Chaos beast

Chaos beast

Characteristics
Type	Outsider
Image	Wizards.com image
Stats	Open Game License stats

In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, the chaos beast is an outsider from the outer plane of Limbo.^[1] They can be used by Dungeon Masters as enemies or allies of the player characters.

Publication history

The chaos beast first appeared in the second edition for the Planescape setting in the Planes of Chaos boxed set (1994).^[2]

The chaos beast appeared in the third edition Monster Manual (2000),^[1] and the revised 3.5 Monster Manual (2003). The ancient chaos beast appeared in Dungeon #97 (March 2003), and the pandemonium beast appeared in Dungeon #124 (July 2005).

Description

Describing the chaos beast as presented in the Dungeons & Dragons game is difficult, as the chaos beast has very little true form. It is a predatory embodiment of chaos, randomness, change and difference. For every second that passes, the chaos beast changes form. It grows limbs, changes color, becomes beautiful, goes ugly, increases and decreases in size, disappears and reappears, and basically, has absolutely no true form. Every time one looks at a chaos beast, it is different. It changes and mutates permanently, and this is basically its purpose.

In the game, the chaos beast attacks its enemies with whatever weapons its current form has. Whether those be fangs, claws, horns, pincers, tentacles, spikes, magical attacks (like breath weapons), or whatever else. These are surprisingly ineffective, however, as the chaos beast can rarely attack more than twice before changing again, and never has time to coordinate attacks. The main weapon of the chaos beast is its touch which apparently transfers the chaos energy to the victim, turning him/her into another Chaos Beast through a process that is harmful to body and mind alike; the victim must have enough fortitude to resist it, lest it remain melting, mutating, flowing, writhing and changing forever. The chaos beast itself is immune to transformation spells, as it will just continue to shift shape anyway.

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Williams, Skip, Jonathan Tweet, and Monte Cook. Monster Manual (Wizards of the Coast, 2000).
2. ^ Smith, Lester W, and Wolfgang Baur. Planes of Chaos (TSR, 1994)