Unless things are very different in New Zealand from what I've heard, the prospects of a police or miliatry-led coup would be close to zero. And the Queen would not endorse it were it to happen. (I'm not sure that she would reject it either. She might stand aloof, as she did during the constitutional crisis in Australia.) The Queen's role is to appoint the Governor-General on the advice of the Prime Minister. That's it. Whether the Governor-General would support a coup would of course depend on the local political situation at the time.
Will you make transsexual Elves canon in your games ?
Imaculata
Hero
We do the good old fade to black, but bedroom stuff IS allowed. We just don't want to feel like voyeurs while one player plays it out.
On a side note, I do have some gay characters (npc's) in my current campaign, but it's not their defining character trait.
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S
Sunseeker
Guest
Reminds me of that episode of "Community".
Oh internet, you never disappoint: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODgu_-rR1X8
Charlaquin
Goblin Queen (She/Her/Hers)
But is racial predjudice in your games on the basis of human ethnicity, or on race in the fantasy gaming sense of the term? Do bigots in your world hate people of certain skin color, or do they hate elves?
I agree with people who say “I don’t want to bring real-life political issues into my gaming.” I have to live in a world where people are discriminated against on the basis of skin color, gender, religion, etc. every day. If I’mgoing to spend my free time in an imaginary world, i’d Kind of like it to be one where I don’t have to deal with those same issues. Now, my world does still have its own sociopolitical issues. But they are different from real life issues. You can play a black character without the guards profiling you, but if you want to play a character who deals with the long-term reprocussions of slavery even generations after its abolition, that’s halflings in my world. You can play a woman without having to worry about being taken less seriously as a warrior than your male party members, but if you want to explore gender-based discrimination in game, might I recommend a male drow? Likewise, I want to make sure you can play a trans character without NPCs misgendering you or disrespecting your identity. But if you want to play a character who’s identity isn’t considered valid by the rest of society, something like an Eladrin who’s seasonal fluidity is seen as an act by other, less mercurial races. Or a Changeling who doesn’t consider their “true” form to be who they really are.
Thomas Bowman
First Post
Could not a True Polymorph spell do that?
Here is a description:
https://roll20.net/compendium/dnd5e/True Polymorph?fromList=True Polymorph&Name=#content
True Polymorph
Choose one creature with at least 1 hit point or nonmagical object that you can see within range. You transform the creature into a different creature, the creature into an object, or the object into a creature (the object must be neither worn nor carried by another creature). The transformation lasts for the Duration, or until the target drops to 0 hit points or dies. If you concentrate on this spell for the full Duration, the transformation becomes permanent.
Shapechangers aren't affected by this spell. An unwilling creature can make a Wisdom saving throw, and if it succeeds, it isn't affected by this spell.
Creature into Creature: If you turn a creature into another kind of creature, the new form can be any kind you choose whose challenge rating is equal to or less than the target's (or its level, if the target doesn't have a challenge rating). The target's game Statistics, including mental Ability Scores, are replaced by the Statistics of the new form. It retains its alignment and personality.
The target assumes the hit points of its new form, and when it reverts to its normal form, the creature returns to the number of hit points it had before it transformed. If it reverts as a result of Dropping to 0 Hit Points, any excess damage carries over to its normal form. As long as the excess damage doesn't reduce the creature's normal form to 0 hit points, it isn't knocked Unconscious.
The creature is limited in the actions it can perform by the nature of its new form, and it can't speak, cast Spells, or take any other action that requires hands or Speech unless its new form is capable of such actions.
The target's gear melds into the new form. The creature can't activate, use, wield, or otherwise benefit from any of its Equipment.
Object into Creature: You can turn an object into any kind of creature, as long as the creature's size is no larger than the object's size and the creature's challenge rating is 9 or lower. The creature is friendly to you and your companions. It acts on each of your turns. You decide what action it takes and how it moves. The DM has the creature's Statistics and resolves all of its actions and Movement.
If the spell becomes permanent, you no longer control the creature. It might remain friendly to you, depending on how you have treated it.
Creature into Object: If you turn a creature into an object, it transforms along with whatever it is wearing and carrying into that form. The creature's Statistics become those of the object, and the creature has no memory of time spent in this form, after the spell ends and it returns to its normal form.
This spell as the description goes can change any form into any other form, it is not restricted to a form of the same gender as the original. So in a fantasy D&D campaign, if you want to change the gender of somebody, say from a human male to a human female, then you just cast this spell, and the caster concentrates for the duration of this spell to make the new form permanent. Of course when the target dies, he/she reverts to her natural form. This is not a transgender in the modern sense, because it is not done by a medical procedure, a magic spell would do it much better, leave not a trace or an inkling of the targets original form. So basically the Elf you are talking about is a shapechanger if he/she can do this naturally.
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the Jester
Legend
Not the poster you replied to, but- in my campaign, it's mostly cross-species (and there's even a broader old-skool category, 'demihuman' vs. 'humanoid', that gets brought up by racists). But there have been times when e.g. some human ethnicities have had prejudices against others (for example, when the human Forinthian Empire was ascendant, many native populations were prejudiced against the Forinthians).
You might want to edit your post so that the text of the spell is in a color that can be read on a black background.
Gradine
The Elephant in the Room (she/her)
Coming in late and there's a few points I wanted to address:
1) The big one is that representation matters. I don't remember who said it, but to paraphrase an earlier post "Reach where you're most able to reach." 5e has already done a great job of opening the door the gender fluidity in the PHB; this simply creates a more concrete idea and tying it to the androgynous-ness of Corellon and the mutability that's being established with the 5e elvish mythos. Makes perfect sense, and if I ran in FR I would definitely use it.
2) "Trans" is the generally accepted "umbrella" term for all manner of gender- and sex-nonconforming identities, but it would be a mistake to suggest that everyone within that community appreciates the term, and there's actually quite a bit of strife within and between gender- and sex-nonconforming identities; ie; folx complaining about "gender reassignment" surgery as capitulating to a gender binary, transsexual-identified individuals equating drag performances to blackface, intersex erasure, etc. While there is a compelling reason for the use of "trans" as a catch-all umbrella term, just be aware that not all that would be classified within that umbrella would appreciate the term. Speaking of which...
3) "Queer" as a reclaimed word tends to have its roots in intersectional identity analysis, particularly with regards to race and class stratification (I've heard that San Fransisco is gay and Oakland is queer, for instance). While not universal, I've noticed that those who adopt "queer" as a moniker tend to care less about "normalization" or other tactics that they'd consider "assimilation", and rather more about expressing one's identity without regards to what others individually or society as a whole thinks, which is why "genderqueer" might be an identity used by people who may not necessarily agree that society treating being gender nonconforming as nothing particularly special or out of the ordinary is a worthy goal. "Queer" also tends to coincide much more with more radical political causes as well. As a result, you can kind of see why many in the LGBTQIA community (particularly the folx who stop at the "T", if they even make it that far) might not mesh as well with anyone using the term "queer" as a part of the identity. For another point of departure, ask a person who identifies as primarily as "queer" how big a deal marriage equality is.
4) The main point to all of this is that there's a lot of diversity itself within the LGBTQIA, such that quibbling semantics over terminology or lexicon doesn't really do anybody any justice. I've found that the most successful (or at least most respectful) way to go is to respect everyone's preferences and identities individually and not make large sweeping generalizations as a whole. "Don't yuck my yum," as it were. I assume there are many gamers who might identify as "trans" that think the Gift of Corellon is awesome or amazing; I also assume there are those that roll their eyes at it. Neither is particularly right or wrong in the larger sense of those terms, but the fact that it would appeal to some marginalized gamers is alone worth it, in my book.
1) The big one is that representation matters. I don't remember who said it, but to paraphrase an earlier post "Reach where you're most able to reach." 5e has already done a great job of opening the door the gender fluidity in the PHB; this simply creates a more concrete idea and tying it to the androgynous-ness of Corellon and the mutability that's being established with the 5e elvish mythos. Makes perfect sense, and if I ran in FR I would definitely use it.
2) "Trans" is the generally accepted "umbrella" term for all manner of gender- and sex-nonconforming identities, but it would be a mistake to suggest that everyone within that community appreciates the term, and there's actually quite a bit of strife within and between gender- and sex-nonconforming identities; ie; folx complaining about "gender reassignment" surgery as capitulating to a gender binary, transsexual-identified individuals equating drag performances to blackface, intersex erasure, etc. While there is a compelling reason for the use of "trans" as a catch-all umbrella term, just be aware that not all that would be classified within that umbrella would appreciate the term. Speaking of which...
3) "Queer" as a reclaimed word tends to have its roots in intersectional identity analysis, particularly with regards to race and class stratification (I've heard that San Fransisco is gay and Oakland is queer, for instance). While not universal, I've noticed that those who adopt "queer" as a moniker tend to care less about "normalization" or other tactics that they'd consider "assimilation", and rather more about expressing one's identity without regards to what others individually or society as a whole thinks, which is why "genderqueer" might be an identity used by people who may not necessarily agree that society treating being gender nonconforming as nothing particularly special or out of the ordinary is a worthy goal. "Queer" also tends to coincide much more with more radical political causes as well. As a result, you can kind of see why many in the LGBTQIA community (particularly the folx who stop at the "T", if they even make it that far) might not mesh as well with anyone using the term "queer" as a part of the identity. For another point of departure, ask a person who identifies as primarily as "queer" how big a deal marriage equality is.
4) The main point to all of this is that there's a lot of diversity itself within the LGBTQIA, such that quibbling semantics over terminology or lexicon doesn't really do anybody any justice. I've found that the most successful (or at least most respectful) way to go is to respect everyone's preferences and identities individually and not make large sweeping generalizations as a whole. "Don't yuck my yum," as it were. I assume there are many gamers who might identify as "trans" that think the Gift of Corellon is awesome or amazing; I also assume there are those that roll their eyes at it. Neither is particularly right or wrong in the larger sense of those terms, but the fact that it would appeal to some marginalized gamers is alone worth it, in my book.
S
Sunseeker
Guest
I tried to write it up once. It didn't work out so well for humans. Seemed just too generally irrelevent given that whole areas of the "world" have essentially been replaced with other humanoids. There isn't a continent of mostly dark-skinned humans, there isn't a continent of mostly slender, dark-haired humans. These areas of the world have been replaced with elves, dwarves, orcs and other races. Humans are more unified against the threat of the "other" and contextually in my worlds that's elves or orcs, not humans with different eye shape or skin color.
It DID however work out for several other races, Elves (using a dawn/day/evening/night variant on the "seasons" of elves) and Orcs (using the different colors) in particular. The presence of magic also lead to a smaller technological gap between the races, which plays a large role in the ability to enslave others.
EDIT: this is also the first time I noticed [MENTION=57112]Gradine[/MENTION] lives in Arcata, I used to live there!
Yaarel
He Mage
You can read the rules for Blessing that way, where the special androgyne retains the *central gender*, despite switching physical sex organs.
However, Corellon is a shapechanger, who oneself takes on any form, including any gender and any sex (and any orientation). Androgynes are the sacred because their being in the middle of the sex-gender spectrum, are *suggestive* of symbolizing the entire spectrum. They are a vision of the entirety of everyone, holistically. But those rare shapechangers among the Blessed, actually go beyond the potential into the actual, and are shapechanging dramatically into any location on that spectrum.
I prefer to read the rules as saying, when certain of these androgynes can change ‘sex’, it means they can switch from extreme male physical features (heavy testosterone) to extreme female physical features (heavy estrogen) − especially with regard to secondary sexual characteristics − and fluidly transition the entire spectrum.
This understanding of being anywhere on the spectrum helps reallife players who seek to *appear* as a trans man or a trans woman, especially with regard to secondary sexual characteristics.
A more dramatic transformation makes the storytelling more interesting. If it was nothing more than what is happening in someones clothes, few people would ever even know.
The sacred status of androgynes has reallife examples in various cultures. It is an interesting phenomenon, and worthwhile to include in any setting. (Even in settings that lack Corellon or polytheism generally.)
