D&D 5E Celestials in 5e

5E has a huge giant problem with Celestials.

There's a reasonable argument to be made that we don't really need a lot of stats for them, nor do we need the same sort of detail on their society that we might with Devils or Modrons or the like. I'm totally okay with that. But we should have SOME sort of idea of what is supposed to be going on, because it's clearly changed dramatically since previous editions!

For example, 5E made a completely boneheaded and bizarre decision to make it so Good-aligned gods, no matter how dodgily Good or how Chaotic or whatever, have utterly dutiful hard-LG Angels/Celestials serving them (never mind that there's potentially a limit to how dutiful any LG being can be compared to an LN one).

And everyone else, all the N and E gods, even the LN gods (which are very common, and have often had angel-adjacent beings serving them in previous editions), have... NOTHING AND NO-ONE.

No, they do not have devils and demons (not as a matter of course - the books actually go out of their way to point out devils/demons serving evil gods are the exception, not the rule). They don't have anyone else either. Modrons etc. don't seem to be serving Neutral gods either.

It's bizarre. And it seems like someone just put this in without examining the consequences, or how this changes things. And this is seems very representative of how 5E has dealt with Celestials in general - carelessly and thoughtlessly.
honestly i think i would go further and say not only sis they deal with celestials thoughtlessly and carelessly id say the dealt with all outsiders as well as fey and undead really shoddily in a variety of ways and with the exception of fey completely thoughtlessly and carelessly too. (They did think about fey a bit more than the median outsider i think)
 

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Hriston

Dungeon Master of Middle-earth
I love it. But I would go Eudaimon so no confuses it with Daemon aka Yugoloths (NG), Archons (LG), and Muses (CG), all Greek words. Let Angels just be direct servants of Gods (or Guilds in Ravnica).

Daemon (classical mythology) - Wikipedia
I think personal preference is bound to come into this sort of thing. I don’t much like the idea of an all Greek or even classically themed upper planes. What I was going for were terms that would be familiar in English and that have some resonance with the alignments they’re meant to represent. I was also thinking about how the lower planes were populated and how to create the same level of differentiation for the upper planes. Devil and demon are very natural and familiar in English, and daemon, while less familiar, is an understandable choice, although I think cacodaemon might have been more accurate. I dislike the change to yugoloth and the other names for fiends that came in with 2E, although I note that it does free up the former term somewhat, which is why I suggested daimon for NG celestials. The alternate spelling and pronunciation would provide at least some differentiation from demons/daemons, although maybe not enough.

Angel seems like the natural counterpoint to devil, and the concept of abrahamic angels seems to fit well with the LG ethos of service, loyalty, and devotion. Archon, on the other hand, is a Greek term for someone who holds the office of a king or, literally, a ruler. Now while the concept of rulership is tied in with how I’m conceiving of angels, I’m not sure how archon is a more appropriate term to apply to spirits.

A muse, to me, is one of the nine goddesses that bear that name, which I would place above the typical denizens of the upper planes. I chose the word genius because, even though it has other meanings in modern English, I feel it captures the concept of a personal tutelary spirit which I feel jibes well with the CG emphasis on the individual.
 


Go read any of PG Wodehouse's Jeeves the Butler novels, then:

1) You are welcome. No need to gush. I know I have immeasurably improved your life and hopefully your imagination.

2) I am pleased that you now know exactly how a LG angel would serve a CG (or even deity

I read the Jeeves novels 25+ years ago :)

I'd say Jeeves is more LN than LG.
 

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