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

[noodohs]

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.

In that specific case maybe (I'd argue that you could still mix the traits to have a half and half heritage with guidance cantrip and fire resistance, for example), but my point was that you can pick gifts from other heritages to make a unique character that might better support the theme you want. And as Morrus said, there's nothing saying they couldn't just offer new gift options later. O5e just removed most of those recently, so all those fun aasimar variants you love aren't even in O5e now anyway.

 

[xiphumor]

In that specific case maybe (I'd argue that you could still mix the traits to have a half and half heritage with guidance cantrip and fire resistance, for example), but my point was that you can pick gifts from other heritages to make a unique character that might better support the theme you want. And as Morrus said, there's nothing saying they couldn't just offer new gift options later. O5e just removed most of those recently, so all those fun aasimar variants you love aren't even in O5e now anyway.

Technically speaking, that would leave you without an age, size, or speed…

I’m happy to homebrew whatever, but not everyone is, and having official options that are different allows for more variations. They can offer more heritage gifts, but they’re not going to offer more base heritages under the same title, so whether we get more variant Aasimar and Tieflings or Genasi or any other race, they’ll all
officially have Immortal Blessing and Darkvision when that design space could have been used to make things more customizable.

 

[noodohs]

Technically speaking, that would leave you without an age, size, or speed…

No it wouldn't. Age, size, and speed are all part of the base heritage (along with Immortal Blessing and Darkvision) and are therefore the same for aasimar and tieflings. Whether you choose aasimar or tiefling from there (or a combination of the two), those are the gifts. That's where you choose your resistances, languages, cantrips, etc. I guess I could see wanting more variety in having one that doesn't have Immortal Blessing, but it seems to fit the theme for both anyway so meh. What new gifts could do, however, is give you a fallen aasimar with necrotic resistance or an ice tiefling or something or a dedicated half-aasimar half-tiefling, which seems more like what you're asking for in the first place. Also, I could've sworn there was a genasi somewhere in LU, but I can't find it anymore and it's definitely not under the planetouched heritage now, at least, so there's no reason to believe it would be lumped in with aasimar and tiefling (even though planetouched seems like a more appropriate umbrella for genasi than aasimar and tiefling).

 

[xiphumor]

What new gifts could do, however, is give you a fallen aasimar with necrotic resistance or an ice tiefling or something or a dedicated half-aasimar half-tiefling, which seems more like what you're asking for in the first place. Also, I could've sworn there was a genasi somewhere in LU, but I can't find it anymore and it's definitely not under the planetouched heritage now, at least, so there's no reason to believe it would be lumped in with aasimar and tiefling (even though planetouched seems like a more appropriate umbrella for genasi than aasimar and tiefling).

Genasi aren’t in LU yet, but Morrus has suggested on a recent poll that they’ll be planetouched gifts. Full disclosure, I think Immortal blessing for Aasimar and Tieflings are mostly fine, but I think Genasi could be a lot more interesting if they had different gifts.

 

[Larnievc]

IWhere are you picking up on an idea of me creating a character without certain powers?

That's not what I said. What I'm getting at is that I can't see how anyone's creativity is being stifled.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Genasi aren’t in LU yet, but Morrus has suggested on a recent poll that they’ll be planetouched gifts. Full disclosure, I think Immortal blessing for Aasimar and Tieflings are mostly fine, but I think Genasi could be a lot more interesting if they had different gifts.

I built genasi as a heritage gift with multiple options in my homebrew document.

 

[xiphumor]

That's not what I said. What I'm getting at is that I can't see how anyone's creativity is being stifled.

Ah. The main thing is that you cannot, by RAW, mix and match planetouched heritages with other planetouched. In the future, this means you couldn’t have something like an Earth Genasi / Aasimar or a Fire Genasi / Tiefling.

 

[xiphumor]

I built genasi as a heritage gift with multiple options in my homebrew document.

I’ve been building them as a full heritage. I’d love to see your work and compare notes!

 

[noodohs]

Yeah, I'll agree with you on that. Like I can see how they fall under the term "Planetouched," but they do seem different from aasimar and tiefling fundamentally. I mean I guess technically heaven and hell are just planes, so maybe it makes sense, but they seem like different sorts of planes.

 

[Larnievc]

Ah. The main thing is that you cannot, by RAW, mix and match planetouched heritages with other planetouched. In the future, this means you couldn’t have something like an Earth Genasi / Aasimar or a Fire Genasi / Tiefling.

You could. You just would not get the powers. You can still be creative, though. Nothing stops you from coming up with a great back story for how you are a mixed Genasi.