The Gith Are Now Aberrations in Dungeons & Dragons

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.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

abnormal

Compared to what?

To humans? Sure. But to elves? Elves are just as "abnormal" in many settings, including the FR. You pretending this isn't a weird double-standard is just showing how silly it is. That elves are humanoids under this scheme, not Fey alone is nuts.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

However you look at it, gith are pretty disappointing abominations. They're just some guys. There really isn't anything particularly weird let alone eldritch about them.

 

[AlViking]

Compared to what?

To humans? Sure. But to elves? Elves are just as "abnormal" in many settings, including the FR. You pretending this isn't a weird double-standard is just showing how silly it is. That elves are humanoids under this scheme, not Fey alone is nuts.

Elves look like human that are generally slender with pointy ears. Gith don't look particularly humanoid other than having the same basic form, live primarily on the astral plane or limbo. In the past they were described as having been captive for centuries by mind flayers and during that captivity gained psionic abilities. Being aberrations doesn't make them any less of anything and I don't understand why you think it does.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Elves look like human that are generally slender with pointy ears. Gith don't look particularly humanoid other than having the same basic form, live primarily on the astral plane or limbo. In the past they were described as having been captive for centuries by mind flayers and during that captivity gained psionic abilities. Being aberrations doesn't make them any less of anything and I don't understand why you think it does.

You're not making any kind of rational or logical argument here. None of this supports your claim that they're "abnormal" and thus them being aberrations makes sense.

Also, humanoid literally means "having a human-like form", which Gith undoubtedly do, so I'm not even sure what you think your second sentence means in English! Gith are far closer to humans in form than say, Dragonborn or Tieflings, both of which are still humanoids. So that's obviously a losing idea.

It seems like we're in a very weird situation where we're edging towards "humanoid" meaning specifically what "demihuman" used to mean, which is bizarre because the term "humanoid" was used in D&D specifically to differentiate from "demihuman"!

I think this would be a lot smaller problem if they'd done this more evenly, and Goliaths were Giants, Tieflings were Fiends, Elves and Gnomes were Fey, Dragonborn were Dragons, and so on. But it's weird as heck to make Gith, one of the more conventional humanoid races, "aberrations", a term generally associated be-tentacled monstrosities, the most humanoid of which was the Mind Flayer.

 

[AlViking]

You're not making any kind of rational or logical argument here. None of this supports your claim that they're "abnormal" and thus them being aberrations makes sense.

Also, humanoid literally means "having a human-like form", which Gith undoubtedly do, so I'm not even sure what you think your second sentence means in English! Gith are far closer to humans in form than say, Dragonborn or Tieflings, both of which are still humanoids. So that's obviously a losing idea.

It seems like we're in a very weird situation where we're edging towards "humanoid" meaning specifically what "demihuman" used to mean, which is bizarre because the term "humanoid" was used in D&D specifically to differentiate from "demihuman"!

We're both just stating our opinion. I understand why they want to differentiate them from every other humanoid so that humanoid means something other than the basic human form. If we use the broadest definition of humanoid then golems and giants would also be humanoids. Same with mind flayers, constructs, gnolls, celestials which I assume that in at least some cases you would not consider them humanoid. Calling them aberrations doesn't reflect on them negatively in any way it's just a different categorization for game purposes.

I've stated my opinion and you've stated yours if you don't have anything else to add that's different let me know.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I understand why they want to differentiate them from every other humanoid

I don't.

And you haven't explained why being mistreated or having psionic powers should make you an "aberration", when much stranger beings are "humanoids"!

What's the need for differentiation here?

Calling them aberrations doesn't reflect on them negatively in any way

It does, though, absolutely. It's a loaded term like Fiend. It's not a neutral descriptor. It literally means an "unwelcome deviation".

Again, it makes no sense to differentiate them in this way either - because they're no more different than elves, and less different than dragonborn. even physically, they're just very low body-fat humans with as my wife put it "bad plastic surgery noses".

so that humanoid means something other than the basic human form

What does it mean now, exactly and precisely? It used to mean something specific - human-ish sized, human-shaped races that were probably at least theoretically playable, but weren't "demihumans" (i.e. the 2E PHB races and their relatives). But WotC are chipping away at that by reclassifying stuff like Kobolds, Goblins and Hobgoblins, and now Gith, and it's bizarre and seemingly senseless to reclassify these races suddenly, but to leave Elves, who are more "Fey" than a dozen goblins, Dragonborn, who are at least as much "Dragons" as Kobolds are, and so on.

Pick a lane, WotC. This just looks like ill-conceived whimsy.

 

[Corinnguard]

The Gith aren't the only playable species that have been messed around with by Mind Flayers. There's also the Duergar. Anyone know how they are being typed in 5.5e? Humanoid or Aberration? If being messed around by the Mind Flayers makes a species into an Aberration, then the Duergar ought to have the same type.

 

[AlViking]

The Gith aren't the only playable species that have been messed around with by Mind Flayers. There's also the Duergar. Anyone know how they are being typed in 5.5e? Humanoid or Aberration? If being messed around by the Mind Flayers makes a species into an Aberration, then the Duergar ought to have the same type.

We'll know more next week when some people will get access in DndBeyond.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Elves look like human that are generally slender with pointy ears. Gith don't look particularly humanoid other than having the same basic form, live primarily on the astral plane or limbo. In the past they were described as having been captive for centuries by mind flayers and during that captivity gained psionic abilities. Being aberrations doesn't make them any less of anything and I don't understand why you think it does.

gith looks bascily human they are half a step away from were elves are, I have seen star trek aliens far more removed

 

[Voadam]

I... can't say that's something I've ever perceived from the Githyanki or the Githzerai before.

Its something that has been there in Githzerai art for a while. A lot of fu manchu facial hair for one thing.