Fiendish and Celestial Creatures

[mhacdebhandia]

They're not demons in the sense that tanar'ri are demons, no. But on the other hand, they are native to the outer planes - that's why they gain the extraplanar subtype on the Material Plane. Given that they come from a place which is wholly unlike the normal world, why must they have an ecology to speak of, anyway? I'll point out that they are described as "resembl(ing) beings found on the Material Plane".

Why must a fiendish creature that is based upon a horse have the same lifecycle, ecology, et cetera as a normal horse? I don't see any reason in the rules to assume they do. Perhaps fiendish horses periodically spawn from the poisonous foam of Lower Planar oceans, vomited upon the bleak shores of the Abyss or another plane.

As for their names, come on. Why conclude that spellcasters in any given D&D setting don't have a name for the fiendish creatures they summon that resemble wolves, just because one isn't given in the text of the spell?

I just don't see any reason to necessarily conclude that a creature which is mechanically created by applying a "fiendish creature" template to another creature must represent a fiendish analogue of that creature, including fiendish analogues for its society, culture, ecology, and whatever else.

I think they're actually more interesting and useful if you don't make that assumption, and it certainly prevents the cognitive dissonance you're experiencing right now as a result of your assumption that they must be wolves or goblins or dragons that just happen to live on Carceri.

 

[Piratecat]

What does a fiendish creature on a barren level of the Abyss eat?

Souls.

 

[Drowbane]

fun with D&D cosmology

Why are the Outer Planes populated with mystical versions of common animals, in addition to outsiders but not in addition to large populations of fiendish or celestial humanoids?

As I see it...
For mortals the Outer Planes are the afterlife. Your afterlife of choice (celestia if you were L/G or Hell if you were L/E, etc, etc) happens to be populated by the celestial or fiendish (or axiomatic or anarchic ) versions of critters the former mortal would recognize from his Prime Material.

Perhaps (insert template of choice here) are the original version of Prime critters? Mayhaps AO created a pack of Paragon Celestial Dogs before he sent thier puppies down to Faerun?

Why do they have a smite ability, but no detect ability, especially augmented animals which are probably not smart enough to guess at Int 3??

Agreed. Perhaps thier Smite should just be non-alignment specific. "Smite Prey"? Or trade it out for an entirely different ability (or just lose it with no compensation).

Have you ever noticed that many areas of the Abyss and Hell would be devoid of fiendish creatures, which have a fairly low fire resistance relative to the fire-dominant planar trait??

Fiends like thier food BBQed

Isn't it odd that advanced, larger versions of creatures often receive a jumpt to DR 5/magic, making them virtually immune to their somewhat smaller kin?

big fish vs little fish

What does a fiendish creature on a barren level of the Abyss eat?

Souls.

Each other? Adventurers?

And now... I'm off to contemplate the BBQed template

 

[pawsplay]

Souls.

Fiendish drow, too?

 

[Wolf72]

Souls.

sometimes those one word answers are simply the best and most explanatory

 

[Nifft]

What does a fiendish creature on a barren level of the Abyss eat?

Fast Food.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Nyeshet]

Where in the world do you get pictures like that?

 

[Shemeska]

A couple things:

1) In the beastlands at least, all of those celestial animals are the actual petitioners of the plane itself, regardless of their original forms in life they manifest as animals in a sort of idealized cycle of nature between predators and prey, constantly living and dying and being remade to take part in that idealized pastoral scenario again and again till they eventually merge with the plane itself.

2) Celestial and fiendish animals on most other planes (and axiomatic and anarchic) were originally transplants from the prime material that eventually adapted to the plane, bred, and over generations became attuned to the plane to the point where it reflected upon their offspring (hence the template). They're still not true natives of the plane, same as how aasimar and tieflings aren't true natives of the upper or lower planes.

3) Normal humanoids of all types and stripes live on the planes, more on some planes than on others simply because some planes are more hostile to mortals than not. Some layers of the Abyss are unable to support mortal life, while some cities of Baator actively seek to attract mortals to be able to corrupt them, and while the gatetowns of the Outlands support thriving populations of mortals, even in the Gray Waste there are small safe havens against the nightmarish terrain (such as Death-of-Innocence and the City-at-the-Center) that support mortal life. Eventually after generations, either naturally by exposure to those planes, or by interbreeding (willing or not) with the natives of those planes you end up with tieflings, aasimar, etc. Those fill the niche that fiendish and celestial animals serve, and just by convention you don't see fiendish or celestial humanoids (you instead see the various planetouched).

 

[Ravilah]

Well, this idea doesn't really work with the traditional rules, but I'm going with it in my homebrew world.

Creatures in the Abyss and in Celestia (the Nocturnium and Eternium, in my game) have one form in their own plane, but automatically take on another if they enter the Prime (the Materium), or enter the opposed good/evil plane. They don't have control over this; it's simply what happens. When Kzyz'trar the Rustblooded wanders his home in Hell, he appears as a large, charcoal-black humanoid with four amber wings. Summoned to Earth, his form naturally becomes that of a giant, spiky spider. He doesn't choose it. That's just what he is in the Prime. In the Heavenly realms he is a burning ball of purple flames with blackened swords swirling round him.

So, perhaps the sentient floating balls of acid in Hell become Fiendish Dogs in the Prime.

Just a thought.

R

P.S. I borrowed this concept from Madeleine L'Engle's "A Wind in the Door," the sequel to "A Wrinkle in Time"

 

[pawsplay]

Interestingly, Rules Cyclopedia took that approach with a number of creatures native to the elemental planes.