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In the 2025 Monster Manual forDungeons & Dragons, Animal Lords are introduced as powerful celestial beings embodying the essence of specific animal types. These CR 20 entities serve as immortal spirits and rulers of their respective animal domains, exhibiting abilities and characteristics that reflect their associated creatures.
Beyond their formidable combat prowess, Animal Lords often play pivotal roles as patrons, adversaries, or enigmatic figures within the game’s lore, offering Dungeon Masters and players rich opportunities for storytelling and high-level encounters. Here, we delve into how these immortal beings function and how you can add them to your adventures and campaigns.
What Is An Animal Lord?
An animal lord isa celestial native to the Beastlands, an upper plane dedicated tothe savage side of nature, filled with sentient animals. These celestials have little to do with angels; instead, theyrepresent one kind of beastfrom the Material Plane and often sharecharacteristics with them.
The 2025 Monster Manual considers the true form of an animal lord to bethat of an anthropomorphic animal, although they can alsoshape-shift into a medium or small humanoid, ora huge or smaller beastthat they represent. Their stats, other than their size,don’t change when shapeshifted.
When an animal lord transforms into an animal, their eyes glow, and when they transform into a humanoid, they still have hints of their animalistic nature.
The beasts the animal lords representcan be of any kind, even extinct ones from most settings, like dinosaurs. It is also implied in the 2025 Monster Manual thatthere can be more than one animal lord per animal, so it is up to you how you want to use them.
The Different Kinds Of Animal Lords
While animal lords can represent any beast, they are widelyorganized into three groups: Foragers, Hunters, and Sages.This is not onlya personality suggestionbut also affectstheir options in combat, what spells they can use, and what strategies are available.
Some animals can easily fit into all groups, so consider which one fits your animal lord better based on their personality rather than their animal.
Forager animal lords areexcellent at ending combat before it starts, with creatures near them needing to pass a Wisdom saving throw or becomecharmed by the lord. They can alsogain 20 temporary hit points every round, making them hefty tanks in any encounter.
Stags, bears, and capybarasare great animals for a forager animal lord.
Hunter animal lordsare a terrifying force on the battlefield,causing the frightened conditionon creatures around them andgaining advantage to all attackswith a single action. This advantage lastsuntil the animal lord’s next turn, so it also affects attacks done with legendary actions.
Cats, wolves and snakesare perfect for hunter animal lords.
Sage animal lordsare capable of dealing a lot of damage whiledisrupting their enemies, giving disadvantage to their targets as well as damaging them with their mere presence. They also haveaccess to the spell Sunburst, although they can only use it once a day.
Turtles, crows, and coyotesare considered some of the best animals for sage animal lords.
Are Animal Lords Titans?
This question arises due to animal lords beingsummonable through the Scroll of Titan Summoning, a magic item found in the 2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide. Various creatures can be summoned through the scroll,all of themconsidered titansby the 2025 Monster Manualexcept for the animal lord.
The titan monikerdoesn’t mean muchin terms of gameplay, so it isup to each Dungeon Masterto decide whether animal lords fit the group or not. When compared to the other titans,the animal lord is an odd fit, although being summoned by a legendary scrollthat literally summons titansmight be enough for some people.
Animal Lords In A Campaign
While native to the Beastlands, animal lords are known toroam other magical places of naturelikethe Feywild, but they rarely go to the material plane. Their neutrality also makes them ill-suited tomeddle in mortal affairsas angels or devils would, so it might be tricky to include them in most plots.
They can still work ascelestial messengers for clericsif you wish to use them since the many beasts available can have an animal lord fit for nearly any role.A priest of Lolth, for example, could bevisited by an animal lord of spiders.
Animal lords often have simple names, like Cat Lord or Wolf Lord. In the above example, the animal lord of spiders would be called the Spider Lord.
Since their CR is 20, they can also serve as an occasionalchallenge for high-level parties, especially ones that are traveling the multiverse. The party might need an important itemonly found on the Beastlands, and could end up being hunted by the Wolf Lord.
Animal Lords In Combat
All animal lords havethe trait Lordly Presence, which emanates an effect that needs to be surpassed with a Wisdom saving throw. This means that while the ranged attack of the lorddeals the most damage, it still wants to beclose to its targetsto make the most of the emanation.
Beyond that, the animal lord will beusing Animal Spirit every turn, so make sure todescribe it in detailthe first time. For example, the Animal Spirit attack for a forager animal lordgives it 20 temporary hit points, so describe how the spirit not only attacks the target but alsogoes towards the lord to heal itin some way.
While their ability to shape-shift might seem meaningless, it canbe of great use in combat. When turning into an animal, the animal lordcan be either huge or smaller: a huge creaturecan’t be shoved or grappledby most abilities, while a tiny creaturecan easily escape most encountersin a flash.
