#beastlands

[justavulcan]

Airmark's Guide to Planar Vegetables: Krigalan Praying Orchid

Native to the forever-sunlit forests and savannahs of Krigala, the Krigalan Praying Orchid is a fascinating case of animal mimicry in plants. While some flowers are shaped like pollinating insects to draw in unwitting pollinators in turn, the praying orchid is, in fact, a plant exhibiting predator mimicry to dissuade herbivores.

Shaped like a massive praying mantis in a rich emerald or jade hue, with brightly-colored pink and purple mottled flowers kept sheltered safe beneath large leafy "wing cases", the praying orchid's mimicry is impeccable- but one must wonder what it intended to dissuade by appearance, as this plant is also more than capable of defending itself by force. Gifted at harnessing Krigala's eternal sunshine both for mobility and offense, the praying orchid's only predators are the ignorant or the challenge-intent.

Despite resembling a predatory insect, the praying orchid is content to collect its nutrients from sun, water, and soil like most plants. It mostly makes use of its sunlit jaunt ability to teleport to and from areas with better soil nutrition, lighting conditions, or pollinator access.

For those who go to the beastlands to hunt, however, there are few greater choices for prey. The orchid is both rare and beautiful if collected and pressed, and its petals have euphoric effects that make it highly sought-after; however, between razor-edged 'forelimb' leaves and the ability to weaponize sunlight both at close and long range, would-be hunters have much to overcome, and the utmost levels of caution are both warranted and recommended.

[justavulcan]

Airmark's Guide to Planar Vegetables: Beastborne Fern

This mid-height fern grows abundantly on all three layers of the Beastlands, distinctive only in its omnipresence and tolerance of a wide array of temperatures, light conditions, and watering.  Unlike many ferns, this plant’s spores are covered in miniscule hooks designed to catch on fur, feathers, and scales rather than becoming airborne.  The beastborne fern is thus only truly capable of thriving (and dominating forest understory) in environments with dense animal populations, as the wildlife spread the fern all over in their travels.  Few places in the multiverse can support large populations of this plant like its native Beastlands, but the fern can also be found growing in some of the wilder reaches of Ysgard and Arborea, as well as the Feywild.  Highly nutritious, fast-growing, and omnipresent, this fern is a common and important food for native herbivores, and even for the plane’s few humanoid populations.

[justavulcan]

The Heavens Are Empty: Celestial Herald

The being standing before you has perfect dark skin from the shoulders down; it’s clad in loose, colorful robes and bears a trumpet in one hand and a javelin in the other.  It has four feathered wings coming out of its back, but most shocking is its total lack of a head; instead, it has a white flame, which oddly casts no light; surrounding the flame are two wheels covered in eyes, of many different colors and sorts.  Its voice is majestic and smooth.

Celestial Heralds are the ambassadors of the Upper Planes.  Tied to no particular god nor court of the realms of good, heralds instead serve as their name suggests wherever they are needed.  More than capable of protecting themselves with their trumpet and javelin, Heralds only seek to deliver messages that must be sent in person, alert mortals of the coming of greater emissaries of cosmic Good, and serve as courtiers to those same greater celestial powers.

Few things motivate Heralds to true combat; as their duties usually involve delivering a message, escape is often their higher priority if their own personage is threatened.  Typically a Horn Blast will be sufficient incentive to leave them be, but their high fly speed and returning javelin mean that if they are pursued or circumstances force them to defend themselves with more than a hasty departure, they are sufficiently equipped to do so.  Like many celestials, Celestial Heralds are well-intentioned and can be convinced to aid those truly in need, although their mandate may come first depending on the urgency of the message.  They have a special affinity for couriers, messengers, and heralds, however, and may go out of their way or even delay their own delivery if they see a like-purposed mortal in distress.

Celestial Heralds can be found throughout the Upper Planes, although they are more common on the planes further from Elysium as these planes have more contact with the forces of Law, Chaos, and ultimately, Evil.

[justavulcan]

The Heavens Are Empty Masterpost

To provide easy access to any who would want to use the celestials I made for this project.  Please let me know how it goes if you use any of these creatures, I’d love playtest notes.

Celestial Herald; CR 7; a messenger for when Sending won’t do it.  Excels at ranged and skirmish combat with a magical returning javelin.

Apiarian Worker; CR 1; a bee-like celestial with a healing death burst ability.  Skilled at both ranged and melee combat, particularly in groups.

Apiarian Queen; CR 5; a bee-like celestial civic leader.  Ranged combatant, deadliest when her workers are with her to allow the use of her legendary actions.

Prism Heron; CR 2; a bird with a radiant tail, native to the shores of Mt. Celestia.  Skirmish attacker with a blinding tail attack.

Kinderwachter; CR 1; a child’s guardian taking the form of a stuffed animal.  Good at protecting a target, alone would rather flee than fight.

Bariaur and Bariaur Defender; CR 2 and 4; ram-centaur celestial nomads.  Both skilled charge-attackers with ranged options and many attack types.

Celestial Witness; CR 3; spy, observer, and sometime defender for the heavens.  Flying battlefield controller and debuffer.

Guiding Beetle; CR 4; beetle-like travelers who seek and aid the lost.  Slow but equipped with good defenses and many ranged attack and control spells.

Brux Lightstalker; CR 5; forest warden and hunter in the Beastlands.  Ambush and skirmish attacker with a light-blend ability.

Pax Pollinator; CR 4; conflict-averse heavenly field lurker.  Multiple ways to nonlethally discourage or end combat, a radiant pollen attack for when the enemy won’t take the hint.

Mudsinger; CR 6; salamander-like patron of the arts and mountain wanderer.  Likes to either mix it up in melee or stick to long-range combat, depending on how deadly it wants the fight to be.

Celestial Introspector; CR 7; heavenly therapist and advisor on mortal affairs.  Can actually make you fight yourself, has touch attacks that prevent movement.

Belieren Warden; CR 6; steward of the Upper Planes’ prison on Elysium.  Skirmish attackers specializing in isolating single enemies and locking down their foes.

Winterbird; CR 9; icy stormbird that rescues those in frozen reaches.  Skirmisher with a protective aura of heavy obscuring winter weather.

Tarn Steward; CR 25; elephantine guardian of the Glass Tarn and its prophetic powers.  Powerful charger and melee combatant with many options to shape the battlefield and move enemies around.

[justavulcan]

The Heavens Are Empty: Guiding Beetle

The figure that hunches before you is unmistakably beetle-like, but has a body plan similar to that of a man shouldering a heavy pack.  Burdened by the weight or curvature of a large, iridescent shell, the figure’s face isn’t insect-like in the least, save for two antennae that protrude from its forehead.  It appraises your tattered clothes, your lack of a pack, your bare feet, and holds out a hand to help you up.  “Where are you going?”  It asks.  “Let me help you get there.”

Guiding beetles- the name given to their kind by others, for they do not seem to have one otherwise- are, as their name suggests, the consummate wilderness guides.  Armed with heavy armor of their own and a remarkable tolerance for extremes of temperature, guiding beetles seek out those who are lost and guide them to their destination.

In combat, guiding beetles take (albeit clumsily) to the air, preferring to end the fight quickly with Hypnotic Pattern.  If this fails, they lean into their other innate abilities to try and turn the tide, finally resorting to Sacred Flame if multiple Guiding Bolts and Hypnotic Patterns fail to manage their foes sufficiently.  If protecting a traveler, all that differs is their positioning- typically between their charge and any would-be aggressors, to block the way with their bulk and heavy armor.

Guiding beetles are native to the mysterious desert of Mithardir on the plane of Arborea, but can be found throughout Ysgard and the Beastlands as well, helping those confused by the planes’ shifting geography and lack of landmarks (respectively) to find their way.

[justavulcan]

The Heavens Are Empty: Brux Lightstalker

The sunset wavers faintly around a tall, thin form before parting like a curtain to reveal what was previously hidden.  Hovering before you is a tall, slender humanoid form with a faintly insectile look to it.  Cream-colored and fading to a darker sandy tone at the ends of the long limbs and tall antennae, the body pales in comparison to the wings, which are large and splendid like a butterfly’s and are colored like the sunset or sunrise.  Only long, sharp claws at the tips of the arms give you pause.

Brux Lightstalkers, as their name suggests, are most often found on the second layer of the Beastlands, which experiences a state of eternal sunrise and/or sunset.  Consummate hunters and self-appointed wardens of the Beastlands’ sacrosanct natural order, lightstalkers travel unseen to level the playing field when the intelligent beasts of the plane are insufficient to deter would-be hunters.

Lightstalkers prefer to fight a hit-and-run battle, a task they are well suited for.  They prefer to attack isolated targets, using Hunter’s Mark and darting in under the cover of their Sunlit Stealth to make claw attacks before darting away to hide again.  If it becomes obvious they’re not hiding effectively, they instead engage in a ranged battle, making use of their decent flying speed and long-ranged light ray attack to pick off one enemy at a time.

Brux Lightstalkers are most often found on the second layer of the Beastlands, also called Brux, but can also be found on Arborea, Ysgard, and Elysium, partaking in their customary hunting or hunt-adjacent interests.  They are crepuscular when removed from their usual hunting ground’s eternal sunset, and spend much of the night and daylight hours simply flying high above ground.

[justavulcan]

The Heavens Are Empty: Celestial Witness

This celestial resembles nothing more than a small golden flame surrounded by two wheels of eyes.  Apparently supporting it in midair are three pairs of white-feathered wings, flapping in tandem.  The eyes on its rings blink as it observes, but it says nothing, and you get the distinct impression its observation is nonjudgemental- at least for the moment.

Celestial Witnesses are the observers of the Upper Planes.  As their name suggests, their primary duties involve observing important ceremonies for posterity, serving as oversight or spotters for heavenly operations, and, on occasion, covertly keeping eyes on matters outside the Upper Planes’ normal reach.  Witnesses are, appropriately, most often born from the souls of those whose greatest acts of good came from repeating what they saw or heard to those most likely to put the information to good ends.

Witnesses are difficult to engage in combat.  Fast on the wing and armed with a variety of eye rays capable of subduing or disabling would-be attackers, a witness’s duty rarely requires it to engage in combat, meaning its lightning ray is only typically used under extreme duress or when ordered by a more powerful celestial.  They vastly prefer to remain at range for the purposes of personal safety, but their eye rays are equally effective at point-blank or maximum range.  Witnesses are still celestials, though, and if not specifically charged with a task to the exclusion of all else, they will go out of their way to aid those obviously in need, if at all possible.

Celestial Witnesses are found throughout the Upper Planes, and indeed throughout the planes in general if their tasks require them to observe events far from the safety of their home planes.

[justavulcan]

The Heavens Are Empty: Bariaur

This centaur-like creature seems to be part ram rather than horse, with curling horns sprouting from the forehead of a humanoid head and torso; below the waist, where a human would have legs, is the body of a ram with stout, curly white fur.  He looks you over, then sheathes his sword.  “You’re a stout one.  Want to wrestle?”

Bariaur are actually a classic of Planescape, and I thought I’d be doing the project a disservice if I didn’t update them.  Bariaur are nomadic people native to Ysgard, and are passionate about their own freedoms and those of others.  Skilled hunters and avid sportsmen, bariaur are an excellent addition to the Upper Planes in 5th edition.  Read more about them HERE.

You’ll notice this is a modified centaur stat block; the two are so similar that I thought that a prudent choice.  As such, the tactics are the same: either keep moving and keep picking away with longbow attacks, or mix it up in close combat with a Charge (or more than one, if they can avoid being bogged down).  As a bonus, I made a slightly souped-up bariaur defender that might be a wandering hunter, a knight-errant figure, or just a herd leader or champion.

Bariaur are native to Ysgard, but are noted to wander often between the Beastlands, Elysium, and Arborea.  They’re also avid hunters of evil-doers, so they are likely to be found elsewhere in the multiverse, stalking and bringing down noteworthy villains and hunting fiends.