D&D 5E Angels/Celestials of Different Races

[Henadic Theologian]

I assume cg celestials work with CG gods out of respect and admiration for what they do and is a fairly mutual relationship.

both types of law and chaotic seem fairly complimentary in what they do.

In 5e none Fallen Angels are always Lawful Good, even the ones who serve Chaotic Good Gods, the point was to explore what its like to be a LG Angel created by and from a Chaotic Good God to serve them, while comparing them to Chaotic Good Angels from the past when they could be Chaotic Good.

My point was a Lawful Good Angel in service to a Chaotic Good God could behave in a completely Lawful way that would still appear to be Chaotic to an outsider, because the orders/laws of their God are Chaotic, but they are still obeying the holy word of their God, which would be a Lawful act as the God is their rightful boss.

 

[Mind of tempest]

You could use Muses as an overarching term for chaotics (like fiends for evil), with the idea that muses are trying to inspire mortals to think or act "big." Demons (evil muses) inspire people to evil acts (and thus a demon fills the role of "angel of hate"), CN muses inspire to act "big" regardless of whether the consequences are good or evil (romantic love would be a good fit, since it could lead to creepy stalker stuff or true love), and good muses (celestial eladrin?) could inspire people to impressive acts of goodness (like giving away your fortune to charity or joining a dangerous quest to save a kingdom).

interesting

In 5e none Fallen Angels are always Lawful Good, even the ones who serve Chaotic Good Gods, the point was to explore what its like to be a LG Angel created by and from a Chaotic Good God to serve them, while comparing them to Chaotic Good Angels from the past when they could be Chaotic Good.

My point was a Lawful Good Angel in service to a Chaotic Good God could behave in a completely Lawful way that would still appear to be Chaotic to an outsider, because the orders/laws of their God are Chaotic, but they are still obeying the holy word of their God, which would be a Lawful act as the God is their rightful boss.

that could work but I want more none angle outsiders as I have a dislike of angels.

 

[MechaTarrasque]

I don't know who these characters are.

Jeeves the Butler was the main character in a series of comedy books from 1915 to 1974. These books are the literary ancestor of sitcoms. The very lawful Jeeves is the butler to his well-meaning but muddle-headed master Bertie Wooster (who leans chaotic). A common theme of the books is that Jeeves disapproves of some garish clothing that Bertie has acquired, Bertie asserts his right to wear whatever he pleases, Bertie gets into a jam (often involving getting engaged against his will), Jeeves finds a way to solve the problem, and Bertie destroys the offending clothing in thanks. The books are good, and there was a TV series staring Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie that I would also recommend.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

You could use Muses as an overarching term for chaotics (like fiends for evil), with the idea that muses are trying to inspire mortals to think or act "big." Demons (evil muses) inspire people to evil acts (and thus a demon fills the role of "angel of hate"), CN muses inspire to act "big" regardless of whether the consequences are good or evil (romantic love would be a good fit, since it could lead to creepy stalker stuff or true love), and good muses (celestial eladrin?) could inspire people to impressive acts of goodness (like giving away your fortune to charity or joining a dangerous quest to save a kingdom).

The Gracies (Charities) would be Thematically broader then Muses who are only concerned with different types of art.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

You could use Muses as an overarching term for chaotics (like fiends for evil), with the idea that muses are trying to inspire mortals to think or act "big." Demons (evil muses) inspire people to evil acts (and thus a demon fills the role of "angel of hate"), CN muses inspire to act "big" regardless of whether the consequences are good or evil (romantic love would be a good fit, since it could lead to creepy stalker stuff or true love), and good muses (celestial eladrin?) could inspire people to impressive acts of goodness (like giving away your fortune to charity or joining a dangerous quest to save a kingdom).

The Furies from Hades do look a bit like fallen angels.

 

[cbwjm]

In my current setting, I'm drawing on 4e lore which has angels serving all the gods, not just the good ones. Each angel reflects the god they worship with the archangels/solars taking on an aspect of their god's domain. I have a god of corruption and undeath, his angels do not look pretty. The angels that follow the god of the sun though, shine with his radiance. If the Stag King (god of wyld places and the hunt) has angels, they are likely to be similar to elves in appearance, though I suspect that he might prefer to have powerful eladrin as his proxies.

The Angels themselves are created by the gods and are a step down from the celestial race that spawned the gods with only the archangels being on par with them (think of Marvel comics' Asgard. Most asgardians are powerful but not at the same power as the main gods like Thor, Hela, or Odin). I could probably come up with a tier list of other planar beings and their relative power levels.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

To better illustrate my point picture an angel of Tymora whose ordered to roll a D20 seven times and for each 20 to give a mortal 200 gold, for each 19-2 a sack of candy, and for each 1 an apple. This is a Chaotic Good order from a Chaotic Goddess of Luck to a Lawful Good Angel she created.

This Angel, let's call her Casino, has two opinions, to obey and to disobey, but her choice is distracted by her Lawful Good nature to take the most Lawful Good choice.

If Casino refuses she has ignored her place in the divine hierarchy, defied her rightful authority figure, refused to do an act of good, and violated spiritual law by refusing her Goddess. This is Chaotic Neutral act at best, perhaps even Chaotic Evil even, even if it's driven by distaste for a Chaotic act of charity by random chance.

But if Casino obeys she is obeying divine law, respecting her place in the divine hierarchy, respecting her "Mother" and serving the words of her God and helping those in need, acting with generosity. It's both a Lawful and Chaotic act at the same time, but it's lawfulness far outweighs is chaoticness.

Another example The Angel Kitten, servant of Sharess is ordered to seduce lonely mortals, but the Kingdom has a law against sex with beings from outside the material plane and so to do so she has to violate human laws. (this also assumes Kitten consents and wants to do this because there is nothing inheritance unlawful about sex, and she still shares in the none unlawful elements of Sharess' own nature)

Sharess is the Goddess who created Kitten, her word is divine law, which in the hierarchy of laws is higher then mortal laws, so obeying Sharess is a Lawful act despite violating human laws, because it respects both a higher moral form of law, divine law, and respects the hierarchy of laws, respects the authority of Sharess, and it avoids disobeying her mistress so a Chaotic act is avoided. There for breaking the human law is the Lawful Good act, but it appears to be a Chaotic act to an outsider.

The most Lawful Good act is to always obey the more moral and hierarchical authority over a lesser authority, especially if its the authority of one's God the highest authority to an Angel vs the Authority of anything else. Only true universal Chaotic evil acts would trump this as then disobedience becomes the less Chaotic less evil act.

 

[Tonguez]

 

[Voadam]

View attachment 154767

The biblical flaming wheel of eyes angels are pretty heavy metal. They would not be visually amiss as something summoned from Elric's Courts of Chaos or streaking across the sky in a Warhammer Chaos battlefield.

My understanding of the classic winged people angel image is that they come from Greek mythology. You get the conflation of Classical art with Christian art as a Renaissance theme so divine Cupid and beautiful Nike types get used to represent heaven's spirits instead of four-faced animal headed things. Enough repetition of classical art as analogy for christian angel concept it gets popularized as the actual associated image.

In D&D I like classic D&D angels (winged people devas and trumpet archons, weird specific green-skinned planetars, lantern archons), 4e angels as Astral sea emanations that will work for gods of any alignment, 3rd party supplements on angels, and a Pathfinder style angels as Hosts of Heaven kind of separate from gods. I am also a fan of using other non-D&D angel concepts like In Nomine and Kult.

I prefer my D&D gods to possibly be completely separate from Angels. Thor running around with his hammer of Thunderbolts hunting trolls without angelic support seems mythologically appropriate, though Order of the Stick Thor with his own planetars can work.

I really like the idea of different celestial orders having their own specific archlords not specifically connected to gods as portrayed in the 1e Manual of the Planes, 3e Book of Exalted Deeds, and a bunch of Pathfinder books.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Due to their tampering with the development of many of the galaxy's younger species, Vorlons have appeared in the guise of divine beings, although their appearance can vary greatly depending on the species and individual's own history and mythology. This mass yet individualized hallucination is accomplished by way of actively projecting a telepathic image, which when used on a great number of people requires a significant effort for a Vorlon and can be a great strain.[3] To most beings, this image takes the form of a being of light from their own cultural mythology. Some examples include the "Angels" and "Shalako spirits" of Earth cultures, Dro'shalla from the Drazi Kri Maru faith, G'Lan for Narns, and Valeria from Minbari mythology. One of the reasons for encounter suits is to prevent a Vorlon from being seen directly and requiring this kind of telepathic projection.

-Vorlon​