Aasimar are now . . . Devas.

[Scribble]

Could be worse, could have been Devo.

bonus weapon proficiency... whip?

 

[Sonny]

I like the reincarnation angle as well. I suspect that when they reincarnate, their soul is the same but their personality is different.

Why does that make me think of the words "Time Lord"

 

[Sonny]

bonus weapon proficiency... whip?

Also, every time a Devo reincarnates, it'll be into a lower life form.








Edit: too many to's (or was it two's?)

 

[Mouseferatu]

Why does that make me think of the words "Time Lord"

Who?

 

[The Little Raven]

It specifically talks about the Aasimar being lame and "goody two shoes."

No, it doesn't. It specifically says "I won't lie: making Good-associated creatures as exciting as their Evil-curious counterparts is a challenge."

And that's true, because all-good-all-the-time characters are boring, like Faramir from LotR (which is why Peter Jackson changed him to be tempted, to give him some depth and character growth). So, making Good-associated characters without falling into the all-good-all-day trap is a challenge.

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.

We're not told anything about good guys at all in the Tiefling section. The only time that Good-associated challenges are mentioned is in the Celestial section, which never once calls them lame or anything of the sort, as I pointed out above.

And they cite tieflings as an opportunity to express your dark side, not suppress it: "It's a chance to give expression to our dark sides, the parts of our own personalities that we suppress for the sake of getting along in society."

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.

No, it talks about how they have angst because of their corrupted heritage ("Their infernal heritage gives them plenty of angst and an excuse to "get medieval" whenever the mood suits them."). In fact, it talks explicitly about them overcoming the weight of heritage and stereotypes to become true heroes.

It also draws positive parallels to Drizzt.

Yeah, a person born to a corrupt heritage who overcomes it to become a true hero. Is there a problem with that comparison, or is this just a kneejerk anti-Drizzt reaction?

This is the internet. A "quote" is "Something I wish they'd said so I can argue against it, so I'm going to argue against it anyway."

And "paraphrasing" means "Summarizing what I wish they said, so I can argue against it."

 

[Shroomy]

But the language roots (Sanskrit and Indo-European) don't cross.

I was reading through this thread and I noticed this post. FYI, Sanskrit is a Indo-European language.

 

[Oni]

I think I'm in the minority, but I like aasimar better.

That said it doesn't make one whit of difference. I'll just file it right in beside the new look for tieflings in 4E under easily changed non-issues.

 

[Shroomy]

Personally, I like the new name, since I never liked the term "aasimar" (though, as others have pointed out, it is still kind of around, at least in the Forgotten Realms) and its not like the current edition's angels are anything like the 2e/3e aasimon. Actually, if Devas are the somewhat mortal (I'm intrigued by the reincarnation angle) descendents of 4e angels, then they can easily dump the goody two-shoes baggage that is commonly associated with the race.

 

[Arashi Ravenblade]

Yay! More lame Lore changes.
I Understand the whole spellplague thing and the changes based on the passage of time, but why totally change all the lore?
Aasimar are Aasimar totally seperate from Deva, unless the ancestor that allowed for the Aasimar was a Deva.
Man this is so dumb.

I cant wait to see how WOTC screws up Eberron with Lore changes. (Sarcasm).

 

[ProfessorCirno]

Now that I'm back home, let's review some of these bits from Races and Classes.

"Tieflings reappeared in the 3rd Edition Monster Manual as one of the "plane-touched," inexorably bound to their do-gooder cousins, the aasimar. Forgive my bias, but I'll take horns and brimstone over sunshine and perfection any day. Sometimes it just doesn't pay to be the super good guy."

It's hard not to see that as "Good guys? Lame. Do-gooders. Sunshine and perfection. Huh."

Next, let's look at the bit about Tieflings being rebellious. Are they the molotov cocktail rebellious types, the ones who sneer at police and do whatever they want, or are they angsting teenagers who try so desperately to "not conform" by just dressing up weird and doing little else?

"Tieflings appeal to the rebel in us all - the part that doesn't want to conform to social norms. Like rebellious teenagers, they express their nonconformity in blatant ways, from their hairstyles to their wardrobes. Even more blatantly, their bodies reflect their fiendish heritage. When you look at a tiefling, you see some trace, at least, of an incarnationo of evil. What could be more rebellious?"

Again, it's kinda hard to get anything out of this BUT "They dress funny because NOBODY UNDERSTANDS THEM." It says nothing about them actually BEING rebellious, just that they dress that way. Oh man, HARDCORE!

How about the angst though? Well, yes, as Mourn stated, the quote goes "Their infernal heritage gives them plenty of angst and an excuse to "get medieval" whenever the mood suits them." Hey, that sounds suspiciously like that Chaotic Neutral stereotype nobody liked, only now they added ANGST to it. ANGST in capital letters because I'M A DEMON AAAANGST.

Here's the crux of my issue: Making good-aligned protagonists isn't less cool then evil ones. Nor is it difficult to make them cool. Again, what I'm seeing is this throwback from the 90's, where only GRIM ANTI-HEROES are cool. And while yes, Wolverine is mighty popular, here's the problem: So was Disaster Movie.