The addition of ardlings as a default celestial race in the new UA has had quite an impact. Some people liked the new race, seeing it as an improvement over the old aasimar. The others saw this race as unnecessary, preferring the aasimar as the true, good old celestial origin that didn't need any replacements. Now, ardlings are not a replacement for aasimar in a strict sense. Nothing stops WotC from just reintroducing aasimar in later ODnD content, but the reason ardlings are placed in the new UA for the community's consideration looks pretty obvious - ardlings, IMO, are meant to test a better design of a celestial race, because aasimar are boring. It's not the ultimate truth, just my opinion, but I dare say it's close to a popular consensus. It's much more "fun" to be born as something that looks evil and overcome the prejudice and temptations of your heritage (I'm talking about the ever popular tieflings), than to be born with a mark of a hero and ending up being just that.
I'll ask this straight: what could be done about aasimar to make them cooler?
Instead of being golden humans with good guy features, what about the more eldritch, kabbalistic, alien aspects of angels for a potential redesign? Here's some of my rough ideas as an example:
- Lawful aasimar heritage: some aasimar are born with no eyes, eyes that cannot open, or a single milky-white eye on the forehead. Such children are often mistaken for cripples, until it becomes clear that lack of vision in common understanding isn't a hindrance to such individuals. They possess blindsight out to 60(120?) ft. Though they exist in a world without color and beautiful vistas, they "see" the surroundings with their inner sight, and are known to be good judges of character. "Judges", as they are sometimes called, usually wear blindfolds in order to not confuse people with the oddity of their appearance. Proficiency with insight, spells like guidance, command and zone of truth could fit the judge aasimar theme. The image is based on Greek mythos, Themis being a blind personification of law and justice. Blindsight substituting normal vision could be both a great advantage and a disadvantage at the same time, but I'm sure this might be interesting gameplay.
- Chaotic aasimar heritage: born under the influence of worlds like Arborea, these aasimar possess beastly traits. Yet, whereas these traits look menacing or feral on their tiefling counterparts, the aasimar marks are percieved as beautiful and noble: a lion's golden mane, eagle's feathers for hair, small antlers shaped like a crown, cat's whiskers, or animal ears. They are said to be descendants of archonts, the loyal hounds of celestial regime, celestial enforcers.
The main idea is that aasimar are born for a function, a mission - and they might not like it at all, for they are mortals with their own minds and destinies, not immortal functionaries of the Heavens. Will your aasimar rebel against his predefined role, embrace it, or exploit their heritage for personal gain?
What are your thoughts? Should we keep the old aasimar, switch to the new ardlings, have them both at once (with overlapping themes and features), or should WotC redesign aasimar to make them more appealing?
ardlings, IMO, are meant to test a better design of a celestial race, because aasimar are boring. It's not the ultimate truth, just my opinion, but I dare say it's close to a popular consensus. It's much more "fun" to be born as something that looks evil and overcome the prejudice and temptations of your heritage (I'm talking about the ever popular tieflings), than to be born with a mark of a hero and ending up being just that.
I believe D&D beyond released stats/data years back that showed Aasimar were one of the least played races. I think also everybody looks as Aasimar as the opposite to Tiefling, altho that isn't really the case, Aasimar were part of a Trio, that being Aasimar, Tiefling and Genasi; only Aasimar has the issue and it is because most people just find the race Boring.
Ardlings aren't a replacement for Aasimar either, Aasimar will still be a "race" on to it self, as will Genasi. The problem is that Aardling is a better opposite to Tiefling than Aasimar ever was, since now there are NG and CG factions of Aardling which additionally have essentially divine versions of Tiefling's Fiendish abilities. After all, it's not like there is any rule that says there can only be one race from any particular plane of existence; Humans, Dwarves, Gnomes, Halfings, etc are all coming from Toril for example.
But to fix Aasimar, it really needs a rework of the Lore and as much as they need it, the people that do get invested in Aasimar are unlikely to like such a thing.
Ardlings seem to be based on the Guardinals who had animal features and hailed from the Neutral good planes in older editions.
I used to be : LG : Archons ( with their abilities Aasimar feel like part archon to me ) NG: Guardinals CG : Eladrin ( who later got moved from being celestials to being fey)
Guardinals reached their high point in 3e with the world tree cosmology they have not been officially published in 4E or 5E as far as I am aware.
Though not named in the 5E SRD I seem to remember Guardinals being in the group of things WOTC trade marked at some point together with terms like tanar’ri and baatezu. Maybe somebody can check in some way of I am remembering this wrong?
Whatever form the default celestial race ends up taking, I just hope theres one ancestry that isnt tied to having animal heads, as its not really my cup of tea.
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Variant Aasimar beat out individual genasi subraces, Tabaxi and Aarokosa, gnome subraces.
That said, if combined into Genasi, Beastfolk and general gnomes, they are indeed amongst the lowest ranked race.
And that's the variant, DMG one, not the Volo. The other three are below 0.9% each. If we could see them, might paint a different picture.
At this point, though, we are kinda just fighting over scraps. The difference between 3% and 4% isn't huge. Rather, we should be considering the impact flying has on these percentages.
Variant Aasimar beat out individual genasi subraces, Tabaxi and Aarokosa, gnome subraces.
That said, if combined into Genasi, Beastfolk and general gnomes, they are indeed amongst the lowest ranked race.
And that's the variant, DMG one, not the Volo. The other three are below 0.9% each. If we could see them, might paint a different picture.
At this point, though, we are kinda just fighting over scraps. The difference between 3% and 4% isn't huge. Rather, we should be considering the impact flying has on these percentages.
I would like to see a more up to date chart, that one is kinda old. Not to fight over Aasimar, but just to see a more current snap shot of the community.
I feel like the biggest problem with Aasimar is that they don't really feel like a race. Their lore paints them as more comparable to a half-dragon or a cambion than a dragonborn or a tiefling in that Aasimar get direct attention from their divine parent, have the gods whispering in their ears, and all have this big, divine destiny awaiting them. It makes them feel more like a classical demigod than a race of people.
Additionally Aasimar are supposed to be the "playable angel race" like dragonborn are "playable dragons" and tieflings are "playable fiends". The problem is there is one deeply iconic feature that everyone thinks of when they think "angel", and it is something Aasimar only have for a minute per long rest. Their actual traits are glowy eyes, oddly colored skin, and unnatural beauty. Sure, things an angel might have but not something uniquely tied to the angel motif like a devil's horns or a dragon's scales.
Seems to me the main thing keeping Aasimar from fulfilling their angelic role is that they don't have permanent wings, which itself is mainly a balancing concern rather than a lore concern. If Aasimar had a permanent set of divine wings that marked them as angelic it'd make them feel much more like, well, an angel you can play. Players could then customize their wings to reflect different celestial beings that they could be descended from and when you saw fanart of a winged humanoid you'd KNOW it was an Aasimar at a glance without needing to be told first. That recognizability is something current Aasimar lack.
You'd also have roleplay hooks involving hiding your wings from the general public because your feathers/scales could be a potent reagent. After all, it is a product of your divine heritage. Villains everywhere may literally want a piece of your wing. Or perhaps you're the sort to fly high and not be afraid if others see you. The magic nature of the wings and how you react to them would say a lot about the character as an individual as well as differentiate them from other flying races like Aarokocra. This is reflected in current Aasimar lore already, but I feel the wings make it a tad bit more tangible and unique.
Balancing it would be the biggest issue. Maybe your wings are vestigial until a certain level, or maybe you only get short bursts of flight a number of times per day that increase as you level, capping at true flight.
That's how I see it anyway. Current Aasimar only tap into the angel theme of flying through the sky on wings of righteousness for a very, very narrow window per day. Meanwhile a tiefling looks devilish all the time. Dragonborn likewise look and feel draconic all of the time. Glowy eyes and being pretty could be anything from fey to a sorceress. The iconic, defining feature of an angel is its wings.
Honestly, I'm very surprised so many people find the aasimar boring. And that their reasons why so often come down to aesthetic concerns.
Or maybe I'm just easy to please. The glowing halo which simply emanates through any attempt to cover it is a personal favorite, followed by eyes like an infinite void.
Honestly, I'm very surprised so many people find the aasimar boring. And that their reasons why so often come down to aesthetic concerns.
Or maybe I'm just easy to please. The glowing halo which simply emanates through any attempt to cover it is a personal favorite, followed by eyes like an infinite void.
While aesthetics is definitely a big reason, it's that they have a traditionally boring aesthetic combined with a severe lack of solid racial identity that really seals the deal. While they don't universally share any striking visuals, they've also got no kingdoms, no distinct cultures, no great works, and no real importance to pretty much any setting that they exist in. They're loosely affiliated with some random entity who tells them to do vaguely good things in their dreams; dreams with which they may or may not pay any attention to. The only real in built conflict the race has is with creatures that any good aligned person would be in conflict with.
Whatever form the default celestial race ends up taking, I just hope theres one ancestry that isnt tied to having animal heads, as its not really my cup of tea.
You have it with half-race option. Just play a half-ardling/ Half- what ever. Make it look like an angelic version of what ever that what ever race is and use the ardling stat line. Done. This is the wonderful thing about hte half races in this game.
I'll never be opposed to a new race (eternally holding out hope for Dhamphir), but I will ALWAYS be opposed to a new race when it comes at the expense of an old one. Why can't we have both?
I'll never be opposed to a new race (eternally holding out hope for Dhamphir), but I will ALWAYS be opposed to a new race when it comes at the expense of an old one. Why can't we have both?
Why does everybody think that Aardling means that Aasimar are being dropped, as far I see so far, there has been no confirmation that Aasimar are being dropped and Aasimar have never been a PHB race to begin with.
I'll never be opposed to a new race (eternally holding out hope for Dhamphir), but I will ALWAYS be opposed to a new race when it comes at the expense of an old one. Why can't we have both?
Dhampir are a race in "Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft", along with Reborn (frankenstein's creations, botched resurrections, or ghosts possessing someone else's bodies), and Hexblood (half-hag, spawn of witches with a prospect of becoming a full hag one day).
Whatever form the default celestial race ends up taking, I just hope theres one ancestry that isnt tied to having animal heads, as its not really my cup of tea.
You have it with half-race option. Just play a half-ardling/ Half- what ever. Make it look like an angelic version of what ever that what ever race is and use the ardling stat line. Done. This is the wonderful thing about hte half races in this game.
One could think so at first until one realizes, that it makes race choice completely useless, as you can be anything with whatever traits you want.
Of course it's in the one book no one in my main group owns. Go figure.
The lineages (what they call them in the book) are set up as a template Overtop a starting race. They can end up relatively strong because of how they are to be built.
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"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
Why does everybody think that Aardling means that Aasimar are being dropped, as far I see so far, there has been no confirmation that Aasimar are being dropped and Aasimar have never been a PHB race to begin with.
Because the ardling mechanics might as well have been torn right off of the aasimar.
Limited flight? Volo's aasimar thing, even if controversial. The three cantrips for the LG ardling? Pretty sure they're the DMG aasimar spells. Both aasimar had radiant resistance.
Suspiciously angel-based mechanics for animal themed beings. Not even an Alter Self spell.
Combine that with the video where they try to talk about how each race is supposed to be... Like, the elfiest elf, dwarfiest dwarf, etc.
So, what's the most angelic aasimar? It's not too amiss to think, based on the mechanics, we are looking at the conclusion.
At this point, you have to wonder if normal aasimar are just... Half-human, half-ardlings with diluted features. Or thats what it feels the current plan is.
Yeah, they could have the same traits and just call it Aasimar, Heck if they need to they could just add the option to having animal heads as one of the Aasimar signs of celestial heritage. No need to force the animal heads and call it a new race.
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The addition of ardlings as a default celestial race in the new UA has had quite an impact. Some people liked the new race, seeing it as an improvement over the old aasimar. The others saw this race as unnecessary, preferring the aasimar as the true, good old celestial origin that didn't need any replacements. Now, ardlings are not a replacement for aasimar in a strict sense. Nothing stops WotC from just reintroducing aasimar in later ODnD content, but the reason ardlings are placed in the new UA for the community's consideration looks pretty obvious - ardlings, IMO, are meant to test a better design of a celestial race, because aasimar are boring. It's not the ultimate truth, just my opinion, but I dare say it's close to a popular consensus. It's much more "fun" to be born as something that looks evil and overcome the prejudice and temptations of your heritage (I'm talking about the ever popular tieflings), than to be born with a mark of a hero and ending up being just that.
I'll ask this straight: what could be done about aasimar to make them cooler?
Instead of being golden humans with good guy features, what about the more eldritch, kabbalistic, alien aspects of angels for a potential redesign? Here's some of my rough ideas as an example:
- Lawful aasimar heritage: some aasimar are born with no eyes, eyes that cannot open, or a single milky-white eye on the forehead. Such children are often mistaken for cripples, until it becomes clear that lack of vision in common understanding isn't a hindrance to such individuals. They possess blindsight out to 60(120?) ft. Though they exist in a world without color and beautiful vistas, they "see" the surroundings with their inner sight, and are known to be good judges of character. "Judges", as they are sometimes called, usually wear blindfolds in order to not confuse people with the oddity of their appearance. Proficiency with insight, spells like guidance, command and zone of truth could fit the judge aasimar theme. The image is based on Greek mythos, Themis being a blind personification of law and justice. Blindsight substituting normal vision could be both a great advantage and a disadvantage at the same time, but I'm sure this might be interesting gameplay.
- Chaotic aasimar heritage: born under the influence of worlds like Arborea, these aasimar possess beastly traits. Yet, whereas these traits look menacing or feral on their tiefling counterparts, the aasimar marks are percieved as beautiful and noble: a lion's golden mane, eagle's feathers for hair, small antlers shaped like a crown, cat's whiskers, or animal ears. They are said to be descendants of archonts, the loyal hounds of celestial regime, celestial enforcers.
The main idea is that aasimar are born for a function, a mission - and they might not like it at all, for they are mortals with their own minds and destinies, not immortal functionaries of the Heavens. Will your aasimar rebel against his predefined role, embrace it, or exploit their heritage for personal gain?
What are your thoughts? Should we keep the old aasimar, switch to the new ardlings, have them both at once (with overlapping themes and features), or should WotC redesign aasimar to make them more appealing?
I believe D&D beyond released stats/data years back that showed Aasimar were one of the least played races. I think also everybody looks as Aasimar as the opposite to Tiefling, altho that isn't really the case, Aasimar were part of a Trio, that being Aasimar, Tiefling and Genasi; only Aasimar has the issue and it is because most people just find the race Boring.
Ardlings aren't a replacement for Aasimar either, Aasimar will still be a "race" on to it self, as will Genasi. The problem is that Aardling is a better opposite to Tiefling than Aasimar ever was, since now there are NG and CG factions of Aardling which additionally have essentially divine versions of Tiefling's Fiendish abilities. After all, it's not like there is any rule that says there can only be one race from any particular plane of existence; Humans, Dwarves, Gnomes, Halfings, etc are all coming from Toril for example.
But to fix Aasimar, it really needs a rework of the Lore and as much as they need it, the people that do get invested in Aasimar are unlikely to like such a thing.
Ardlings seem to be based on the Guardinals who had animal features and hailed from the Neutral good planes in older editions.
I used to be :
LG : Archons ( with their abilities Aasimar feel like part archon to me )
NG: Guardinals
CG : Eladrin ( who later got moved from being celestials to being fey)
Guardinals reached their high point in 3e with the world tree cosmology they have not been officially published in 4E or 5E as far as I am aware.
Though not named in the 5E SRD I seem to remember Guardinals being in the group of things WOTC trade marked at some point together with terms like tanar’ri and baatezu.
Maybe somebody can check in some way of I am remembering this wrong?
Whatever form the default celestial race ends up taking, I just hope theres one ancestry that isnt tied to having animal heads, as its not really my cup of tea.
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
This is the most recent race popularity poll I know of, pulled from dndbeyond 3 years back.
https://pbs.twimg.com/ext_tw_video_thumb/1093583781330485248/pu/img/6Pq28T3lZcfxD_qU.jpg:large
Variant Aasimar beat out individual genasi subraces, Tabaxi and Aarokosa, gnome subraces.
That said, if combined into Genasi, Beastfolk and general gnomes, they are indeed amongst the lowest ranked race.
And that's the variant, DMG one, not the Volo. The other three are below 0.9% each. If we could see them, might paint a different picture.
At this point, though, we are kinda just fighting over scraps. The difference between 3% and 4% isn't huge. Rather, we should be considering the impact flying has on these percentages.
I would like to see a more up to date chart, that one is kinda old. Not to fight over Aasimar, but just to see a more current snap shot of the community.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
That's the latest I've seen. I know they did a favorite subclass chart ranks some time ago, but no race.
I saw a reddit poll, and that's probably unreliable, but surprisingly similar results. Check it out if interested: https://www.reddit.com/r/dndnext/comments/krzi3b/update_race_and_class_preference_charts/
Sorry, not saying that there is one out there, just that I would like to see one.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
I feel like the biggest problem with Aasimar is that they don't really feel like a race. Their lore paints them as more comparable to a half-dragon or a cambion than a dragonborn or a tiefling in that Aasimar get direct attention from their divine parent, have the gods whispering in their ears, and all have this big, divine destiny awaiting them. It makes them feel more like a classical demigod than a race of people.
Additionally Aasimar are supposed to be the "playable angel race" like dragonborn are "playable dragons" and tieflings are "playable fiends". The problem is there is one deeply iconic feature that everyone thinks of when they think "angel", and it is something Aasimar only have for a minute per long rest. Their actual traits are glowy eyes, oddly colored skin, and unnatural beauty. Sure, things an angel might have but not something uniquely tied to the angel motif like a devil's horns or a dragon's scales.
Seems to me the main thing keeping Aasimar from fulfilling their angelic role is that they don't have permanent wings, which itself is mainly a balancing concern rather than a lore concern. If Aasimar had a permanent set of divine wings that marked them as angelic it'd make them feel much more like, well, an angel you can play. Players could then customize their wings to reflect different celestial beings that they could be descended from and when you saw fanart of a winged humanoid you'd KNOW it was an Aasimar at a glance without needing to be told first. That recognizability is something current Aasimar lack.
You'd also have roleplay hooks involving hiding your wings from the general public because your feathers/scales could be a potent reagent. After all, it is a product of your divine heritage. Villains everywhere may literally want a piece of your wing. Or perhaps you're the sort to fly high and not be afraid if others see you. The magic nature of the wings and how you react to them would say a lot about the character as an individual as well as differentiate them from other flying races like Aarokocra. This is reflected in current Aasimar lore already, but I feel the wings make it a tad bit more tangible and unique.
Balancing it would be the biggest issue. Maybe your wings are vestigial until a certain level, or maybe you only get short bursts of flight a number of times per day that increase as you level, capping at true flight.
That's how I see it anyway. Current Aasimar only tap into the angel theme of flying through the sky on wings of righteousness for a very, very narrow window per day. Meanwhile a tiefling looks devilish all the time. Dragonborn likewise look and feel draconic all of the time. Glowy eyes and being pretty could be anything from fey to a sorceress. The iconic, defining feature of an angel is its wings.
Honestly, I'm very surprised so many people find the aasimar boring. And that their reasons why so often come down to aesthetic concerns.
Or maybe I'm just easy to please. The glowing halo which simply emanates through any attempt to cover it is a personal favorite, followed by eyes like an infinite void.
While aesthetics is definitely a big reason, it's that they have a traditionally boring aesthetic combined with a severe lack of solid racial identity that really seals the deal. While they don't universally share any striking visuals, they've also got no kingdoms, no distinct cultures, no great works, and no real importance to pretty much any setting that they exist in. They're loosely affiliated with some random entity who tells them to do vaguely good things in their dreams; dreams with which they may or may not pay any attention to. The only real in built conflict the race has is with creatures that any good aligned person would be in conflict with.
You have it with half-race option. Just play a half-ardling/ Half- what ever. Make it look like an angelic version of what ever that what ever race is and use the ardling stat line. Done. This is the wonderful thing about hte half races in this game.
I'll never be opposed to a new race (eternally holding out hope for Dhamphir), but I will ALWAYS be opposed to a new race when it comes at the expense of an old one. Why can't we have both?
Why does everybody think that Aardling means that Aasimar are being dropped, as far I see so far, there has been no confirmation that Aasimar are being dropped and Aasimar have never been a PHB race to begin with.
Dhampir are a race in "Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft", along with Reborn (frankenstein's creations, botched resurrections, or ghosts possessing someone else's bodies), and Hexblood (half-hag, spawn of witches with a prospect of becoming a full hag one day).
One could think so at first until one realizes, that it makes race choice completely useless, as you can be anything with whatever traits you want.
Of course it's in the one book no one in my main group owns. Go figure.
The lineages (what they call them in the book) are set up as a template Overtop a starting race. They can end up relatively strong because of how they are to be built.
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
Because the ardling mechanics might as well have been torn right off of the aasimar.
Limited flight? Volo's aasimar thing, even if controversial. The three cantrips for the LG ardling? Pretty sure they're the DMG aasimar spells. Both aasimar had radiant resistance.
Suspiciously angel-based mechanics for animal themed beings. Not even an Alter Self spell.
Combine that with the video where they try to talk about how each race is supposed to be... Like, the elfiest elf, dwarfiest dwarf, etc.
So, what's the most angelic aasimar? It's not too amiss to think, based on the mechanics, we are looking at the conclusion.
At this point, you have to wonder if normal aasimar are just... Half-human, half-ardlings with diluted features. Or thats what it feels the current plan is.
Yeah, they could have the same traits and just call it Aasimar,
Heck if they need to they could just add the option to having animal heads as one of the Aasimar signs of celestial heritage.
No need to force the animal heads and call it a new race.