Githzerai

Infobox D&D creature
name=Githzerai
alignment=Neutral
type=Humanoid
subtype=Extraplanar
source=
first="Fiend Folio" (1981)
mythical=
based=

In the "Dungeons & Dragons" roleplaying game, githzerai are extraplanar humanoid creatures that reside on the Plane of Limbo.

Publication history

The githzerai were created by Charles Stross for the "Fiend Folio Tome of Creatures Malevolent and Benign" (1981). [Interview with Charles Stross by Sevendead blog. http://www.sevendead.com/?page_id=12] They were originally introduced as monsters, but they are a playable character race in the Planescape campaign setting, and have been detailed further in D&D 3.0 and 3.5.

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st edition (1977-1988)

The githzerai first appears in the first edition "Fiend Folio" (1981). [Turnbull, Don, ed. "Fiend Folio" (TSR, 1981)]

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition (1989-1999)

The githzerai appears first in the "Monstrous Compendium Outer Planes Appendix" (1991), and is reprinted in the "Monstrous Manual" (1993), [Stewart, Doug, ed. "Monstrous Manual" (TSR, 1993)] which includes the githzerai rrakkma band and the githzerai zerth.

The githzerai was further detailed in the first "Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix" (1994). [Varney, Allen, ed. "Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix" (TSR, 1994)] The "Planewalker's Handbook" (1996) presented the githzerai as a player character race. [Cook, Monte. "The Planewalker's Handbook". (TSR, 1996)]

The githzerai is also presented as a playable character race in "Player's Option: Skills & Powers" (1995).

Dungeons & Dragons 3.0 edition (2000-2002)

The githzerai first appears in the "Psionics Handbook" (2001), and then in this edition's "Manual of the Planes" (2001). [Grubb, Jeff, Bruce R. Cordell, and David Noonan. "Manual of the Planes" (Wizards of the Coast, 2001)]

Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 edition (2003-2007)

The githzerai appears in the revised Monster Manual for this edition (2003), and was further detailed as a player character race in the "Expanded Psionics Handbook" (2004) (along with the psionic githzerai) [Cordell, Bruce R. "Expanded Psionics Handbook" (Wizards of the Coast, 2004)] and as a character class in "Complete Psionic" (2006).

Dungeons & Dragons 4th edition (2008-)

The githzerai appears in the Monster Manual for this edition (2008), including the githzerai cenobite, the githzerai zerth, and the githzerai mindmage. [Mearls, Mike, Stephen Schubert, and James Wyatt. "Monster Manual" (Wizards of the Coast, 2008)]

Licensing

The githzerai is considered a "Product Identity" by Wizards of the Coast and as such is not released under its Open Gaming License. [cite web |url=http://www.d20srd.org/faq.htm |title=Frequently Asked Questions |accessdate=2007-02-23 |publisher=D20srd.org]

Description

Githzerai look very human, though they are thinner and their skin tone is frequently gray or yellowish. They are, on average, six feet in height and about one hundred sixty pounds in weight. Most have a high natural resistance to magic. Most Githzerai roaming the Planes are either monks, mages or rogues. Combinations thereof are also possible. They seldom become priests. Instead of worshipping a god—a form of slavery, in their opinion—they revere the memory of their ancient hero, Zerthimon. His followers call themselves zerth.

Unlike their relatives the githyanki, the githzerai do not normally fight with weapons, nor do they utilize long-distance psionic attacks against their enemies. Rather, the githzerai prefer to bring the "good fight" to their enemies—typically meaning the githyanki and the illithids. Their combat abilities—including their psionic powers—are geared more toward unarmed combat, hence the large number of githzerai who become warrior monks. Githzerai often organize war parties called "rrakkma" for the explicit purpose of hunting illithids. A "rrakkma" does not return from such an excursion until it has killed at least as many illithids as there are githzerai in the war party.

History

The ancestors of the githzerai (the "forerunners") were once slaves to the illithids, a race of powerful telepaths who mentally enslaved sentient humanoids to work as the backbone of their vast worlds-spanning empire. It is believed these slaves were originally humans transformed through selective breeding. Eventually, these slaves developed mental resistance to their masters' mind control and, under the guidance of their leader Gith, revolted; thus did the greatest empire the universe ever see fall.

Gith, however, was not satisfied with the destruction of the illithids alone, and sought to spread the war to any race that could potentially enslave her people again. She was opposed in this endeavor by the followers of Zerthimon, who believed that such a path would lead their people to corruption and ruin. Thus, at the Pronouncement of Two Skies, the gith race factionalized into the githyanki and the githzerai, the former of whom settled in the astral plane.

Githzerai in other media

*One of the key characters of "" is a githzerai warrior/mage named .
*One of the key characters of "Neverwinter Nights 2" is a githzerai cleric named Zhjaeve. Dak'kon is also mentioned in passing.

References

Additional reading

*Cordell, Bruce R. "Calm Amid the Storm." "Dragon" #281 (Paizo Publishing, 2001).
*Thomasson, Chris. "Killing Cousins." "Dragon" #306 (Paizo Publishing, 2003).

External links

*cite web | author = Dave Edens | year = 2005 | title = Charlie Stross Interview | format = | work = DungeonLord | publisher = | url = http://www.dungeonlord.co.uk/viewtopic.php?t=36&highlight=charles+stross | accessmonthday = February 15 | accessyear = 2006
*cite web | author = | year = | title = Picture of a githyanki and a githzerai | format = | work = Wizards of the Coast | publisher = | url = http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/MotP/Githyanki_Githzerai.jpg| accessmonthday = February 15 | accessyear = 2006