I'm about to start playing in a campaign with a pirate theme. I'd really like to play a protector Aasimar but my DM wants me to come up with a good reason and backstory for my character. Such as why I was sent down from mount celestia to the material plane. Like what my godlike purpose is on earth.
I am thinking about playing a druid as well with focus on weather magic.
I've had a really hard time coming up with ideas about my characters origin/backstory and now I reach out to you guys if you have any inspiring ideas for my character. Thank you in advance! I really appreciate it.
You could always fall back on "I was kidnapped as a youth, but I have no recollection of that early life". Say that the pirate captain felt that having an Aasimar was good luck and then noticed that you had a particularly strong connection to nature. You could lean into this by going Land Druid, selecting Coast and several wind, water, and storm themed spells that your captain uses to literally change the tide of battle in your favor. Moon druid could have similar spell selection, but you focus more on your'r shapeshifting to infiltrate enemy vessels to scout or disable them.
Your moral compass doesn't need to be evil since you're simply looking at it from a perspective of protecting your family (your crew) and are being fed only the information that you need to perform your particular function along with falsehoods about who the aggressor is and what is actually happening to the loot.
There is no doubt that such character concept would be very interesting to a pirate captain, look at the roles of the bokor in "On stranger tides" (the fantastic book by Tim Powers, not the **** of Pirates of the Carribbean).
That being said, I think that being part of a pirate crew even in a support capacity would certainly not be lawful and would be hard pressed not to be evil if pirates are behaving as you expect "real" pirates to behave. Hence the question about what is expected in the campaign, but the "being fed only information necessary" would not be consistent with even a medium intelligence character. It would remind me too much of the "take the paladin outside for a piss" that was suggested so many times in the past. :D
There would have to be some naivety for sure. Considering the fact that the character would be wisdom based, it'd be even harder to jive with that character. However, there is nothing that says that the character has to continue to believe everything and is starting to question the morals of the crew, especially so if the Aasimar is infiltrating and can hear the other crews mentioning nothing about any other vessels other than pirates in the vicinity. If the character isn't being sent aboard other ships and is simply being used as a defensive/controlling asset, it's much easier to retain that confirmation bias that "They are evil and We are good". Without delving into political views or discussions, one can look at how each political party extols their virtues while decrying the other party's (or parties') faults to see how simple this can be and it seems to be a universal commonality whenever there is an us versus them paradigm.
Simply saying, there this plenty of wiggle room to have the character that you want and fit it within the campaign that you are playing. You just have to find the right motivation for the character to stick with the party if their overall perspectives differ too much.
Of course, the pirates could have two crews: one to plunder and pillage (or at least attack and disable) other vessels while the other comes to the rescue and collects some of the loot as a reward. There are any number of angles that the background could have and some will be dependent on whether the character remains with the pirates or not for the campaign.
Thinking about it, the naivety might make for a great start of the campaign, when the character realises that he has been used all along. Being an Aasimar, he would have believed the best in people and not questioned too closely what was happening. Until of course, something too obvious comes his way and he realises (with horror) what he has been helping with all these years.
It's a bit cliché, but would be (possibly more than) OK at least at start, but I would not think that continuing the delusion would serve in the long run, hence it's back to the question of what does the campaign expect... :D
Cliches are awesome for background and fluff, simply because they are so well known. It's particularly great when you are trying to fit a character into a campaign that doesn't normally accept the character. The question would then be, what does the character do afterwards. Does he struggle against the crew? Does he accept that he's stuck and look for ways to aid his victims? Is one of his flaws that he can't see the inherent evil of his father figure? Is he so indoctrinated into the "pirate code" that he feels that he must adhere to it as a lawful character?
Does she escape from the crew and join another party looking to avenge all the atrocities that were committed with her unwitting help? Does she feel trapped and seek ways to escape or reform her crew?
It would certainly be interesting to know more about the campaign to be able to give better advice, but hopefully the questions and dialog will give some inspiration about how the character can be developed.
Knowing when to take a cliche and bend it can also help. Perhaps the Aasimar thinks that her crew is a "Robin Hood and his Merry Men" type crew. This would play into the naivete and flaw of seeing the leader as being able to do no wrong. The targets would all be attached to "an evil empire" type faction and the crew are simply redistributing the wealth back to the general populace, which happens to primarily be members of their own faction with occasional forays into the actual general population. Some can be quasi laundered through suppliers and such to hide from the PC what is actually happening. Fascinating ideas!
History is full of good people being on opposing sides in armed conflicts. Good versus evil is not necessarily the guiding moral focus of why people fight. National identity, loyalty to friends and family, competition over resources, political or philosophical differences... lots of reasons why one good person might think it’s OK to fight and even kill other good people.
In more concrete D&D terms, there’s as much room between “law” and “chaos” as between “good” and “evil”.... if your DM accepts that a lawful good paladin has sufficient moral cause to fight and kill a lawful evil blackguard, then a chaotic good pirate is also justified in fighting, robbing, and even killing that same lawful good paladin.
Bear in mind you don't have to be good- aligned to be an Aasimar, even a protector Aasimar. Evil people might still have some people they'd prefer to protect while not caring if the rest die in a fire. It's kind of the inversion of the case for evil clerics: clerics can be evil because there's evil gods that mortals can choose between, aasimar are descended from good aligned celestial beings, but are mortal and have free will and therefore can be evil.
I played a lawful neutral inquisitive rogue once who, because of his lineage, was so fed up with the metaphysical concept of "good" and "evil" and people's prejudgements about him (even "positive" ones) that he pretended to be human and covered up any obvious celestial traits. He preferred Law as a kind of morality that mortals actually have a say in and prescribe to themselves. He was the kind of character that wouldn't necessarily mind a nest of vampires moving in if they didn't kill anyone and only fed on willing subjects (a la how in Buffy people actually kind of get a rush out of being fed on), but if missionaries of some god came in and tried to erase people's "blasphemous" ways, he'd likely step in to help those vulnerable to them.
It's less important to justify why your aasimar is non-good-aligned, because their's folks of all alignments in every race, but rather ask yourself "how has being an aasimar effected my character's experience of being evil/chaotic/lawful/neutral?"
Bear in mind you don't have to be good- aligned to be an Aasimar, even a protector Aasimar. Evil people might still have some people they'd prefer to protect while not caring if the rest die in a fire. It's kind of the inversion of the case for evil clerics: clerics can be evil because there's evil gods that mortals can choose between, aasimar are descended from good aligned celestial beings, but are mortal and have free will and therefore can be evil.
I played a lawful neutral inquisitive rogue once who, because of his lineage, was so fed up with the metaphysical concept of "good" and "evil" and people's prejudgements about him (even "positive" ones) that he pretended to be human and covered up any obvious celestial traits. He preferred Law as a kind of morality that mortals actually have a say in and prescribe to themselves. He was the kind of character that wouldn't necessarily mind a nest of vampires moving in if they didn't kill anyone and only fed on willing subjects (a la how in Buffy people actually kind of get a rush out of being fed on), but if missionaries of some god came in and tried to erase people's "blasphemous" ways, he'd likely step in to help those vulnerable to them.
It's less important to justify why your aasimar is non-good-aligned, because their's folks of all alignments in every race, but rather ask yourself "how has being an aasimar effected my character's experience of being evil/chaotic/lawful/neutral?"
Well said. Thus, try to think of different questions to ask yourself about why your character is the way that they are, consider how that meshes with the overall character theme, and you'll come up with a great backstory in no time. Don't stress about filling in all the details, just enough to satisfy whatever conditions your DM may have set and your own curiosity on the matter. You'll be able to figure out more as you go.
I'm currently playing a protector Aasimar who doesn't know she's an aasimar yet. The rest of the party doesn't know yet, they just know that something is up with her when she does magic, because she blacks out and her eyes turn gold. She's not even aware that she's a Divine Soul sorcerer yet. The rest of the party just think that she's some weird half-elf former noble, when she is in fact the heir to the throne of their empire. It's been so fun to play with, and the party is slowly starting to tie things together, which adds to the mystery of the campaign.
Keep in mind Aasimar aren't directly incarnated celestials or anything. They're mortals, albeit ones born with a connection to both the Upper Planes and a celestial being who is attempting to guide them in some way. Even if you don't want to be an overtly fallen one, it's entirely possible for an Aasimar to decide they want to run off and do their own thing instead.
“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.” keep in mind that “descended from a celestial being” doesn’t just include the children or grandchildren of the celestial. It can include far later descendants in which the celestial abilities happen to crop up accidentally. That allows you the powers but doesn’t require a good alignment. However just because the campaign is pirate themed doesn’t call for an evil alignment either. My questions are which side of the piracy are you going to be playing on and why is there piracy in the first place? One of my older (now NPC) characters started as a fisher background human ranger then became an Aasimar at level 3 thanks to deep belief in a neutral goddess of the air and an save or die test. The fisher background would make for a great background for a neutral Asimar Druid far descended from a wind deity.
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Hi,
I'm about to start playing in a campaign with a pirate theme. I'd really like to play a protector Aasimar but my DM wants me to come up with a good reason and backstory for my character. Such as why I was sent down from mount celestia to the material plane. Like what my godlike purpose is on earth.
I am thinking about playing a druid as well with focus on weather magic.
I've had a really hard time coming up with ideas about my characters origin/backstory and now I reach out to you guys if you have any inspiring ideas for my character. Thank you in advance! I really appreciate it.
You could always fall back on "I was kidnapped as a youth, but I have no recollection of that early life". Say that the pirate captain felt that having an Aasimar was good luck and then noticed that you had a particularly strong connection to nature. You could lean into this by going Land Druid, selecting Coast and several wind, water, and storm themed spells that your captain uses to literally change the tide of battle in your favor. Moon druid could have similar spell selection, but you focus more on your'r shapeshifting to infiltrate enemy vessels to scout or disable them.
Your moral compass doesn't need to be evil since you're simply looking at it from a perspective of protecting your family (your crew) and are being fed only the information that you need to perform your particular function along with falsehoods about who the aggressor is and what is actually happening to the loot.
There would have to be some naivety for sure. Considering the fact that the character would be wisdom based, it'd be even harder to jive with that character. However, there is nothing that says that the character has to continue to believe everything and is starting to question the morals of the crew, especially so if the Aasimar is infiltrating and can hear the other crews mentioning nothing about any other vessels other than pirates in the vicinity. If the character isn't being sent aboard other ships and is simply being used as a defensive/controlling asset, it's much easier to retain that confirmation bias that "They are evil and We are good". Without delving into political views or discussions, one can look at how each political party extols their virtues while decrying the other party's (or parties') faults to see how simple this can be and it seems to be a universal commonality whenever there is an us versus them paradigm.
Simply saying, there this plenty of wiggle room to have the character that you want and fit it within the campaign that you are playing. You just have to find the right motivation for the character to stick with the party if their overall perspectives differ too much.
Of course, the pirates could have two crews: one to plunder and pillage (or at least attack and disable) other vessels while the other comes to the rescue and collects some of the loot as a reward. There are any number of angles that the background could have and some will be dependent on whether the character remains with the pirates or not for the campaign.
Cliches are awesome for background and fluff, simply because they are so well known. It's particularly great when you are trying to fit a character into a campaign that doesn't normally accept the character. The question would then be, what does the character do afterwards. Does he struggle against the crew? Does he accept that he's stuck and look for ways to aid his victims? Is one of his flaws that he can't see the inherent evil of his father figure? Is he so indoctrinated into the "pirate code" that he feels that he must adhere to it as a lawful character?
Does she escape from the crew and join another party looking to avenge all the atrocities that were committed with her unwitting help? Does she feel trapped and seek ways to escape or reform her crew?
It would certainly be interesting to know more about the campaign to be able to give better advice, but hopefully the questions and dialog will give some inspiration about how the character can be developed.
Knowing when to take a cliche and bend it can also help. Perhaps the Aasimar thinks that her crew is a "Robin Hood and his Merry Men" type crew. This would play into the naivete and flaw of seeing the leader as being able to do no wrong. The targets would all be attached to "an evil empire" type faction and the crew are simply redistributing the wealth back to the general populace, which happens to primarily be members of their own faction with occasional forays into the actual general population. Some can be quasi laundered through suppliers and such to hide from the PC what is actually happening. Fascinating ideas!
History is full of good people being on opposing sides in armed conflicts. Good versus evil is not necessarily the guiding moral focus of why people fight. National identity, loyalty to friends and family, competition over resources, political or philosophical differences... lots of reasons why one good person might think it’s OK to fight and even kill other good people.
In more concrete D&D terms, there’s as much room between “law” and “chaos” as between “good” and “evil”.... if your DM accepts that a lawful good paladin has sufficient moral cause to fight and kill a lawful evil blackguard, then a chaotic good pirate is also justified in fighting, robbing, and even killing that same lawful good paladin.
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I'm going to make this way harder than it needs to be.
Bear in mind you don't have to be good- aligned to be an Aasimar, even a protector Aasimar. Evil people might still have some people they'd prefer to protect while not caring if the rest die in a fire. It's kind of the inversion of the case for evil clerics: clerics can be evil because there's evil gods that mortals can choose between, aasimar are descended from good aligned celestial beings, but are mortal and have free will and therefore can be evil.
I played a lawful neutral inquisitive rogue once who, because of his lineage, was so fed up with the metaphysical concept of "good" and "evil" and people's prejudgements about him (even "positive" ones) that he pretended to be human and covered up any obvious celestial traits. He preferred Law as a kind of morality that mortals actually have a say in and prescribe to themselves. He was the kind of character that wouldn't necessarily mind a nest of vampires moving in if they didn't kill anyone and only fed on willing subjects (a la how in Buffy people actually kind of get a rush out of being fed on), but if missionaries of some god came in and tried to erase people's "blasphemous" ways, he'd likely step in to help those vulnerable to them.
It's less important to justify why your aasimar is non-good-aligned, because their's folks of all alignments in every race, but rather ask yourself "how has being an aasimar effected my character's experience of being evil/chaotic/lawful/neutral?"
Well said. Thus, try to think of different questions to ask yourself about why your character is the way that they are, consider how that meshes with the overall character theme, and you'll come up with a great backstory in no time. Don't stress about filling in all the details, just enough to satisfy whatever conditions your DM may have set and your own curiosity on the matter. You'll be able to figure out more as you go.
I'm currently playing a protector Aasimar who doesn't know she's an aasimar yet. The rest of the party doesn't know yet, they just know that something is up with her when she does magic, because she blacks out and her eyes turn gold. She's not even aware that she's a Divine Soul sorcerer yet. The rest of the party just think that she's some weird half-elf former noble, when she is in fact the heir to the throne of their empire. It's been so fun to play with, and the party is slowly starting to tie things together, which adds to the mystery of the campaign.
One of my players, who is new, wanted to play a Valkyrie. As there is no such thing in 5e, I suggested Protector Aasimar Paladin.
How about you were sent to save the world for a curse known as the green storm which is threatening the world if it spreads far enough
Keep in mind Aasimar aren't directly incarnated celestials or anything. They're mortals, albeit ones born with a connection to both the Upper Planes and a celestial being who is attempting to guide them in some way. Even if you don't want to be an overtly fallen one, it's entirely possible for an Aasimar to decide they want to run off and do their own thing instead.
“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.” keep in mind that “descended from a celestial being” doesn’t just include the children or grandchildren of the celestial. It can include far later descendants in which the celestial abilities happen to crop up accidentally. That allows you the powers but doesn’t require a good alignment. However just because the campaign is pirate themed doesn’t call for an evil alignment either. My questions are which side of the piracy are you going to be playing on and why is there piracy in the first place? One of my older (now NPC) characters started as a fisher background human ranger then became an Aasimar at level 3 thanks to deep belief in a neutral goddess of the air and an save or die test. The fisher background would make for a great background for a neutral Asimar Druid far descended from a wind deity.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.