Spelljammer Spelljammer Nov 10 2022 errata.

[Veltharis ap Rylix]

I'm not sure about the Mercane. In fact, I'm not sure why they are Celestials now.

Previous incarnations of the Mercane/Arcane were considered Outsiders (innately extraplanar beings, like angels, devils, etc.) of one form or another, whereas the original 5e printing had them classified as Giants.

Revising them to be Celestials is presumably to restore their status as extraplanar beings, especially if they're doing something with Giants as a category in the upcoming Giant book that would have clashed with what Mercane traditionally are. It does, admittedly, imply a level of innate "goodness" that has never been a Mercane thing, but then we don't really have distinct categories for Outsiders beyond Celestial and Fiend in 5e.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

Previous incarnations of the Mercane/Arcane were considered Outsiders (innately extraplanar beings, akin to angels, devils, etc.) of one form or another, whereas the original 5e printing had them classified as Giants.

Revising them to be Celestials is presumably to restore their status as extraplanar beings, especially if they're doing something with Giants as a category in the upcoming Giant book that would have clashed with what Mercane traditionally are. It does, admittedly, imply a level of innate "goodness" that has never been a Mercane thing, but then we don't really have distinct categories for Outsiders beyond Celestial and Fiend in 5e.

Celestial does not mean they're a "good" creature in 5e. It's used for all sorts of extraplanar creatures that aren't obviously fiendish, elemental, aberration or construct. I'm pretty sure that if the Neutral alingment paragons the Rilmani come back, they'd be classified as Celestials.

 

[Veltharis ap Rylix]

Celestial does not mean they're a "good" creature in 5e. It's used for all sorts of extraplanar creatures that aren't obviously fiendish, elemental, aberration or construct. I'm pretty sure that if the Neutral alingment paragons the Rilmani come back, they'd be classified as Celestials.

That's fair - I'm just primed to think of Celestials as the "Good" flavored subcategory of Outsiders, so that's where my mind goes by default.

It's the 3e/Planescape player in me.

 

[pukunui]

I still don’t understand why they didn’t make dohwar a playable race. Anthropomorphic races are popular, and who wouldn’t want to play a penguin?

 

[Weiley31]

I still don’t understand why they didn’t make dohwar a playable race. Anthropomorphic races are popular, and who wouldn’t want to play a penguin?

Since they are Fey in 5E, easy enough to do with taking the Arackorca/Kenku/one of the bird races from Humblewood and changing their typing to Fey. Not the best idea in doing it but the simplest/smoothest.

I'm also legit surprise the Dohwar haven't been a PC option yet.

 

[Weiley31]

That's fair - I'm just primed to think of Celestials as the "Good" flavored subcategory of Outsiders, so that's where my mind goes by default.

It's the 3e/Planescape player in me.

Celestial seems to be the 5E version of the 3E/Planescape Outsider typing. So, anything that would've been classified as an Outsider in previous editions would be updated to Celestial at this point.

 

[Zubatcarteira]

Still baffles me how the Hadooze flight got through the UA just to be errata'd immediately after release.

 

[Stormonu]

Celestial does not mean they're a "good" creature in 5e. It's used for all sorts of extraplanar creatures that aren't obviously fiendish, elemental, aberration or construct. I'm pretty sure that if the Neutral alingment paragons the Rilmani come back, they'd be classified as Celestials.

I wish they had stuck with "Outsiders" - there seems too little wiggle room between Celestial and Fiendish (and Elemental). I would have rathered Celestial and Fiendish be Outsider subtypes - Celestial, Fiend, Elemental, Astral, Ethereal, etc. . A devil would be <Size> outsider (fiend, devil) and a demon would be <Size> outsider (fiend, demon) and a fire elemental would be <Size> Outsider (Elemental, Fire*).

* I don't understand why Elementals don't have a subtype in the MM to begin with...

 

[Veltharis ap Rylix]

Celestial seems to be the 5E version of the 3E/Planescape Outsider typing. So, anything that would've been classified as an Outsider in previous editions would be updated to Celestial at this point.

Problem with that is Outsider also covered a lot of other things - fiends, modrons, slaadi, rilmani, and lots of other Outer Planar creatures.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Since they are Fey in 5E, easy enough to do with taking the Arackorca/Kenku/one of the bird races from Humblewood and changing their typing to Fey. Not the best idea in doing it but the simplest/smoothest.

I'm also legit surprise the Dohwar haven't been a PC option yet.

What about the Dohwar is fey other than them being labeled as such? I don't have the statblock in front of me.