Homebrew Aasimar Vigil Species Details

Guardian angels have a theoretically very simple duty. They are members of the angelic court who have been sent by their god to look over a specific mortal.

Guardian angels are members of the third sphere--the lowest sphere, furthest removed from their god and the ones made to interact with mortals directly--and it’s this distance from the divine and this closeness to the mortal experience that leads some guardian angels to develop their own version of sentience. It’s a rare occurrence, but sometimes guardian angels even develop feelings for the mortals they are tasked to protect. Angels were conceived by the divine as mere executants, celestial constructs who follow their god’s commands unwaveringly and without question, devoid of feelings, but the closeness to humanity can change that, instilling in the angel actual emotions. When this happens, and the mortal and the angel enter a relationship, their coupling can give birth to a vigil. Vigils are the product of the union between a mortal and the guardian angel who was watching over them. 

Vigils have what is called a Ward, someone they are metaphysically connected to, and whom they must protect at any cost. They are mortal guardian angels, tasked not by the divine but by their lineage to protect the soul of another. Vigils do not choose their ward; their servitude to them is thrusted upon them by forces that no one really understands. Some say it’s fate, that a ward is someone who must absolutely be kept alive so that they can fulfil a specific purpose, while others say who a vigil’s ward is is just a random capricious twist of the cosmos. Whatever the case may be, the bond between a vigil and their ward cannot be broken, no matter how much either of them might wish it.

Vigils are gifted not just with divine powers, but specific abilities that help them safeguard their ward. Vigils know the general location of their ward, but also their emotional state, and whether they are in danger. The Vigil feels their ward’s pain, their distress, and their anger, but also their happiness, excitement and joy, but this connection runs even deeper than that.

If the ward dies, the vigil dies with them. The vigil’s soul is intrinsically connected to the divine spark of their progenitor, and if their ward dies, this spark is extinguished, which in turn extinguishes the vigil’s life.

Aasimar Celestial Features

Some are made of ethereal light, while others take the shape of crackling thunder, or shining metallic gold. The halo appears around a vigil’s head in adolescence, but a vigil can be recognized from birth from their second recognizable characteristic: their vestigial wings. These are much too small to be used for flight, but all vigils have at least one set. The most common placement is on either side of the head, although some vigils see their wings sprout at their heels, their forearms, or their hips -- but never their backs.

Vestigial wings and halos might be the most common and characteristic tell-tale signs of a vigil’s celestial blood, but others may appear, albeit much more rarely. These rarer angelic qualities include additional sets of eyes, often a different color from their natural ones; white feathers that grow around their joints; or the tips of their fingers being white and hard as marble or metallic as gold. It isn’t uncommon for these divine markers to change or evolve throughout the vigil’s life--some believing they get more pronounced if the vigil gets closer to the divine source of their magic--rendering their appearance more unnerving, or more beautiful, depending on who you ask.

These visual indicators are a mark of the divine spark that was passed down to them by their angelic parent, but this parent passes on not only their power, but their duty.

6	Celetial Feature
1	A dusting of metallic, white, or charcoal freckles
2	Metallic, luminous, or dark eyes
3	Starkly coloured hair
4	An unusual hue tinting your shadow
5	A ghostly halo crowning your head
6	Rainbows gleaming on your skin

Creating Your Character

At 1st level, you choose whether your character is a member of the human race or of a fantastical race. If you select a fantastical race, follow these additional rules during character creation.

Ability Score Increases

When determining your character’s ability scores, increase one score by 2 and increase a different score by 1, or increase three different scores by 1. Follow this rule regardless of the method you use to determine the scores, such as rolling or point buy. The “Quick Build” section for your character’s class offers suggestions on which scores to increase. You can follow those suggestions or ignore them, but you can’t raise any of your scores above 20.

Languages

Your character can speak, read, and write Common and one other language that you and your DM agree is appropriate for the character.

Creature Type

You are a Celestial

Life Span

As a Vigil is tied to there ward they will live as long as there ward does. The typical life span of a player character in the D&D multiverse is about a century, assuming the character doesn’t meet a violent end on an adventure. Members of some races, such as dwarves and elves, can live for centuries. If typical members of a race can live longer than a century, that fact is mentioned in the race’s description.

Height and Weight

Player characters, regardless of race, typically fall into the same ranges of height and weight that humans have in our world.

Aasimar Vigil Traits

As an aasimar, you have the following racial traits.

Ward Connection

You are connected to another mortal from birth. This mortal is your ward, and the link between you helps you to protect and watch over them by giving you information on your ward:

• You know the general direction to the location of your ward, but not how far away they are from you.
• You know the general emotional state of your ward.
• You know if your ward is in life-threatening danger.
• While you are within 30 feet of your ward, your ward rolls all death saving throws with advantage.

Your life is intrinsically tied to that of your ward. If your ward dies, you die with them. If your ward dies and is later revived through any means including magic, you are not automatically revived with them. You cannot be revived if your ward is dead, but if you are revived while your ward is alive, you immediately regain the effects of Ward Connection upon your revival.

Guardian's Blessing

As a bonus action, you can touch a creature and shroud them in your divine energy. The creature regains the maximum number of hit points possible from the next healing it receives. For example, instead of a healing spell restoring 2d6 hit points to the creature, it restores 12 hit points. Once you use this trait, you can’t use it again until you finish a short rest.

Guardian Form

Starting at 3rd level, you can use your bonus action to unleash the celestial energy within yourself, transforming into an angelic form and gaining the benefits of your divine ancestry. Your vestigial wings grow to their full size, giving you a flying speed equal to your walking speed. Once on each of your turns, you can choose either to deal extra radiant damage to one target when you deal damage to it with an attack or a spell, or to heal a creature within 30 feet of you at the end of your turn. The extra damage or hit points healed equals your proficiency bonus.
Your transformation lasts for 1 minute or until you end it as a bonus action. Once you use this trait, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.

Creature Type

You are a Humanoid.

Size

You are Medium or Small. You choose the size when you select this race.

Speed

Your walking speed is 30 feet.

Celestial Resistance

You have resistance to necrotic damage and radiant damage.

Darkvision

You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light and in darkness as if it were dim light. You discern colors in that darkness only as shades of gray.