Celestial (Dungeons & Dragons)
| Celestial | |
|---|---|
| Characteristics | |
| Type | Outsider |
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, celestials are a class of creatures and monsters known as outsiders who are of wholly good alignment.
In the context of the Dungeons & Dragons games they represent forces of armed justice, and include iconic “good” creatures from history and myth, such as angels, who seek out and destroy evil.
All celestials hail from the Upper Planes.
There are four published types of celestial: Aasimon (or devas or angels), Archons, Eladrins, and Guardinals, each with varying “good” outlooks and motivations. The celestials are led by celestial paragons, unique creatures presented in Dungeons and Dragons lore as polar opposites of the demon princes and archdevils.
Publication history
Angels (then called Devas) first appeared in Dragon issue #63 (July 1982). Astral, Movanic and Monadic Devas appeared in issue #63 in the article "Featured Creatures." Planetar and Solars made their first appearance in issue #64's (August 1982) "Featured Creatures" article. "Featured Creatures" was an ongoing series of articles where Gary Gygax released information on official creatures before their release in the upcoming "Monster Manual II" (1983).
Archons were introduced in the first edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Manual of the Planes (1987). Eladrin and guardinals debuted as several cards in the Blood Wars Card Game in 1995, and then first appeared in a D&D product in the Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix II (1995).
Angels
Angels can be of any good alignment, and can live in any of the Upper Planes instead of being limited to just one. Many subspecies of angels exist, including Astral Deva, Solar, and Planetar.
Astral Deva
These angels watch over lesser beings from the heavens and, in turn, are symbols of sentry and looked upon as messengers from Gods. Although avoiding combat whenever possible, it loves to strike down evil with a passion, preferring blunt weapons such as maces over blades and staves.
Planetar
Planetar angels are legendary warriors and guardians, serving as captains and commanding legions of celestials to war with anything that would threaten the destruction of the cosmos. Like all other celestials, they will attack fiends and demons before anything else, and prefer to mix their vast array of heavenly magic with their mighty greatswords and massive charges.
Solar
When the mightiest of the demons, the most hell-bent destructor fiends and the evil deities themselves crawl from the pits of Baator to challenge good, the Solar angels will always be among the defenders. Solar angels are the elite fighting force of justice in the planes, and when not fighting evil, they are in the direct service of the good deities. Solar also featured as the only published epic stat figurine for the lawful good faction in the Blood War set. The Solar's stat card featured extremely high attack power and speed, along with his trademark "slaying arrow" which is able to immediately destroy any creature with 100 health points or less. He was only rivaled by the Pit Fiend in that set.
Archons
Archons are lawful good and found on the plane of Mount Celestia. They consider fiends their sworn enemies and devote their existence to protecting all the free peoples against the tyranny of evil.
In the 4th Edition Monster Manual, an Archon is a medium elemental humanoid, and thus is opposed to the gods, that is made up of one or more specific elements, and is chaotic evil.
Eladrin
Eladrins are chaotic good and found on the plane of Arborea. They are the free knights of everything extraplanar, and search endlessly throughout the planes for good men and women to lend a swordarm and to help champion the Eladrin cause.
Guardinals
Guardinals are neutral good and found on the plane of Elysium. In their home plane, they are perhaps the most peace-loving and carefree of all Celestials, but once separated from Elysium, they become fierce crusaders and preemptive attackers who live to destroy injustice until once again brought home.