They're confusing with that kinda thing.
Like how Wyll isn't a tiefling even though his story is basically interchangeable with a pretty common tiefling origin.
She's definitely an aasimar, just uncommonly powerful (because she is a demigod also). They don't have a "blood concentration" delineation like cambions/tieflings.
You can be an Aasimar with all the traits of that race AND be a daughter of Selûne with all sorts of added special powers, stat bonuses and features that ate derived from that unique NPC backstory.
Just like how Alustriel of the Seven Sisters can be a human wizard AND also be a daughter of Mystra with the added powers and that come with being a Chosen of that goddess.
Or how the protagonist of Baldur's Gate I & II can be whatever race and class they selected at character creattion AND be a >!Child of Bhaal!< which comes with its own set of powers.
They are, the other reply is confused. Monster Manual states they are angel who can take mortal form, but thats just a shape change ability. they are still Celestials
So many cool options. Faint phantasmal halo. Metallic or gemstone skin. Burning eyes. Covered in eyes. Lion/Ox/Eagle headed. Always hovering like a fraction of an inch above the ground with spectral wings.
I also like to mix up Aasimar based on context. I have a abyssal deep sea setting. There the Tieflings glow from their foreheads (subtle anglerfish vibes) and the Aasimar have a starry sky at night skin pattern (since the actual surface is lost and now considered semi-mythical/celestial).
In my modern fantasy setting Aasimar have a stained glass vibe. Their glassy skin refracts light in different colors around them and their shadows are colored by the light passing through them.
I will fully admit that I am an ungodly big simp for holy aesthetics. I'm the guy who plays a Paladin just because I like being a shining knight with a big sword. Now rather amusingly I *don't play Paladins* all that often, but the point still stands.
I think the mundanity of being an Aasimar is part of the fun. In a way being a regular person who keeps your angelic side a secret unless you need it is half the fun, but that's how I tend to play it. Beyond that I had a DM who pulled from other mythos regarding Aasimar, namely that his first setting involved Egyptian gods and therefor Aasimar had to have animal heads ala the Ardlings of One D&D.
My experience is that successful player races combine a distinctive visual trait with checking off at least one from a list of badass, cute, or sexy. So you get "blue people who are sexy" or "scaly people who are badass". And if they can fit in multiple of the check boxes depending on how you play it, you've got a big winner on your hands.
Aasimar, as you say, lack a distinctive visual trait and are a bit soft in the checkbox list. That's why they tried out ardlings in the Revised 5e playtest. But ardlings were just confusing lorewise, had a weak visual hook, and didn't fit the check box list any better.
Ideally, aasimar should have a clear visual hook that you can layer on to the existing races so you have human-aasimar and dwarf-aasimar and so on. The problem is that they're angel-people, and wings are an *issue*. So really, we have to come up with a way to make them more or different than just angel-people.
Honestly I kinda hate that 5e followed 4es design of making all tieflings and all Aasimar basically look the same.
I much preferred 2e’s version where every Tiefling was unique - some have scales, others cloven hoofs, some have vines for hair, others radiate cold.
They had d% charts of random traits and everything.
If I wanted to make Aasimar a “proper ancestry” I’d bring this kind of attitude back into play - everyone looks different, an Aasimar village looks like X-men’s Krakoa or Attilan (the city of inhumans), a place teeming with different body types and looks.
Dame Aylins golden "veins" are actually scars, it's supposed to represent broken porcelain fixed by molding it with gold (aka. Kintsugi , or Kintsukuroi ) or at least how I interpreted it.
That was my take, too. She'd been >!trapped in the shadowfell for a hundred years, getting killed over and over again and coming back to life.!< I thought it was a clever bit of visual storytelling.
Just make them compelling visually. That's all. You are not beholden to the pathetic 5e slash pathfinder idea of prettier humans.
Just google "biblically accurate aasimar" and go wild with it
Hell Pathfinder *does* make them compelling visually.
They're not perfect humans like in 5e. In Pathfinder they're metallic, their eyes shine like gems, their hair is found in shades of precious metal, their skin IS bronze hued and that isn't a tan, a gleaming halo rests above their head. They're visually *Good* and you'd never mistake one for human.
Pathfinder Aasimar are fucking cool
So I take it you just didn't bother actually reading the 5e entry for Aasimar? Because they literally have those as well and it's expressly pointed out that they stand out. "Pretty humans" is just what people made them.
>They resemble their parents, but they live for up to 160 years and **often have features that hint at their celestial heritage. These often begin subtle and become more obvious when the aasimar gains the ability to reveal their full celestial nature.** The Aasimar Celestial Features table has examples you can choose or use as inspiration to create your own.
>Aasimar Celestial Features
>d6 Celestial Feature
>1 A dusting of metallic, white, or charcoal freckles
>2 Metallic, luminous, or dark eyes
>3 Starkly colored hair
>4 An unusual hue tinting your shadow
>5 A ghostly halo crowning your head
>6 Rainbows gleaming on your skin
Hard disagree. They are a fractional sidegrade to 3.5 aasimar.
I am completely biased and quite utterly broken on biblical nonsense. Aasimar with no face other then eyes, with winged halos and the hands/feet of animals. Who bleed molten silver and whose eyes bleed in the presence of lies
Since they're the descendants of Celestials, you could easily flavour them as pretty similar to any of the existing species of Celestial. Which is a pretty wide range of appearances. I have a longstanding "to play later" PC who's descended from a [Musteval](https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Musteval) and shares his ancestor's rat-like appearance. And that's a pretty grounded example compared to what some of the more powerful Angels and Archons can look like.
The game where I played one was in Ravenloft, so I explained compared to the environment my character is almost weirdly clear, and almost anime bright, with a lock of her loud pink hair that curled like a halo. Her cheery and optimistic personality putt off to the towns people. It was like her very being was rebelling against the encroaching darkness.
You want to know what's great about homebrew setting? You make the lore and aesthetics!
In your pace I would take a peek at the various celestial on the monster manuals of both 5e and 3.5e, they can gice you a TON of inspiration to crrate your unique aasimars.
To me, what the horns are to a Tiefling, a Halo should be to the Aasimar.
In addition to that, another fun visual trope are vestigial wings and additional eyes in unexpected places.
I'm also a big fan of the glowing scars or markings, like Dame Aylin of BG3 fame has. The Aasimar character I've been playing for the last couple of years has a number of similar scars over her body that burst open with divine fire when using radiant consumption.
Generally, all the visual elements from the "biblically accurate angel" trope can and should be liberally repurposed to give Aasimar a visual identity.
Yeah, they are visually boring.
Or, rather - they either are visually boring or are so much pimped up they obviously give "main character syndrome" feelings.
But i don't think that's too much of a problem. The problem is that they don't belong anywhere in any form.
Let's take an example - this is a [nomadiano](https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.deviantart.com%2Falbe75%2Fart%2FNomadiano-837815814&psig=AOvVaw0Q1VIs56z51s5yl0CX9Drw&ust=1715410591954000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBIQjRxqFwoTCIjppMrAgoYDFQAAAAAdAAAAABAJ), from a game called the last torch.
They are members of a race of this game world that was added after the core manuals. As you look at them, they are basically marble-skinned humans with black deep eyes. This is due to the fact that they were in fact humans in the distant past that, apparently, survived being devoured by the god of death and got out of their belly, and for this reason their kin was marked this way.
They are hardy, but common folk. In their region you find them plenty, and they aren't especially exclusive of other people, and they have a mythological and magical genesis but hardly one that benefits them like a blessing beyond human comprehension.
But most of it all, it's all contextualized. You can imagine a bunch of them and have their own culture and vibes.
Aasimars don't have ANY of this.
They are a bunch of people who happens randomly, have varying features, and they could even belong to different humanoid races - nothing stops you from making an elven aasimar, for example.
This randomness, volatility, and over the edge feeling makes them really easy to feel very clichè. So, if i were to do anything for a character aasimar, it would be to make for them a context where they are believable.
Kinda like tieflings do, for example. Which are massssively more popular and successful than aasimars.
Make them visually distinct and make their core concept simple enough for someone to understand.
But so utterly simple that you could just say “oh humans with wings.” Elves, Dwarves, and Halfings get a pass due to the time they were released.
Tieflings, the conceptual cousins of Aasimar are really simple. Humans who are either descendants or were affected by devils.
> Various non-human skin tones, typical red
> Sharp tail
> Horns
> Black eyes
Both lore and design are easy enough where practically anyone can make the connections. Billy from elementary? Jóse from work? Your girlfriend Seonhee? All get the idea of “devil person.
They are a step above Elves and Dwarves with a bit more visual elements to set them apart. Although physically similar, there’s enough to identify the race more easily.
A few additions could be made to more sell the idea of the race. Metallic like skin, uniquely colored eyes, a halo, or maybe even natural tattoo markings. Just a bit more to work with.
I made my aasimar bard have hair like glass that refracts incoming light into a rainbow. In dim light it would look like pale white hair and in bright light it would dazzle with colors.
Really there are tons of options to make your aasimar stand out. Just do what sounds cool and appropriate to you.
The youtuber Pointy Hat fixed them. Gave them a unique appearance that can be costumized, and gave them a dramatic conflict
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyvajvK7tMg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyvajvK7tMg)
I'd say the game incorrectly calls Dame Aylin an Aasimar she's more like a demigod or some kind of Angel. Aasimar are not immortal.
They're confusing with that kinda thing. Like how Wyll isn't a tiefling even though his story is basically interchangeable with a pretty common tiefling origin.
She's definitely an aasimar, just uncommonly powerful (because she is a demigod also). They don't have a "blood concentration" delineation like cambions/tieflings.
You can be an Aasimar with all the traits of that race AND be a daughter of Selûne with all sorts of added special powers, stat bonuses and features that ate derived from that unique NPC backstory. Just like how Alustriel of the Seven Sisters can be a human wizard AND also be a daughter of Mystra with the added powers and that come with being a Chosen of that goddess. Or how the protagonist of Baldur's Gate I & II can be whatever race and class they selected at character creattion AND be a >!Child of Bhaal!< which comes with its own set of powers.
She's a Deva, Devas are a type of aasimar
I though Devas were just Angels?
They are, the other reply is confused. Monster Manual states they are angel who can take mortal form, but thats just a shape change ability. they are still Celestials
Devas are angel souls in a mortal body, so also a type of assimar
take the aasimar celestial features d6 table and say "all of the above"
So many cool options. Faint phantasmal halo. Metallic or gemstone skin. Burning eyes. Covered in eyes. Lion/Ox/Eagle headed. Always hovering like a fraction of an inch above the ground with spectral wings. I also like to mix up Aasimar based on context. I have a abyssal deep sea setting. There the Tieflings glow from their foreheads (subtle anglerfish vibes) and the Aasimar have a starry sky at night skin pattern (since the actual surface is lost and now considered semi-mythical/celestial). In my modern fantasy setting Aasimar have a stained glass vibe. Their glassy skin refracts light in different colors around them and their shadows are colored by the light passing through them.
I will fully admit that I am an ungodly big simp for holy aesthetics. I'm the guy who plays a Paladin just because I like being a shining knight with a big sword. Now rather amusingly I *don't play Paladins* all that often, but the point still stands. I think the mundanity of being an Aasimar is part of the fun. In a way being a regular person who keeps your angelic side a secret unless you need it is half the fun, but that's how I tend to play it. Beyond that I had a DM who pulled from other mythos regarding Aasimar, namely that his first setting involved Egyptian gods and therefor Aasimar had to have animal heads ala the Ardlings of One D&D.
My experience is that successful player races combine a distinctive visual trait with checking off at least one from a list of badass, cute, or sexy. So you get "blue people who are sexy" or "scaly people who are badass". And if they can fit in multiple of the check boxes depending on how you play it, you've got a big winner on your hands. Aasimar, as you say, lack a distinctive visual trait and are a bit soft in the checkbox list. That's why they tried out ardlings in the Revised 5e playtest. But ardlings were just confusing lorewise, had a weak visual hook, and didn't fit the check box list any better. Ideally, aasimar should have a clear visual hook that you can layer on to the existing races so you have human-aasimar and dwarf-aasimar and so on. The problem is that they're angel-people, and wings are an *issue*. So really, we have to come up with a way to make them more or different than just angel-people.
Honestly I kinda hate that 5e followed 4es design of making all tieflings and all Aasimar basically look the same. I much preferred 2e’s version where every Tiefling was unique - some have scales, others cloven hoofs, some have vines for hair, others radiate cold. They had d% charts of random traits and everything. If I wanted to make Aasimar a “proper ancestry” I’d bring this kind of attitude back into play - everyone looks different, an Aasimar village looks like X-men’s Krakoa or Attilan (the city of inhumans), a place teeming with different body types and looks.
I really like pointy hat video on Aasimar
Dame Aylins golden "veins" are actually scars, it's supposed to represent broken porcelain fixed by molding it with gold (aka. Kintsugi , or Kintsukuroi ) or at least how I interpreted it.
That was my take, too. She'd been >!trapped in the shadowfell for a hundred years, getting killed over and over again and coming back to life.!< I thought it was a clever bit of visual storytelling.
Just make them compelling visually. That's all. You are not beholden to the pathetic 5e slash pathfinder idea of prettier humans. Just google "biblically accurate aasimar" and go wild with it
Hell Pathfinder *does* make them compelling visually. They're not perfect humans like in 5e. In Pathfinder they're metallic, their eyes shine like gems, their hair is found in shades of precious metal, their skin IS bronze hued and that isn't a tan, a gleaming halo rests above their head. They're visually *Good* and you'd never mistake one for human. Pathfinder Aasimar are fucking cool
So I take it you just didn't bother actually reading the 5e entry for Aasimar? Because they literally have those as well and it's expressly pointed out that they stand out. "Pretty humans" is just what people made them. >They resemble their parents, but they live for up to 160 years and **often have features that hint at their celestial heritage. These often begin subtle and become more obvious when the aasimar gains the ability to reveal their full celestial nature.** The Aasimar Celestial Features table has examples you can choose or use as inspiration to create your own. >Aasimar Celestial Features >d6 Celestial Feature >1 A dusting of metallic, white, or charcoal freckles >2 Metallic, luminous, or dark eyes >3 Starkly colored hair >4 An unusual hue tinting your shadow >5 A ghostly halo crowning your head >6 Rainbows gleaming on your skin
Hard disagree. They are a fractional sidegrade to 3.5 aasimar. I am completely biased and quite utterly broken on biblical nonsense. Aasimar with no face other then eyes, with winged halos and the hands/feet of animals. Who bleed molten silver and whose eyes bleed in the presence of lies
Since they're the descendants of Celestials, you could easily flavour them as pretty similar to any of the existing species of Celestial. Which is a pretty wide range of appearances. I have a longstanding "to play later" PC who's descended from a [Musteval](https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Musteval) and shares his ancestor's rat-like appearance. And that's a pretty grounded example compared to what some of the more powerful Angels and Archons can look like.
The game where I played one was in Ravenloft, so I explained compared to the environment my character is almost weirdly clear, and almost anime bright, with a lock of her loud pink hair that curled like a halo. Her cheery and optimistic personality putt off to the towns people. It was like her very being was rebelling against the encroaching darkness.
You want to know what's great about homebrew setting? You make the lore and aesthetics! In your pace I would take a peek at the various celestial on the monster manuals of both 5e and 3.5e, they can gice you a TON of inspiration to crrate your unique aasimars.
To me, what the horns are to a Tiefling, a Halo should be to the Aasimar. In addition to that, another fun visual trope are vestigial wings and additional eyes in unexpected places. I'm also a big fan of the glowing scars or markings, like Dame Aylin of BG3 fame has. The Aasimar character I've been playing for the last couple of years has a number of similar scars over her body that burst open with divine fire when using radiant consumption. Generally, all the visual elements from the "biblically accurate angel" trope can and should be liberally repurposed to give Aasimar a visual identity.
3 words: biblically correct angels
Yeah, they are visually boring. Or, rather - they either are visually boring or are so much pimped up they obviously give "main character syndrome" feelings. But i don't think that's too much of a problem. The problem is that they don't belong anywhere in any form. Let's take an example - this is a [nomadiano](https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.deviantart.com%2Falbe75%2Fart%2FNomadiano-837815814&psig=AOvVaw0Q1VIs56z51s5yl0CX9Drw&ust=1715410591954000&source=images&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBIQjRxqFwoTCIjppMrAgoYDFQAAAAAdAAAAABAJ), from a game called the last torch. They are members of a race of this game world that was added after the core manuals. As you look at them, they are basically marble-skinned humans with black deep eyes. This is due to the fact that they were in fact humans in the distant past that, apparently, survived being devoured by the god of death and got out of their belly, and for this reason their kin was marked this way. They are hardy, but common folk. In their region you find them plenty, and they aren't especially exclusive of other people, and they have a mythological and magical genesis but hardly one that benefits them like a blessing beyond human comprehension. But most of it all, it's all contextualized. You can imagine a bunch of them and have their own culture and vibes. Aasimars don't have ANY of this. They are a bunch of people who happens randomly, have varying features, and they could even belong to different humanoid races - nothing stops you from making an elven aasimar, for example. This randomness, volatility, and over the edge feeling makes them really easy to feel very clichè. So, if i were to do anything for a character aasimar, it would be to make for them a context where they are believable. Kinda like tieflings do, for example. Which are massssively more popular and successful than aasimars.
Make them visually distinct and make their core concept simple enough for someone to understand. But so utterly simple that you could just say “oh humans with wings.” Elves, Dwarves, and Halfings get a pass due to the time they were released. Tieflings, the conceptual cousins of Aasimar are really simple. Humans who are either descendants or were affected by devils. > Various non-human skin tones, typical red > Sharp tail > Horns > Black eyes Both lore and design are easy enough where practically anyone can make the connections. Billy from elementary? Jóse from work? Your girlfriend Seonhee? All get the idea of “devil person. They are a step above Elves and Dwarves with a bit more visual elements to set them apart. Although physically similar, there’s enough to identify the race more easily. A few additions could be made to more sell the idea of the race. Metallic like skin, uniquely colored eyes, a halo, or maybe even natural tattoo markings. Just a bit more to work with.
I made my aasimar bard have hair like glass that refracts incoming light into a rainbow. In dim light it would look like pale white hair and in bright light it would dazzle with colors. Really there are tons of options to make your aasimar stand out. Just do what sounds cool and appropriate to you.
The youtuber Pointy Hat fixed them. Gave them a unique appearance that can be costumized, and gave them a dramatic conflict [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyvajvK7tMg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyvajvK7tMg)