Mythological origins Kappa | ||
In the Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game, most commonly in the Kara-Tur sub-setting of the Forgotten Realms, the kappa is an evil creature based upon the kappa of Japanese mythology.
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Publication history
The common kappa and the vampiric kappa first appeared in the first edition in the original Oriental Adventures (1985). The creature was further developed in Dragon #151 (November 1989).
The common kappa, the vampiric kappa, and the kappa-ti appeared in second edition for the Kara-Tur setting in the Monstrous Compendium Kara-Tur Appendix (1990).
The kappa appeared in the third edition Oriental Adventures (2001).
Description
A kappa resembles an almost furless, green-skinned, beaked, fiendish monkey, with a cragged depression in its head containing water which acts as its cerebrospinal fluid. The kappa was introduced to D&D in Oriental Adventures. The kappa appeared again in the Kara-Tur Monstrous Compendium Appendix (MC6); appearing are the common kappa, kappa-ti and vampiric kappa.