In the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) role-playing game, the ki-rin are magical beasts. They are based on the mythological Qilin (or kirin in Korean and Japanese, Ch'I-Lin in Chinese).[1][2]
Publication history[]
The ki-rin first appeared in the original Dungeons & Dragons game supplement Eldritch Wizardry (1976).[3]
The ki-rin appeared in first edition AD&D in the original Monster Manual (1977).[4]
The ki-rin appeared in the second edition in the Monstrous Compendium Volume Two (1989),[5] and reprinted in the Monstrous Manual (1993).[6] The psionic variant of the ki-rin appeared in The Complete Psionics Handbook (1991).[7]
The ki-rin appeared in the third edition Oriental Adventures (2001).[8]
The ki-rin appeared in the fifth edition Volo's Guide to Monsters.[citation needed]
Description[]
Ki-rin bear a resemblance to unicorns somewhat. They are a race of aerial creatures whose hooves rarely touch the earth, for they dwell amid the clouds and behind the winds. Females are never encountered and Ki-rin are always solitary.
Ki-rin are powerful spellcasters who roam the skies looking for good deeds to reward and seek malefactors to punish. They sometimes aid humans if the need to combat evil is great. Ki-rin worship their own deity, Koriel.
Influence[]
Creatures from various mythologies like the kirin were considered among the "standard repertoire of "Monsters"" of the game by Fabian Perlini-Pfister.[1]
An obituary to Gary Gygax specifically highlights the Ki-rin as an example of the way in which his game D&D embraces world culture and folklore.[9]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Bornet, Philippe (2011). Religions in play: games, rituals, and virtual worlds. Theologischer Verlag Zürich. Retrieved on 15 December 2019.
- ↑ DeVarque, Aardy. Literary Sources of D&D. Retrieved on 2019-12-15.
- ↑ Gygax, Gary; Blume, Brian (1976), Eldritch Wizardry (1 ed.), Lake Geneva, Wisconsin: TSRPage Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css must have content model "Sanitized CSS" for TemplateStyles (current model is "Scribunto module").
- ↑ Gygax, Gary. Monster Manual (TSR, 1977)
- ↑ Cook, David, et al. Monstrous Compendium Volume Two (TSR, 1989)
- ↑ Stewart, Doug, ed. Monstrous Manual (TSR, 1993)
- ↑ Winter, Steve. The Complete Psionics Handbook (TSR, 1991)
- ↑ Wyatt, James. Oriental Adventures (Wizards of the Coast, 2001)
- ↑ Rubin, Jonathan (March 6, 2008). Farewell to the Dungeon Master: How D&D creator Gary Gygax changed geekdom forever. Slate.