Evolution in D&D

[demiurge1138]

I hadn't given it much thought, but apparently in D&D, some sort of evolutionary processes take place. There are little references to creatures evolving from similar creatures (darkmantle) and convergent evolution (grell) throughout various monster manuals.

So in your campaigns, where do the monsters come from? Natural evolution? Magical mutation? Eldritch experiments? Divine power?

Demiurge out.

 

[Turanil]

So in your campaigns, where do the monsters come from? Natural evolution? Magical mutation? Eldritch experiments? Divine power?

Usually IMC animals and dragons come from natural evolution. Dragons evolved from dinosaurs millions of years ago, and while most dinosaurs disappeared, a handful of dragons remain. They are the top of dinosaur evolution while humans are the top of animal evolution. In my new campaign dragons were created by Chaos; dinosaur evolution led to the Serpent People, but thereafter these were corrupted by Chaos in Yuan-ti and similar creatures (my fluff for Serpent Kingdom).

Usually IMC most other creatures come from magical mutations and eldricht experiments. The idea is that magic is not innocuous but leaves a sort of pollution in the world which eventually affect / taint the world. As such, where abberation were probably created by eldricht experiments then left to their own, many others (like Grell if I were to use them) are byproduct of magical pollution, mutants if you prefer. In my new campaign all aberration creatures were manufactured by the same race (Drow / Dharzi) through dark necromancies. Many monsters and horrors are living things corrupted by Chaos or "demons" brought to the world from other planes.

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

eh, it's all evolved from the divine conceptions.

Aside from where contingent history makes it horrid finger felt.

 

[Alzrius]

I hadn't given it much thought, but apparently in D&D, some sort of evolutionary processes take place. There are little references to creatures evolving from similar creatures (darkmantle) and convergent evolution (grell) throughout various monster manuals.

It's interesting to note that this is something worth noting.

Public perception in the real world is that evolution is the opposite of creationism (in that a deity made a race as it currently exists); quite possibly due to the influence of the Scopes Monkey Trial. In D&D, they seem to have blended the two, giving the latter a much larger place in the spotlight.

It's natural to favor the idea of races created as-is since many races have their own gods just for them. That said, some monsters don't have a deity, so we can see glimpses then that evolution still happens naturally when no gods meddle with mortals.

 

[DM_Matt]

Public perception in the real world is that evolution is the opposite of creationism (in that a deity made a race as it currently exists); quite possibly due to the influence of the Scopes Monkey Trial. In D&D, they seem to have blended the two, giving the latter a much larger place in the spotlight.

Not EVERYONE is an incompatablist. I know plenty of people who believe in a hybrid, myself included.

 

[Baron Opal]

A little of both

In my world of Kericindal I have a bit of both.

Most of the humanoid races evolved from one of two divinely created races. Mind flayers are completly evolved. One trait that I noticed after the fact is that the irredemably evil creatures, like the mind flayers, are both completely evolved and usually have psionic powers. Psionics have a "Lovecraftian" stigma about them in my game.

Baron Opal

 

[Lord Pendragon]

My take: Creatures that are more "normal" or at least have roots in "normal" are naturally evolved. This includes giants, humanoids, many of the monstrous humanoids, animals, many magical beasts that aren't too outlandish. These creatures developed through evolution.

Now the more bizarre creatures, such as the chimera, or the athach, are the result of magical experimentation by elder races. Some of them are unique, some were created with a purpose and then later allowed to spawn "wild" when the creator race died out.

As for evolution/creationism, it always struck me that evolution could have been the means of creationism, but I know others disagree, and we should probably not travel any further down that line of thought lest we endanger the thread.

 

[AFGNCAAP]

Hafta agree with the "bit of both" trend here.

Mainly, IMC, the "divinely created" races (as they only know themselves as, since there is still a fair amount of unrecorded prihistory) existed in 1 form long ago, and essentially "evolved" into the form they are now. To a certain degree, evolution is responsible for the current "incarnations" (for lack of a better term at hand at the moment) present in the campaign world.

However, magical experimentation & mortal "tampering" has altered the path of this evolution (the divine forces decreeing long ago to abstain from directly interacting in mortal affairs). Creatures such as the owlbear, hippogriff, yuan-ti, and gnoll are obvious products of magical experimentation (intentional or not). Some much more recent creations by such methods include hobgoblins, bugbears, blues (from PsiHB), & ogre mages.

Such tampering by mortals on the natural order has had an effect on the world around them. Though there are multiple types of dragon species (chromatic, gem, metallic, etc.), many of these creatures are being wiped out: either by competition for food by other dragons (both by natural dragons and some of the mage-made newer breeds), or by other races (humanoid dragon-slayers & whatnot). In many cases, some dragon species are starting to interbreed, creating a new species of dragon from 2 or more older ones.

And, of course, never forget the extraplanetary/extradimensional visitors from beyond: aboleths, illithids, & quite a few other abberations. These creatures are quite rare--most likely, encountering & slaying these creatures will wipe them out IMC.

 

[DonaldRumsfeldsTofu]

In a campaign world I'm creating, not only does evolution exist, but druids actually acknowledge it. Of course, to anyone else, the concept of everything not being created by the gods is absurd.

I prefer worlds in which not every single thing was created by a mad wizard.

 

[blargney the second]

Mutations are fun! Evolution is fun! Creationism is fun! Cross-breeding is fun!

In my last game I had the players encounter a giant, mutated, purple starfish in the sewers. The magical university's alchemical lab empties into the sewers, and it turned a simple starfish into an otyugh. (It also mutated the PCs during the night, but that's another story!)

From a different place in the spectrum, the world was originally a wild, chaotic realm called Preternature. The gods fought with it and eventually defeated it. They then reshaped Preternature into the current world, and created a race of powerful intelligent reptilians to populate it. They pinned the mask of stability in place with the unchanging nature of cities and civilization.

Ultimately the lawful neutral lizardmen lacked the mammalian capacity for warm-blooded compassion, and so they devolved into kobolds (intelligent, evil, and small), and lizardmen (stupid, powerful, and large). The mask of reality began to unravel, and the gods realized the error they made with the reptilians.

They then took the slaadi from the buried Preternatural realm and transformed them into a warm-blooded race, in the hopes that their compassion would make them stick together more than the reptilians. It worked, and chaotic immortal true elves were created. However, their level of civilisation was insufficient to maintain the mask.

The gods created a final race with infinite potential - the humans. Over time the humans became the dominant race in most of the world, and races of half-elves and quarter-elves were born (PHB elves and half-elves, respectively), while the true elves disappeared from memory. Dwarves moved into the plane from another reality, and largely kept to themselves. Nobody knows where halflings and gnomes came from, although some suspect that they are crosses between dwarves and elves.

-blarg