Homebrew Ascended Drow Species Details

Through the blessing of a Deva, you have ascended to become an Aasimar, born to serve as a champions of the gods, your very inception a blessed event. Aasimar are a people of otherworldly visages, with luminous features that reveal their celestial heritage. 

 

Ascended Drow

An Ascended Drow has accepted the divine blessing of a Deva and cast off their underdark heritage to walk in the light. 

As a result of accepting Celestial energies into their being, the chosen Drow champion has lost their Fey Ancestry, Drow Magic, and Sunlight Sensitivity. Over years, the Ascendent will grow accustomed to the light, and their Superior Darkvision will recede to simple Darkvision. In return for these losses, the Ascendent gains Celestial Resistance, the effect of a Celestial Revelation, and new magics from their gained Celestial nature (Healing Hands and Light).

An Ascended Drows' features become more luminescent and they are infused with an otherworldly grace. They gain one additional feature that is a tell of their divine eminence.

 

Celestial Champions

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.

 

Hidden Wanderers

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.

 

Aasimar Guides

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.

 

Conflicted Souls

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 from 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.

 

Ascended Drow Traits

Your aasimar character has the following racial traits.

Ability Score Increase

Your Dexterity score increases by 2.
Your Charisma score increases by 1.

Age

Although elves reach physical maturity at about the same age as humans, the elven understanding of adulthood goes beyond physical growth to encompass worldly experience. An elf typically claims adulthood and an adult name around the age of 100 and can live to be 750 years old. Your Aasimar lineage lengthens this lifespan up to a millennium, possibly longer.

Keen Senses

You have proficiency in the Perception skill.

Size

Aasimar have the same range of height and weight as humans.

Speed

Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Darkvision

Blessed with a radiant soul, your vision can easily cut through darkness. You can see in dim light as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray. Your drow lineage lengthens the field of this sight to 120 ft.

Celestial Resistance

You have resistance to necrotic damage and radiant damage.

Healing Hands

As an action, you can touch a creature and cause it to regain a number of hit points equal to your level. Once you use this trait, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.

Light Bearer

You know the light cantrip. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for it.

Languages

You can speak, read, and write Common and Celestial.

Trance

Elves don’t need to sleep. Instead, they meditate deeply, remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. (The Common word for such meditation is “trance.”) While meditating, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are actually mental exercises that have become reflexive through years of practice. After resting in this way, you gain the same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep.

Drow Weapon Training

You have proficiency with rapiers, shortswords, and hand crossbows.

Radiant Soul

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.

Your transformation lasts for 1 minute or until you end it as a bonus action. During it, you have a flying speed of 30 feet, and once on each of your turns, you can deal extra radiant damage to one target when you deal damage to it with an attack or a spell. The extra radiant damage equals your level.

Once you use this trait, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.