Aasimar are now . . . Devas.

[ProfessorCirno]

Interesting. I am looking for your quote from the book, but I can't find it. Which article was this from?

Or is this a quote, that actually isn't a quote?

Paraphrased. Look under the Tieflings, in which they say Aasimar are lame because they're good guys, and rebellious teenagers are awesome. Don't have Races and Classes with me at this moment, when I get back to my room I'll grab it and give the full quotes for you if you want.

 

[CleverNickName]

Going by the way Teiflings are no longer mixed blooded (like in 3.5) but cursed humans; it seems likely Aasimar are just humans cursed to reincarnate never to fully reach the celestial planes and glory that comes with it.

Poe-tay-toe, poe-tah-toe. (shrug) There is more than one way to 'mix' a race, whether it be by combining genetics, or culture, or skin grafting...each is perfectly viable depending on your game world and play style.

It's just not my bag.

 

[JPL]

After all, in one of the more headache inducing articles on Races and Classes, it was mentioned that "Good guys are lame, rebellious teenagers are AWESOME, lets shove more crappy angst into this system."

Personally, I wish WotC would start emphasizing races that have the personality traits of hardworking thirtysomething nerds with families and adult responsibilities. Maybe some kind of dwarf, but instead of drinking mead and killing orcs, they worry about their aging parents and mortgage payments and quote "Star Trek: The Next Generation" when they email their other nerd friends.

 

[El Mahdi]

. . ."Devil" traces its origin back to the Latin "diabolus," and before that to the Greek "diabolos." Whereas "deva" comes from the Sanskrit.

They happen to be similar sounding, but they don't actually come from the same root.

Spot on. Some of the religious concepts and ideas have similiar roots, but the language roots and etymology don't.

The ancient Vedic religion was a precursor of both Hinduism and Zoroastrianism, and both of those religions influenced eachother. Zoroastrianism had a strong influence on western religious thinking, and was based on Indo-European language. But the language roots (Sanskrit and Indo-European) don't cross.

 

[catsclaw227]

Paraphrased.

Oh, OK. I get it. Most professors I know don't refer to an article, use quotes, and then call it paraphrasing when someone questions them about it, so that is what threw me off.

I stand corrected.

Look under the Tieflings, in which they say Aasimar are lame because they're good guys, and rebellious teenagers are awesome. Don't have Races and Classes with me at this moment, when I get back to my room I'll grab it and give the full quotes for you if you want.

Yea, but see... I think I am reading the right essay (It's Good to Be Bad, by James Wyatt) and I don't get anything like your paraphrase from it.

"Good guys are lame, rebellious teenagers are AWESOME, lets shove more crappy angst into this system."

When they describe rebellious and the attire of a tiefling, I get reminiscences of James Dean type rebellion, mixed in with some punk. Nothing emo about it, actually. I am looking for the "Good guys are lame" paraphrase. Can't find it. Nor the references to "lets shove more crappy angst into this system" you are paraphrasing.

Did we read the same book?

/threadjack

 

[Rechan]

When they describe rebellious and the attire of a tiefling, I get reminiscences of James Dean type rebellion, mixed in with some punk.

Aye. That's my view of Tieflings - the original Hell's Angels.

I think it's cool they went with something Hindu-ish. I think D&D would benefit from stealing a few more things from non-European mythology.

All I want to know is: WHEN DO WE GET THEM?

 

[Shemeska]

New game sure, but changing an existing setting more than necessary is intrusive.

Exactly. Whimsical changes to things are fine and dandy for a completely different setting like the default PoL for 4e, but it rapidly becomes annoying when it's forced onto settings already with their own terms or conceptions of the same thing with decades of development using them.

 

[Miyaa]

I'm getting an image of a female Deva looking at a demon and saying, "Oh, no you don't, hun," while pimping out in her latest Prada chainmail evening wear, with high-heel shoes that can dish out damage the equvalent of a punching dagger.

(And maybe I'm sexists, but I'd like to see more female Paladins questing for a good sale on clothings. Really.)

 

[ProfessorCirno]

Oh, OK. I get it. Most professors I know don't refer to an article, use quotes, and then call it paraphrasing when someone questions them about it, so that is what threw me off.

I stand corrected.

Eh, I'm a professor in laser. My research doesn't require lots of quotations and such. Plus the committes here in Gensokyo are rather light on that sort of thing.

</internet persona>

Yea, but see... I think I am reading the right essay (It's Good to Be Bad, by James Wyatt) and I don't get anything like your paraphrase from it.


When they describe rebellious and the attire of a tiefling, I get reminiscences of James Dean type rebellion, mixed in with some punk. Nothing emo about it, actually. I am looking for the "Good guys are lame" paraphrase. Can't find it. Nor the references to "lets shove more crappy angst into this system" you are paraphrasing.

Did we read the same book?

/threadjack

It specifically talks about the Aasimar being lame and "goody two shoes." The other quote was "I'll take fire and brimstone over rainbows and sunshine anyday." Or rather, something along those lines again, though I think that's mostly correct. In the end, I was really dismayed at this idea of good guys having to be "goody two shoes," which was repeated later in either the Aasimar or the paladin section (I forget which). It's really my biggest problem with 4e fluff - they forget it's no longer the 90's, so GRIM AND GRITTY isn't - and shouldn't - be in vogue anymore. A lawful good Aasimar paladin smiting evil isn't any less cool as a tiefling trying to wrestle with some ambiguously dark and sordid past, yet that's exactly what we're told in the tiefling section - good guys are lame, angst and FIGHTING YOUR INNER DARKNESS is awesome.

As for Tieflings being the James Dean type and not the angsty teenager, unfortunately, Races and Classes VERY SPECIFICALLY talks about how giving tieflings angst is a great idea. And while angst certainly has had many meanings in hte past, nowadays it's been fairly regulated to just beig used by and towards teenagers. It also draws positive parallels to Drizzt. Positive in that the person who wrote it thought "Drizzt is awesome, we should connect him to tieflings!"

Ugh.

 

[Nymrohd]

Well the Core books describe the PoL setting, not 2E Planescape. And honestly Planescape terms should always stay in Planescape since elsewhere they don't really mean much. A new simpler cosmology that can be grasped by new players and used easily was needed and taking advantage of your own IP to fit a new product is good sense.
I am not thrilled by the new Deva name though I can fully understand that the former just did not belong in a world that most fans still confuse one of the older base classes with a cosmetics product. They will still be aasimar on my planescape campaigns ofc.