bhaalspawn appearance roleplay

fish0331

From an rp perspective, is it possible bhaalspawn could have "unique" features due to their heritage? Maybe they were born with glowing red eyes or perhaps vaguely resemble a tiefling?

EntropyXII

From what I know, a Bhaal spawn isn't necessarily a Tiefling. Not back in 2nd edition anyway. A tiefling is the offspring of a demon/devil or fiend of the lower planes. Bhaal was from Gehenna (in 2nd edition) which is an outer plane, and he was a god, not a fiend.

http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Gehenna

I think in modern rules, it is hinted a Bhaalspawn might be a similar to a Tiefling, or a race in it's own right. If I remember correctly, Dragon magazine posted up a Bhaalspawn template some time ago, but I can't seem to find it.

In terms of appearance, it is known that Sarevok's eyes glow due to his godlike heritage, and so I always pretend my own character gains this attribute as he/she starts to understand his/her own powers.

fish0331

I meant, could it vaguely resemble a tiefling?

Metalloman

A bhaalspawn is simply of its mother's race, talking about appearance, that's because Bhaal had the ability to polimorph self into any form, using this ability to generate his variegate spawn so, if your CHARNAME's mother was a tiefling why not?

abacus

If in doubt, you can always use the old Warhammer "counts as" rule... Maybe you think of him and play him as some non-canon race, but just pick the nearest fit of the allowed options.
Eg:
My Dogs of War became an unusual tribe of Chaos Warriors after GW dropped the DoW codex.

ReadingRambo

I often thought Haer'Dalis portrait was a good fit for a elf/half elf bhaalspawn. I envisioned charname to have a bit of tielfling-ish characteristics, but more subtle than a tail or horns

tennisgolfboll

Look at sarevok. Does he look like an average human? Glowing eyes 7 feet. Special armor and blade.

bhaalspawns can have many unique traits

egon

tennisgolfboll said:

Look at sarevok. Does he look like an average human? Glowing eyes 7 feet. Special armor and blade.

Well, that was simply because his mother was seven feet tall, had glowing eyes and special armour and blade, just like Bhaal did when he visited Sarevok's mom. Have you never seen Excalibur?

Jokes aside, it is very clear from the in-game prophecies that Bhaal knew about his death long before the times of trouble so he had lots of time to polymorph into basically every race and do the dirty.

That said, some bhaalspawn obviously have weird looks, Sarevok for example. Charname could also have some weird traits (since you can chose skin color during character creation), special abilities and superior physical and mental attributes when compared to normals of the same race (that reroll button is there for a reason!)

tennisgolfboll

Nah sarevok was longer ahead in his bhaalspawn "race". Changes happened to most if not all of the bhaalspawns.

Glowing eyes, healing with the mind, horns, blue skin, absurd size, strength or speed or other traits from bhaal. Not the mother. This proves you are not only of human/dwarf/halfling race even though you seemed to be at a young age.

egon

Except that it makes no sense that a bhaalspawn would have horns or blue skin *just* because it's a bhaalspawn. Why would you inherit horns from your father if your father doesn't have horns?

Dee

One of Bhaal's avatars was a shapeshifter named Kazgoroth. It's perfectly reasonable to suggest that your Bhaalspawn might have some unique traits, or that you might develop some unusual characteristics as you grow in power.

What I would say, though, is that no one ever remarks about your appearance, so from a roleplaying perspective it seems somewhat unlikely that the canon Bhaalspawn is anything other than a typical specimen of their race.

Kastion

I tend to agree with @Dee on this. No one ever mentions you looking different. The most you get is people sensing power in you. Now that's not to say you might not get some glowing eyes or whatever if you want when getting into the heat of battle ...

... or turning into a ravenous monster. That too.

meagloth

I always put glowing eyes in the custom portraits I make because it looks cool, and real eyes are a pain in the butt to draw:P

tennisgolfboll

Dee said:

One of Bhaal's avatars was a shapeshifter named Kazgoroth. It's perfectly reasonable to suggest that your Bhaalspawn might have some unique traits, or that you might develop some unusual characteristics as you grow in power.

What I would say, though, is that no one ever remarks about your appearance, so from a roleplaying perspective it seems somewhat unlikely that the canon Bhaalspawn is anything other than a typical specimen of their race.

Actually every one seems to know you after bg1. Must be a really really easy and reliable way to desribe charname.

Like there is this blue aura around that dude, oh yeah his 7 feet and has pitch black eyes. Trust me errand runner you will know charname when you see him.

tennisgolfboll

But charname that has killed hundreds of men and women might not like it if you say...lol funny face...

and in a world like dnd what is remarkable in looks?

tennisgolfboll

Some kids actually remark... you funny looking