Critical Role Campaign 4 may have fixed my least favorite D&D monster

Dungeons & Dragons is a strange creative space. In theory, it provides a blank canvas on which Dungeon Masters and players can paint all sorts of pictures with their imaginations. However, D&D also has a 50-year history of campaign settings, monsters, magic systems, established non-player characters, and general lore. Even the most brilliant creative minds have difficulty completely freeing themselves from this massive reference environment. This means that much of the “new” content in D&D is repeating sampled tracks. Sometimes it sounds good, like “Gangsta's Paradise,” and other times, like when I heard “All Summer Long,” it makes me cringe. Critical Role has gotten pretty creative so far thanks to its original settings in Exandria (created by Matt Mercer) and now Araman (the world created by Brennan Lee Mulligan for Campaign 4). While long-time fans of Mulligan and his Dimension 20 works may recognize some of his common themes (Brennan really hates God!), Episode 2 impressed me thanks to its truly original take on a classic D&D creature type, the Celestial. A Brief History of Celestial Bodies in Dungeons & Dragons Image: Wizards of the Coast Demons and fiends (collectively known as fiends) have been a part of D&D since 1976, but it took a little longer for their angelic equivalents to appear. Dragon issues #12 (February 1978) and #17 (August 1978) featured several unique “angels” with specific names. These were simply drawings from perspectives from Hebrew and Christian religious traditions. We had to wait until 1982 to get a more original version. Gary Gygax's “Creatures to Watch” column in Dragon magazine introduced new monsters from 1983's Monster Manual II. It was there that the Devas, planets, and suns first appeared, and the lineage of creatures known as the Celestials, which still exists in modern versions of the game, began. In D&D, celestial beings are benevolent servants of the gods created by their masters to serve as soldiers, commanders, emissaries, liaisons with mortals, and generally to settle in the realms of the Upper Planes. They are defenders of good who fight against the forces of chaos and evil from the lower planes and help protect their divine faith in the material world. Despite their direct relationship with the gods, celestial beings are unique individuals with specific personalities. Famous examples include Rumaria and Zariel from the Forgotten Realms setting, the Lady of the Lake from Greyhawk, and even Dame Aylin from Baldur's Gate 3. Celestial lore is significantly less developed than that of demons. There are 99 layers of chaos in the Abyss, and demon lords are tearing each other apart. The Nine Hells is a version of Game of Thrones with more bloodshed and more interesting subplots. And don't even get me started on the Yugoloth thing. Meanwhile, everything you need to know about astronomical objects can be gleaned in just an hour of reading Wiki. No wonder the angel-like creatures mentioned in the Bible were so underdeveloped. Rumor has it that Gygax was uneasy about giving players a stat block of angels that could be killed in-game, and that its problematic origins hampered development, even though Celestials was later expanded with a broader appearance and purpose. There are also limits to what we can do with creatures created as servants of God. They do have free will, but their narrative scope is limited. In that sense, the bad guys have more freedom. Although they have established masters (demon lords, archdevils, etc.), they are ultimately fickle and chaotic creatures, capable of spinning in different directions without losing their unique nature. How Critical Role Campaign 4 redefines celestial bodies Graphics: Polygon. Source image: Critical Role. Brennan Lee Mulligan To be honest, I get that too. Celestial bodies are less interesting. A crusader of good defeating all forms of evil is cool, but it quickly becomes cheesy. A lack of general interest means we still don't know much about astronomical objects. For example, we still don't know what will happen after the God who created them dies. There is no standard answer and every DM is free to come up with their own interpretation. Brennan Lee Mulligan decided to center the issue in the world of Alaman, where all the gods were killed by mortals in a great conflict that ended 70 years before the start of the campaign. So what happened to these servants of the gods? Brennan's answer was simple, terrifying, and very interesting. They went crazy and became a plague that destroyed the entire country. Much has yet to be revealed about Alaman's past, the war with the gods, and its impact on the present, but it appears that after the gods died, the Celestials became “feral.” They turned into monsters that could destroy entire regions if left alone. Viewers got a glimpse of the horrors of these creatures at the end of episode two, when Wickander (Sam Riegel) came face-to-face with “Grandfather,” a terrifying celestial being chained to a giant coffin. Story-wise, it's no coincidence that the most interesting celestial beings in D&D are those who have fallen from grace. For example, Zariel was a powerful sun who was so obsessed with ending a bloody war that he was corrupted and turned into a great demon by Asmodeus. The Fazurians are little-known planetary beings summoned by a cleric within Undermountain who become obsessed with “purifying” evil in the end level of a giant dungeon, slowly succumbing to the madness that infuses the place. Illustration: Tyler Jacobson/Wizards of the Coast The corruption seen in Critical Role Campaign 4 takes on a different form. These heavenly beings did not fall from grace. They were not fooled, nor were they led astray by their pride or obsession. they are victims. Another terrible outcome of the Shapers' War. As Campaign 4 continues, I hope Mulligan focuses on the idea that no matter how “just” a conflict is, the mortals who win it may still regret its outcome. Their world is scarred, their connection to the afterlife severed, and the creatures that were once their guardians and guided their souls to safety after death are now terrible scourges. Indeed, this may be a convenient way to resolve Gygax's original dilemma. It's easy to justify killing angels when they're crazed, screaming creatures with rows of teeth, but I'm also very intrigued by this new declination of celestial mythology in D&D. While I don't necessarily agree with Brennan's aversion to divine beings in campaigns, I still prefer these monstrous celestials to the flat holy soldiers you get in every other D&D setting. We get to see more layers of madness caused by their murder of gods, and we hope to see the Celestials more than just mindless death machines. Introducing a new campaign setting to Dungeons & Dragons typically creates new locations, NPCs, spells, magic items, feats, and subclasses. However, it's difficult to bring meaningful additions to the game's general lore. The cosmology of the planes and the creatures that inhabit them has always been a major pillar of D&D lore, so I'm curious to see if Araman's celestial brand will stick around long term