charname is a half race?
tennisgolfboll
Member Posts: 457
I assume bhaal was born a human and so if charname is a halfling, dwarf, gnome etc isnt he half dwarf etc for race but just dont know it when the game starts?
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Secondly even if he was a human shapchanger he would still be human
Bhaal was mortal
Bhaal became god
Bhaal foresaw his own undoing and chose to walk the realms
Bhaal impregnated women with his divine essence, leaving small portions of his power with each baby
Thus, it's not his pre-god genetics that are used, so to speak. But his god powers, and as such his original race doesn't enter the picture. The babies are 100% of it's mother's race.. Bhaalspawn's genetic build up however is more of a mystery, as they're not clones of their mother. But i guess that's just another blank page where you fill in "divine essence"... magic 'n shit yo!
I might not agree and still view it as half race but its a nice alternate view
I have no idea how racial biology works with shapeshifting in D&D but I would assume that since it seemingly grants all the powers, strengths, weaknesses and abilities of whatever creature is in question that it goes all the way. So Kobold Bhaal would technically be a kobold rather than a human with an illusion spell.
All that said though I too like Khyron's view on the whole thing.
From the Forgotten Realms Wiki article on Bhaal:
"Bhaal had three avatar forms; a shape-shifting one called Kazgoroth, a human-sized one called the Slayer, and a giant called the Ravager. The Slayer appeared as a corpse-like male humanoid, whereas the Ravager was large and bestial."
From the Forgotten Realms Wiki article on Kazgaroth:
"Kazgoroth is an aspect of Bhaal that takes the form of anything it wants to and drinks human blood, as well as feasts on human flesh. It takes down many normally powerful people, like a druid, in the book Darkwalker on Moonshae."
It's not a theory, it's an official canon fact.
But i would not call it willingly to first time either. Being forced to do it to have a chance to live on isnt willingly in the normal sense.
And even if check the post about how a human shapechanger is still a human. Bhaal is still bhaal even if he appears as an elf imo.
The Kazgoroth avatar is the shape-changing one, not Slayer.
*Bhaal uses Kazgoroth avatar*
*Kazgoroth turns into an elf*
*Kazgoroth in elf form impregnates elf woman*
*Elf gives birth to an elven child*
*Repeat with every race possible*
Simple as that.
And before anyone says that Elves need to be ~120 years to be mature, that's emotional maturity.
A 20 year old pure-blooded Elf has the body of an adult. (Drizzt during the events of the Baldur's Gate Saga is 71 years old.)
From the Shapechange spell: "You also gain the type of the new form in place of your own."
It's not an illusion, when he becomes an elf, he is an elf for all purposes so he can make elven children.
He has changed into an elf but his dna isnt elven. No more than a werewolf is that of a wolf. No even less than that bhaal is always bhaal so all races should be half x half bhaal (or more bhaal)
Actually his DNA would change since his type changes. Again, it's not an illusion. You turn into another creature fully and in everything, in and out unless specified (mental stats).
Let's not compare any mortal creature like a Werewolf to an avatar of a fully powered GOD.
I believe an avatar can change its DNA when he changes forms otherwise it would be a simple illusion or lesser magic spell. Not a divine avatar dedicated to shapechanging.
Hell, even a non-epic mage with Shapechange could do that by the rules. I want to believe that Kazgoroth could do far more.
Even if bhaal shapechanges into x race he would still be more bhaal than x race. Hence all mainchars are x race/bhaalspawn (half race)
Any fact or official source to support this theory? Except, "I just think so".
Lore, the rules and the game itself contradicts you.
CHARNAME is already half a "race". When someone ascends to godhood, his type changes to Outsider. That's a rules fact. No arguing it.
So you could say that a Bhaalspawn is half-outsider (divine being), half-"pure" x race.
When Bhaal ascended to godhood, he stopped being human.
And when Kazgoroth changed his shape, he became a human/elf/dwarf etc.
From the Forgotten Realms wiki again: "Bhaalspawn mostly seemed like normal members of their race at first, so long as the race was humanoid "
Take a long look at sarevok
they MOSTLY SEEM (but are not members in a normal way of their race) at FIRST (in the end most dont even seem to be of their mothers race only)
most bhaalspawns seemed to be human/elf/dwarf at first. Some did not. And in the end
Almost none did.
Trying to limit a divine creature to mortal rules just does not work. If he wants a mortal female to be pregnant all he has to do is will it. In Bhaal's case he just did that, adding a little bit of his own divine essence every time, basically making sure enough of him would survive when he died to bring him back to life.
When Bhaal died he was vulnerable, locked in mortal form with his powers severely limited by Ao's decree. If he tried to make someone pregnant in this situation then genetics would apply as he was just a mortal creature. In possession of his full godhood he could make an elf birth a dwarf if he wanted to, genetics just would not apply.
Being a demigod and having Bhaal powers isn't a racial trait.
Also, honest question, where does it say that Bhaal was once human? I know he was one of the "Dead Three" who got powers from the old god Jergal and underwent apotheosis, but all the Wiki said was that they were all once mortal. Nothing about actually being human. Suspension of disbelief in DnD makes it possible, but I'd guess that accumulating enough power to reasonably take on a god would take longer than a human lifespan, particularly for mortal Bhaal who was simply an assassin and not some sort of mage who might still reasonably fight in old age.