An Alternate Character Interpretation of Celestials 2

Last post I talked about a plethora of celestials, offering an earthly and heavenly origin for each of them. Today, I will be talking about more celestial Celestials-- those whose fundamental nature is heavenly. I will cover Angels, and how a god might use each kind of angel, and Empyreans, who are the celestial statblock that represents demigods.

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)

An Alternate Character Interpretation of Celestials

Celestials! Perhaps the least common monster type (tied with oozes, maybe), they nonetheless play a key role in the roles of certain players and in stories featuring the gods. They’re one of the monster categories that I wish were better fleshed-out, and I’m here to take a crack at it! Normally, I do these in batches of five, but give that there are only eight RAW Celestials in D&D 5e thus far, I figure I’d do four, then four for the next post! I will provide a summary of the creature, then offer two different interpretations of the creature—an ‘earthly’ interpretation for placing the creature in a normal fantasy world, and a ‘heavenly’ interpretation that is tied to the celestial heavens. This doesn’t necessarily mean one interpretation will be more grounded than another!

The Pegasus: Just A Flying Horse?

 The Pegasus is the most ‘common’ of these ethereal and godlike creatures, possessing no special abilities compared to a horse besides intelligence and flight. If you have a high-level paladin or some other way to access the spell amongst your PCs, you’ll encounter it if they choose to take it as their steed when casting the Find Greater Steed spell. Otherwise, it exists in your world at your leisure.

Earthly
Let us begin by asking a question; why would a flying horse be as intelligent as a human and understand four languages? There are plenty of valid answers, but I have one that I personally find quite elegant—a Pegasus grazes upon dreams as a normal horse grazes upon grass. It is rare to see a Pegasus not because they are uncommon, but because they only ever touch the ground to drink water or have their young. They sleep amongst the clouds and graze far above population centers. The only large creatures that would ever be near them would be potential predators, so they are extremely skittish around anything larger than a bird. Due to their skittishness, one could only be kept as a mount if it were captured at birth, but there is the additional problem that they will quickly starve to death unless they can graze in the skies which they call home. When a Paladin calls upon a Pegasus to be their mount, they call upon the power of their oath—the only dream so potent it can convince a Pegasus to willingly land and be mounted! This version of the spell would imply that the mount is called, not summoned. In this interpretation, Nightmares would happen when a Pegasus is poisoned by too much ill-will in dreams. Such Nightmares would be a dangerous phenomenon that would add additional chaos to a terrible event like a war or natural disaster. Such an encounter could be a good way to give a low-level party something useful to do when a terrible event beyond their abilities occurs.

Heavenly
Do pets go to heaven? It’s a long-asked question, and the Pegasus could be part of the answer. If good-aligned humanoids can rise to heaven, perhaps their mounts can do so as well? Many humanoids have close relation with horses—the two species depending on each-other for survival. Such a symbiosis could extend to the heavens. You could treat Pegasi as basically horse angels, potentially giving your paladin’s mount a long history the moment it’s summoned! Perhaps the Paladin’s mount is was once the servant of a great knight that served their order, and now returns to serve again. You could vary up their languages and say the languages they know were learned in service to the knights they fought with when they were alive. You could even make celestial versions of tressym and blink dogs if you don’t want to leave cats and dogs out of the fun! A potential quest could involve a Pegasus trying to get the party to lay the ghost of the knight it once served to rest—a task made more difficult because the Pegasus cannot speak! If horses can go to heaven, can they go to hell? A Nightmare might be a mount that ‘betrayed’ their rider during a time of great strife, by balking at danger and trying to flee or refusing to obey critical commands, leading to their death. It may also simply be a loyal mount of an evil rider, willing to follow them into hell itself if that is where they travel.

The Couatl: The Snake Among Us

I would best describe a Couatl as a ‘starter angel’, though they are not true angels. They possess many of the traits associated with true angels but are only CR 4. For those interested in using them as enemies—be warned! They are totally immune to non-magical weapon damage, have high AC, and put creatures asleep on a successful attack. Against an unprepared or weapons-heavy party, they hit far above their weight class, so tread carefully! Another place you are likely to see them is if you have a high-level cleric in your party—the 7th level spell Conjure Celestial will normally conjure a Couatl.

Earthly
Couatls are as old as the world—created along with it, with missions to match their age. They are capable of breeding, but rarely do, for they have no purpose besides their mission. They have a variety of abilities that allow them to mask their presence and know the unknowable and will use them for impossible lengths of time if necessary. The society I imagine of them is a group of individuals as old as time that all know each other well, each willing to assist the other if it would not detract from their own mission. They blend into society, like changelings or doppelgangers, but instead of living large off stolen identities, every action is taken with their created purpose in mind. They only breed when they feel they need to have offspring to fulfill their mission, which may make for an interesting way to introduce Aasimar characters, if you accept that the Couatl could breed while shapeshifted. While Couatls might not be humorless (and indeed may be quite jovial in the right context), they are entirely mission focused, with an eye for the long game. A location a Couatl was supposed to protect may end up conquered, and if it cannot be retaken, the Couatl may wait centuries for the group inhabiting it to move on. They may end up assisting with their end, if they can manage it. If it is overtaken by monsters, the Couatl will play the ‘mysterious person in the corner of the tavern’ for as long as it takes in order to round up a group to restore the place to balance. This could make them long-term allies of the party that cleared it out, as they are not dishonorable creatures, and a lifetime to a humanoid is but a moment to a Couatl. However, if a person or group earns their ire, beware, for the long-term planning of a Rakshasa may be crueler, but it has nothing on the cold calculus of a creature whose lifetime is equivalent to the world it lives on.

Heavenly
The Couatl is the humblest of the agents of heaven, but it has its place. While other angels act as the messengers, warriors, and mouthpieces for their deities, the Couatl has a dirtier job that is no less important—the spy. These agents of the divine may not be able to smite their foes with a single blow, but they are immune or resistant to nearly all forms of detection. These creatures would be sent down to the worlds their gods oversee to accomplish tasks that a mighty smiting angel either cannot be spared for or simply could not accomplish. The missions of these divine spies vary based on the deity. A nature deity may command their agents to infiltrate a logging company to encourage sustainable forestry. A life deity may have a Couatl attempt to preempt a conflict before it begins in earnest. A war deity may infiltrate a city guard to either start a war, or simply encourage proper professionalism amongst its forces, depending on the deity’s preferences. A trickery deity would likely favor these humble but clever servants over their mightier angelic ones, sending them across the world to spread confusion and mischief. Couatls like this make great starter mentors and great starter villains, as whatever their mission, their capabilities for direct action are limited, forcing them to find agents in the field who can do the dirty work that the Couatl simply cannot do alone. Whatever their agenda, their intelligence and cunning are significant, allowing their plans to be both complex and reliable. A ‘low-priority’ area between two rival deities may be home to two dueling Couatls who may not even know of the other’s presence, utilizing catspaws and minions to accomplish tasks and spending much of their time donning various disguises. These sort of spy games would be a great challenge for a low-level party that favors social interaction over dungeon crawling.

The Unicorn: Only the Pure of Heart

The Unicorn is one of the lowest CR monsters with lair effects, though it lacks lair actions and legendary actions. This suggests that unicorns should be used as location-specific creatures, and much of the Monster Manual lore suggests this. As such, the unicorn makes a great creature to include in a hexcrawl game, where monster lairs and locations are of major significance.

Earthly
Unicorns of this type may have a celestial origin, but they are creatures of the firmament like any other. They are the masters of their territory, and beasts, monsters, and humanoids alike challenge them at their peril. Unlike an apex predator, the unicorn does not hunt from its domain. It instead is a browser (unlike its grazing horse cousins) that eats the finest of its domain, leaving the rest to the others who reside in it. A unicorn will tolerate no predators in its domain, and if faced with stiff competition from other herbivores, will use its keen mind to find the greatest threat to the ecosystem, whoever it may be. It will then use its great skill in battle and magics to ensure that the threat is exiled, peacefully if possible. The unicorn is like few other creatures this way—it is an apex herbivore that dominates whatever environment it chooses for its home. It is known to tolerate humanoids that it believes it can trust, especially those of a trusted bloodline, but is always wary of betrayal and predation. Unicorns are unaging and rarely breed, but when they do, such courtship rituals can take decades, as the two celestial beasts gradually intertwine their territories, eventually merging them to raise their family, then separating again when the task is finished.

Heavenly
These unicorns are divinity untamed—untouched by practicalities and compromise. Unicorns will seek out those who share their purity of heart and purpose, those who have been untouched by the evils of the world and have not been forced to compromise their behavior in the face of practical realities. A good deity’s unicorns may seek out the ‘pure of heart’ in a traditional sense—those who are pure good. Such people are often children, or those others would label sheltered or naïve, but the unicorn senses a similarity of heart. These unicorns will protect and serve these people if their hearts remain pure. For those gods who are not traditionally ‘good’, what qualifies as purity can be quite strange and interesting. A nature deity’s unicorns may prefer someone whose love for nature is more Thoreau and less hunter-gatherer. A treachery deity’s unicorns would prefer a wannabe supervillain over a veteran assassin. A warrior deity’s unicorns would likely prefer a warrior-in-training over an experienced one. Whatever their allegiance, these unicorns display untempered passion for whatever aspect they focus on, fighting fiercely to protect any who represent that pure ideal and fighting to keep that pure idea pure. It is a losing battle, but most know this, rarely staying with a single person for long periods of time.

The Ki-Rin: Horse Dragons with Rad Pads

The Ki-rin is the most powerful creature on this list, possessing both strong physical attacks and the powers of an 18th-level cleric, along with legendary actions and lair abilities. They are basically a unicorn, but amped up to 11, with the addition of a fly speed. They can be treated much as an adult or ancient dragon, as powerful creatures capable of shaping the fates of nations if they so desire.

Earthly
Indeed, the Ki-Rin shares many mechanical traits with dragons. Many have dragon-like physical characteristics as well. In fact, if you’re willing to bend some rules (and I always am), the Ki-Rin could be a ‘radiance dragon’, acting as a counterpart to a Shadow Dragon, if you wish to make such things independent entities. If you so desire, you can give the Ki-Rin a breath weapon equivalent to a dragon, dealing something like 10d10 radiant damage in a 60-foot cone. You can keep the Ki-Rin’s description as-is or change it to something more draconic, depending on flavor. If we are to take an alternate character interpretation of these creatures like the posts I made about dragons, it could be said that the Ki-Rin hoards valor. They can create illusions with their major-image ability that immortalize heroes they find worthy and can bestow powerful boons upon them in life. Indeed, they can even raise the dead, and may do so if they believe that their preferred ‘lost cause’ has failed where they could have succeeded. Such Ki-Rin may be compassionate about their gifts or may few such mortal affairs as a mere game to be played for amusement—it varies from creature to creature. They would still reside amongst the clouds, hunting monstrous creatures who they consider too craven or underhanded to be worthy of life.

Heavenly
This version of the Ki-Rin leans more into the horse element. The gods seem to love their horses—we’ve talked about both the Pegasus and the Unicorn, but neither seem worthy of carrying a deity. The Ki-Rin, on the other hand, seems as though they would be so worthy. The Ki-Rin has both the divine power of a cleric of that deity as well as the physical speed and power to physically carry them. As both the steed and number one fan of their deity, a Ki-Rin steed will go out of their way to promote the virtues and myths associated with their god. Their lairs would likely be either near the holy places of their god or one-and-the same. While gods are busy ruling their heavenly homes, Ki-Rin have wanderlust, and will travel across the world to impose their god’s message upon the world. If you’re interested in comedy, you could have them be a little too obsessed with their deity. Woe betide one who slays a Ki-Rin, for many gods will never stop hunting you for such an insult. An exception may be a god who savors battle, for their Ki-Rin may be willing to hurl themselves into a deadly fight, with the knowledge that they will likely be resurrected, and even if not, it shall be a worthy death. Despite their blind spot for their deity, a Ki-Rin is ancient and wise, and will often be sent to help someone who calls out for aid from a deity that respects them. Their physical and divine powers are more than enough to solve most mortal problems, and even if not, they have friends in high places.


That's all for this week! I hope you folks find this useful and I hope it’s as fun to read as it was to write!

(Originally published here on July 25, 2019)