| Displacer beast | |
| First: | Supplement I - Greyhawk (1975) |
| Based On: | the Coeurl |
| Type: | Magical beast |
| Alignment: | Lawful Evil |
A displacer beast is a fictional evil feline creature created for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game in 1975; it has subsequently been included in every edition of the game to the present day.
A displacer beast is a magical six-legged black panther-like feline with a pair of tentacles growing from its shoulders; the beast has an innate "displacement" ability, causing it appear to be several feet away from its actual location.[1] [2] "These mighty predators are typically found in the Feywild",[3] "an alternate plane of existence" home to D&Ds version of fairies.[4]
The displacer beast was created for Dungeons & Dragons, first introduced in the game's supplement, Greyhawk (1975), as "a puma-like creature with six legs and a pair of tentacles which grow from its shoulders."[5] The concept of the creature was borrowed from A. E. van Vogt's 1939 science fiction story "Black Destroyer", which described a feline-like creature called a coeurl.[6] [7] Van Vogt later incorporated the coeurl into the novel The Voyage of the Space Beagle (1950).[8]
The displacer beast appears in the first edition Monster Manual (1977), where it is described as a vaguely puma-like beast that always appears to be three feet away from its actual position.[9] David M. Ewalt, in his book Of Dice and Men, discussed several monsters appearing in the original Monster Manual, describing displacer beasts as looking like "pumas with thorn-covered tentacles growing out of their shoulders".[10]
The displacer beast was detailed in Dragon #109 (May 1986), in the "Ecology of the Displacer Beast".[11]
This edition of the D&D game included its own version of the displacer beast, in the Dungeons & Dragons Basic Set (1977),[12] and Expert Set (1981 & 1983),[13] [14] and was also later featured in the Dungeons & Dragons Game set (1991), the Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia (1991),[15] the Classic Dungeons & Dragons Game set (1994), and the Dungeons & Dragons Adventure Game set (1999).[16]
The displacer beast appears in the Monstrous Compendium Volume One (1989),[17] and is reprinted in the Monstrous Manual (1993).[18]
The displacer beast appears in the 3rd edition Monster Manual (2000)[19] and then in the 3.5 edition Monster Manual (2003). This edition also described the displacer beast pack lord. For this edition, Wizards of the Coast considered the displacer beast to be an original product of D&D and was therefore categorized as a "Product Identity"; as such it was not released under its Open Game License.[20]
The displacer beast appears in the 4th edition Monster Manual (2008), and again a description is included for the displacer beast packlord.[21]
The displacer beast appears in the 5th edition Monster Manual (2014). It is considered a copyrighted original creation for the Dungeons & Dragons game.[22]
A displacer beast appears in the film .[23] [24] [25] [26] [27] A displacer beast kitten is a card created as part of the Baldur's Gate crossover.[28]
Rob Bricken from io9 named the displacer beast as the 2nd most memorable D&D monster.[29] Reviewers also counted it among the "most iconic"[2] [30] [31] and "fan-favorite" monsters of the game.[32] It was considered an "old-school"[1] and "most enduring" monster,[2] having been part of the game from its earliest stages.[1] [10] [2] Author Ben Riggs remarked on the movie version of the displacer beast: "The design of the creature is just so fantastic. It's creepy. Even though it's a panther with a couple tentacles, at first you're creeped out".[27] David M. Marshall remarked that the displacer beast is one of the elements "which disrupts the roughly period [medieval] atmosphere of the game".[33]
. David M. Ewalt . 2013 . Of Dice and Men: The Story of Dungeons & Dragons and the People Who Play It . Scribner . 138 . 978-1-4516-4052-6 .