Had the thought of playing an Aasimar who is guided by, and/or descended from, a Ki-Rin. Sort of deviating from the usual shiny winged angel imagery one usually sees with Aasimar.

I'm honestly not sure what class to play them as. My immediate thought was Tempest Domain Cleric, but that's just coming off of my Monster Hunter sensibilities. I know, generally speaking, Ki-Rins are uber pacifists to the point that they don't touch the ground for fear of hurting something. And yet, they have the full spellcasting of a Cleric and actually have very strong natural weapons.

I figured I'd play with that by having the Aasimar themselves be really sick of the Ki-Rin's sh*t. Annoyed that their Ki-Rin overseer is constantly trying to rein them in and chastise them for their battle tendencies.

Cleric or Paladin or even Celestial Warlock does make the most sense. I just dont want to play an Aasimar as a holy class, cuz it's so on the nose... Druid maybe?

As an aside, I imagine their Celestial transformation as like their halo more closely resembling a crown of antlers, their skin turns to scale patterns, flame-like clouds form around their ankles allowing them to step and skate on air as their means of flight rather than wings, and sprouting a similar cloudy tail like that of a Ki-Rin.

As you said celestial warlock really seems like a good fit here. But if you’re going to try and play against that, most any other type of warlock works well. They got sick of the ki-rin and their uber-goody four hooves business, so they cut a deal with asmodeous for power and are a fiend warlock. Or they didn’t even much know or care who they were cutting a deal with and go great old one.

You could do 'celestial' and shift it to mean celestial as in, of the planets and the night itself. Ki-rin scales hued like a shifting galaxy, flames a little more like nebulae, that manner of direction. That way you don't have to do the good-inclined inclination as they are more a manifestation of a force of the universe. 

Descent as in, ancestry, in some way would also make sense so then they can't be stripped of their power for going contrary to the Ki-rin's preferred way of doing things. Versus a paladin who can have their power removed for breaking an oath, which in this case would be fighting in a manner that the Ki-rin disapproves of. 

Now that you mention it, I remembered in Monster Hunter 4 (I have the brainrot, lol), there was a subspecies of the Kirin, known as Oroshi Kirin, that was dark blue and black instead of white, and commanded Ice rather than Lightning. It's english title is even "Void Mythical Beast", so you may be onto something here.

So now I wonder if Great Old One Warlock or Aberrant Mind Sorcerer could work. I'm almost wanting to make him a character who starts good but risks leaning into evil. Or even be unknowingly walking into some grand scheme. Like how Cloud and the Sephiroth clones all start converging onto the Northern Crater for reasons they THINK are their own. when really it's like a Cordyceps fungus affecting ants.

I know you said Aasimar but why not a Centaur? Storm or Draconic Sorcerer would give decent power without being "divine".

Quote from jadeddevilman >>

Had the thought of playing an Aasimar who is guided by, and/or descended from, a Ki-Rin. Sort of deviating from the usual shiny winged angel imagery one usually sees with Aasimar.

I'm honestly not sure what class to play them as. My immediate thought was Tempest Domain Cleric, but that's just coming off of my Monster Hunter sensibilities. I know, generally speaking, Ki-Rins are uber pacifists to the point that they don't touch the ground for fear of hurting something. And yet, they have the full spellcasting of a Cleric and actually have very strong natural weapons.

I figured I'd play with that by having the Aasimar themselves be really sick of the Ki-Rin's sh*t. Annoyed that their Ki-Rin overseer is constantly trying to rein them in and chastise them for their battle tendencies.

Cleric or Paladin or even Celestial Warlock does make the most sense. I just dont want to play an Aasimar as a holy class, cuz it's so on the nose... Druid maybe?

As an aside, I imagine their Celestial transformation as like their halo more closely resembling a crown of antlers, their skin turns to scale patterns, flame-like clouds form around their ankles allowing them to step and skate on air as their means of flight rather than wings, and sprouting a similar cloudy tail like that of a Ki-Rin.

First of all, this sounds like an awesome aesthetic! Good job! Second of all, how about Monk?