D&D (2024) Its Ironic That Fire Goliaths Make Better Celestial Warlocks Then Aasimar Do

[Henadic Theologian]

The picture of the Celestial Warlock is an Aasimar, but the Aasimar is one of the worst Species to be Celestial Warlocks, because of the redundancies. Both Species and Subclass grant Light Cantrip and Radiant Resistance, and the only syngery, once a day they can add radiant damage once per turn to none radiant spells like Finger of Death, allowing them to trigger Raiant Soul's extra damage.

But Fire Goliaths can also do that with greater flexibility and less reduncies, by adding fire damage to damage spells that don't deal fire or radiant damage!

That is why I think Fire Goliaths are the best Species for Celestial Warlocks (Fire & Ice Goliaths are also best for Dragon Sorcerers)

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

So ... a fire goliath celestial warlock is like, um .... rain on your wedding day?

 

[mellored]

Just going to point out that fire/frost/hill all work on any attack roll, including Eldritch Blast.

Personally I would go with Hill.

 

[Corinnguard]

So ... a fire goliath celestial warlock is like, um .... rain on your wedding day?

a little too ironic, don'tcha think?

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

a little too ironic, don'tcha think?

In fairness, I have never gon... done anything with a fire goliath in a theater.

 

[Corinnguard]

The picture of the Celestial Warlock is an Aasimar, but the Aasimar is one of the worst Species to be Celestial Warlocks, because of the redundancies. Both Species and Subclass grant Light Cantrip and Radiant Resistance, and the only syngery, once a day they can add radiant damage once per turn to none radiant spells like Finger of Death, allowing them to trigger Raiant Soul's extra damage.

A friend of mine had a similar issue with the Aasimar and the Celestial Bloodline in PF1. However, his problem with the race and the sorcerer bloodline wasn't a redundancy issue. It was over the fact that any sorcerer of this bloodline became more celestial than an Aasimar, an actual descendant of the celestial.

 

[Xeviat]

Anytime a character gets an ability they already have from another source, I give them something else from the same category. I'd give the celestial warlock Aasimar another cleric cantrip and a different resistance (lightning is a common immunity for celestials, but I'd be open to others).

Then again, I let people stack Extra Attack so martial multi classes don't have dead levels.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Anyway, to make a substantive comment @Henadic Theologian ...

I don't think it's ironic, or even weird. Think about it like this-

The Aasimar is a partly angelic being that invokes celestial power.
The celestial warlock is a person who made a pact with a celestial that allows them to channel celestial power.

In other words, it would be weird if there weren't redundancies. Because the Aasimar is already using the same power source (internally) that is granted by the patron of the warlock.

 

[Mistwell]

Fortunately, these are pretty minor differences. I would have preferred doubling-up on the light cantrip extended its range or something. But realistically resistance to radiant damage isn't going to come up very often regardless. That resistance to necrotic damage will come up far more often, and the really key ability is Celestial Revelation. Flight, a radiant aura, or a frightening aura is the reason you're looking at Aasimar abilities. Not the Light cantrip or resistance to radiant damage.

 

[Remathilis]

It's a noted issue with many thematic combos.

A dragonborn draconic sorcerer should never pick the same color for species and class. You get the same elemental resistance.

A triton makes a bad sea druid/kraken warlock because they get water breathing and a swim speed twice.

A reborn warlock should not take the undead patron since they both give you the ability to not eat, sleep, or drink.

Just to name a few.

The issue comes from when you get the same feature twice, you don't get something different and/or they don't stack. Not sure how you fix that, but it creates a perverse incentive to ignore thematic combos and opt for mismatched combos instead.