Celestial Creature

Most celestial creatures dwell on the upper planes, the realms of good, although they resemble beings found on the Material Plane. They take on traits of their home planes and are more regal and more beautiful than their earthly counterparts.

Other celestial creatures are the offspring of celesitals who visit the Material Plane and gain one or more traits of their celestial parent. Creatures with only a slight celestial influence are often known as Aasimar.

No matter their form, they are always comely and delightful to the senses, having golden skin, sparkling eyes, angelic wings, or some other sign of their higher nature.

Creating a Celestial Creature

“Celestial” is an inherited template that can be added to any living creature (referred to hereafter as the base creature).

Hit Dice

Unlike with most templates, celestial is added only through taking special class levels. A celestial creature’s first racial Hit Die is replaced with a level of this template class. If the base creature had less than 1 full Hit Die, it now has 1 level of this special class with 1 full Hit Die.

For creatures that advance by class level, this special class counts as their first class level.

The creature gains all remaining racial Hit Dice as normal for their race. They may choose to advance by their normal advancement or by taking additional in levels of this special class, becoming more celestial as their embrace their heritage.

All other template effects are based on the number of levels a creature possesses in this class.

Table: The Celestial Creature

 Base Attack
Bonus
Fort
Save
Ref
Save
Will
Save
SpecialAbility
Increase
Nat.
AC
1st+1+2+0+2Planetouched, darkvision 60 ft., celestial flesh, minor sacred magic+2 Cha
2nd+2+3+0+3Moderate sacred magic, smite evil+1 Str
3rd+3+3+1+3Outsider, disease immunity, greater sacred magic+1 Wis+1
4th+4+4+1+4Superior sacred magic, wings+1 Str, +1 Wis+2
Hit Die: d8
Class Skills (4 + Int modifier per level): A celestial creature's class skills are the same as those of their favored class.

Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiency

A Celestial Creature gains no proficiency with any type of weapon, armor, or shield.

Planetouched

A 1st-level celestial creature gains the planetouched subtype.

Spells, effects, power, and abilities which affect or target an outsider can also affect or target a planetouched creature. It can use magic items as if it were an outsider; however, it retains all traits of its base type and does not gain any traits of the outsider type. It also is not able to qualify for feats or prestige classes that require the outsider type.

The celestial creature gains Planar Bloodline as a bonus feat and must select the Celestial bloodline.

Ability Increase

At each level, the indicated ability score increases by the amount noted.

Darkvision

A celestial creature gains darkvision out to 60 feet.

Celestial Flesh

Table: Celestial Flesh Benefits
Hit DiceResistance ColdResistance Acid/ElectricDamage Reduction
1–45
5–8555/magic
9–121055/evil
13+101010/evil

Beginning at 1st level, a celestial creature gains resistance 5 to cold damage, which improves as it gains additional Hit Dice as show on Table: Celestial Flesh Benefits. As it gains Hit Dice, it also gains resistance to acid and electricity damage, as shown on the table.

Energy resistance from celestial flesh stacks with any other energy resistance gained from race or templates but not from spells, effects, or items.

At 2nd level, a celestial creature gains spell resistance equal to 5 + it total Hit Dice. It also gains damage reduction if its total Hit Dice are high enough (as shown on the table).

At 3rd level, it gains a +1 natural armor bonus to its armor class, which increases to +2 at 4th level.

Sacred Magic

At 1st level, a celestial creature gains access to its sacred magic, gaining a suite of minor spell-like abilities, based on its total Hit Dice. Most celestial creatures begin knowing only darkness usable once per day but learn more as they gain additional Hit Dice.

At 3rd level, a celestial creature unlocks its moderate sacred magic, gaining access to additional spell-like abilities, assuming it has sufficient Hit Dice.

At 4th level, it unlocks the ability to gain its greater sacred magic abilities.

The abilities gained and the total Hit Dice at which they are gained are given on Table: Sacred Magic.

Table: Sacred Magic
Minimum Hit DiceSpell-Like Abilities Gained
MinorModerateGreaterSuperior
1–2Light 1/dayDetect Evil at will
3–4Aid 1/day
Protection From Evil 1/day
5–6Light 2/dayCure Serious Wounds 1/day
7–8Remove Disease 1/dayHoly Smite 1/day
9–10Light 3/dayProtection From Evil 2/dayNeutralize Poison 1/day
11–12
13–14Daylight 1/dayHallow 1/dayHoly Word 1/day
15–16Protection From Evil 3/dayHoly Aura 1/dayMass Charm Monster 1/day
17–18Holy Aura 2/daySummon monster IX (celestials only) 1/day
19–20Holy Aura 3/dayResurrection 1/week

 

Smite Evil

Once per day, a 2nd-level celestial creature can declare a normal melee attack as a smite attempt. If it successfully hits an evil-aligned foe, the attack deals extra damage equal to the celestial creature’s total HD (maximum of +20).

Outsider

A celestial creature changes its creature type to outsider at 3rd level. It loses the planetouched subtype but gains the augmented subtype for its original type.

Disease Immunity

Starting at 3rd level, a celestial creature becomes immune to disease.

Wings

At 4th level, a celestial creature grows bird-like wings, gaining the Aerial Wings feat as a Celestial Feat, even if it doesn’t meet the prerequisites.