Angels
As a general description that also covers the other angels on this list, angels in D&D are ‘shards’ of deities. They have effectively perfect moral compasses and cannot deviate willingly from that compass. This recalls descriptions of advanced AI and androids—machines capable of moral reasoning who are nonetheless compelled to act in a certain way. To such beings, physiological demands and psychological demands are one and the same, as they are compelled to act in a certain way much as we are compelled to breathe. Treating angels as divine robots can help inform your roleplaying of these characters as well as allowing you to predict logical places to provide them as enemies and allies. This may be related to their method of creation, if angels were not created at the ‘beginning of time’, they may be forged by deities out of astral diamond for a specific purpose, which to them is as natural as drawing breath is to us. If you wish to have more moral complexity in your angels, you have a lot of options. You can use the idea of ‘fallen’ angels as angels that are deviant from their programming, which don’t necessarily need to be evil. These angels will likely act erratically or strangely but will likely have the same selfless purpose-locked behavior of their unfallen brethren, just with a bizarre or variant twist. or take the idea that angels are fundamentally aligned with their god to mean that gods of non-good have angels that are non-good. I’ve had some success with this, giving my party angels of evil gods as enemies, and gods of neutral gods as roleplaying encounters. Typically, angels possess a strong sense of superiority, fundamental duty, and lawfulness, no matter who they serve.The Deva is the babyest angels, a ‘mere’ CR 10, they can fairly fight a high-level PC one-to-one and a mid-to-low level party stands a good chance of defeating one in favorable circumstances. They are unique amongst the angels in their ability to shapeshift, so they can potentially fill some of the roles I described the Couatl filling last week in the “heavenly” section, if you need a bit more punch. They have fewer amazing powers than basically anyone on the list so if you need a humble-feeling celestial that still packs a punch, this does the job. They are described as the messengers of their gods in the Monster Manual and their statblock suggests this well. Gods will send a Deva if they like you, but you don’t need help that a flying Paladin can’t provide—or if they need to spy on you! As a result, their personalities will seem most ‘down to earth’ of all the following angels. They are most adept at talking to mortals as any sort of equal and may be the most capable of deviating from their ‘programming’, if you interpret angels in that way. They may use their abilities to further their own conscience or their own personal mission, which while closely tied to their deity’s mission, is not one and the same with it. Other, ‘greater’ angels may look down on Devas as being inherently more corruptible than them, which may be true, as per their greater freedom of action. However, that freedom also means they have the greatest potential to actually love their deity, rather than mechanically obey, making them their god’s most earnest proponents.
The Planetar is the middlest angel, acting as a sort of middle ground between the ‘common’ Deva and the singular Solar. These are the angels that a deity sends when things get serious and subtlety is no longer required. The Planetar can’t shapeshift like the Deva, but it is faster, a size category larger, hits harder, has a host of offensive spells, and has truesight to boot. This implies a harsher creature that is fonder of battle, which the Monster Manual doubles down on, describing them as a god’s warriors. A deity would treat them thusly. While Devas may be given some leeway in how they accomplish their missions and may spend some time cavorting amongst mortals, Planetars are likely to be deployed briefly and lethally. If you want to make them distinct RP-wise, you can grant them the same lingo you may grant a soldier or warrior. If you want to be particularly glib, you can use the same language you’d use for an airstrike. An alternate interpretation may follow the ‘non-good’ deities route, and simply may them reflective of a god’s wrath, whatever that may be. If you wish a more complex alternate interpretation, you could treat them as far more robotic than their Deva allies. Devas are scouts, diplomats, and infiltrators. Planetars are weapons. Whatever the exact interpretation, while Planetars are highly intelligent and wise, and even possess a strong will, their will and their god’s will are likely very closely aligned. This suggests a sort of ‘hive mind’ behavior whenever two or more Planetars interact—the fact that they are telepathic also helps with this! Their ability to innately detect lies combines with all these other factors to suggest that you are very unlikely to hear a Planetar speak at all! This is tragic, as a group of like-minded immortals who can communicate telepathically are likely to share many amazing inside jokes.
The Solar is the oldest angel of the bunch—as they are both the largest and could be the first to be created, as the mouths and hands of their deities, depending on your personal interpretation of the lore. The Monster Manual describes that there are potentially ‘only 24 in existence’. I take that to mean that each god should have but a single Solar at their command (if your pantheon has a King God, give them 2, if there are a bunch of minor deities, indicate this by not giving them a Solar). This Solar should reflect their personality of their god, potentially to an uncanny degree. If you have a ‘distant gods’ cosmos, where deities don’t make themselves manifest amongst the people of the world, these Solars may be the way they communicate directly with the world. Otherwise, their Solar may act as their ‘lieutenant’, managing affairs the god finds uninteresting (which probably varies greatly based on the deity) and allowing the god to manifest its powers in two places at once. Whatever you exactly choose for their place in the world, a Solar is as close to you can get to meeting their god without actually meeting them. This might imply that a Solar’s personality is nearly identical to that of their god, which is a perfectly appropriate analysis. However, you might also interpret their relationship as potentially familial—spousal (with deities having Solars that are of a compatible gender), parental (with either the god or the Solar acting as the parental figure, depending on the god’s level of maturity), or that of a sibling (with gods usually occupying the elder role). In this case, it’s usually more comfortable for the Solar and the god to have the same source of origin. Whatever the exact source of the relationship, it can be a great way to make Solars distinct from their smaller angelic cousins.
Demigods
The last of the eight Celestials in current D&D 5e canon, Empyreans are the children of gods. They are typically considered to be ‘demigods’, which are typically created when a god mates with a mortal. It doesn’t have to be this way—it could simply be a protogod that has not yet become fully formed or the child of two gods that does not yet possess its full set of powers. Its parents, if it has them, may treat them as anything from a gift to a nuisance to a curse. One thing is important, however— ‘baby god’ implies a level of potential shenanigans that I think the Monster Manual describes insufficiently! My alternate interpretation for these creatures is that they are proto deities that act as children of whatever age you find most appropriate. A very young Empyrean would make for an excellent subject in the classic ‘babysitter’ plot, where the party would come across a practically newborn Empyrean and have to get them back to their parent while avoiding a host of their deity’s foes who seek to pounce upon the ‘helpless’ child. As the party grows in power, the Empyrean would too grow, allowing them to access some of the creature’s great powers. If you take inspiration from Greek myth, perhaps the parent and the enemies are close relations, and the party’s goal is to keep this baby demigod safe from the wrath of a vengeful spouse! Unlike other celestials, the Empyrean’s alignment is listed as potentially evil! I lean into this as a sort of ‘teenage rebellion’, where they act in rebellion against whatever alignment they are ‘supposed’ to be. This can manifest in the typical good-evil divide, but can also be lawful-chaotic, war-peace, or as esoteric as a child of an agriculture deity falling in love with clockwork and machines. Perhaps this is a passing phase, perhaps it is the rebellion of a demigod, or perhaps this is how new gods are born? This is dependent on how you run your world! As for their behavior, I would treat an Empyrean that’s old enough to make decisions as being quite naïve about worldly things, while possessing an unnaturally keen insight into the mystical and magical. Whatever their ‘natural’ inclination, their ability scores suggest that they are capable of mastering whatever they put their mind to. This would mean any limitation possessed by the Empyrean would be one of attitude, not capability—if they don’t know something, it’s because they are either totally new to it or are completely disinterested in the topic. Lean into the childish god angle—there’s plenty of good media to use!If you want to add some mechanical variation to your Empyrean demigods or want to create demigods with more variation in their powerset, you can use the Divine Soul Sorcerer subclass to either grant Empyreans access to a greater variety of powers or to apply a divine flavor to another creature you want to flavor as a demigod. Humbler CRs for demigods might make them interactable for lower level PCs. I intent to make a more extensive post covering how to integrate player classes with the world you’re building, maybe when I’m done with Monstrous Humanoids.
(Originally published on reddit on July 31, 2019)
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