Much like my reclassification of all the demons and devils in the lower planes I am redoing the various forces of good in the upper planes. Among these forces are the familiar Angels and Archons, but I am also introducing a new group, with some familiar members, the Agathós.
Much like "demon" can refer to a Chaotic Evil fiend from the Abyss or as a general term for all Evil outsiders, the term Angel can refer to a specific set of Lawful Good outsiders or all Good members of the upper planes.
The word agathós comes from the agathodaemon (agathós daímōn) or 'noble spirit.' These were spirits that aided people. My thinking here came about while working on my syncretism posts for One Man's God and reading over the original write-up for the various angel-like creatures that would eventually end up in the AD&D 1st Edition Monster Manual II. The Devas were in issue #63, Planetars and Solars in issue #64. In these cases the alignment of these angels are all listed as Good. At the time assuming there are varieties that are Lawful, Neutral, and Chaotic Good.
So in my Basic Bestariry Angels are Lawful Good, Archons are Neutral Good (working for the great good), and Agathós are Chaotic Good, working for the greatest good they can do there and then.
Agathós
Agathós are independent spirits of good. They are often confused with angels, which they do not mind, but they are not part of the hierarchy of the Heavens and try to make their own judgments on what constitutes the most good they can do for others. Their alignments are Chaotic Good.
All agathós are immune to poison and are resistant to acid, cold, and electrical damage. They take only half damage normally and on a save take no damage. They all have magic resistance of varying levels. They take full damage from acid attacks. All have infravision to 120'. Many are immune to the attacks of undead (level drain, blood drain, paralysis, mummy rot).
Unlike Angels, who they share similarities with, the Agathós do not have a Divine and Profane form. This is something only true Angels have.
These are the creatures from my Basic Bestiary that are classified as Agathós.
- Astral Deva
- Aurora
- Lunar
- Monadic Deva
- Movanic Deva
- Planetar
- Solar
These creatures are Archons:
- Bastion
- Codex
- Exscinder
- Gate
- Harbinger
- Hound
- Lantern
- Legion
- Shield
- Stag
- Star Archon
- Trumpet
And these creatures are Angels (capital "A").
- Archangel
- Cassisian
- Chalkydri
- Cherubim
- Dapsara
- Dirae
- Dominions
- Elohim
- Empyreal
- Empyrean
- Iophanite
- Powers
- Principalities
- Seraphim
- Thrones
- Virtues
I might still move some around. A few of these Angels might work better as Agathós for example. I can see where the Dapsara might make a better Agathós. There are also the Agathions from Pathfinder that are all Neutral Good. I have not decided if they fit in to my work at all yet, despite the name. I did the same thing with my Qliphoth versus the Pathfinder Qlippoth.
Something to work on in December.
