Far Realm monsters - fiends or aberrations?

[Baptor]

I am re-creating the race of Netherim from the Torchlight series into my D&D game as a sinister race from the Far Realm.

Question: would these count as aberrations or fiends? I could see it going both ways.

Beholders and Mind Flayers are touted as originally hailing from the FR but they are aberrations. However most creatures from "another world" are always fiends. But then there are Fey from the Feywild. So it's confusing to me.

Not sure what to classify them as.

[Daishain]

They're described as demonkin from another realm. Given no other details, the closest categorical match would be fiends. Their behavior and general appearance makes me want to fit them in with the tanar'ri in particular. (If you are dead set on having them as being from the far realm in particular, than they would not be fiends, and abberation would be a more likely category)

aberrations may or may not be from another realm, they're categorized more as being extremely bizarre creatures rather than being from any particular place.

The general term for creatures from another plane is "outsiders", a very broad category that includes celestials, fiends, elementals, inevitables and their ilk, and creatures hailing from the feywild (among many many others). The only reason fiends would be the most commonly seen of these is that they're the most likely to act as antagonists.

[Draken]

I am re-creating the race of Netherim from the Torchlight series into my D&D game as a sinister race from the Far Realm.

Question: would these count as aberrations or fiends? I could see it going both ways.

Beholders and Mind Flayers are touted as originally hailing from the FR but they are aberrations. However most creatures from "another world" are always fiends. But then there are Fey from the Feywild. So it's confusing to me.

Not sure what to classify them as.

Fiends are the former Evil Outsiders, the classification is mostly limited to creatures hailing from the lower planes, which the Far Realm is not.

You should go with Aberration or Monstrosity, I think.


That said, Netherim look a lot like Slaad, and those guys did end up getting the aberration treatment.

[Baptor]

Fiends are the former Evil Outsiders, the classification is mostly limited to creatures hailing from the lower planes, which the Far Realm is not.

You should go with Aberration or Monstrosity, I think.


That said, Netherim look a lot like Slaad, and those guys did end up getting the aberration treatment.

If slaad are aberrations then so will the netherim. To me they are very similar. Thanks.

[EvanescentHero]

I'd also recommend abberation. I basically see abberations as anything that would fit well into a Lovecraftian setting, and the Far Realms are full of horrible Lovecraftian abominations.

[Zevox]

Yeah, aberrations sounds like a best-fit. I don't know anything about the race in question, but I think anything from the Far Realm would be an aberration, since the whole point of the Far Realm is basically to be an excuse to have Lovecraftian stuff in D&D.

Incidentally, there's at least two extraplanar creature types you forgot there: Celestials and Elementals. Personally, I think I preferred 3e's categorizing them all as Outsiders or Elementals, just with subtypes. Less confusing than having a bunch of different creature types that something from another plane could be.

[Ninja_Prawn]

The general term for creatures from another plane is "outsiders", a very broad category that includes celestials, fiends, elementals, inevitables and their ilk, and creatures hailing from the feywild (among many many others).

Nitpick: the Feywild (and Shadowfell) are Inner Planes, not Outer Planes, so creatures native to those places are not (usually) Outsiders. Fey are certainly not Outsiders. Scratch that. My cosmology was wrong.

As to the OP's question, I can see why fiend has been suggested. If this game were set in the world Torchlight, it would probably be the right choice. In a standard D&D setting though, I'd call them aberrations, especially if you define them as 'from the Far Plane'.

[Falcon X]

I honestly know nothing about Torchlight, but in D&D this is pretty cut and dry.

Abberrations are, by definition, from the D&D Far Realm.
Fiends (Devils and Demons) are purely from the lower planes (The Nine Hells, Baator, etc.)

Heck, read the first paragraph of the wiki:
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Far_Realm

The Aberrations document verifies this:
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Aberration

And I can assure you from personal knowledge and experience that they are telling the truth.

[ZenBear]

Fiends are limited to Demons and Devils of the Lower Planes. Anything that comes from the Far Realm is an Aberration, and even a few things not from the FR classify as well because they were born from the twisting of chaotic forces As someone pointed out, the Far Realm and the entire Aberrations category was created to insert Lovecraftian monsters into D&D.

[j_spencer93]

If you want them from the Far Realm, its Aberrations man. Always is.

[Baptor]

That said, Netherim look a lot like Slaad, and those guys did end up getting the aberration treatment.

You know, I've been DMing for 17 years and I've honestly rarely ever used Slaad. I looked them up after you mentioned them and you are right...they are very similar to Netherim. I wonder if I should even bother with creating the Netherim in my D&D game if that niche is already taken by the Slaad.

[Draken]

You know, I've been DMing for 17 years and I've honestly rarely ever used Slaad. I looked them up after you mentioned them and you are right...they are very similar to Netherim. I wonder if I should even bother with creating the Netherim in my D&D game if that niche is already taken by the Slaad.

You can always just reskin it if you really want to use the name for your setting, not that it is much of a reskin anyway.

A real reskin? In the campaign I am DMing, I had my players fight a Cerberus. Actually a gladiator with the move speed of a a wolf, and its ranged attack options removed (also gave it the Leadership action because the fight also involved a dozen death dogs, two winter wolves - one reskinned to lightning - and a hell hound).

It was fun.

----

Also, yeah. Pretty sure you can count on your fingers how many people used salad extensively. They make fun setting pieces, but are kind of hard to build a campaign around.

[Baptor]

You can always just reskin it if you really want to use the name for your setting, not that it is much of a reskin anyway.

A real reskin? In the campaign I am DMing, I had my players fight a Cerberus. Actually a gladiator with the move speed of a a wolf, and its ranged attack options removed (also gave it the Leadership action because the fight also involved a dozen death dogs, two winter wolves - one reskinned to lightning - and a hell hound).

It was fun.

----

Also, yeah. Pretty sure you can count on your fingers how many people used salad extensively. They make fun setting pieces, but are kind of hard to build a campaign around.

Yeah, I recently reskinned a wraith as a living cloudkill spell. That was fun for me, terrifying to the players. I love to reskin stuff.

Well, the setting I'm using is my own custom version of the Forgotten Realms. The party is facing a BBEG from the Far Realm though they don't really know it yet, and its a Maulagrym. The 'grym could just be in control of a pack of Slaadi rather than Netherim. The point is I want a race of creepy and terrifying creatures that reproduce by gestating inside a human host. The Netherim do this, so that's why I chose them, but then again so do the Slaadi.

I just like that part where people infected with Netherim larvae grow tentacles out of their mouths and arms as they turn into Netherim.

[ZenBear]

Just use the Slaad. They're really cool but rarely ever used. I think it's the Blue Slaad larvae that transform their host into a Red Slaad, you can describe that transformation any way you see fit. Also really cool, the Red Slaad inject larvae that burst out of their host's chest Alien style. Alien was heavily influenced by Lovecraft literature, namely At The Mountains of Madness.

[PoeticDwarf]

Aberations.