mhacdebhandia
Explorer
I think that people read too much into the "half" part of "half-illithid" or "half-fiend", and assume that it has to mean literal, biological parentage.
Honestly, I have always interpreted it as a shorthand convenience. "Half-illithid" is simply a better name for a template than "illithid-like magical hybrid creature" - besides which, the actual description for the half-illithid template has, in some versions, included the explanation that half-illithids are the result of implanting an illithid tadpole into the brain of a creature that cannot transform into a true illithid, such as a bugbear.
In a recent thread, I posited that aasimar and tieflings need not literally be descended from celestials or fiends, but that they could be the result of the infusion of holy or unholy energies into the human inhabitants of an area where vast celestial and fiendish armies were destroyed in a cataclysm.
This idea probably came to me because the daelkyr halfblood race in Magic of Eberron comes with a similar explanation: the daelkyr don't impregnate mortal women, but those who conceive in an area tainted with the energies of Xoriat might bear a child infused with their essence.
I note, too, that the lemorian half-fiend template which appears in Dungeon's Savage Tide adventure path is explicitly applied during a ritual of transformation.
Really, I think the distinction between "inherited" and "acquired" templates isn't all that useful.
Honestly, I have always interpreted it as a shorthand convenience. "Half-illithid" is simply a better name for a template than "illithid-like magical hybrid creature" - besides which, the actual description for the half-illithid template has, in some versions, included the explanation that half-illithids are the result of implanting an illithid tadpole into the brain of a creature that cannot transform into a true illithid, such as a bugbear.
In a recent thread, I posited that aasimar and tieflings need not literally be descended from celestials or fiends, but that they could be the result of the infusion of holy or unholy energies into the human inhabitants of an area where vast celestial and fiendish armies were destroyed in a cataclysm.
This idea probably came to me because the daelkyr halfblood race in Magic of Eberron comes with a similar explanation: the daelkyr don't impregnate mortal women, but those who conceive in an area tainted with the energies of Xoriat might bear a child infused with their essence.
I note, too, that the lemorian half-fiend template which appears in Dungeon's Savage Tide adventure path is explicitly applied during a ritual of transformation.
Really, I think the distinction between "inherited" and "acquired" templates isn't all that useful.
