Creature Type Clarity
I made a few changes to what creature type certain races count as in this campaign, so I thought I’d offer some clarity on how creature types will be handled in my world and what they mean for certain spells or effects.
Creature type, in general, is based on birth; you can be a tiefling raised in Heaven and still count as a Fiend. Certain transformative spells, such as Widogast's Transmogrification, can change your creature type, otherwise no natural influences can permanently change a creature’s type.
In this campaign, I will be splitting creature types into three categories: Primary Type, Secondary Type, and Sub-Types. I will explain each in order and provide a brief overview of how spells targeting those specific creature types are changed in this campaign.
Primary Type
A creature’s primary type designates which of the three planes its species originates from. Creatures originating from Rubicon are Fey, creatures originating from Heaven are Celestials, and creatures originating from Hell are Fiends. Summons will always share a Primary type with their summoner unless otherwise stated.Fey
A fey is a creature whose bloodline is traced to Rubicon. Often, these creatures will reflect the plane in some way; many represent the seasons, embody wild plant growths, or are generally chaotic and colorful. The following playable races have the Fey creature type: Human, Dwarf, Elf, Burrowling, Giantkin, Gnome, Halfling, Orc, Changeling, Lepali, Naiad, and Dryad. Generally, if a creature is from Rubicon or has been fundamentally twisted by rubiconian magic (such as becoming a hag), they will have the Fey primary type.Celestial
A celestial is a creature whose bloodline is traced to Heaven. Often, these creatures will reflect the plane in some way; many have wings and or are wind-related, and many have access to holy magic. The following playable races have the Celestial creature type: Aasimon, Jerut, Celestial Jinnasi, Warforged, Centaur, Faun, and Coatlin. Generally, if a creature is from Heaven or has been fundamentally twisted by heavenly magic (such as becoming an amesha), they will have the Celestial primary type.Fiend
A fiend is a creature whose bloodline is traced to Hell. Often, these creatures will reflect the plane in some way; many have horns or scales, and most have elemental magic. The following playable races have the Fiend creature type: Tiefling, Goblinoid, Abishai, Kobold, Infernal Jinnasi, Yuan Ti, Gelugonid, Cambion, and Sutaurid. Generally, if a creature is from Hell, they will have the Fiend primary type.Secondary Type
A creature’s secondary type designates whether or not it is humanoid. A creature is always either Humanoid or Non-Humanoid.Humanoid
Humanoid is a vague distinction that really just means “how attuned is a creature to their home plane?”. In world lore, it is named after humans because they are the least attuned to their home plane out of all common races, and the phenomenon is thought to be “how human-like is a creature”. Generally, a creature is Humanoid if it is a playable race. There may be other creatures I designate as Humanoid later, but none exist that aren’t listed as playable races so far.Non-Humanoid
Non-humanoid is a vague distinction that really just means “how attuned is a creature to their home plane?”. The less “humanoid”, the more attuned they are to their plane. Creatures like Hags are extremely attuned to Rubicon and no longer count as Humanoids, for example. Dragons are completely inhuman and are only ever considered human-like when they shapeshift to appear as one, but are never truly considered Humanoid. Some angels, like general aasimon, are humanoid, while others (any amesha) are too closely attuned to Heaven to be considered humanoid. Generally, a creature is Non-Humanoid if it is not a playable race.Sub-Types
Sub-types make up the rest of the creature types in the game. A creature doesn’t have to have any sub-types at all; many playable races are simply primary and secondary only. Sub-types are only given to creatures who lean outside the norm enough to be classified differently. The subtypes that exist in this campaign are as follows: Beast, Construct, Draconid, Elemental, Giant, Monstrosity, Ooze, Plant, Shapechanger, and Undead)Aberrations
Those of you who know the base creature types might have noticed that I left this one out. That is because aberrations do not exist in this world. There is no astral plane, there are no mind flayers or beholders or slaads, and there are no aboleths or things like that. I already did not add Githyanki or Githzerai to the list of playable races for that reason. I’ve looked at all the existing aberrations, none of them fit into this world in a way that feels like I should add them as a unique creature type. If I want to add anything like that in, they will likely be additional Celestials or Fiends (I mean cmon, beholders look like the fuckers from Doom anyway). If we ever revisit this setting, I would consider adding Aberration in as a fourth Primary type and introduce creatures from a new plane, or some kind of corrupted beings, or “space aliens”, whatever I cook up then I guess. For now, they are not a thing / are undiscovered.Beast
The distinction from Beast and Monstrosity is already a little loose in terms of world-lore for base settings (like, why is an owlbear not a beast, but an amphisbaena or an axe beak is?), so I’ll try and make the lines a little less blurry here. There’s not a clear distinction between the two classifications in the actual world lore, other than beasts are “more natural” and monstrosities are “less natural”. Beasts are creatures that very closely resemble existing animals in our world. Generally, they must have a majority of their traits closely resemble only one real-world creature. They can still be a bit different, such as the differences from an axe beak and a shoebill or the differences between any of the chimeric creatures and their normal counterparts, but they are mostly based on real-world creatures. That being said, there’s still going to be some gray area between Beast and Monstrosity, so bear with me if there’s any inconsistencies. The following playable races have the Beast creature type: Burrowling, Jerut, and Sutaurid. Yuan Ti exist in that gray area a little, but I am going to specify them as Monstrosities due to their lore.Construct
Constructs are creatures that are created by mostly inorganic parts, or are constructed through inorganic means. These are robots, golems, and homunculi. The only playable race with the Construct creature type is Warforged. There are several spells that specify that they can’t affect constructs. This does not apply to Warforged; they can be affected by such spells (like Cure Wounds or Antilife Shell), and Warforged cannot be healed by Mending. They can have harmless dents and scrapes mended by the cantrip, but no hit points can be restored.Draconid
Draconids are creatures that have specific lizard-like or avian-like traits. I made a whole page about them, so read more on them here. The following playable races have the Draconid creature type: Coatlin, Abishai, and Kobold.Elemental
Elementals are creatures that are extremely attuned to elemental energies. Several creatures, like many draconids, can have elemental attunements without being considered elementals themselves. It takes a strong, at-their-core kind of connection to be classified as an elemental. Most elementals are entirely or almost entirely composed of a single core element. The following playable races have the Elemental creature type: Naiad, Celestial Jinnasi, and Infernal Jinnasi.Giant
Giants are creatures that are related to the Giant race. They are almost exclusively Fey, since the giant races are Fey, but it is possible that some have been twisted by outer planar magic into becoming Celestials or Fiends. The only playable race with the Giant creature type is Giantkin.Monstrosity
The distinction from Beast and Monstrosity is already a little loose in terms of world-lore for base settings (like, why is an owlbear not a beast, but an amphisbaena or an axe beak is?), so I’ll try and make the lines a little less blurry here. There’s not a clear distinction between the two classifications in the actual world lore, other than beasts are “more natural” and monstrosities are “less natural”. Monstrosities are creatures that loosely resemble existing animals in our world; they may be combinations of multiple animals (such as an owlbear or a chimera), or only loosely follow the logic of real-world creatures (such as a basilisk). That being said, there’s still going to be some gray area between Beast and Monstrosity, so bear with me if there’s any inconsistencies. The following playable races have the Monstrosity creature type: Centaur, Yuan Ti, and Gelugonid.Ooze
Oozes are creatures that are almost entirely composed of liquid or pseudo-liquid. The most notable of these kinds of creatures are simple living slimes and jellies, which take on amorphous shapes and are generally mindless creatures. The only playable race with the Ooze creature type is Naiad.Plant
Plant creatures are creatures that are mostly plant-based, such as awakened trees or lively carnivorous flowers. There are no playable races with the Plant creature type. No, dryads are not plants, their description specifically states they only look like plants.Shapechanger
Shapechangers are creatures with a built-in ability to change their shape. A creature who knows the Polymorph spell or variants of that spell (many dragons, for example can “shift” into humanoids using magic) are not shapeshifters by nature. This tag is for things that can shift as a part of their being, like therianthropes or dopplegangers. The only playable race with the Shapechanger creature type is Changeling.Undead
Undead creatures are creatures that have died and been reanimated, are composed of almost entirely soul matter, or are otherwise lifeless by nature. This is mostly restricted to summons, since undeath is not usually possible in this world. Some of the rules on undead spells have been changed to reflect this as well. There are no playable races with the Undead creature type.Altered Spells
The following altered spells are listed by level (lowest to highest) and in alphabetical order for their level. Detect Evil and Good has received the following change for Rubicon: Choose one of the following creature types: celestial, fey, or fiend. For the duration, you know if there is a creature of that type within 30 feet of you, as well as where the creature is located. Similarly, you know if there is a place or object within 30 feet of you that has been magically consecrated or desecrated. Protection from Evil and Good has received the following change for Rubicon: …Until the spell ends, one willing creature you touch is protected against certain types of creatures. Choose one of the following creature types: celestial, fey, or fiend.… Speak with Animals has received the following change for Rubicon: You gain the ability to comprehend and verbally communicate with beasts, monstrosities, and draconids with an Intelligence score of 3 or lower for the duration… Animal Messenger has received the following change for Rubicon: By means of this spell, you use an animal to deliver a message. Choose a Tiny beast, monstrosity, or draconid you can see within range, such as a squirrel, a blue jay, or a bat. If the creature’s Intelligence is 4 or higher, the spell fails... Beast Sense has received the following change for Rubicon: You touch a willing beast, monstrosity, or draconid with an Intelligence score of 3 or lower for the duration… Locate Animals or Plants has received the following change for Rubicon: Describe or name a specific kind of beast, draconid, monstrosity, or plant with an Intelligence score of 3 or lower. Magic Circle has received the following change for Rubicon specifically: …Choose one or more of the following types of creatures: celestials, fey, or fiends… Dominate Beast has received the following change for Rubicon: You attempt to beguile a beast that you can see within range. It must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or be charmed by you for the duration. If you or creatures that are friendly to you are fighting it, it has advantage on the saving throw. If the creature’s Intelligence is 6 or higher, the spell fails... Dispel Evil and Good has received the following change for Rubicon: …Choose one of the following creature types: celestial, fey, or fiend. You may optionally choose any of the following sub-types: draconid, monstrosity, undead, elemental, ooze, shapechanger. For the duration, all creatures who bear the chosen primary creature type and at least one of the chosen sub-types (if you selected any) have disadvantage on attack rolls against you. You can end the spell early by using either of the following special functions.- Break Enchantment. As your action, you touch a creature you can reach that is charmed, frightened, or possessed by any of the selected creature types. The creature you touch is no longer charmed, frightened, or possessed by such creatures.
- Dismissal. As your action, make a melee spell attack against a creature of the chosen creature types you can reach. On a hit, you attempt to drive the creature back to its home plane. The creature must succeed on a Charisma saving throw or be sent back to its home plane (if it isn’t there already). If they are already on their home plane, you temporarily banish the target to a harmless demiplane. They are returned to the point where they were banished from after the spell ends.
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