Could two human parents give birth to an Aasimar and a tiefling child?

[Legato Endless]

Starting a Wrath of the Righteous game in two months. Three of the players are considering being siblings. The racial selection is core plus tieflings and aasimar. The question was floated, since both Aasimar and Tieflings can manifest in the progeny of seemingly human parents, could a couple spawn children of both?

It wouldn't be probable, obviously, as manifesting is rare, but is it possible?

The idea being you'd have a human, tiefling and Aasimar siblings, there's nothing that quite brings family together like Holy War.

[Belzyk]

Well how genes work as long as the parents at some point had a tie fling and assmier ancestor sure.

[Âmesang]

Perhaps they're twins who, through some fluke of nature/magic, split off from a single, original child?

[Thealtruistorc]

In D&D mythos, Aasimars and Tieflings aren't just the byproduct of "a mortal got knocked up by an outsider." If that were the case, what justification would there be for partial archon aasimars (literal manifestations of law and good probably aren't sleeping around). What would probably be just as common, if not more so, would be mortals who are chosen via divine providence to sire a child of supernatural potential (Samson in the Bible is the most noteworthy example of this, but the concept has roots in a wide variety of tales). Heck, the tieflings in 4e were all descended from an ancient empire that pledged their allegiance to devils, causing all who are descended from it to possess devilish traits. It would make sense for a parent to be chosen by angels, only for the other to make league with a fiend and thus produce two offspring touched by different primordial forces.

Alternatively, the situation could wind up being like the Schwarzenegger-Devito movie Twins, where the Aasimar is born with all of the kindly and benevolent traits while the Tiefling is created to house all of the undesirable components. It would add a neat aspect to their backstory as well as to their interactions.

[DrMotives]

In the original Planescape 2e fluff, yes they explicitly could come from the same family, same set of human parents. All plane-touched races are traits which once introduced in a family tree can come up & go dormant again over the generations.

[Elricaltovilla]

In Pathfinder's specific setting, Golarion, this is indeed possible, if insanely unlikely. Aasimar and Tieflings pop up randomly throughout a family's lineage. They are not the direct descendants of a union between an outsider and a mortal. That would be what the Half-Celestial (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/templates/half-celestial) and Half-Fiend (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/templates/half-fiend) Templates represent.

Instead, Aasimar are people touched by holy light somewhere along their ancestry, or otherwise blessed with great destiny. Tieflings are similar, being someone who's ancestry contains fiendish blood of some sort, although in Golarion it could also be the result of the goddess Lamashtu messing with your pregnancy (she's not a nice person).

If you actually go to the race page for Aasimar (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/other-races/featured-races/arg-aasimar) and Tieflings (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/other-races/featured-races/arg-tiefling), this is spelled out explicitly in their race entry. To whit:



Aasimar heritage can lie dormant for generations, only to appear suddenly in the child of two apparently human parents.




Most tieflings never know their fiendish sire, as the coupling that produced their curse occurred generations earlier. The taint is long-lasting and persistent, often manifesting at birth or sometimes later in life, as a powerful, though often unwanted, boon.


So yes, you could have two perfectly normal human parents who somehow manage to give birth to a Tiefling and an Aasimar.

[Khosan]

So yes, you could have two perfectly normal human parents who somehow manage to give birth to a Tiefling and an Aasimar.

The perfectly human father would, however, probably have some questions.

[Elricaltovilla]

The perfectly human father would, however, probably have some questions.

I'd imagine the perfectly human mother would have a few questions as well.

[Esprit15]

Yep, I see no reason for it not to.

[Gnorman]

Absolutely! The phenotypical variety amongst outsiders is so ridiculous that I would suggest that a tiefling born of erinyes ancestry may resemble a stereotypical aasimar more than many actual aasimars.

But we're already dealing with magical babymaking anyway, no need to bring actual genetics into it.

[Coidzor]

Yep, have them be identical twins with a fraternal human triplet for maximum fun.

[Eldonauran]

Triplets

One cell split into two: One entirely human, the other laced with the essences of the Outter Planes.

The energies within the other cell warred with each other, causing another division.

[Toilet Cobra]

Alternatively, the situation could wind up being like the Schwarzenegger-Devito movie Twins, where the Aasimar is born with all of the kindly and benevolent traits while the Tiefling is created to house all of the undesirable components. It would add a neat aspect to their backstory as well as to their interactions.

Kind of a Solid Snake/Liquid Snake thing

[Jormengand]

If that were the case, what justification would there be for partial archon aasimars (literal manifestations of law and good probably aren't sleeping around).

You say that, but there's a bit in the BoEF where a paladin has a one-night stand with some bard she met. Given that paladins are meant to exemplify law and good, it would therefore be implied that sleeping around was neither chaotic, nor evil (in fact, the paladin is implied to be having sex in a way in accordance with her LG alignment, given that she's used as the actual example of how LG sex works).

[Coidzor]

Both archons and paladins can have sex and some of them do. Only entities and organizations that are more specific than that will have vows of chastity or celibacy.

Archons being incapable of love or desire would make them more alien than fiends, as even Asmodeus loves his daughter and loved his consort. He doesn't trust his daughter, because she's a power hungry she-devil, but he did trust his consort.

They just don't have a priority or interest in pumping out a lot of plane-touched, whereas the fiends have succubi which exist to boink people.

[Anlashok]

Where did this notion that lawful good = prudish come from in the first place?



as even Asmodeus loves his daughter and loved his consort. He doesn't trust his daughter, because she's a power hungry she-devil, but he did trust his consort.
It's kind of funny that outsiders that are literal embodiments of an alignment defined by honor, reliability and trustworthiness have more of a reputation for lying than the outsiders defined by being well, the exact opposite of that.

[zergling.exe]

Where did this notion that lawful good = prudish come from in the first place?



It's kind of funny that outsiders that are literal embodiments of an alignment defined by honor, reliability and trustworthiness have more of a reputation for lying than the outsiders defined by being well, the exact opposite of that.

More accurately, he would likely trust her... to betray him. Thus she would not get trusted with things that may bite Asmodeus later.