Some planar shepherd questions won't generate good answers when the questions are about the class's abilities' interactions with planes outside the Eberron campaign setting. That means, as always,
Ask the DM
The Wilderness of the Beastlands has never received the attention the higher profile planes receive. Like the previous question about the Outlands, the planar shepherd who picks a fictionally underdeveloped plane1 with which to link is at no particular advantage over a planar shepherd who picks a fictionally well-developed plane.2 A planar shepherd who picks an unpopular plane just leaves more of his options up to the DM.
The Beastlands' Magical Beasts
There's just one.
In addition, native to the Beastlands is the beast dragon (Dragon #321 50-1), a dragon with the extraplanar subtype, and the dread blossom swarm (MM3 45), a plant. No single template changes dragons or plants to magical beasts, however.
Template Shenanigans
There's no template that makes an animal into a magical beast by making it more beastlandish, but that's okay because the Beastlands specifically calls out the template celestial, which "can be added to any corporeal animal, aberration, animal, dragon, fey, giant, humanoid, magical beast, monstrous humanoid, plant, or vermin of good or neutral alignment" (MM 31), so that template's pretty wide-ranging.
And while it's interesting that the Beastlands "is the home of many beasts of legend--superior versions of powerful animals, beasts, and magical beasts" (MP 142), that doesn't let the Beastlands-attuned planar shepherd break the rules of the template monster of legend, which says that it "can be added to any animal, beast, magical beast, or monstrous humanoid .... The creature’s type changes to outsider [not magical beast], though the monster of legend’s home plane is the Material Plane" (MM2 213), not the Beastlands. So what, exactly, that sentence means is up to the DM; perhaps the DM'd be willing to homebrew some creatures, convert some from a previous edition, or allow 3rd-party sources to satisfy this note.
But ask the DM if the planar shepherd's level 3 wild shape special ability that permits him "to change into a magical beast native to [the] chosen plane" and "includes creatures whose type changes to magical beast as the result of applying a template" (FE 106) also includes templates other than the examples celestial or fiendish. If yes, there are templates that can be added to animals to change their types to magical beasts. In my opinion, those appropriate for Beastlands animals include the following:
- chimeric creature (MM2 206).
- kaiju (Dragon #289 68-71). Note: Using wild shape to assume the form of one, though, is quite the challenge.
- monstrous beast (SS 122).
- valicorn ("Ghostwalk Web Enhancement" 4-5).
- winged creature (SS 137).
Any of these could satisfy the "beasts of legend" flavor text of the Beastlands.
The Beastlands' Native Outsiders
In Dungeons and Dragons, 3rd Edition the following outsiders are native to the Beastlands:
Some neutral good angels. According to the Monster Manual, one of the sources of "neutral good angels [is]... the Beastlands" (MM 10).
After the Monster Manual Wizards of the Coast published no further angels.
- The hollyphant (BE 176-7).
- The spirit of the wild (Dungeon #148 25)
- The xap-yaup energon (PlH 122).
Unlike many planes, the Beastlands never received their iconic creatures--the plane's popularity never even spawned a race as sparsely detailed as the rilmani from the Outlands or the demodands of Carceri. The closest I could find from earlier editions are the mortai, converted to Dungeons and Dragons, 3rd Edition here, and, honestly, I don't think they count.
live in Remains Different from native to
It's obvious you want the answer to be different, but Jack Lesnie's correct when he says that these terms mean different things. Seriously.
- "Lawful good angels hail from the plane of Celestia, neutral good angels from the plane of Elysium or the Beastlands, and chaotic good angels from plane of Arborea" (MM 10).
- "Archons are celestials from the plane of Celestia" (MM 10).
- "The eladrins are a celestial race native to the plane of Arborea" (MM 93).
- "Guardinals are a celestial race native to the plane of Elysium" (MM 141).
- "Lillends are mysterious visitors from the plane of Ysgard" (MM 168).
...And so on. An outsider's entry tells the reader what plane a creature's native to. All the other times when a creature is mentioned as hanging out on another plane, such a creature can only live in another plane. He's not native to it.
- While I find researching these questions interesting, there just isn't that much information about Arborea, Bytopia, Ysgard, Pandemonium, Carceri, and the like.
- In fact, short of the Abyss, Celestia, Baator, Limbo, and Mechanus, not a lot's been said about many planes.
A devil is formed/born when (MM 66, top paragraph)
sending his servants to the mortal realm to corrupt the souls from which new devils are spawned
So, answering about Rakshasas and Hell Hounds, they are each a unique fiend rather than being a form of corrupted mortal soul.
On the next page is a list of four main categories of devils, with a subsection called Promotion and Demotion covering how a corrupted soul can get from newly minted minion all the way up to the top levels of the Infernal Hierarchy.
In the stat blocks on MM 70-78, it appears that all Devils have the following features:
- Resistance to: cold; bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons that aren't silvered
- Immunity to fire and poison
- Immunity to the Poisoned condition
- 120' darkvision
- 120' telepathy
- Infernal language
- Magic Resistance
Most also have natural armor and Devil's Sight (for some reason, not Pit Fiends or Erinyes).
Making Your Own Devil
If you're making your own devil then the only real core is Lawful Evil and some kind of corruption of a mortal soul. I see two options to make it interesting.
First: Backstory.
A favored NPC is a literal devil in disguise. The drama arises from the emotional connection PCs have to this NPC. This is basically a literary classic.
In D&D terms, though, you might consider what happens differently when an Elf or Dwarf is corrupted, as opposed to a Human. The books don't seem to say anything on this, but it's totally within DM purview to build the world in this regard.
Second: Custom monster.
DMG 273 details how to create or modify a monster.
My favourite technique for this is covered in the Modifying a Monster section. Just take a different monster and describe it differently. A short step away from that is describing a creature differently and also tweaking small things like energy type on damage. For example, you could just take a Deva, give him red skin and horns, then tweak that Radiant damage to Necrotic. There's a section on Fallen Angels on MM P. 15 if you'd like to commit to this route.
If that's not enough, then use the subsequent sections to create your own. The most important step here is in the opening paragraphs: the concept. If you're sticking with the book's 'corrupted soul' concept, then consider what sins/corruptions might have created the various devils in the book. Then consider what your new creation's sin might have been (backstory again!) and what thematic powers, traits, and quirks might manifest. Add those to the above list of generic devil traits. Additionally, you should consider how this devil fits into the Infernal Hierarchy, including which devils owe it fealty and which it owes fealty to.
Best Answer
On page 67 they are listed at #9 on the infernal hierarchy in the ranks of the greater devils. This is part of the general section on the Infernal Hierarchy.
Along with this text also on page 67.
So regardless of their origins the designer's intent is that they are part of the Infernal Hierarchy.
And note the exact text on page 69 is
So at first the erinyes were fallen angels and probably the oldest and most powerful still are. But this implies are also erinyes that were promoted through the ranks.