In a world teeming with divine potential and radiant destinies, choosing the right background for your Aasimar is crucial for a harmonious blend of narrative depth and strategic advantage.
This guide illuminates the path ahead, presenting the five best backgrounds that seamlessly integrate with the celestial essence of Aasimar characters in D&D 5e.
Contents
What Are Backgrounds in D&D 5e?
Backgrounds are more than simple stat boosts in Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition. They reveal where your character came from, why you became an adventurer, and your place in the world.
Before choosing your Background, ask yourself a few questions:
- What was I before I became an adventurer?
- Why did I stop doing what my Background explains and become an adventurer?
- Where did I get the money to buy my starting equipment?
- Where did I learn the skills used in my class?
- What’s different about me compared to others with the same Background?
Best Backgrounds for Aasimar
5. Ruined
Skill Proficiencies – Survival, Stealth
Tool Proficiencies – A gaming set of your choice (like three-dragon ante cards or playing cards)
Languages – Choose one
Equipment – A set of traveler’s clothes, a gaming set (matching your chosen proficiency), a hunting trap, a half-empty bottle, a set of rusty manacles, a cracked hourglass, and a pouch with 13GP.
Why the Ruined?
Ruined Aasimar are followed by misfortune, tempted by the dark, and fallen, unlike their angelic brothers and sisters.
Still Standing gives you access to the Tough, Skilled, and Alert Feats, allowing you to choose one. Your choice will reflect how you’ve dealt with your ruin and also provide some great stats.
Note: Ruined is the perfect background for a Fallen Aasimar.
4. Folk Hero
Skill Proficiencies – Animal Handling, Survival
Tool Proficiencies – Vehicles (land), One type of Artisan’s tools
Languages – None
Equipment – One set of Artisan’s tools (you may choose), an iron pot, a set of common clothes, a shovel, and a pouch with 10GP.
Why the Folk Hero?
Rustic Hospitality will be your main ability as a Folk Hero, playing the role of people’s hero and an event that defines you as such.
With Rustic Hospitality, you gain the favor of common folk around you, shielding you from danger, though their lives will not be risked for your cause.
Aasimar are mainly divine protectors, so they might interfere when evil forces try toying with a common village or saving commoners from gold-craving bandits, granting them the title of Folk Hero.
3. Inheritor
Skill Proficiencies – Survival, plus one among Religion, History, and Arcana
Tool Proficiencies – Your choice of a musical instrument or gaming set
Languages – Choose one
Equipment – A set of traveler’s clothes, your inheritance, the tool you choose from the tool proficiency, and a pouch with 15GP.
Why the Inheritor?
Although Inheritance might only leave you with a tiny piece of your past, it can significantly change the way you play the game, perceive others, act in situations, and it can even turn out to be a magical item in disguise.
2. Acolyte
Skill Proficiencies – Religion, Insight
Tool Proficiencies – None
Languages – Choose two
Equipment – One holy symbol (gift to you when you entered the priesthood), a set of common clothes, a prayer book or prayer wheel, 5 sticks of incense, vestments, and a pouch with 15GP.
Why the Acolyte?
Aasimars make for some of the best Clerics and Paladins, both in statistics and for roleplaying, so when they’re combined with an Acolytle’s Shelter of Faith, you’ll never need a shelter again.
1. Knight of the Order
Skill Proficiencies – Persuasion, plus one among Religion, Nature, History, and Arcana, as appropriate for your order
Tool Proficiencies – One type of gaming set or a musical instrument
Languages – Choose one
Equipment – A seal representing your place or rank in the order, a set of traveler’s clothes, a banner, a signet, and a pouch with 10GP.
Why the Knight of the Order?
Aasimar can already become powerful Paladins or warriors, so when they become a Knight of the Order, their skills are tied to a certain organization in Faerûn.
Knight Regard will allow an Aasimar to gain access to many different buildings, including temples if the order they belong to is religious.
They will even gain support from the community, no matter if they are a small organization or a powerful kingdom, and at times, they will even come to your aid in battle.
Final Thoughts
Whether you choose brutal honor as a Knight of the Order, the virtuous journey of an Acolyte, the inherited power as an Inheritor, the people’s favor as a Folk Hero, or the tragic story of a Ruined, each background brings a new dynamic to your Aasimar character.
Embrace the celestial essence within, and let your chosen background amplify the radiance of your role-playing adventure.