
It is nearly impossible to tango with Celestials. They are some of the most powerful beings in Dungeons & Dragons 5E, and they have a ton of magic inherently within them. Thatโs why their children, the Aasimar, are so powerful. Aasimar are the union between a celestial and a mortal being or descend from Mount Celestia as nearly perfect humans. Of course, a race in Dungeons & Dragons 5E canโt be perfect, so Aasimar do have some quirks to them. Find out how to make your Aasimar work best with our Aasimar 5E race guide!
Table of Contents
Aasimar Lore
Aasimar were introduced twice, once in the Dungeon Masterโs Guide, and with much more detail in the Voloโs Guide to Monsters. We will be referring to the Voloโs Guide Aasimar in this guide, as it is by far the most versatile and interesting.
Aasimar are nearly perfect-looking human beings, typically with slight changes in skin or with very holy features. They are created by the gods to serve law and goodness, and thus receive visions from their deities which reinforce the reason that they were created. These dreams are hugely influential on an Aasimarโs life, since it gives them a prophecy which they are expected to follow.
Their dreams are caused by an angelic guide, which is typically a high-ranking angel like a deva. These angels canโt give direct orders, and instead causes dreams and feelings within the aasimar. The deva can make mistakes, however, since it can only give advice based on itโs own perspective. For most Aasimar, their guide will be important to their journey and should be fleshed outโฆ However, some Aasimar can get frustrated by their guideโs constant messages, and may break ties by becoming evil or magical separation.
Because of their destiny, the Aasimar must be careful to hide their incredibly obvious ties to Mount Celestia. Any evil creature would love to get their hands on an Aasimar, either to kill them or convert them. So, most Aasimars keep it quiet until thereโs a chance to defend the innocent against evil.
The free will of the Aasimar is a problem for the celestials that made them. Most that separate from their angelic guide become neutral, but a select few become evil. These fallen aasimar are devastating foes, since their magic becomes corrupted and rotten. This feeling of rebellion might even blossom in the most stalwart of aasimar champions. The constant reminders of the guide can be annoying, and the guide very much undersells some kinds of evil, like robbing the poor or political (rather than religious) corruption.
Aasimar names are usually based on their human parents. Check out our Aasimar names guide if you want some advice.
Aasimar Attributes
Aasimars are paragons of humanity, but that doesnโt mean theyโre perfect. In fact, theyโre actually quite heavily leaning towards the magical side of humanity.
- +2 Charisma. A somewhat inflexible stat bonus. Charisma is far from a bad stat, and is an important stat for 4 classes. Thatโs not bad! Charisma saves are rare, but youโll like having a high Charisma save when a magic effect comes up that targets Charisma. Still, this puts Aasimar in a rather unfortunate position where theyโre most useful in a few specific classes. Thatโs not a bad thing, but itโs important to remember that Charisma is not the most flexible mental stat.
- Medium size, 30 ft movement. These are both average. Medium size is what most dungeons are built around, and so is 30 ft movement. You have no alternate forms of movement, which means you climb and swim rather slowly. Still, few races have that, so itโs hard to ask for more.
- Darkvision. The best vision bonus. Darkvision allows you to almost ignore torches, taking away a massive marker on you. If youโre a bruiser or frontline class, Darkvision matters less, since you want enemies to target you. But, casters especially love Darkvision so they can get the drop on unsuspecting opponents.ย
- Celestial Resistance. These two resistances are far from bad, but are more late-game. Necrotic and Radiant are somewhat rare, outside of a few specific spells. If the enemy doesnโt have those specific spells, youโre relying on some relatively standard enemies (like fiends, undead, or celestials). This is a somewhat niche resistance, but plenty fine.
- Healing Hands. This amount of healing might not look good. But imagine this situation; your party is fighting a boss, and your Cleric got domed with a crit and fell unconscious. Youโre a Sorcerer with no healing capabilities, and the rest of your party doesnโt have any way to pick up your Cleric. Well, now you can spend an action to get the Cleric up, and let them heal themselves and the rest of the party. Itโs not going to be useful all the time, but itโll come in handy!
- Light Bearer. Free cantrip. Not very useful for you, Mr. Darkvision, but it will let your non-Darkvision allies ignore torches. That frees up hands and lets you see just fine.
- Languages. Celestial is a good language for negotiating with Celestials, but little else. Considering youโre an Aasimar, youโre (probably) already on good terms with Celestials, so the usefulness of this might be a bit questionable. At least it sounds pretty!
Aasimar Subraces
In total, there are three subraces for the Aasimar.
Fallen Aasimar
Fallen Aasimars are inherently evil, in that they fell from grace. Their magic becomes necromantic, and they are fierce on the battlefieldโฆ But they still have Healing Hands from the basic Aasimar toolkit. Dunno what thatโs about.
- +1 Strength. Great for Paladins, Fighters, or even Barbarians. This makes Fallen Aasimar a key choice if you want to do something with yourself other than use your Charisma.
- Necrotic Shroud. Big level 3 powerspike for you. Area of effect frighten to keep your party safe, then you deal a huge amount of damage every round. If youโre ever in a dangerous fight, or needing to damage down a boss, Necrotic Shroud might be the damage potential you need.
Protector Aasimar
Protector Aasimar are defensive angelic beings, here to protect the innocent. Perhaps the most basic Aasimar.
- +1 Wisdom. Awful. Wisdom and Charisma have next to no synergy with each other. This does allow Aasimar to pretend to be alright in Wisdom-based caster classes, but your massive Charisma bonus goes to waste. Wisdom is at least good for saving throws and Perception checksโฆ You got that going for you. Maybe multiclassing?
- Radiant Soul. The fly speed is super nice, since youโre still getting it 2 levels before the Fly spell. You also get a big burst of damage every round. Great for shredding a boss or chasing an annoying flying creature.
Scourge Aasimar
Scourge Aasimars bring the wrath of the heavens upon their foes, and are thus the most violent Aasimar. Even more so than Fallen!
- +1 Constitution. Great! Constitution boosts your health, increases your chances to survive, and boosts your Constitution saves. Every class in the game benefits from Constitution.
- Radiant Consumption. You hurt yourself a lot during this form, which sucks. You also can hurt your friendly melee allies. However, if youโre defending a flank by yourself, this is great area of effect which burns your enemies to death. Youโll be hurting them a lot more than they hurt you! This is fantastic damage per round, especially for short ranged classes.
Best Class for Aasimar
The +2 Charisma puts Aasimar in an unfortunate spot where the Charisma classes are just so good for them. Thereโs very little reason not to pick a class that says you benefit off of Charisma.
Good Classes for Aasimar
- Bard. Your pick for a Support class on Aasimar. Bards get most of the healing that Clerics get (Healing Word being especially useful) while depending on Charisma. Bards also get to use each archetype of the Aasimar very well; Fallen for Valor melee builds, Protector as a good generalist, Scourge also for melee builds, though with more dexterity allowance. Your racial abilities are a nearly perfect fit for the Bard.
- Paladin. Your pick for melee builds, typically. Fallen and Scourge Paladins are both insanely strong, with extra ability to heal, good resistances, and the ability to see far ahead of themselves. You donโt suffer in stats, you get great ability to boost your Saving Throws through your aurasโฆ Yeah, Paladins Aasimars are sort of insane. Heck, you can even go Protector for Fly Speed, if you want! There are very few cons for picking Paladin here, other than maybe not getting super good Strength early on.
- Sorcerer. Aasimar sorcerers arenโt usually Fallen, but Protectors and Scourges both have their uses. As a Protector, you can use the Fly speed to get out of bad situations and position yourself to rain spells on your enemies (maybe with Quickened Spell to get that first round of Level Damage in!). Scourges benefit a lot from the Constitution, but are probably not getting the most out of Radiant Consumption. Still, Sorcerers really like the bonus healing ability, each archetype has a reason to be a Sorcerer, and youโll find the Darkvision and Radiant/Necrotic resistance useful.
- Warlock. Basically all the good points of the Sorcerer. The Charisma is great, you can make use of all archetypes (Fallen gives you potential Heavy Armor for Hexblade builds!), and their racial features are fantastic for you. You also get the weird interaction between your Patron and your Guide, which should be amusing. Aasimar Warlocks will probably suffer in the AC department, but not many other departments!
Bad Classes for Aasimar
- Artificer. Artificers only benefit from the Constitution bonus of the Scourge Aasimar. Any other benefits that the Aasimar can give (which is admittedly a lot) is overridden by how much Artificer relies on Intelligence. Youโll be doing less damage, having easier spells to save against, and generally just not being useful. Your racial features aren’t worth that.
- Barbarian. The Charisma bonus is wasted on a Barbarian. Healing Hands doesnโt really matter, because youโll be locked in melee combat and likely wonโt be able to quickly get to people. You might be able to make a Fallen or Scourge Aasimar work okay, but a Paladin might get the job done better.
- Cleric. Protector Aasimar can get a tiny bit of work done, but Clerics donโt really need the Aasimarโs features. They have the tools to replicate the Aasimar, and youโll be down a Wisdom and up two Charisma that you just donโt need.
- Druid. Once again, Protector Aasimar can do okay work, and this time Druids have more trouble replicating Aasimar features. Still, you have 2 more Charisma than you need, and your class features arenโt necessarily good for Druids; they can heal just fine.
- Fighter. Banneret Aasimars are actually great, and I can see them working out fine. Otherwise, there is no fighter that needs anything to do with Charisma. Your class features work well on a Fighter, but youโll be doing decreased damage. This isnโt really a bad option, just a suboptimal one.
- Monk. Monks can replicate your class features somewhat, and you give them no Dexterity and up to +1 Wisdom. This is a really bad choice. Youโll be very squishy and not hit very hard.
- Ranger. No Dexterity, only +1 Wisdomโฆ Youโll be lagging behind on damage. The Charisma is worthless, and Rangers have spells that can let them track easier or even heal their allies. Thereโs not much of a reason to play a Ranger Aasimar.
- Rogue. Rogues rely too much on Dexterity; your Aasimar will have low AC and low damage. Your racial abilities are pretty nice for a Rogue, however, and you might get away with it in the lategame. Protector or Scourge rogues can have a weird, not too strong niche.
- Wizard. Basically, same thing as Artificer. Wizards have great spells, but youโre much better off being a Sorcerer. Your Intelligence will be too bad to warrant choosing the class, and your racial traits donโt make up for your decreased usefulness.
Conclusion
Aasimars are fantastic, especially if you need a Charisma caster of some kind. A Paladin can really represent your destined goal as a champion well, and you can sing your own praises as a Bard. This is a really cool race, that I highly suggest that you give a try with your next Charisma caster build.
Be the first to comment