I think the opposite of tifling guy. The asimar?
Angel class?
invoker, avenger, runepreist, esssentialized?
Even warlock (a new pact, or maybe infernal)
But for the sake of brainstrming... Some extra deva and shardmind fluff and options would be nice, racial utilities and the like. And options for faithful characters: those who believe in a god or are religious bnotate not divine. Lay followers and such.
and as for heroes of the astral sea...
well it would need some nice themes and paragon paths to accompany it.
And a type of gith ridding red dragons
The astral sea is not just for divine
there is already an angel epic destiny in the divine power
the chosen in the FR players guide
the demi god ED in the phb1
that librarian styled ED in the PH2
now in my HONEST opinion, this is not FACT but an opinion.
WHAT I'd like to see is the Chosen epic destiny remastered into a theme instead of an epic destiny that is borderline identicle to the demi god epic destiny
Redoing the demi god and giving it all the deity powers of the chosen throwing out the chosen ed if it becomes a theme would do
Personally, I think the Aismar already exists as the deva.
I'd say they exist more as the Deva Bloodline feat from Dragon, it nails the "one of my ancient ancesotrs was a deva" well, while allowing you to be any race you want.
While I agree Aasimars may seem very similar to Devas (both are "divine people"), they're in the end realised differently. Devas are not born - they just "respawn" upon death, fully grown. Thus, they have no childhood or youth to develop their own personality, being essentially a psychological constant (and if they change personality upon "respawn", it just appears magically in that adult body). I liked Aasimars even more then Devas (which I like both, shall I add) because while angelic in appearance and origin, they were still people, born like any other, having a chance to develop and change, and not be so uniform - so a wicked Aasimar wouldn't be as rare as a wicked Deva.
True, the whole "rebirth" theme is very strong too, but I'd love to have both of them. As it stands, Devas are probably my favourite 4e race, and Aasimar my favourite 3.5e race.
As for other things I'd like to see in a "Heroes of the Astral Sea" book, perhaps a Celestial warlock (who made a bargain with the archons/angels/whatever they call them now of Celestia), perhaps some Thaumaturgist ("wonderworker") type of Divine striker?
According to the Forgotten Realms Players Guide Aasimar was just the Mulharandi name for Devas.
So I strongly doubt we will see classical Aasimar make a comeback.
Astral sea would also be a good place for more Runepreist suport as their powers are more from the same source as the gods instead of a specific god.
We could also see some Martial powers representing the lost techniques passed down from the gods to man.( and dwarf, elf, halfling, dragonborn, gnome...)
The Aasmir=Deva thing never made any sense at all given the history of both Aasmir and Devas in FR. No attempt has been made to make it make the slightest bit of sense.
That's because the aasimars were a problem. The devs discussed this in the preview material for 4e in Races and Classes. It's the "Ave Maria problem" taken from fantasia, where Evil gets this badass orchestra score and a giant demon, and Good gets a line of nuns singing Ave Maria.
Evil characters, or ones tainted by Evil, or with a darker approach (such as Tieflings) are easy to make exciting. It's difficult to make a character descended from angels who's genetically inclined towards Good to seem as cool. So they had to find a whole new approach. They re-invented the wheel with them, and made them fun, interesting, and above all, unique.
Devas are a great replacement for aasimars.
I'd love the Aasimars to make a proper come-back, also probably giving Rakshasas as a proper "opposite" of Devas.
While I agree Aasimars may seem very similar to Devas (both are "divine people"), they're in the end realised differently. Devas are not born - they just "respawn" upon death, fully grown. Thus, they have no childhood or youth to develop their own personality, being essentially a psychological constant (and if they change personality upon "respawn", it just appears magically in that adult body). I liked Aasimars even more then Devas (which I like both, shall I add) because while angelic in appearance and origin, they were still people, born like any other, having a chance to develop and change, and not be so uniform - so a wicked Aasimar wouldn't be as rare as a wicked Deva.
True, the whole "rebirth" theme is very strong too, but I'd love to have both of them. As it stands, Devas are probably my favourite 4e race, and Aasimar my favourite 3.5e race.
As for other things I'd like to see in a "Heroes of the Astral Sea" book, perhaps a Celestial warlock (who made a bargain with the archons/angels/whatever they call them now of Celestia), perhaps some Thaumaturgist ("wonderworker") type of Divine striker?
Which is why Aasimar work best as characters with the Deva heritage feats instead of being a Deva.
That's because the aasimars were a problem. The devs discussed this in the preview material for 4e in Races and Classes. It's the "Ave Maria problem" taken from fantasia, where Evil gets this badass orchestra score and a giant demon, and Good gets a line of nuns singing Ave Maria.
Evil characters, or ones tainted by Evil, or with a darker approach (such as Tieflings) are easy to make exciting. It's difficult to make a character descended from angels who's genetically inclined towards Good to seem as cool. So they had to find a whole new approach. They re-invented the wheel with them, and made them fun, interesting, and above all, unique.
Devas are a great replacement for aasimars.
I think that's a problem with our cultural background, instead of some inherent problem with good/benevolent characters. If good is represented by a line of nuns singing Ave Maria, it's obvious people won't be following those too much. What people don't realise, is crossing the borders of our cultural expectations and making good "badass" (or rather "goodass" in this situation). Being good - a protector of innocent, a hero of the downtrodden, and a "pure", angelic character doesn't stop you from kicking ass and taking names of evil characters. You can be just as active and great character, without necessairly using the "I kill people because it feels good" credo - you can just as well destroy the villains for justice.
That's one of the challenges I wish to overcome - create a "goodass" character. A true hero that will still be a charismatic and powerful character.
I like Devas, I just didn't like how FR campaign guide equated them to Aasmirs when it contridicted fluff and made Astral Devas for example more confusing. Deva hertiage helped abit, but I'd still like to see Aasmir and Aasmons brought back.
I would not mind more variations on the angelic and celestial.
I skipped 3rd edition and saw little of 2nd. I do not recall there being Aasimars in AD&D or OD&D when I played them. Please elightne me concerning them.
If this were a year ago, everybody would be screaming for Githyanki. Let me show you how surprised I am that nobody cares about them anymore:
If this were a year ago, everybody would be screaming for Githyanki. Let me show you how surprised I am that nobody cares about them anymore:
(Almost) nobody ever really wanted githyanki specifically. They just wanted an Int/Con race. But we have two (IIRC) of those already now.
I still think a race of militaristic space pirates riding red dragons, with a Freudian excuse background and ruled by a soul-sucking lich, has at least the potential to be a cool PC race. Provided they don't just end up as "drow without the sexy", of course...
(Almost) nobody ever really wanted githyanki specifically. They just wanted an Int/Con race.
Yes, that was my point.
The cover of that book has a certain vibe.
I want Shard-Minds to get something that will make me want to play them as much as I think I should want to play them. They were sort of a cool idea, very unique, but they're just missing something... Some racial utilities might be good for them.
If this were a year ago, everybody would be screaming for Githyanki. Let me show you how surprised I am that nobody cares about them anymore:
I bet the main reason was that before the publication of the flexible character Abilities, there was no race with advantages in both Intelligence and Constitution except for the Githyanki.
(And I agree that some of the neglected races should see more support: Kalashtars, Changelings, Shardminds, Wilden, Bladelings and Gnolls. Some interesting lore and some exciting feats, powers and maybe sets of storied magical treasure.)
I bet the main reason was that before the publication of the flexible character Abilities, there was no race with advantages in both Intelligence and Constitution except for the Githyanki.
(Almost) nobody ever really wanted githyanki specifically. They just wanted an Int/Con race.
Yes, that was my point.
And playable Modrons. And Maruts. And Quoms.
All have strong potential as Astral Sea setting races.
But I doubt we'll see them in a book, if they're really going to hold to the word of no in-book races after HotFW.
What could we see in such a book? Marut-pact for Warlocks, perhaps. More Warpriest Domains (maybe even one for each of the remaining LG, G, and U deities in Core?), new subclasses or builds for Invoker, and Runepriest, Avenger (I'm thinking about Shepherd, Archivist, and Inquisitor, specifically), a Spelljammer x Planescape setting feel, ways to run Astral Sea adventures in heroic and early paragon, astral sea themes…