Aasimar are generally considered as being an angelic race, and not all good necessarily considering their sub-race options include a variant for those who’ve fallen from the light. Even so, it seems rather unconventional to imagine one as a rogue when we consider their typical portrayal. 

I do love going against convention for builds such as these as that often creates more interesting and experimental characters that can feel very refreshing to play. Let’s get into what it takes to make an effective aasimar rogue.

The Tabaxi race can be found in Volo’s Guide to Monsters. Click here to pick up your own copy of Volo’s Guide to Monsters!

The Rogue class can be found in the Player’s Handbook. Click here to pick up your own copy of The Player’s Handbook!

How to Make an Aasimar Rogue

A rogue’s top priority is dexterity, it’s what makes them good at using their typical toolset, and second, to that is either wisdom for their needed perceptive abilities or charisma for social interactions. 

Aasimar come with a +2 bonus to charisma and the sub-race will determine what that additional +1 goes towards. I know I noted that a Fallen Aasimar would flavor well for a “dark-rogue” stereotype, but their stat bonus goes to strength, which isn’t a priority for us, but it also isn’t bad. The better subrace would be Protector Aasimar, as the bonus goes to your wisdom instead. Consider intelligence and constitution after these with strength again as your least important stat.

Rogues do have a variety of Roguish Archetypes (subclasses) and you should prioritize charisma as your second-highest stat if you’re choosing Mastermind, Assassin, or Swashbuckler, and intelligence if you’re choosing Arcane Trickster. Given your natural charisma bonus, you’d do well to choose in the former category.

How to Play an Aasimar Rogue

Rogues usually don’t get many strikes in combat and, and seldom benefit from being seen. Your goal in combat is to single out the most important member of the enemy team and take them down as quickly as possible with repeated sneak attacks.

Your sneak attack will enable this, but you need to ensure that you activate it either by having an ally next to your prey or by having advantage on the attack, which your hide bonus action can provide. 

Unfortunately, aasimar racial powers tend to be rather flashy, meaning they’ll be situational for you, but that’s fine too. The flight granted to Protector Aasimar is an especially useful tool that may allow you to position yourself, and if you’re an Arcane Trickster, your spells offer even more tools for causing your enemies trouble during combat.

How to Roleplay as an Aasimar Rogue

In the introduction, I mentioned turning to the darkness being strange for angelic creatures, but I’ve also written before about the stereotype of criminals or murderers that rogues tend to fall into thanks to having subclasses such as Assassin and Thief. 

When we refer to handsome or lovable rogues, we’re hardly talking about this image of criminals so much as we’re referring to someone with a badass or daredevil attitude. This is why, though it seldom mechanically aids them, rogues tend to have higher than average charisma scores. Consider if your aasimar falls into any of these categories. One such example is Batman, he is considered both a rogue and a hero. So are you!

Be creative when it comes to reconciling your race and class and at the end of the day remember, you still more than likely had human parents, so “more human than divine” is as good an excuse as any.