Just because Celestials are "good" doesn't mean they're on your side in the D&D 2024 Monster Manual
The new Dungeons & Dragons 2024 Monster Manual enters the realm of angelic creatures by looking at new Celestials. Celestials are products of the Upper Planes, suffused with the power of the good gods and the Upper Planes themselves.
In this round, publisher Wizards of the Coast wanted to expand the Celestial family. It was a small family before. There used to pretty much just be Angels and the Unicorn.
Migrating more creatures into the Celestial category means that "the angels have friends now," but also there's a greater variety of creatures to be found in that previously small family of Celestials. And there's a greater range of Challenge Ratings (CRs) to be found in the Celestial category.
| NEW CELESTIAL (or new to the Celestial category) | DESCRIPTION | WHERE ARE THEY FROM |
| Animal Lord | Immortal spirits of legendary animals. | The Beastlands. |
| Giant Eagle, Giant Owl, Giant Elk, etc. | Giant animals that were moved out of the Beast category because they have human-like sapience and can talk. | The Beastlands or some other Celestial realm. |
| Sphinx, Sphinx of Wonder | Sphinx of Wonder is a wee sphinx that was introduced in the 2024 Player's Handbook. The story behind Sphinxes in general demanded them to no longer be seen as Monstrosities but Celestials. | Sphinx of Wonder came about because there was a need for Lawful Good characters to have a good little companion on par with Imps and Quasits. |
| Empyrean Iota | A "notion of divinity that has taken form." A distant cousin of the Lantern Archon. An Empyrean with a low Challenge Rating. Can be a Celestial or a Fiend. | The thoughts, memories, or indirect attentions of deities personified and given a measure of autonomy. |
But not Giant Creatures that were just enlarged versions of an animal—with animal intelligence and no capacity for a spoken language. Giant Wasps and Giant Rats are examples of Giant Animals that did not migrate to the Celestial category.
Also worth noting: the Empyrean has two creature types. It can be a Celestial or a Fiend. That's what being the demigod offspring of a god will do for you—depending if you're a child of a god from Mount Celestia, or a child of a god from, say, the Nine Hells. The default alignment for Empyreans is Neutral. That's a Dungeon Master's que to shift a creature's alignment and/or motivations one way or the other.
Important thing to remember when discussing Celestials: "Good" does not mean "Passive." There's an entire creature called the Planetar whose whole deal is war. People familiar with the Christian Bible will be familiar with this idea. They're like the "mean motherf-----g servant of God" that's needed in the movie From Dusk Till Dawn.
On that same note, a creature does not have to be "evil" for it to be a group's foe. Good creatures can disagree with one another. Disagreements can flare up into violent conflict. Just because Angels are flagged as "good" doesn't mean they're at peace with the rest of the multiverse.
The artwork also leans into Celestials' otherworldliness. You're not going to find a Solar with a plain old +1 longsword they bought in a Forgotten Realms gear shop. The Solar in the 2024 Monster Manual has a sword and bow that looks like it's made of pure light.
It's also no simple matter of dropping a Celestial to zero hit points in order to kills them. There's often something extra you have to do. (Like Trolls.) In the old 2014 Monster Manual, that text existed, but it wasn't in each Celestial's stat block, so it was often missed by Dungeon Masters. Now, if there's something extra wacky you have to do in order to kill a Celestial, it's embedded right there into the Celestial's stat block. You no longer have to comb through the story text to recall that detail.
Take the Solar for example. One of its Traits in its stat block is Exalted Restoration.
- Exalted Restoration. If the solar dies outside Mount Celestia, its body disappears, and it gains a new body instantly, reviving with all its Hit Points somewhere in Mount Celestia.
That tells you that if you want to perma-dead a Solar, you're going to have to dead it on Mount Celestia itself.
The D&D 2024 Monster Manual launches everywhere on February 18. The new Player's Handbook launched September 17. And the new Dungeon Master's Guide launched November 12.
