Creature Types

Every creature has one or more creature types. These types have no game mechanics on their own, but some effects have special interactions with certain types. For example, the cure wounds spell has no effect on creatures with the Undead or Construct type.

Aberrations are alien creatures that ignore the usual rules of biology. Tentacles, extra eyes, and rubbery skin are common physical features of aberrations, while dispassionate or cruel intelligence is a hallmark of their mental aptitude. Many aberrations are gifted with telepathic or telekinetic powers.

Beasts are ordinary animals. It is extremely rare for a beast to be capable of magic in any form.

Celestials are divine beings that typically reside amongst gods; indeed, gods themselves are celestials. Their presence is awesome, and very few can be trifled with. Celestials of all kinds of moral standing exist, but even the good ones tend to be dogmatic.

Constructs are artificial creations given life, although not all of them are sentient. Most constructs rely on a combination of magic and mechanical gadgetry to function.

The Dragon creature type includes true dragons and their lesser kin, such as wyverns. Dragons augment their natural physiologies with magic, allowing many to fly, exhale blasts of elemental energy, and grow to enormous sizes. True dragons are invariably intelligent and powerful, while lesser dragons have more in common with beasts.

Elementals are living manifestations of the four elements: air, earth, fire, and water. Most elementals only embody one of the elements. Irrespective of element, elementals come in all shapes and sizes. Most have no real intelligence, and simply act with the same predictability and willpower as a force of nature.

Fey are universally clever. They come in a huge variety of forms, from hideous to beautiful, and their moral compasses are just as diverse. Even an individual fey might change its personality in an instant. Many fey are strict adherents to their own laws of social etiquette and take umbridge at the slightest deviation from them. Many fey are magical, usually with a knack for trickery.

Fiends are the insidious counterpart to celestials. Every fiend is evil, without exception. While an evil celestial might encourage evil acts within the world, a fiend's ultimate goal is to corrupt creation itself. Aside from their fixed alignment, fiends span the widest range of characteristics: tiny to colossal, revolting to attractive, pathetic to powerful, dumb to brilliant, simple to scheming, and so on. Many fiends have innate magical ability.

The Giant creature type comprises true giants and their cousins, such as trolls and ogres. As the name suggests, giants are big, ranging from about 10 to 30 feet tall when fully grown. Larger giants tend to be more intelligent and magically gifted. The dumbest giants are barely smarter than beasts, while the smartest giants are roughly on par with the smartest people. Their innate magical abilities, however, can be formidable.

Humanoids are the intelligent, human-like denizens of the natural world. Humans, elves, dwarves, goblins, and many more creatures are humanoids.

The Monstrosity type is a bit of a catch-all for creatures that didn't naturally evolve and don't fit into any other group. Many monstrosities can be thought of as magical beasts, while others have no bestial resemblence whatsoever. They are usually slightly more intelligent than beasts, but not by much.

Oozes are amorphous blobs. They are usually unintelligent, nonmagical, and not particularly fast.

Common plants count as objects, not creatures. Most creatures with the Plant creature type are normal plants that were magically given the ability to move about. They rarely have any magical ability themselves, however.

Undead are the spirits or animated remains of deceased things, usually humanoids. The most common undead creatures by far are zombies and skeletons. Some undead—especially ghosts—remember their former lives and might even retain their former personality. Very few undead possess magical abilities, but those that do can be extremely powerful.