Level Up (A5E) Were the Planetouched a design trap?

[xiphumor]

It seems to me that although it was lore-appropriate, making the Planetouched into a single heritage distinguished by gifts significantly limited the creative potential available to players and designers. Here’s my case:

1. It’s impossible to mechanically represent heritage from multiple planes. Imagine the story possibilities with mixed Aasimar-Tiefling heritage! That’s not currently possible to represent going by RAW.

2. There will inevitably be a Plane of Fire planetouched, and they will be nearly identical to Tieflings. Fire resistance is an obvious must-have for a Fire Planetouched, which doesn’t leave a lot of room for making interesting new character options that are noticeably different from what Tieflings already provide.

3. Making Tieflings and Aasimar sub-races removes the possibility of doing what O5e had a lot of fun with, which was making lots of variants on the theme of angels and demons rather than generically heavenly/hellish.

4. Immortal Legacy and Darkvision are fine traits, but they don’t seem particularly appropriate for all of the planes. In addition, it makes the planes all seem somewhat uniform compared to each other when they should feel radically different, especially those that are dedicated to exact opposites of each other.

I love A5e and have the utmost respect and admiration for the design team, but I think they’ve written themselves into a bit of a corner here. There may be some possible solutions though. One option is to have a category of heritages which come directly from the planes rather than merely influenced by them which are more diverse (perhaps called “Denizens”). Another is to restrict the Planetouched to the moral planes and leave the field open for other planar-heritages. A third is to just backtrack a bit like O5e did with Tieflings when they added sub-races, which wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

I’d love to hear counter-arguments about the advantages of how things are at present, but I want it to be clear that I’m not writing to complain. I’m writing because I want to see A5e flourish and explode with creative potential, and I think that this point currently stands in the way of that happening as fully as possible.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

It doesn't bother me much because I tend not to think of outer-planer creatures as genetic beings following some rule of heredity, but as metaphysical "alignment elementals". So a being with equal parts Archon and Devil ancestry would either "cancel out" into a completely mortal being, or synergize into something akin to a Modron-touched.

 

[Cadence]

1. It’s impossible to mechanically represent heritage from multiple planes. Imagine the story possibilities with mixed Aasimar-Tiefling heritage! That’s not currently possible to represent going by RAW.

As an aside, one possible "solution" showed up as a "unique thing" in a 13th Age game that's just starting - they're the child of a half-orc and a half-elf, and just got the human parts from each!

 

[W'rkncacnter]

In addition, it makes the planes all seem somewhat uniform compared to each other when they should feel radically different, especially those that are dedicated to exact opposites of each other.

this is 100% my biggest problem with the planetouched heritage concept. if you really look at aasimar and tieflings mechanically, what's actually different about them? well, aasimar get discount lay on hands and guidance instead of leveled spells and produce flame, and they're resistant to different types of damage. and i guess aasimar learn celestial, but...who cares?
and then the paragon gifts are just "hey, you wanna be immune to your resistance or do you wanna ignore other people's resistance (and treat immunity as resistance) to it?" not to mention that first one isn't going to scale well with new gift options for the planetouched since it specifies what it does for each gift instead of either separating it out like the assault ones do or just saying "your resistance from your gift becomes immunity" or something. they're just boring and seem very samey compared to each other.

 

[Morrus]

I don’t think it’s a trap. There’s nothing to stop us making a new heritage where appropriate or a new gift where that’s more appropriate. We aren’t limited to any previous groupings of O5E’s.

 

[xiphumor]

I don’t think it’s a trap. There’s nothing to stop us making a new heritage where appropriate or a new gift where that’s more appropriate. We aren’t limited to any previous groupings of O5E’s.

That’s good to hear. Also, I just want to say thank you for how much time you spend listening to and responding to the community. It means a lot.

 

[noodohs]

I think it's also worth mentioning that mixed heritages are an option presented in the AG, so as long as the GM approves, there's nothing to stop you from mixing and matching to make a more thematically-appropriate heritage that's still technically within RAW.

 

[Larnievc]

It seems to me that although it was lore-appropriate, making the Planetouched into a single heritage distinguished by gifts significantly limited the creative potential available to players and designers. Here’s my case:

1. It’s impossible to mechanically represent heritage from multiple planes. Imagine the story possibilities with mixed Aasimar-Tiefling heritage! That’s not currently possible to represent going by RAW.

2. There will inevitably be a Plane of Fire planetouched, and they will be nearly identical to Tieflings. Fire resistance is an obvious must-have for a Fire Planetouched, which doesn’t leave a lot of room for making interesting new character options that are noticeably different from what Tieflings already provide.

3. Making Tieflings and Aasimar sub-races removes the possibility of doing what O5e had a lot of fun with, which was making lots of variants on the theme of angels and demons rather than generically heavenly/hellish.

4. Immortal Legacy and Darkvision are fine traits, but they don’t seem particularly appropriate for all of the planes. In addition, it makes the planes all seem somewhat uniform compared to each other when they should feel radically different, especially those that are dedicated to exact opposites of each other.

I love A5e and have the utmost respect and admiration for the design team, but I think they’ve written themselves into a bit of a corner here. There may be some possible solutions though. One option is to have a category of heritages which come directly from the planes rather than merely influenced by them which are more diverse (perhaps called “Denizens”). Another is to restrict the Planetouched to the moral planes and leave the field open for other planar-heritages. A third is to just backtrack a bit like O5e did with Tieflings when they added sub-races, which wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

I’d love to hear counter-arguments about the advantages of how things are at present, but I want it to be clear that I’m not writing to complain. I’m writing because I want to see A5e flourish and explode with creative potential, and I think that this point currently stands in the way of that happening as fully as possible.

How does it stifle creativity? Create the guy you want and say that they don’t have fancy wild powers due to <insert background here>. Make it part of the guy’s arc.

Unless it’s the wild powers you’re after and the fluff is window dressing it won’t matter.

 

[xiphumor]

How does it stifle creativity? Create the guy you want and say that they don’t have fancy wild powers due to <insert background here>. Make it part of the guy’s arc.

Unless it’s the wild powers you’re after and the fluff is window dressing it won’t matter.

I'm missing what you're referring to. Where are you picking up on an idea of me creating a character without certain powers?

 

[xiphumor]

I think it's also worth mentioning that mixed heritages are an option presented in the AG, so as long as the GM approves, there's nothing to stop you from mixing and matching to make a more thematically-appropriate heritage that's still technically within RAW.

Mixed heritages are created by combining the base heritage from one race with the heritage gift of another. Aasimar and Tieflings share a base heritage in A5e, so a half-Aasimar, half-Tiefling character is functionally indistinct from a full-blooded Aasimar or Tiefling (depending on which heritage gift you take). The mechanics should support the narrative, and having a functionally identical character to what you would be otherwise does not support that narrative.