. Most aasimar follow their ordained path, but some grow to see their abilities as a curse. These disaffected aasimar are typically content to turn away frorri the world, but a few become agents of evil. In their minds, their exposure to celestial powers amounted to little more than brainwashing.

 

Evil aasimar make deadly foes. The radiant power they once commanded becomes corrupted into a horrid, draining magic. And their angelic guides abandon them.

 

Even aasimar wholly dedicated to good sometimes feel torn between two worlds. The angels that guide them see the world from a distant perch. An aasimar who wishes to stop and help a town recover from a drought might be told by an angelic guide to push forward on a greater quest. To a distant angel, saving a few commoners might pale in comparison to defeating a cult of Orcus. An aasimar's guide is wise but not infallible.

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Protector Aasimar. Protector aasimar are charged by the powers of good to guard the weak, to strike at evil wher,ever it arises, and to stand vigilant against the darkness. From a young age, a protector aasimar receives advice and directives that urge to stand against evil. Starting at 3rd level, you can use your action to unleash the divine energy within yourself, causing your eyes to glimmer and two luminous, incorporeal wings to sprout from your back.

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Scourge Aasimar. Scourge aasimar are imbued with a divine energy that blazes intensely within them. It feeds a powerful desire to destroy evil-a desire that is, at its best, unflinching and, at its worst, all-consuming. Many scourge aasimar wear masks to block out the world and focus on containing this power, unmasking themselves only in battle. Starting at 3rd level, you can use your action to unleash the divine energy within yourself, causing a searing light to radiate from you, pour out of your eyes and mouth, and threaten to char you.

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Fallen Aasimar. An aasimar who was touched by dark powers as a youth or who turns to evil in early adulthood can become one of the fallen-a group of aasimar whose inner light has been replaced by shadow. Starting at 3rd level, you can use your action to unleash the divine energy within yourself, causing your eyes to turn into pools of darkness and two skeletal, ghostly, flightless wings to sprout from your back.

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