The Gith Are Now Aberrations in Dungeons & Dragons

gith.jpeg


The githyanki and githzerai are officially reclassified as aberrations in Dungeons & Dragons. In a video released today about the 2025 Monster Manual, D&D designers Jeremy Crawford and F. Wesley Schneider confirmed that the two classic D&D species are now being classified as aberrations. The reasoning given - the two gith species have been so transformed by living in the Astral Plane and Limbo, they've moved beyond being humanoids. Schneider also pointed out that the illithid's role in manipulating the gith also contributed to their new classification.

The video notes that this isn't technically a new change - the Planescape book released in 2023 had several githzerai statblocks that had aberration classifications.

The gith join a growing number of previously playable species that have new classifications. The goblin, kobolds, and kenku have also had their creature classifications changed in the 2025 Monster Manual. While players can currently use the 2014 rules for making characters of those species, it will be interesting to see how these reclassifications affect the character-building rules regarding these species when they are eventually updated for 2024 rules.
 

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Christian Hoffer

Christian Hoffer


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Why? Cleric and Druid magic has had spell schools attached to them since 1e, and besides there are (relatively few) places in the rules that key off school type.
why do they need schools?
they are based on faith and worship or interactions with the spiritual not academic classification
 

It wasn't for the heck of it. I know they had reasons, just not necessarily the ones in the video. And the reason I think that (beyond years of learned skepticism) is simply that the choices are inconsistent. Why are orcs and drow more important to keep as humanoids than goblins or bugbears? Why are kobolds dragons but dragonborn aren't? What creative explanation is there for that? How do those choices make the game better?

Okay, so you do know they had reasons, so your only complaint is that you either do not understand or do not like their reasons. That is different than what you keep saying.

AS to a stab at answering your questions, which given the history you will likely dismiss, here are some speculations.

1) Drow were explained along with elves, they have lived in the material plane long enough. They were not "more important" and in fact they have said nothing about Drow to date. Likely they were kept as humanoid because they are just elves. Elves that have a cult that worships an evil goddess. This doesn't make them that unique from normal elves. Normal elves can be evil and worship evil gods.

2) Orcs were kept as humanoid because they are being moved into being more like humans. I know, you hate that phrasing because orcs should never be human, but that has been a long long direction of DnD. There is a correlation between DnD orcs and Warhammer Orcs. Also, there is just no reason to NOT make them humanoid. Orcs were created by Tolkien and adapted to DnD. They have always been humanoid and they do not have the touch of otherness beyond their toughness.

3) Goblins and Bugbears are fey. Like, go find a Fairy Tale, goblins will be there. Goblins as dark fey is literally their most common interpretation across media. Scooby-Doo had Fey Goblins, The Labrynth had Fey Goblins. This is less about keeping them the way they are, and more about moving them into the place they actually belong within the wider cultural lens.

Why are points 1 thru 3 good for the game? Goblins are going to be more interesting and flesh out the feywild, that's good for the game because the Feywild actually lacked a threat like goblins. This also makes it easier to build connections between Goblins, Hobgoblins and Bugbears which sorely lacked them. I actually had split Bugbears into a fey creature years ago. Keeping elves consistent as humanoid descendants of fey keeps them as they have been for decades and keeps the PHB character options easier, same with Orcs.

4) Because Kobolds have a long history of being Dragons since 3.5 or older. Dragonborn are very Draconic, and you COULD make them dragons sure... but you aren't required to. I don't have a satisifactory answer of "what is the difference" but I didn't make the decision either. Again, it is likely that Dragonborn are in the PHB and Kobolds aren't. And maybe their are Dragonborn that are more Draconic and will have the Dragon type. They literally stated that any given statblock is not representative of the entire speices. So, maybe some Dragonborn will be Dragons, that's something that has been established by the designers. Why? Because that's how they've designed it.

What creative explanations are there? A lot. Maybe some Dragonborn are more or less deeply steeped in Draconic magic, while Kobolds were crafted from Dragons themselves. Maybe all the Dragonborn share their original origin and are humanoids altered by Divine Magic to be reborn with different bodies, but since they are individual it does not change their species type. Maybe Dragonborn are still a work in progress from the Dragons or Dragon Gods, maybe in Faerun the rejection of the Dragons and Dragon Gods made the Dragonborn reject their draconic power as well.

How is this better for the game? Mechanical consistency combined with narrative freedom.
 


Okay, so you do know they had reasons, so your only complaint is that you either do not understand or do not like their reasons. That is different than what you keep saying.

AS to a stab at answering your questions, which given the history you will likely dismiss, here are some speculations.

1) Drow were explained along with elves, they have lived in the material plane long enough. They were not "more important" and in fact they have said nothing about Drow to date. Likely they were kept as humanoid because they are just elves. Elves that have a cult that worships an evil goddess. This doesn't make them that unique from normal elves. Normal elves can be evil and worship evil gods.

2) Orcs were kept as humanoid because they are being moved into being more like humans. I know, you hate that phrasing because orcs should never be human, but that has been a long long direction of DnD. There is a correlation between DnD orcs and Warhammer Orcs. Also, there is just no reason to NOT make them humanoid. Orcs were created by Tolkien and adapted to DnD. They have always been humanoid and they do not have the touch of otherness beyond their toughness.

3) Goblins and Bugbears are fey. Like, go find a Fairy Tale, goblins will be there. Goblins as dark fey is literally their most common interpretation across media. Scooby-Doo had Fey Goblins, The Labrynth had Fey Goblins. This is less about keeping them the way they are, and more about moving them into the place they actually belong within the wider cultural lens.

Why are points 1 thru 3 good for the game? Goblins are going to be more interesting and flesh out the feywild, that's good for the game because the Feywild actually lacked a threat like goblins. This also makes it easier to build connections between Goblins, Hobgoblins and Bugbears which sorely lacked them. I actually had split Bugbears into a fey creature years ago. Keeping elves consistent as humanoid descendants of fey keeps them as they have been for decades and keeps the PHB character options easier, same with Orcs.

4) Because Kobolds have a long history of being Dragons since 3.5 or older. Dragonborn are very Draconic, and you COULD make them dragons sure... but you aren't required to. I don't have a satisifactory answer of "what is the difference" but I didn't make the decision either. Again, it is likely that Dragonborn are in the PHB and Kobolds aren't. And maybe their are Dragonborn that are more Draconic and will have the Dragon type. They literally stated that any given statblock is not representative of the entire speices. So, maybe some Dragonborn will be Dragons, that's something that has been established by the designers. Why? Because that's how they've designed it.

What creative explanations are there? A lot. Maybe some Dragonborn are more or less deeply steeped in Draconic magic, while Kobolds were crafted from Dragons themselves. Maybe all the Dragonborn share their original origin and are humanoids altered by Divine Magic to be reborn with different bodies, but since they are individual it does not change their species type. Maybe Dragonborn are still a work in progress from the Dragons or Dragon Gods, maybe in Faerun the rejection of the Dragons and Dragon Gods made the Dragonborn reject their draconic power as well.

How is this better for the game? Mechanical consistency combined with narrative freedom.
Thank you. Those are some great explanations. Even if I don't personally agree with all of them, they make sense and address a wide swathe of concerns, both inside the game and out. Had WotC said something like all of this, that addressed the entire issue, I think I would have stopped complaining about it. As proof of this, I'm going to stop complaining about it here, and just pretend WotC said what you said.
 

I think I have figured out what bugs me about gith being aberrations. There is nothing alien or strange about them. They are funny-looking elves who lay eggs. That is, at most, a monstrosity, not something deeply unlike us.

there needs to be a more clear line between monstrosity and aberration

I mean, they did say they were going to be enhancing what makes these creatures non-humanoid as part of their statblocks. Additionally, it was their home more than anything that was referenced. The Githyanki live in a place without time, giving them a far different perspective to humanoids who live within time. And the Githzerai live in a place of mad chaos, where only their iron wills keep the plane shaped safely around them. Again... pretty alien experience.
 

I think I have figured out what bugs me about gith being aberrations. There is nothing alien or strange about them. They are funny-looking elves who lay eggs. That is, at most, a monstrosity, not something deeply unlike us.

there needs to be a more clear line between monstrosity and aberration
They used to be humanish creatures before being modified by mind flayers
 

I mean, they did say they were going to be enhancing what makes these creatures non-humanoid as part of their statblocks. Additionally, it was their home more than anything that was referenced. The Githyanki live in a place without time, giving them a far different perspective to humanoids who live within time. And the Githzerai live in a place of mad chaos, where only their iron wills keep the plane shaped safely around them. Again... pretty alien experience.
eh seems far too relatable to me.
They used to be humanish creatures before being modified by mind flayers
they still look very humanish and act very humanish
 

eh seems far too relatable to me.

they still look very humanish and act very humanish
Yes, but by the current logic, being a human like creature that was experimented on to give you green skin, long ears, psychic powers, and reproduction via spitting out eggs makes you a aberration now. Psi Goblins and Derro are also considered Aberrations now. Would not be shocked to see Duergar included.
 

eh seems far too relatable to me.

they still look very humanish and act very humanish
Did you watch the video? The definition of aberration wasn't dependent on how it looks are even how it acts really. It was simply that the creature has been influenced by the Far Realm to some degree (how much exposure is required is not clear). Now, I also find the Gith as a bit of an odd choice based on their appearance. However, in the video they mention that Gith are so (for lack of better term) messed up by the Mind Flayers and the Far Realm that despite breaking away from their overlords there is a suspicion they are still being influenced by the Far Realm and continue to this day to play a part / their part in enacting the Mind Flayer's Grand Plan. That is aberration levels of f****d up!
 

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