Aasimar
by Prince Phantom
The celestial mirror to the Tiefling, Aasimar are both versatile and powerful on multiple fronts thanks to their different options for their unique minute long transformations. We’ll talk about the base features first and then get into those mutually exclusive transformations.
Aasimar Features
Darkvision: Always nice to have.
Celestial Resistance: Radiant resistance won’t come up much as it’s normally players that are dishing out holy magic, but necrotic is one of the best types to have resistance to. Also, it’s notable that this is one of only two races that give two resistances, the other being Plasmoids.
Healing Hands: This is like a mini-lay on hands, and it’s decent for getting an ally up from unconscious. I would try not to waste your action in combat on this as the amount of healing is quite low, but if you have an ally down after combat ends, this is an extra resource to get them back up. If you do use this for normal healing, make sure you do it outside of combat so you aren’t wasting your turn on healing.
Light Bearer: The Light cantrip is fine, and I generally like having it on my characters, but it’s not that big of a deal.
Celestial Revelation : At level 3, you get to choose which type of magical girl to transform into for one minute each day. You can use a bonus action to become either be a pure and holy flying beacon of all things good, an angry furnace of divine fury, or an emo edgelord who can’t stop talking about the darkness. All of these transformations get a bonus to an attack’s damage once per turn equal to our proficiency bonus, so their other benefit will be what sets them apart.
Necrotic Shroud: We get a frighten effect when we transform that keys off our Charisma, meaning only Charisma based characters should consider this. For those who fit that category, you’ll also note that this only affects those within 10ft of you. That pretty much leaves this to Paladins and Hexblades, and I think Conquest Paladins would probably get the most out of this. Even then, there are better races for a Conquest Paladin, so I think this might have trouble finding a home despite having decent abilities.
Final Rating: 2/5
Radiant Consumption: On top of the bonus damage we get to do once per turn on a hit, we also get to deal the same amount of damage to everything within 10ft of us at the end of each turn. This encourages a dangerous playstyle, as surrounding yourself with enemies is a quick way to the grave. The damage dealt isn’t even that good, starting at 2 and capping at 6. At no point will this damage be very impactful at all to a fight.
Final Rating: 2/5
Radiant Soul: No surprises here, the option that gives you flight is the best one, especially because this doesn’t restrict what armor you can wear. Getting a flight speed can trivialize some encounters, and one minute is all you’ll need for a whole fight each day. This is the clear winner.
Final Rating: 5/5
Volo’s Aasimar (Legacy)
This is a legacy race and may not be available at all tables. Check with your DM before selecting this option.
The old Aasimar is pretty similar to the new one. The revised version buffed some aspects and nerfed other, so which is better is a bit up to your opinion.
Darkvision: Always nice to have.
Celestial Resistance: Same as the revised Aasimar.
Healing Hands: This uses an action to heal HP equal to your level once per long rest, which will average out to be less than the revised version at low levels, and more at high levels. It is at least a consistent amount, which you may like more than the randomness of the revised version.
Light Bearer: Same as the revised version.
Subrace: The old Aasimar split its transformations into three separate subclasses, but functionally there is no difference between this and how the revised version handles them. The actual transformations do work quite differently though. All of them require an action to transform, and our extra damage each turn equals our level instead of our proficiency bonus. This is a nerf and a buff, as the action cost makes this clunky to use once combat has begun, but this does way more damage at all levels of play. If you can manage to transform just before combat begins, that is where these will shine the most, as otherwise taking a whole turn off to transform is just too high of a cost.
Protector: We still get 1 minute of flight, so this is still the best option. Everything I said about the revised version applies here too.
Final Rating: 5/5
Scourge: The aura of damage now affects us too, and while we do resist the damage, it’s still pretty dumb to be using an ability that hurts ourselves. This also encourages melee fighting, which I just can’t support on principle alone.
Final Rating: 2/5
Fallen: Everything I said about the revised version applies here, but since this has an effect when we transform, it can be used in combat without feeling like you’ve completely wasted your turn, so there’s that I guess.
Final Rating: 2/5
This is a pretty simple breakdown. Aasimar who can fly are one of the best races in the game, and those who cannot are fairly average. I could see the old Aasimar being used for their big damage bonus each round, (assuming they are allowed of course) as racial bonuses to damage are hard to come by. With the right build, a non flying Aasimar can excel, but any Aasimar with flight will perform exceptionally no matter what build you put them on.
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