D&D (2024) All about Ardlings

[Mind of tempest]

Firbolgs now have floppy cow ears because of Critical Role. This is mythology at work.

why, we have minotaurs for cow people?

 

[Gorck]

why, we have minotaurs for cow people?

Yeah, I never got that interpretation. Based on the written lore in VGM and real world Celtic mythology, at my table I consider them more as a Half-Elf/Half-Giant.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Yeah, I never got that interpretation. Based on the written lore in VGM and real world Celtic mythology, at my table I consider them more as a Half-Elf/Half-Giant.

honestly, I still fail to get why they are giants other than by size giant does not feel like a real category.

 

[Gorck]

honestly, I still fail to get why they are giants other than by size giant does not feel like a real category.

I once read that, in Irish folklore, they were giants. But looking at the Wikipedia page, the only reference to giants is the last paragraph in the Analysis section where a couple scholars suggest they are disguised Formorians (another supernatural race in Irish folklore that "are often portrayed as hostile and monstrous beings. Originally they were said to come from under the sea or the earth. Later, they were portrayed as sea raiders and giants.")

 

[Mecheon]

why, we have minotaurs for cow people?

Because Firbolg art has kind of been lacking a consistent theme and there's never really been a standard stereotypical This Is A Firbolg to catch people's minds, unlike elves being an easy comparison point for the Tuatha De (mind I liked 4E's version of firbolgs, but 3E and 2E's Just A Big Dude were always sort of meh), so when Critical Role described them with a cow-like nose once, what with CR being Incredibly Popular, folks went with that cow idea because it gave the firbolg a consistent visual theme that became recognisable

which also ties into why I think a big part of Ardlings is "Aasimar don't have that Consistent Visual Theme"

 

[MechaTarrasque]

I like the "pestered by your guardian angel" bit for aasimar in 5e, but I have to admit, it could easily be made a little more generic ("pestered by a guardian angel/your ancestors/some weird thing from the Far Realm/a fey that your parents owned a debt to/tempting fiend") and made into a background.

 

[Temporalgod]

The thing is, I'm perfectly fine with "divine furries" as some people have called them, but they can just be trivially rolled into Aasimar. Allow Aasimar and Tieflings the aesthetic of having animal features or animal heads based on their progenitor and... done. That's it. You want wings? Aasimar Radiant Guardian has wings, as does the Necrotic Shroud.

It is such a bizarrely simple fix, I don't see why there needed to be a second race.

Only animal Tieflings I know of are Rakshasa spawn which is only way for playable tiger folk.

 

[Temporalgod]

So, now I'm picturing a donkey Ardling. Ack!

Could make him a horny bard that loves waffles, dragons and annoying half-orcs and ogres, who also refuses to "Get Outta of Muh Swamp!"

 

[Temporalgod]

Hear me out let's make Llama Ardlings named Carl

 

[Chaosmancer]

Only animal Tieflings I know of are Rakshasa spawn which is only way for playable tiger folk.

Maybe officially, but it wouldn't be hard to imagine Tieflings descended from or related to Vrocks, Glabrezu, Hezrou, Bulezau, Goristro, Balgura, ect ect ect.