Aasimar?

[Jeivar]

I haven't been keeping abreast of D&D 5 news. Has there been any word on Aasimar in the finished product? They did have Tieflings in the playtest version, and personally I would design Aasimar as mirrors to their dark "cousins" (same kind of bonuses, just in different areas)

[SpawnOfMorbo]

I would rather a "Plane touched" race that can be made into Aasimars, Tieflings, or even Genasai.

[Jeivar]

I would rather a "Plane touched" race that can be made into Aasimars, Tieflings, or even Genasai.

Ahh, with those being subraces, like High Elf/Wood Elf. That could work pretty well too.

[Tanuki Tales]

Are templates a thing in Next? I've always felt "Planetouched" should have been the template between the -ishes and the Half-s.

[WickerNipple]

I would rather a "Plane touched" race that can be made into Aasimars, Tieflings, or even Genasai.

Elegant.

So... never gonna happen.

[SpawnOfMorbo]

Are templates a thing in Next? I've always felt "Planetouched" should have been the template between the -ishes and the Half-s.

Oh god no. Doing templates will just make more problems than solutions. WotC tried templates before...


Elegant.

So... never gonna happen.

They are already doing it with other races. Sooo maybe?


Ahh, with those being subraces, like High Elf/Wood Elf. That could work pretty well too.

Something like that...

Main Race: Plan touched

Subrace: Tiefling, Aasimars, Genasai

Which makes me wonder why...

Race: Humanoid
Sub-Race: Elf, Human, Orc, Halfling, Half-Blood, etc...

All humanoids have the same trait (+1 to any two stats) and then allow the subrace to give specific bonuses. Orcs are large while halflings are small and so on.

Main races could be..

Humanoid (natural races of material plane), Planetouched (races touch by/from another plane), Forged (robots and stuff), Abberation (odd creatures), and Abominations (undead)

[Lokiare]

Oh god no. Doing templates will just make more problems than solutions. WotC tried templates before...



They are already doing it with other races. Sooo maybe?



Something like that...

Main Race: Plan touched

Subrace: Tiefling, Aasimars, Genasai

Which makes me wonder why...

Race: Humanoid
Sub-Race: Elf, Human, Orc, Halfling, Half-Blood, etc...

All humanoids have the same trait (+1 to any two stats) and then allow the subrace to give specific bonuses. Orcs are large while halflings are small and so on.

Main races could be..

Humanoid (natural races of material plane), Planetouched (races touch by/from another plane), Forged (robots and stuff), Abberation (odd creatures), and Abominations (undead)

Actually templates could work, just because WotC failed at it, doesn't mean the idea isn't doable. Otherwise they would have shelved D&D long ago.

If you set up each race with multiple features and set up one feature as "Secondary" and then allowed templates to replace the secondary feature you could easily make a working template system. WotC went wrong with the idea that a few extra features was worth multiple levels of punishment throughout the characters lifetime.

[SpawnOfMorbo]

Actually templates could work, just because WotC failed at it, doesn't mean the idea isn't doable. Otherwise they would have shelved D&D long ago.

If you set up each race with multiple features and set up one feature as "Secondary" and then allowed templates to replace the secondary feature you could easily make a working template system. WotC went wrong with the idea that a few extra features was worth multiple levels of punishment throughout the characters lifetime.

Yeah, right now how good or bad WotC will be is up in the air.

However I think the template system you are proposing is too troublesome for a core system, especially if WotC is trying to keep core simple. If you give players the option of making their own race then you will have balance issues at some point which is something we don't want (or at least a lot of us). It comes down to the same problem as microfeats and trying to balance all of them versus trying to balance macrofeats. WotC has shown since 2000 that they can't balance a lot of small things (feats) but have shown some competence at balancing big things (all 4e and some 3e classes).

Now, would I like to see a variant rule that allowed templates to tack onto races or classes? Hell yeah.

I could see multiclassing working really well that way. By making each class a template that can be added onto other classes I think it could work because you are dealing with BIG things not a ton of small things.

But for core and other races I think WotC having balanced races premade is the way to go. Then make an additional book "Chronical of Races" or whatever that let's you customize would be fantastic.

I get what I want, you get what you want, and the game stays simple at core but with variant rules and such to appeal to all gamer types.

[Tanuki Tales]

Oh god no. Doing templates will just make more problems than solutions. WotC tried templates before...

I'd love to see you prove this statement.

[SpawnOfMorbo]

I'd love to see you prove this statement.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/improvingMonsters.htm#templates

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/halfDragon.htm

Troublesome. I could go on... But just imagine this as part of character creation.

I'm not saying it isn't possible to make them easy, I'm an optimist usually, but this is WotC we are talking about...

[Lokiare]

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/improvingMonsters.htm#templates

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/halfDragon.htm

Troublesome. I could go on... But just imagine this as part of character creation.

I'm not saying it isn't possible to make them easy, I'm an optimist usually, but this is WotC we are talking about...

Wow, an optimist dissing on WotC, that's got to sting!

[Thomar_of_Uointer]

Aasimar aren't as common as tieflings in most settings, so they're probably not going to be in the Player's Handbook. Tieflings are very common and have a backstory reason, like the Empire of Bael Turath and Planescape. Aasimar, not so much (mostly because angels don't have motives to consort with mortals as readily as devils do). I'd expect to see aasimar in the Monster Manual.

How's this? I'm assuming that minor abilities like low-light vision are equivalent to +1 to one ability score, and major abilities like darkvision are equivalent to +1 to two ability scores.

Aasimar:

Ability Score Adjustment: Your Wisdom and Charisma scores increase by 1.
Size: Medium.
Speed: 30 feet.
Darkvision: You can see in darkness within 60 feet of you as if it were dim light. When you do so, your vision is in black and white.
Heavenly Glow: You know the light cantrip. When you reach 5th level you can cast the daylight spell, but you must take a short rest between castings. Charisma is your magic ability for these spells.
Languages: You can speak, read, and write Common and Celestial.

[SpawnOfMorbo]

My take on aasimar race ...

Race: Outsider
Race Qualities: An outsider is at least partially composed of the essence (but not necessarily the material) of some plane other than the Material Plane. Some creatures start out as some other type and become outsiders when they attain a higher (or lower) state of spiritual existence.

Race Traits:
Dark vision 60
Do not eat or breath but do sleep.
Are not effected by spells that only target humanoids.
To bring an outsider back from the dead you must be on their native plane or use true resurrection on the material plane. Outsiders do not have a duel nature but you may magically bring their form and conscious back (this is more of a copy and paste effect... Not the original.)

Sub-Race: Aasimars

Choose one of the following Sub-Race qualities.

Sub-Race Special Quality A: At level 1 you gain the Light cantrip usable at-will. At level X you may cast Daylight but you must take a short rest to regain this ability. At level Y you gain the ability to cast sunburst but you must complete a long rest to regain this ability after each use. You may use your wisdom or charisma to determine the DC of this ability.

Sub-Race Special Quality B: You gain a halo that can't can be called forth as a reaction. At level 1 this gives you proficiency on all saves versus fear. At level X it additionally gives you advantage on all saves versus fear. At level Y your halo makes you immune to fear.

Each subrace can have more options... Perhaps a spell and non-spell option. Give them some variety. That way each Humanoid (Human) will be different than another. Some Sub-Race abilities overlap with others to show that Sub-Race are related if at least distantly but close enough to make offspring.

(I'm a firm believer of ability scores being independent of race/subrace. Really ability scores should be modified by class and background or else do you think that the fat lazy Halfling should still get a racial +2 to Dex?)

[Tanuki Tales]

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/improvingMonsters.htm#templates

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/halfDragon.htm

Troublesome. I could go on... But just imagine this as part of character creation.

I'm not saying it isn't possible to make them easy, I'm an optimist usually, but this is WotC we are talking about...

You link to two things and then in no way explain how they specifically justify your stand point. Color me not convinced on the merit of that.

[Jeivar]

Well I did make my own take on Aasimar a few months ago, based on the Tieflings in the playtest package:

Aasimar

Ability score adjustment: +1 to Wisdom and Charisma
Size: Medium
Speed: 30 feet.
Low-light vision: You can see in dim light as well as you do in bright light.
Heavenly Resistance: You have resistance to radiant damage. (my concern with this is that radiant damage is less common than fire damage, which Tieflings get a resistance to. Maybe make it Radiant AND Necrotic?)
Divine sacrifice: You can lend some of your own health to an injured creature. With a touch you can use up some of your own hit points to heal the creature by the same amount. The maximum amount equals your Wisdom score.
After you use this trait you can't do so again until you have completed a short rest or a long rest.
Languages: You can speak, read and write Common and Celestial.

[SpawnOfMorbo]

You link to two things and then in no way explain how they specifically justify your stand point. Color me not convinced on the merit of that.

So a link to templates that show how crazy WotC went with them beyond the basic rules of races isn't an explanation of my point?

So the color of not convinced is the same color of denial then?

[Tanuki Tales]

So a link to templates that show how crazy WotC went with them beyond the basic rules of races isn't an explanation of my point?

So the color of not convinced is the same color of denial then?

I'm not denying the potential veracity of your claim, I'm denying the substance of the defense that you erected for it.

[Thomar_of_Uointer]

(my concern with this is that radiant damage is less common than fire damage, which Tieflings get a resistance to. Maybe make it Radiant AND Necrotic?)

If we assume that resistance to a common damage type like fire is equivalent to darkvision or +1 to two ability scores, then we can say that resistance to an uncommon damage type is only equivalent to low-light vision or +1 to one ability score.

I feel that making it resistance to both radiant and necrotic damage would be more weird than anything. The Lower Planes are classically associated with fire, and the Upper Planes are classically associated with light, so I would leave it as just radiant damage.

[momogila]

Wow, an optimist dissing on WotC, that's got to sting!

yeeah.. what happen?

http://watchfree.me/114/w.png