Aasimar Playable Race for D&D 5e

Learn all about the celestial species known as the Aasimar and how you can optimise them.

Placed in the world to serve the forces of law and good, Aasimar are Humans that have been somehow had their biology influenced by a celestial being; as such, they are expected to destroy evil and serve justice. An Aasimar’s lineage grants them additional powers and abilities beyond those normally available to Humans granting them some portion of abilities normally only available to celestial beings. While Aasimar tend to be good-aligned, some Aasimar do fall from the path of goodness and are often known as fallen Aasimar.

Aasimar were first introduced to D&D 5e in Volo’s Guide to Monsters and have since been updated in Monsters of the Multiverse. You can learn everything you need to know to play as one of these angelic beings in our guide below.

What are the Aasimar?

The Aasimar are beings born of at least one Human parent, but where the child has somehow been influenced by a celestial being. This may come from a celestial being mating with a Human or it may come from some latent gene that is manifest later down the bloodline. Either way, Aasimar are very rare beings and as such, many people of the Forgotten Realms are unlikely to have met one before (even many Aasimar haven’t met another Aasimar before). This is particularly the case because Aasimar usually don’t have Aasimar siblings. Celestials rarely mate with Humans, and when they do, it will likely only be once. And when a latent gene is manifest in a child, it’s so rare for it to transform a Human infant into an Aasimar, that it usually doesn’t manifest in siblings.

Those celestials that deign to grant mortals with their lineage, often do so with the purpose to bless mortals with an individual of goodness and a protector and it’s not unusual for Aasimar to be given missions towards some goal to goodness. This is why many Aasimar find their path as paladins or clerics.

While there aren’t subspecies of Aasimar as such, some Aasimar do find themselves in differing circumstances and can be categorised based on these circumstances as the following:

Fallen Aasimar – An Aasimar tempted by evil influences may become fallen. This does not mean that this Aasimar is evil, but rather they have done something they shouldn’t have done. Either way, this evil has tarnished their inner light, making them fallen.
Protector Aasimar – Some Aasimar are given a divine mission to protect the weak and innocent from the forces of evil. Often this mission is given them in their youth so that they can train towards this goal. Such Aasimar are known as Protector Aasimar.
Scourge Aasimar – Some Aasimar feel an intense desire to eradicate evil from the land. This desire will manifest physically with radiant energy literally emitting from their being. These Aasimar will seek out evil wherever they can find it and purge it by all means necessary.
Standard Aasimar – Many Aasimar don’t fall into the above categories and are simply defined by their celestial heritage and not by any of the additional criteria above.

Is an Aasimar the right character for me?

Dungeons and Dragons lets you take a flexible approach to building a character, but if you’re going to stick to typical culture and the best-optimised build for an Aasimar you might consider the following:

Choose an Aasimar if you like…

Wielding celestial power
Want to have innate paladin-like powers
Glowing with mysterious light

An Aasimar might not be for you if…

You don’t care about healing allies
Don’t want to be on the frontlines of combat
Prefer something a little more fiendish

If you think an Aasimar isn’t for you, not to worry, there are dozens of playable races for you to pick from, just check out our races guide to find out about all of them. For an alternative race that can cause damage to foes around them, you could consider an Eladrin or Shadar-Kai.

Racial traits

These features are based on the features found in Monsters of the Multiverse. You can play as an Aasimar using the rules found in Volo’s Guide to Monsters instead which also provides slightly differing rules for Fallen, Protector and Scourge Aasimar.

Ability Scores	+2 to one ability score and +1 to another or +1 to 3 different ability scores
Creature Type	Humanoid
Size	Medium or small
Lifespan	up to 160 years
Speed	30ft
Languages	Common and Celestial
Traits	Celestial Resistance, Darkvision, Healing Hands, Light Bearer, Celestial Revelation
Resistances	Necrotic, Radiant
Proficiencies	None
Darkvision	Yes
Innate Spellcasting	None
Book found in	Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse, Volo’s Guide to Monsters

Tactics

Resisting damage: Necrotic is the 2nd most common type of damage in the game according to our research making it a really valuable resistance Unfortunately, radiant damage is one of the rarest damage types. Regardless, you have resistance to 2 damage types which you’ll get most use from by being on the frontlines absorbing attacks. Pick a tough class and make sure your AC is high and charge in.

Wielding celestial power: Flight can be quite nifty, especially if you want to play a full caster, but necrotic shroud and radiant consumption are great ways to cause damage or frightened on your foes as you leap into combat. It’s not a lot of damage and the frightened condition doesn’t last long, but it adds up when in the middle of several foes and when the effect lasts a whole combat encounter. Just note that if you do go for necrotic shroud, you’ll want a decent charisma score to ensure your foes actually become frightened of you.

Emergency medic: You may only be able to heal once per long rest, but that can be the difference between life and death when an ally’s life is fading away and the cleric is preoccupied (or the one that needs healing). I’d suggest saving your healing for emergencies just like this.

Which classes work well for Aasimars?

When choosing a class to play as for your Aasimar, it’s worth considering the abilities they have and what will work well with a given class. The Celestial Revelation ability is the main one for Aasimar and while you can only choose one of these revelations, it allows for some variety that make Aasimar good for pretty much any class, you just have to pick a matching revelation.

Below I’ve put together a score for how well each class works with a Aasimar based on how well the racial traits work with each class. I’ve worked this out based on the optimal usage of celestial revelation too, so while a wizard may not be a great option for necrotic shroud, they are a great option for radiant soul:

Artificer⭐⭐⭐⭐

Barbarian ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Bard ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Cleric ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Druid ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Fighter ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Monk ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Paladin ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Ranger ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rogue ⭐⭐⭐

Sorcerer ⭐⭐⭐

Warlock ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Wizard ⭐⭐⭐

*Star ratings scored out of 5

Best classes for Aasimar

The Aasimar are primarily built for melee combat. Darkvision is good for tanks that will want to be at the front of the party and Necrotic Shroud and Radiant Consumption are ideal for characters in the thick of combat as they do damage to a small area around the character. You also get resistance to Necrotic and Radiant damage which is handy for someone in the firing line and few races get 2 resistances. Some extra healing abilities are handy for any class as there’s no guarantee that your healer will be available.

If you do want a ranged Aasimar, the flight from radiant soul is a great way to stay safe and makes ranged classes a good option still.

The slight issue to consider is the effectiveness of Necrotic Shroud is dependent on your charisma, so you’ll get the most mileage out of this ability if you’re playing as a charisma-based class. For this reason, Aasimar tend to work best as paladins more than any other class. You might also see the benefits from something like a hexblade warlock or a college of swords bard who are both charisma-based melee classes, though there are better fits for the Aasimar.

With that in mind, the best classes for an Aasimar are:

Paladin
Fighter
Barbarian
Cleric
Druid

Depending on the build of your character, an Artificer armourer or battle smith can work well, but they often want to be using their bonus action on other things rather than their Celestial Revelation.

Worst classes for Aasimar

I’d argue that there aren’t really any bad classes for Aasimar. Because your Celestial Revelation has a couple of other options to choose from, you can adapt your Aasimar to most classes, even those that may not want to be in the thick of combat like a wizard or sorcerer by taking Radiant Soul instead (which does increase the damage of attack spells and gives you flight, which is useful for ranged classes).

About the Aasimar

Appearance

Aasimar look like Humans but with some slight differences influenced by their celestial heritage. These differences aren’t as pronounced as those of a Tiefling (a being whose heritage is influenced by an infernal bloodline) but may manifest in a few, small ways. It’s up to you how the celestial lineage might affect the appearance of your character, but these features might include; metallic or white freckles, metallic, luminous or dark eyes, starkly coloured hair, an unusual hue tinting your shadow, a ghostly halo or rainbows gleaming on your skin.

Aasimar tend to be longer-lived than their Human counterparts owing to their divine heritage. Their mortal blood ensures that they are not immortal, but will often live up to about 160 years.

Personality

Aasimar are typically, highly empathetic individuals that feel the pains and sorrows of others granting an intense desire to help those in need. This also comes with a heavy emotional burden as the needs of others can be many and not all can be solved easily. Most Aasimar do have a desire and an inclination towards goodness and lawfulness though some Aasimar may differ and may even fall (much as some celestial beings have also fallen from the goodness they once held).

Sometimes, this goodness can manifest in a coldness and even a self-righteous and pious attitude. This can certainly be the case with Scourge Aasimar who adopt a more vengeful streak, even if it is in the name of doing good.

Names

As Aasimar tend to be born to Human parents, they tend to have Human names. As such, it’s best to pick a name that matches the culture your Aasimar was born to from among the Human names of that culture. You might consider the meanings behind such names though as some Humans may consider their child blessed or divinely-touched when they are born which may influence their name.

How to roleplay an Aasimar

While you can choose to play an Aasimar however you like, the personality you choose may depend on the type of Aasimar that you are. Below I’ve shared some ways you could roleplay your Aasimar:

A heritage you never wanted: Some Aasimar do not want the gifts or responsibility bestowed upon them by their lineage. You actively rebel against any sense of divine destiny and instead try to forge your own path. Perhaps though, these things have a way of catching up with you anyway…

Regret and redemption: You are a fallen Aasimar. You have failed in some way, giving in to evil, but you are also regretful of that evil. You seek redemption and perhaps one day, to come back into the good graces of the celestial beings you serve.

The scourge of evil: You take your divine calling very seriously. Like many other celestial beings, you seek to root out and destroy evil. You see morality through a black and white lens with little room for grey areas. Take a strong stance against certain things you consider obvious evils like stealing (even if it’s to feed a starving family) or lying (even if it’s to protect a loved one). Be careful with this type of character though, that they don’t become a blocker for the rest of the party and what they want to do.

Protecting the weak: Unlike many celestials, you are acutely aware of the challenges of mortality. You have empathy for the weak and the defenceless and seek to use your divine powers to protect those that cannot protect themselves. A holy warrior, you are prepared to sacrifice much for the greater good.