Will you make transsexual Elves canon in your games ?

Lychee of the Exch. · Jun 3, 2018

Hello,

I've seen the Jeremy Crawford interview where he talks about Elves as portrayed in the Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes - specifically, some of them can now change sex after a long rest, so they're transsexual in practice.

What do you think of it ?

DEFCON 1 · Jun 3, 2018

It's fine.

gyor · Jun 3, 2018

They aren't transgendered or transgendered, they are more magigendered, because their is no real would human eqivilant to people who can change their biological sex daily whenever they feel like it.

But you can have more like real life transgendered characters of any race, that is pure RP, not mechanics unlike blessed of Corellon Larethian.

Honestly if I was to play a character with this elf ability to change genders instead of playing it as a gender bending elf, I'd have one gender as the actually character, and the other as his anima, a second personality created from the firsts repressed desires and fantasies and fears, that only appears infrequently when the main personality desides to call her forth. That would go especially cool with Shadar Kai.

Or maybe an Eladarin who has a different personality for each combination of season and gender.

Lychee of the Exch. · Jun 3, 2018

gyor said:
They aren't transgendered or transgendered, they are more magigendered, because their is no real would human eqivilant to people who can change their biological sex daily whenever they feel like it.

That's one way of considering it, I suppose.

Jester David · Jun 3, 2018

Lychee of the Exch. said:
That's one way of considering it, I suppose.

It pretty much is the only way. The terms are completely different.
The elves in this instance possesss magical sequential hermaphroditism, biologically switching from male to female. How that affects gender in elves is unknown. (As gender is a social construct.)
Meanwhile, transgender individuals have a gender identity that does not match their biological sex. They can be called “transsexual” if they medically transition to the sex that matches their gender.

Lychee of the Exch. · Jun 3, 2018

gyor said:
Honestly if I was to play a character with this elf ability to change genders instead of playing it as a gender bending elf, I'd have one gender as the actually character, and the other as his anima, a second personality created from the firsts repressed desires and fantasies and fears, that only appears infrequently when the main personality desides to call her forth. That would go especially cool with Shadar Kai.

Or maybe an Eladarin who has a different personality for each combination of season and gender.

Cool ideas.

Pauln6 · Jun 3, 2018

Many animals can switch gender without magic so not sure why this is a shock. Wasn't Corellon originally described as androgynous as well?

UngeheuerLich · Jun 3, 2018

It is just aknowledging what they have ever been.

gyor · Jun 3, 2018

Lychee of the Exch. said:
Cool ideas.

I just had an even cooler one.

A Divine Soul Blessed of (insert deity of your choice).

See the character has their birth gender right, for example say male, whose ancestor was Zandilar so a shard of her divinity ended up in his soul, so he's the Blessed of Zandilar instead of Corellon. So when he changes sexes that is the Shard of Zandilar expressing herself, its him becoming being possessed by a tiny piece of his God, essentially becoming a minor Avatar of Zandilar. Kind of like being ridden by a Loa in Voudon, but more fantastical.

Lychee of the Exch. · Jun 3, 2018

Pauln6 said:
Many animals can switch gender without magic so not sure why this is a shock. Wasn't Corellon originally described as androgynous as well?

I don't know of any mammal than can change sex at will, and Elves seem like a mammalian species to me.

It is true that Corellon is depicted as androgynous, and that it can be used to justify this ret-con.