For starters, if you’ve ever played Dungeons & Dragons, you’re already familiar with the Aasimar. And if you’re yet to play an Aasimar in DnD, you should know that they are a race of humanoids with celestial ancestry. They are often born to normal humans, but some Aasimars result from generations of interbreeding between two Aasimar parents.
Aasimars have several features that set them apart from other humanoids. For starters, the Aasimar lifespan is 160 years. Then, they tend to be taller and more muscular than their human counterparts, and their skin has a slight otherworldly sheen. They also have eyes that shimmer with inner light, and their hair is often lustrous and healthy.
What are the different types of Aasimar?
There are three main types of Aasimar: protector Aasimars, scourge Aasimars, and fallen Aasimars.
Protector Aasimars
You get a +1 to Wisdom if you play Protector Aasimar. At the third level, you also gain the Radiant Soul trait, which allows you to channel divine energy. When you use this, your eyes light up, and you sprout wings. You can only use this ability once per long rest.
You remain in the Radiant soul state for one minute or until you end it as a bonus action, and you can fly at a rate of 30 feet when Radiant Soul is active. Plus, once per turn, you can deal extra radiant damage to one target equal to your level when you deal damage to it with a magical spell or an attack.
Scourge Aasimars
In Dnd Assimar Scourge type gains +1 Constitution and the Radiant Consumption action. And you can use that to summon divine energy once per long rest, which will light you up like a 10,000-lumen lightbulb.
This covers a 10-foot radius of bright light and another 10 feet of dim light for one minute. You and every creature within 10 feet of you take radiant damage each turn from this ability equal to half your level. A target you hit with an attack or a spell while you are active will also take additional radiant damage from you equal to your level.
Fallen Aasimars
Strength is increased by 1 for the Fallen Aasimar, the last of the Aasimar subraces. They also gain Necrotic Shroud as a skill. This subrace is different from the others in that it involves darkness rather than light.
Your eyes darken when casting this skill, and you get skeletal, non-flying wings. When the spell is cast, all nearby creatures must pass a Charisma saving throw (DC 8 plus your Charisma modifier and your proficiency bonus). If they fail, they become afraid of you until the end of your subsequent turn.
During this time, whenever you damage a target with an attack or a spell, you can deal additional necrotic damage to that target equal to your level, which lasts for one minute.
What classes are best for Aasimars?
Even though having a consistent class for your race can be helpful, what I’ve noticed when playing is that some people just tend to choose their classes based more on the roleplaying aspect than on the meta min-maxing strategy.
And it is perfectly fine to look for the best class for your race as the right choice will improve your playing experience. Here are some of the more popular classes for Aasimars.
Paladin
Both Scourge and Fallen Paladins are incredibly powerful, with enhanced healing capabilities, strong resistances, and the capacity to see a very long way ahead. You don’t lose any stats, and you have a remarkable ability to use your auras to increase your Saving Throws.
You could even choose Protector for Fly Speed if you like! Other than perhaps not getting outstanding Strength early on, there are very few drawbacks to choosing Paladin in this situation.
Cleric
Despite their Charisma boost delivering very little to clerics, the Aasimar is nonetheless a good cleric. Resistance to necrotic and radiant damage is ideal for a class that often encounters celestials and/or undead, and Healing Hands is an excellent addition to your healing spells.
Due to their Wisdom boost, Protector Aasimar is the preferred choice for Aasimar clerics. Radiant Soul allows you to fly and do a ton of additional damage for one minute each day (or until you finish a long rest). Depending on your choice of domain and your position in the group, both Scourge and Fallen Aasimar can be effective. However, your spellcasting may lag at lower levels unless you get some Ability Score Increases.
Warlock
With Aasimar warlock, you can use all archetypes because their charisma is excellent, and their racial traits are excellent for you, especially as the Fallen provide you with the option of Heavy Armor for Hexblade builds. In addition, you get to witness the peculiar exchange between your Guide and your Patron, which ought to be entertaining. There won’t be many other departments where Aasimar Warlocks will likely suffer, though!
Bard
Bards get most of the healing that Clerics get (Healing Word being beneficial) 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, and Scourge also for melee builds, though with more dexterity allowance. Your racial abilities are a nearly perfect fit for the Bard.
What are some of the best Aasimar features?
When it comes to Aasimar features, two of the most exciting ones are Darkvision and Celestial Resistance.
All characters with darkvision, including Aasimar, can see out to 60 feet in the dark. That means if your character is in a fight in a dark place you will have greater chances to land a blow on your opponent. Those who don’t have darkvison will play at a disadvantage.
And Celestial Resistance is what helps Aasimar to get only half of the damage from Necrotic and Radiant spells cast by the opponents. Whereas characters without Celestial resistance endure the maximum damage possible from cast spells.
An example I can give you from my playing time is that oftentimes in combat, a player would try to cast the Finger of Death spell on me, which imposes 7d8+30 necrotic damage. But as Aasimar, I’d get only half of the damage.
All in all a good choice
To sum it up, having Aasimar characters can only improve the experience of playing DnD. Not only does it make it more exciting for the backstory the Aasimar have, but also because of the great features they bring to the table, features which you will definitely need some help to deal with your Dungeon Master.
