The Fallen Angel: A Touch of The Corrupted Divine

"True gods live off your prayers and faith.

I have their hunger, but require a greater sacrifice."

- Tyranael, The Grave-Chilled Blade

The Fallen Angel

While aasimar are not always descended from the blood and blessing of angels, given all of the different celestial creatures available in Pathfinder, this is often the aesthetic, story, and iconography we lean into. Additionally, while aasimar do not have an alignment restriction, we tend to think of them as being either Good-aligned, or being drawn to good almost despite themselves due to their heritage. The Fallen Angel, though, is about the celestial nature of an aasimar warring with something else spreading through them... a corruption that is changing the very nature of their being.

The question, of course, is which corruption to add to your character?

I'm personally partial to the vampiric corruption (as anyone who read my How To Build A Blood Angels Space Marine in The Pathfinder RPG conversion guide likely noted), at least in part because of how vampirism twists and perverts the soul of the one afflicted. Noble metals like silver no longer show your reflection, your shadow vanishes, and you must drink the blood of the living as a dark communion to fuel your power.

Vampirism isn't the only corruption that can play into this theme, however.

There's also the Hellbound corruption, for those who want an angelic heritage being corrupted by the forces of hell, as well as the Demonic corruption for those more interested in the chaotic insanity of the abyss. Each of these approaches come with their own powers and their own temptations, and much of this will be left up to player interest, character build, etc. regarding what works best for you.

The interesting part of the Fallen Angel as a character, though, is how this corruption began, and how it affects your story.

For example, was this corruption present in your character from the time of their birth? Was their mother afflicted while she was pregnant, perhaps, or was there a curse or blight upon the town where they were born? Perhaps the birth of an aasimar was seen as the end of that dark time, but they really just took the curse upon themself, and now it's manifesting as a corruption within them.

Or did your corruption manifest later? And was it against your aasimar's will, or did they enter into it of their own volition?

For instance, did they swear vengeance against demons, only to slowly become corrupted by their constant exposure to them? And did your aasimar attempt to resist that corruption, or did they embrace it as another tool in their quest, falling prey to the curse of those who hunt monsters? Alternatively, did your aasimar enter a pact with a devil of their own volition? And if so, did they do it for a noble reason (perhaps selling their soul to save others in a moment of great peril), or did they merely do it for more power? Or did they see a "truth" in the devil's doctrine that their celestial heritage couldn't match, giving themselves to an infernal patron out of a twisted desire for apotheosis? Or were they a noted vampire hunter who took on a challenge greater than they could face, and the curse of the creature left them with a craving for blood that they cannot resist for long lest it drive them to frenzy?

There are many ways to play a so-called Fallen Angel, but the key is the battle between the celestial and the corruptive force, and to ask how it affects them as a character, and their story as it unfolds. Whether it's a long, spiraling road down into damnation, or whether they are attempting to redeem themselves and break this curse that's growing in them before it's too late, there is a great deal of potential with a character like this!

Lastly, if you're looking for more inspiration, I'd recommend the following supplements:

- 100 Unusual Aasimar: Whether you need NPCs, or something to spark your character creation, this is a great one to have onhand!

- 100 Tieflings To Meet in Your Travels: This is really the other side of the coin to the previous supplement

- Gods of Sundara (for Pathfinder as well as DND 5E): If you're looking for an alternate take on both aasimar and tieflings, then check out the Primtouched, available in this book, which combines both of them into a single Outsider bloodline divorced from alignment!

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That's all for this week's Unusual Character Concepts post!

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