4E Aasimar - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 sdrowsfognik Nov 27, 2008 0:06:29	It's no secret that I'm a huge Planescape fan, and that I am vocal in my desire to get WotC to re-release the Planescape setting. Anyway, I've been thinking up a 4E version of the Aasimar I would like to maybe submit. I was wondering if I could get some feedback, criticism, suggestions from you guys? Here's what I've got so far: Aasimar Compassionate and courageous champions of good, touched with a spark of the Divine. RACIAL TRAITS Average Height: 5'7"-6'3" Average Weight: 130-200 lb. Ability Scores: +2 Wis, +2 Cha Size: Medium Speed: 6 squares Vision: Normal Languages: Common, choice of one other Skill Bonuses: +2 Perception, +2 Insight Healing Presence: Whenever you grant healing or temporary hit points to yourself or any ally through the use of a power or class feature, increase the number of hit points healed or the number of temporary hit points granted by 1. Increase this bonus to 2 at 11th level, and 3 at 21st level. Holy Light: You can use the wizard cantrip light as an at will power. Radiant Resistance: You have resist radiant 5 + one-half your level. Divine Spark: You can use channel divinity as an encounter power, and gain knowledge of the channel divinity: divine spark power. Special: You are considered to have the Channel Divinity class feature for the purposes of feats and magic items, and can select Channel Divinity Feats to gain additional uses for your Channel Divinity power provided you meet any other prerequisites. If you gain uses of the Channel Divinity feature from other sources, you can access these uses of your Channel Divinity during the same encounter, but are still limited to using any given use of a specific Channel Divinity power to once per encounter as normal. Channel Divinity: Divine Spark Aasimar Racial Power In times of your greatest peril you can petition your divine heritage for protection, and you recieve an answer. Encounter * Divine Minor Action Personal Effect: You call upon your divine patrons to protect you and gain a +1 bonus to all defenses and saving throws until the end of your next turn. Play an Aasimar if you want ... * to be a hero with a touch of the divine who excels at guiding, protecting, and bolstering others. * to be noble and compassionate, and a born exemplar against evil. * to be a member of a race that favors the paladin, cleric, and bard classes. Design Notes: I know the choice of Wis/Cha (like an Eladrin's Int/Dex) is a little constricting and underpowered, but it's a Stat array we haven't really seen in 4E yet, and that I thought was needed. It seems to me to fit the race perfectly, and (like the Eladrin) I tried to balance it out by giving them a healthy dose of other useful and unique racial powers. I never really liked how in previous additions almost every race had special Vision. Instead of giving them any kind of Dark-vision or Lowlight-vision, I gave them the light power. I thought this was cool conceptually, and a nod to the racial powers of Aasimar's of previous additions. The Skill bonuses I am not completely sold on. I basically added perception because of 3.5's Spot/Listen bonuses. My gut impulse was initially Diplomacy/Insight, but I didn't want to step on the 1/2 Elf's toes. If this doesn't seem tight to you guys I am certainly open to suggestions. The Healing Presence I think is pretty nice, and I feel it balances out pretty well. It doesn't make a Bolstering Strike happy Cha/Wis Aasimar Paladin quite as unkillable as Warforged, Dragonborn, or Dwarven Vigor Fighters, nor does it completely outshine the healing potential of a 1/2 Elf Bard or a Dwarven Cleric (god but 4E designer love those ugly, hairy little guys!), but it does at least let them play in the same field. I was kind of at a loss for their encounter power for a bit ... but when I thought of giving them a CD it felt like a perfect fit. Very thematic, and unique ... good without being unbalancing, and it ensures that no matter what class they are, their celestial nature will play a part. I dunno, maybe it was "divine inspiration". ;) By the way, I didn't match this up against MM races to check for balance, but rather the current RPGA-legal races from the PHB, FRPG, and Dragon Mag. Well that's all I've got for now. I would really like to get some feedback before I start posting any of the racial feats I got so far. Show Haha, okay I lied. :P Here's a heroic tier feat: GLORIOUS RADIANCE Prerequisite: Aasimar Benefit: You gain a +2 feat bonus to damage whenever you deal damage with the radiant keyword. Design Notes: Pretty straightforward. I wanted to balance it against the various Weapon Training Feats and stuff like Hellfire Blood. This doesn't give the bonus to attack that Hellfire Blood grants, or the used of multiple Superior weapons like Dwarven Weapon Training, but to compensate, unlike other damage-boosting feats this does give the bonus for various effects that don't include a damage roll. This makes an Aasimar Paladin's Divine Challenge a little more "compelling" than any other race's, which I think is fitting.
#2 anubis_reynard Nov 27, 2008 0:39:31	They renamed the Aasimar. Devas will be in PHB2.
#3 sdrowsfognik Nov 27, 2008 2:16:15	They renamed the Aasimar. Devas will be in PHB2. Oh bugger. Guess I got beat to the punch then. Haha. Thanks for letting me know. :D
#4 yrogerg Nov 27, 2008 8:45:08	Not for nothing, but it does seem like a bit... much. Radiant resist and a bonus to healing and the Light cantrip and channeling divinity power? I could be wrong here, but the radiant resist or the channeling divinity ability on its own seem good enough to make up the Major racial ability-- both are at least as good as a Dragonborn's Dragonbreath power, at very least; I think you might have given them a few too many abilities. I also think the radiant resist might be way too high. Is there any precedent for the + 1/2 level part? Also, as far as channeling divinity, doesn't that open up free of charge all sorts of crazy feats and paragon paths that are actually supposed to be for clerics and paladins? You might want to just take care regarding that. I would pare away one of the radiant resist or channeling divinity, and then either keep both of the others or drop the light cantrip (special vision isn't actually the norm) and replace it with something else. Or possibly not. Again, there's a bit much, there. The other thing to keep in mind is that there's been some pretty major fluff changes to the nature of the divine and alignment in 4e. "Radiant" no longer means "good", nor does "paladin" or "angel". The aasimar you have here certainly fits the old mold pretty well, but I'm not too sure about the new one. Some of the fluff still fits -the link to the divine being another way of saying a link to the Astral Sea, but "the divine" includes all sorts of evil gods, as well- Asmodeus, Tiamat, &c. I don't think it necessarily makes sense to link aasimar to goodness in this new cosmology, is all. As far as how I'd sorta like to see the fluff for aasimar/devas end up, Show I would love to see them have a link to the astral sea, but similar to angels, be somewhat alignment independent. Perhaps a race of Astral channelers, who have a weird symbiotic relationship with astral beings. Something not unlike that of the Kalashtar or Inspired in Eberron, but a bit more generalized
#5 sdrowsfognik Nov 28, 2008 16:07:22	Thanks for the feedback, although with the information that it's already been done officially (even if we won't get to see it for a bit) I will be scrapping this project. A couple quick answers. The radiant resist and half level thing was a straight copy of the rules for Tiefling's fire resist. Your probably right about the CD thing, since I later realized that so far only by starting your career as a Paladin or Cleric, and not even through multiclassing can a PC access CD. I would've changed it to a different sort of encounter ability instead of dropping it all together however. Most races get a couple little goodies, and I think this build would be underpowered if it was dropped without being replaced by something, even if it was something smaller. Tieflings for example get a bonus to attack rolls (hard to come by in 4E), Fire resistance of the same amount as this build's radiant resist (And more enemies throughout all tiers deal fire damage than radiant damage), and an encounter power, AND their bonuses affect two defenses, unlike this build. The only RPGA races so far that only have ability scores from the same pairing (Eladrin, Warforged, Minotaur) all seem to have a bit more oomph to their extra's to make up for paired stat bonuses in the same group. As for the Feat, not all Feats function the way you describe, both of the Dragonborn feats in the FRPG as well as 2 (or arguably 1.5) of the 3 heroic tier Dragonborn feats in the PHB unlock extra boosts, instead of building on what they have. So do several Gnoll feats and a Warforged feat or two in the respective Dragon issues. Still you're right, that CD thing probably made it just a weee bit too much.

Post/Author/DateTime

Post

sdrowsfognik

Nov 27, 2008 0:06:29

It's no secret that I'm a huge Planescape fan, and that I am vocal in my desire to get WotC to re-release the Planescape setting. Anyway, I've been thinking up a 4E version of the Aasimar I would like to maybe submit. I was wondering if I could get some feedback, criticism, suggestions from you guys?

Here's what I've got so far:

Aasimar
Compassionate and courageous champions of good, touched with a spark of the Divine.

RACIAL TRAITS
Average Height: 5'7"-6'3"
Average Weight: 130-200 lb.

Ability Scores: +2 Wis, +2 Cha
Size: Medium
Speed: 6 squares
Vision: Normal

Languages: Common, choice of one other
Skill Bonuses: +2 Perception, +2 Insight
Healing Presence: Whenever you grant healing or temporary hit points to yourself or any ally through the use of a power or class feature, increase the number of hit points healed or the number of temporary hit points granted by 1. Increase this bonus to 2 at 11th level, and 3 at 21st level.
Holy Light: You can use the wizard cantrip light as an at will power.
Radiant Resistance: You have resist radiant 5 + one-half your level.
Divine Spark: You can use channel divinity as an encounter power, and gain knowledge of the channel divinity: divine spark power.
Special: You are considered to have the Channel Divinity class feature for the purposes of feats and magic items, and can select Channel Divinity Feats to gain additional uses for your Channel Divinity power provided you meet any other prerequisites. If you gain uses of the Channel Divinity feature from other sources, you can access these uses of your Channel Divinity during the same encounter, but are still limited to using any given use of a specific Channel Divinity power to once per encounter as normal.

Channel Divinity: Divine Spark Aasimar Racial Power
In times of your greatest peril you can petition your divine heritage for protection, and you recieve an answer.
Encounter * Divine
Minor Action Personal
Effect: You call upon your divine patrons to protect you and gain a +1 bonus to all defenses and saving throws until the end of your next turn.

Play an Aasimar if you want ...
* to be a hero with a touch of the divine who excels at guiding, protecting, and bolstering others.
* to be noble and compassionate, and a born exemplar against evil.
* to be a member of a race that favors the paladin, cleric, and bard classes.

Design Notes:
I know the choice of Wis/Cha (like an Eladrin's Int/Dex) is a little constricting and underpowered, but it's a Stat array we haven't really seen in 4E yet, and that I thought was needed. It seems to me to fit the race perfectly, and (like the Eladrin) I tried to balance it out by giving them a healthy dose of other useful and unique racial powers.
I never really liked how in previous additions almost every race had special Vision. Instead of giving them any kind of Dark-vision or Lowlight-vision, I gave them the light power. I thought this was cool conceptually, and a nod to the racial powers of Aasimar's of previous additions.
The Skill bonuses I am not completely sold on. I basically added perception because of 3.5's Spot/Listen bonuses. My gut impulse was initially Diplomacy/Insight, but I didn't want to step on the 1/2 Elf's toes. If this doesn't seem tight to you guys I am certainly open to suggestions.
The Healing Presence I think is pretty nice, and I feel it balances out pretty well. It doesn't make a Bolstering Strike happy Cha/Wis Aasimar Paladin quite as unkillable as Warforged, Dragonborn, or Dwarven Vigor Fighters, nor does it completely outshine the healing potential of a 1/2 Elf Bard or a Dwarven Cleric (god but 4E designer love those ugly, hairy little guys!), but it does at least let them play in the same field.
I was kind of at a loss for their encounter power for a bit ... but when I thought of giving them a CD it felt like a perfect fit. Very thematic, and unique ... good without being unbalancing, and it ensures that no matter what class they are, their celestial nature will play a part. I dunno, maybe it was "divine inspiration". ;)
By the way, I didn't match this up against MM races to check for balance, but rather the current RPGA-legal races from the PHB, FRPG, and Dragon Mag.

Well that's all I've got for now. I would really like to get some feedback before I start posting any of the racial feats I got so far.

Show

Haha, okay I lied. :P Here's a heroic tier feat:

GLORIOUS RADIANCE
Prerequisite: Aasimar
Benefit: You gain a +2 feat bonus to damage whenever you deal damage with the radiant keyword.

Design Notes:
Pretty straightforward. I wanted to balance it against the various Weapon Training Feats and stuff like Hellfire Blood. This doesn't give the bonus to attack that Hellfire Blood grants, or the used of multiple Superior weapons like Dwarven Weapon Training, but to compensate, unlike other damage-boosting feats this does give the bonus for various effects that don't include a damage roll. This makes an Aasimar Paladin's Divine Challenge a little more "compelling" than any other race's, which I think is fitting.

anubis_reynard

Nov 27, 2008 0:39:31

They renamed the Aasimar.

Devas will be in PHB2.

sdrowsfognik

Nov 27, 2008 2:16:15

They renamed the Aasimar.

Devas will be in PHB2.

Oh bugger. Guess I got beat to the punch then. Haha. Thanks for letting me know. :D

yrogerg

Nov 27, 2008 8:45:08

Not for nothing, but it does seem like a bit... much. Radiant resist and a bonus to healing and the Light cantrip and channeling divinity power? I could be wrong here, but the radiant resist or the channeling divinity ability on its own seem good enough to make up the Major racial ability-- both are at least as good as a Dragonborn's Dragonbreath power, at very least; I think you might have given them a few too many abilities.

I also think the radiant resist might be way too high. Is there any precedent for the + 1/2 level part? Also, as far as channeling divinity, doesn't that open up free of charge all sorts of crazy feats and paragon paths that are actually supposed to be for clerics and paladins? You might want to just take care regarding that.

I would pare away one of the radiant resist or channeling divinity, and then either keep both of the others or drop the light cantrip (special vision isn't actually the norm) and replace it with something else. Or possibly not. Again, there's a bit much, there.

The other thing to keep in mind is that there's been some pretty major fluff changes to the nature of the divine and alignment in 4e. "Radiant" no longer means "good", nor does "paladin" or "angel". The aasimar you have here certainly fits the old mold pretty well, but I'm not too sure about the new one. Some of the fluff still fits -the link to the divine being another way of saying a link to the Astral Sea, but "the divine" includes all sorts of evil gods, as well- Asmodeus, Tiamat, &c. I don't think it necessarily makes sense to link aasimar to goodness in this new cosmology, is all.

As far as how I'd sorta like to see the fluff for aasimar/devas end up,

Show

I would *love* to see them have a link to the astral sea, but similar to angels, be somewhat alignment independent. Perhaps a race of Astral channelers, who have a weird symbiotic relationship with astral beings. Something not unlike that of the Kalashtar or Inspired in Eberron, but a bit more generalized

sdrowsfognik

Nov 28, 2008 16:07:22

Thanks for the feedback, although with the information that it's already been done officially (even if we won't get to see it for a bit) I will be scrapping this project.

A couple quick answers. The radiant resist and half level thing was a straight copy of the rules for Tiefling's fire resist. Your probably right about the CD thing, since I later realized that so far only by starting your career as a Paladin or Cleric, and not even through multiclassing can a PC access CD. I would've changed it to a different sort of encounter ability instead of dropping it all together however. Most races get a couple little goodies, and I think this build would be underpowered if it was dropped without being replaced by something, even if it was something smaller. Tieflings for example get a bonus to attack rolls (hard to come by in 4E), Fire resistance of the same amount as this build's radiant resist (And more enemies throughout all tiers deal fire damage than radiant damage), and an encounter power, AND their bonuses affect two defenses, unlike this build. The only RPGA races so far that only have ability scores from the same pairing (Eladrin, Warforged, Minotaur) all seem to have a bit more oomph to their extra's to make up for paired stat bonuses in the same group.

As for the Feat, not all Feats function the way you describe, both of the Dragonborn feats in the FRPG as well as 2 (or arguably 1.5) of the 3 heroic tier Dragonborn feats in the PHB unlock extra boosts, instead of building on what they have. So do several Gnoll feats and a Warforged feat or two in the respective Dragon issues.

Still you're right, that CD thing probably made it just a weee bit too much.