Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Story & Character Discussion Dame Aylin isn't what she nor the game itself claims she is

Kicking it off with a pretty bold premise in the title, right? Nevertheless, the reality of the situation should prove irrefutable, at least from a canonical DND 5E and FR setting perspective, which Larian might be directly contravening, although that wouldn't make much sense based on their own vision or how the rest of the game presents itself. A lot of vague statements in this intro, so let's jump right in to the nitty-gritty of it:

Dame Aylin can't be an Aasimar.

That is how several characters in the game, Tav included, and Aylin's own stat block describe her, but the terminology is completely off. As in, blatantly, plot-breakingly inconsistent. First of all, Aasimar do not possess the power of *permanent* flight, nor an inherent array of paladin-esque abilities that Aylin appears to be endowed with. Much more importantly, Aasimar are not immortal. Far from it, actually - they typically live up to 160 years, even less than your average Dwarf and Elf. In DND, Aasimar are basically just the Upper Plane ( "Good Gods" ) equivalent of Tieflings - Mortals with extremely diluted Celestial ancestry, likely dozens of generations removed, on more or less equal footings with a bunch of other mortal races on Faerun.

Paradoxically, at the same time, Aylin presents herself as 'THE daughter of Selune' to account for her abilities, which, unless we are completely butchering the original DND definitions, would by default mean that she is very much not an 'Aasimar'. Either way though, that only serves to bring us into the next point..

Dame Aylin is very unlikely to be the literal Daughter of Selune

This is something which, although many player seem to miss it, the game itself does seem to be hinting at - You have the option of asking Aylin whether she's really "The Daughter of Selune" or not, and her reply is basically "Hmm, am I not glowing and awesome and stuff? So I must be from her Celestial womb!", as if she doesn't know herself. Like, did you grow up at The Gates of the Moon with Selune as your mom or not? Literally every actual Divine Descendant in DND has a pretty straightforward answer to that question. Aylin on the other hand appears to be speaking whimsically and metaphorically.

The real sticking point though, regardless of Aylin's dialogue, is the power level. Aylin's might is laughably lower than that of any direct, first-generation divine offspring in DND. This much would be more intuitively evident to veteran 5E dungeon masters, but just to make a point of comparison:

Tieflings only have a tinge of Infernal/Abyssal blood in them.
Raphael is a Cambion, although granted a pretty powerful one, which is a half-Devil born directly to a Devil of the Hells and a mortal.
Yurgir, an Orthon, is a CR12 pure Devil
There are several types of Devils going all the way up to CR20 ( I.E Pit Fiends ) who dwarf Raphael in power.
Above them, we have Archdevils, Zariel being one of the lesser among them.
Above all of them we have the recently promoted Greater God, Asmodeus.

Selune is one of the Greater Gods, a Creator Goddess at that. THE daughter of Selune would be able to wipe out every single enemy in the game at once with her pinky toe. Trust me, Aylin ain't it. Even as far as any other deity is concerned, she's not an Empyrean ( CR 23 ) nor a Demigod, which is what actual direct divine children usually are in their least powerful manifestations.

So what exactly is Dame Aylin then?

Easy, she's a Deva. You know, the same type you can summon with Planar Ally as a Cleric. She perfectly fits every single facet, both mechanical and fluff-wise, of a Deva. Perma-wings, perma-flight, perma-halo? Check. Immortality? Check. Metaphorically a 'Daughter of Selune', as in created by Selune to serve her cause, check. Old-timey righteous speech? Check. Paladin smites and similar innate abilities? Exactly the same, check. Power level? Check.

It's actually pretty baffling why the game refers to her as virtually anything but the creature type she actually is. I can't count the number of times I've heard DND newbies who just finished the game repeat the line that 'She's an Aasimar which is essentially a DND Angel', when in fact Devas are supposed to be the 'DND Angels', simply because Larian decided to use the wrong moniker and confused a whole generation of players.

Again, all nerding out aside, Remember that even if we handwave everything else, Aylin is clearly not an Aasimar on the most fundamental, explain-like-im-five level imaginable - Aasimar are absolutely not immortal, that destroys her entire lore. And we can't say 'Well in Larian's version they are', because Larian said they strive for accurate 5E terminology, especially on something as significant as this. So I don't know what to tell you, I have no idea why they keep calling her one, and being the actual daughter of Selune doesn't really match up with any DND precedents either.