Ranma & gender issues

[BlackSilver]

Hello-

One of our GMs has a tendency to alter a character's gender.

He seems to think it is normal. I am curious as to how often it happens in other campaigns and what you do when it happens.

 

[RangerWickett]

Ah, to be a woman. I guess I'll have to wait for virtual reality.

I've had the occasional sex change curse as a joke, but never on a PC. Once a pair of enemy satyrs (the PCs were all goblinoids) were caught in a spell mishap and turned into women. Horny fey that they are, they quickly ran away to be by themselves.

Once or twice a body-swap has happened where a man and woman switched bodies, but the times that it happened were in combat (weird story, feel free to ask), so they had more pressing concerns.

There's nothing inherently good or bad about the idea, but it is a touchy subject for some. I'd have a chick out of a little gender-bending in character, mostly because of the reactions I'd get out of the other players, but some people might be uncomfortable, or worse, they might use it as an excuse to be rather crude.

How did you feel about it?

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

Are we talking gender or sex?

Sex is physical, gender is cultural.

If it is sex, I take it there are lots of magic girdles in circulation?

Btw, I have never done this to any characters in 13 years.

 

[BlackSilver]

Are we talking gender or sex?

Sex is physical, gender is cultural.

If it is sex, I take it there are lots of magic girdles in circulation?

Btw, I have never done this to any characters in 13 years.

Physical alteration of ones sex, either through body swapping or polymorph or curse. The person inside the body is unchanged, the physical abilities, and appearance changes.

The game mechanic does nothing for me, I just find it very odd.

 

[Dark Jezter]

It's never happened in any campaign I've played in or DMed. We've occasinally made jokes about the old 2e Girdle of Gender Reversal, but that's it.

 

[Aeric]

I played in a campaign once where it happened, thanks to a Girdle of Femininity/Masculinity. A new player joined the group later on and actually requested his character be cursed with a sex change. He was a real creepy guy, and not because of his request. But that's besides the point.

I play opposite-sex characters all the time, but I've never played one that wasn't born that way. It would certainly be a role-playing challenge.

 

[glass]

We had one guy's female character reincarnate as male just recently, mostly because we kept forgetting he was a she.

Only time it's happened.


glass.

 

[Impeesa]

Once, many a year ago, I inflicted a Girdle of Femininity/Masculinity on a Dwarven Battlerager... I also once played a shifter who had his dead sister as one of his stored forms (homebrew 2E shifter I found on the net somewhere, again several years ago). That's about the total extent of the in-game gender bending I've seen...

--Impeesa--

 

[RangerWickett]

Dang it, where's Edena of Neith when you need . . . um, herm. Hi? Shim? . . . when you need . . . advice? Yes. Advice.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

As a DM I've never done it. As a player I'd have a talk with the DM out of game and see if s/he would consider quickly (within a session, 2 tops) undoing it. Otherwise, I'd probably kill off the character and roll up a new one. If I want to play a female character, I'll roll one up. If not, not. It's not an aspect of my character that I'm willing to give over to DM fiat. Feel the same about the Helm of Opposite Alignment.