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D&D (2024) 5e Aasimar are in the Players Handbook − what should the flavor be?

we already deal with it and dragon we do not need more.

empyreans should be a template as god children tend to be very strange.

we are assuming setting neutral for this discussion out of simple practicality.

look humans but with gold freckles does not sell people on things, I do not mind subtlety just when you are trying to sell someone on an idea it helps if it is clear what it is.

Did you look at the Tiefling? The Chthonic and Abyssal Tieflings look nothing like the standardized Infernal Tiefling, so I don't think WotC is as worried about a defining trait across the species like they used to be in 2014 and in 4e.

And in the 2014 book, races did mention how they unqiuely manifest in particular settings, like Sun and Moon High elves in FR, Shield and Gold Dwarves in FR, how Dark Elves look different in DL, etc..., so no default setting does not mean unique setting takes on a race and its subsets will not be mentioned, they were in 2014, so it still matters.
 

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elves are mostly human and those are not even supposed to be direct relatives of humanity.

pure uniformity is bad but nothing core just makes them humans with different stats which is pointless.
if it has nothing to truly set it apart how would a random person even conclude that there is a story to investigate?

The Elven community is OUTRAGED at the suggestion they are mostly human 😜😂😈😇
 

CreamCloud0

One day, I hope to actually play DnD.
D&D is not a game of subtlety and realism. The reason non-human species are easily identifiable is narrative clarity. Art needs to be understandable and narration needs to communicate succinctly. It's the same reason every member of GI Joe or the Avengers has a unique and instantly recognizable outfit, instead of wearing any sort of standard issue uniform that might make it hard to keep track of who's who.

Is it possible for an aasimar or tiefling to try to disguise their traits and pass as human? Sometimes yes, but when it happens it's a major story point. The same as the reformed marauder trying to hide the tattoo that signals their former affiliation, for example. It's not something that should happen accidentally or by mistake.
art can emphasise traits that are merely conceptual and likewise narration isn't limited to describing just physical features, you can put a faceless cast all in identical uniforms and still convey alot of information about them through symbolism and framing and artistic depicition.
 

Kurotowa

Legend
art can emphasise traits that are merely conceptual and likewise narration isn't limited to describing just physical features, you can put a faceless cast all in identical uniforms and still convey alot of information about them through symbolism and framing and artistic depicition.
D&D is not the nuanced art house film of fantasy TTRPGs. There are other games that aspire to that. D&D is the market leader that acts as a gateway for new players. That means it has to be appealing and easily understood to a bunch of 15 year olds sitting around a table for the first time. Broad strokes and narratives simple enough to be almost caricature are major selling points.

Can you run D&D in a more nuanced way? Sure, with a bit of work and the right play group. But it's not the default style, and not what the official material is designed around.
 

I'm A Banana

Potassium-Rich
D&D is not a game of subtlety and realism. The reason non-human species are easily identifiable is narrative clarity. Art needs to be understandable and narration needs to communicate succinctly. It's the same reason every member of GI Joe or the Avengers has a unique and instantly recognizable outfit, instead of wearing any sort of standard issue uniform that might make it hard to keep track of who's who.

Is it possible for an aasimar or tiefling to try to disguise their traits and pass as human? Sometimes yes, but when it happens it's a major story point. The same as the reformed marauder trying to hide the tattoo that signals their former affiliation, for example. It's not something that should happen accidentally or by mistake.

I'd actually go the opposite route. When an aasimar or tiefling disguises themselves and passes as human, it's the "normal world." The assumption is that this character isn't treated as anything more remarkable than an elf or a dwarf. "This is a human" is something that people assume accidentally and by mistake.

When the aasimar or tiefling reveals their true nature, that's the major story point. That's when you know they're doing something with their traits. They're choosing to show something, something a little bit vulnerable, something they know is going to get a reaction (and not necessarily a reaction they're going to want).

I think that art depicting an aasimar or a tiefling could be a moment like that - a big story point. Or, it could be a subtle thing, a thing where people will look at the illustration and maybe guess if that's really an aasimar or a tiefling. Maybe it looks mostly human, except for something a little bit off. That's kind of the point.

Because an important part of the planetouched story is that they are, at the end of the day, not really any different from a human. They've got a little something else, but part of the narrative is how that something else doesn't actually make them much different. It doesn't elevate them above humans, or mark them as less than human. It doesn't define them visually. They have human proportions and human diversity, except for a few often-subtle elements that marks them as different to those who pay attention or spend a long time with them.

The comparison with GI Joe and the Avengers kind of falls apart because those are specific characters. Sure, specific individuals can and probably should look distinct from each other. Aasimar isn't a specific character. It's a trait that a character can have. Asking to boldly announce "I am an aasimar!" in the art is a bit like asking to boldly announce "I am left handed!" or "I have red hair!" or "I have a hitchhiker's thumb!" in the art. Sure, in some situations, it's obvious. But most of the time, it's not the thing that defines your look.
 

It's a shame we don't have law and chaos versions of aasimar and tieflings. Those planes as a whole have been ignored compared to the good and evil planes in DnD.
Chaotic planes of limbo are just... elementals. Some slaad too, but mainly elementals. so genasi

The modrun are pretty close to warforged that you could use the rule from one for the other
 


Part of what I like about the lore I favor for aasimar is that they are mostly human. They come from human families, they have normal human upbringings, and most of them, probably, in the right outfit, could mostly pass for human. In fact, making a "human disguise" is probably an important skill for most planetouched, because a key part of their stories is the expectations of others.
No consideration for halfling or dwarf aasimar?

Like, if you're an aasimar, sometimes you want to be able to walk into a town and order a beer at the tavern without the first people you meet asking you to solve all their problems for them.
Like... why would people do that? Go up to pour their hearts out to someone that looks human? Are we automatically assuming they're paladins or clerics with flashy signs?
 


Yaarel

🇮🇱He-Mage
Chaotic planes of limbo are just... elementals. Some slaad too, but mainly elementals. so genasi
The Genasi are to the Neutral planes (LN, TN, CN), as Aasimar are to the Good planes, and Tiefling to the Evil planes.

Where the TN Rilmani are a liquid metal, that fosters a kind of genasi. And so on.
 

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