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.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

given the topic is about the gith being aberrations they feel in no way aberration. their biology is barely different than most mammals hence my point.

Logically that makes sense if being aberration strictly effects your physiology.

sure they were changed by mindflayer but not significantly Does being near them count?

The question is what counts as significantly.

the definition is to vague to work and gith are just clearly humanoids as they seem human like in most respects.

That is a problematic sense. Looking like a humanoid does not make something a humanoid. A vampire looks like a humanoid. It drinks (blood). It reproduces by (infecting humanoids).

So probably humanoid should not be a monster category at all but should be a subtype that describes being of humanoid body stature.

So a vampire would be a humanoid undead.
A human would be a natural humanoid or something like that.

I think this is how it was done in 4e. Sadly not carried over because it would have caused outrage.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

given the topic is about the gith being aberrations they feel in no way aberration. their biology is barely different than most mammals hence my point.
sure they were changed by mindflayer but not significantly Does being near them count?

I would say they were changed more significantly than the Derro and Psi Goblins.

Gaunt appearances, green skin, egg reproduction, psionic powers. They lacked all of these things before the mind Flayers altered them.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Logically that makes sense if being aberration strictly effects your physiology.

gith have not particularly divergent mentally either or socially so those are out.

The question is what counts as significantly.

at minimum must be more divergent than a monstrosity of humanoid origin.
That is a problematic sense. Looking like a humanoid does not make something a humanoid. A vampire looks like a humanoid. It drinks (blood). It reproduces by (infecting humanoids).

So probably humanoid should not be a monster category at all but should be a subtype that describes being of humanoid body stature.

So a vampire would be a humanoid undead.
A human would be a natural humanoid or something like that.

I think this is how it was done in 4e. Sadly not carried over because it would have caused outrage.

I would not disagree with that but undead is any formerly living thing raised to undeath thus it is broad by nature.
giant is just any humanoid far above human height naturally but it also means we know what to put there.
my point is the gith does not logically feel like aberration nor is the definition presently practical.

I would say they were changed more significantly than the Derro and Psi Goblins.

Gaunt appearances, green skin, egg reproduction, psionic powers. They lacked all of these things before the mind Flayers altered them.

do we know that or are we guessing?

 

[Remathilis]

gith does not feel more mystical save by location than an elf they are just not that different.

That sounds like a good reason to make gith another lineage for elf. Maybe they will get "psionic" spells this time?

 

[MonsterEnvy]

gith have not particularly divergent mentally either or socially so those are out.

at minimum must be more divergent than a monstrosity of humanoid origin.
That is a problematic sense. Looking like a humanoid does not make something a humanoid. A vampire looks like a humanoid. It drinks (blood). It reproduces by (infecting humanoids).

I would not disagree with that but undead is any formerly living thing raised to undeath thus it is broad by nature.
giant is just any humanoid far above human height naturally but it also means we know what to put there.
my point is the gith does not logically feel like aberration nor is the definition presently practical.

do we know that or are we guessing?

According to older lore they used to be humans or at the least very human like. And even in current lore they are stated to have been unlike their predecessors with their origins and name forgotten.

Though I should note that Githyanki are more aberrant than the Githzerai likely as an effect of living in the Astral Plane or maybe Vlaakith further modifying them with magic. As Githyanki reproduce with eggs, while Githzerai do not.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Speaking of the artist that did the Githyanki put out their process.

Process: Githyanki — Jason Rainville - Fantasy Artist

process post for D&D monster manual artwork

www.jasonrainville.com

 

[Mind of tempest]

According to older lore they used to be humans or at the least very human like. And even in current lore they are stated to have been unlike their predecessors with their origins and name forgotten.

Though I should note that Githyanki are more aberrant than the Githzerai likely as an effect of living in the Astral Plane or maybe Vlaakith further modifying them with magic. As Githyanki reproduce with eggs, while Githzerai do not.

they are very human-like barely any change, cultural genocide is fairly likely for anything going through chattel slavery and mindflayers can wipe your mind and did it far longer than any human civilisation has ever managed thus the data loss of origin and name was both likely and deeply deliberate.

no both lay eggs rather the yanki are forced to raise kids on the prime material as the astral does not let things age properly, zerai living in limbo do not have this problem what with some flow of time being a thing there.

 

[Chaosmancer]

so does gaining a psychic power by feat also make you an aberration?

Ship of Theseus

a) I feel that robs them of moral agency in the worst way, just having a psychotic existential breakdown would be nicer.

So... it would be like a horror movie. Like a cosmic horror. Like Illithid are. I'm not getting the complaint here. The idea that the Gith's entire rebellion was part of the Mind Flayer plan and failsafes are built into their minds and DNA are EXACTLY the sort of Cosmic Horror you could expect from them.

b) they are not defining aberration in a meaningful way, lots of things have strange biology and give hard examples to get a feeling.

Seemed pretty meaningful to me.

c) this is fundamentally about making it less questionable to kill them but they are space bandits thus of limited consequence to defend yourself from.

No it isn't.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Nah.

It's just a shoddy and silly definition of Aberration for the sake of making fewer things Humanoids, and obviously pretty ridiculous. They're not meaningfully in the same category as any actual aberrations.

6E is undoubtedly going to end up reversing this (or rather giving back dual classifications).

EDIT - Also can you imagine trying to tell Lae'zel that she was an aberration like a Mind Flayer and not a person lol? I can't think of any way to get bisected faster than that! And doing so on the basis of "well they lay eggs, they aren't people" is messed-up on a lot of levels, and a more "problematic" than mind control spells are. Indeed it's actual setting point from Spire, which is literally about racialized oppression.

Non-Humanoids can still be people. Where have they EVER stated that non-humanoid beings are not people? Because DRAGONS and GIANTS are not humanoid, and are totally people.

Also, it isn't because of the eggs. No one at WoTC even brought up eggs. It was because of what was done to them by the Mind Flayers. And, you would get bisected for saying she was a Mind Flayer, you would also get bisected for saying she was a human, because she thinks Gith are better than humans. So... what's your point? Angry Xenophobe kills you for not recognizing the superior race?

 

[Chaosmancer]

I can see that, but the Far Realm is not the plane of madness. In fact, it is not currently described as a plane at all. I don't quite remember how it was described in the video, but here is what the DMG says:

"The Far Realm is outside the known multiverse. In fact, it might be an entirely separate universe with its own physical and magical laws."

Also, not for nothing, planetouched is a rather useless category. It would include all fiends, all elementals, all abberations, all constructs, all fey, and potentially all or a lot of Undead depending on your lore. It becomes a meta-category that needs to be sub-divided anyways.

Edit: Forgot al Celestials.