Beast
A beast is similar to a mundane animal, but not all are "real world" creatures. The definition of what qualifies as a beast has varied slightly, with distinction made in earlier editions between animals and beasts or magical beasts.[note 1]
In various editions, some beasts include axebeaks, owlbears, changecats, and Nyrrian boatcrushers.
See also: Category:Beasts
"Beasts are nonhumanoid creatures that are a natural part of the fantasy ecology. Some of them have magical powers, but most are unintelligent and lack any society or language. Beasts include all varieties of ordinary animals, dinosaurs, and giant versions of animals."[1]
"Beasts look and act like animals, although they sometimes have a bizarre or monstrous appearance. Natural beasts fill the same role as animals. Beasts with other origins behave in similar instinctive ways, though they are unfamiliar to ordinary people."[2]
"A beast is a nonhistorical, vertebrate creature with a reasonably normal anatomy and no magical or unusual abilities."[3]
Magical beast
"Magical beasts are similar to beasts but have supernatural or extraordinary abilities. Example: displacer beast"[3][note 1]
"Magical beasts are similar to animals but can have Intelligence scores higher than 2. Magical beasts usually have supernatural or extraordinary abilities, but sometimes are merely bizarre in appearance or habits."[4]
References
Notes
- ↑ a b The "beast" type is dropped from third edition in v3.5, with those creatures either being redefined as either an "animal" or "magical beast". In fourth and fifth editions, "beast" is used again and includes essentially the same creatures as "animal". Also in fifth edition, "magical beast" is dropped with most of those creatures being termed a "monstrosity".
Citations