Roleplaying a Gender-Confused Character

[TaintedLight]

As you may be able to tell, my character has rather an interesting problem.
During my current campaign, our party was traveling to Sharn (Eberron campaign) and we were attacked on the road by a Karrnathi Skeleton. The party barely managed to kill it, but unfortunately my male half-elf ninja was killed in one mighty blow (brought me to -22 from 16). I was in about three pieces, and so the rest of the party, a human monk and a human knight decided that they were better off resurrecting me before we set off again. Unfortunately, the only candidate was a goblin shaman who knew reincarnation but no other spells. I was reincarnated as a female changeling. This leaves my character mighty confused as to why he is no longer a half elf, and more importantly why he is now female.

Before his death, Kamasis was a straight half elven male. He is definately having a hard time coming to terms with this new change in him(her?)self, and so I am not sure how to roleplay that. For now, I am using the justification that s/he is still in shock to a degree and has yet to really face what has happened, so s/he is acting as normal for the most part. She is using her changeling ability to assume her old half elven form (in appearance, at least) at all times. At the moment, his/her old mentality is still intact, but it will probably have to change with his/her new horomones and brain wiring. Since his/her body is now technically female, I don't know if s/he would still be interested in women, if s/he is now interested in men, or both. S/he is fairly proud, and so will probably be in denial for at least a few weeks. His/Her family is part of an old ninja village, and s/he is not really sure if they would disown him/her for what s/he has become, but the real questions are 1) how this will change our party dynamic, 2) how this should affect Kamasis's mentality, and 3) how his family would react.

Any suggestions? (Kamasis is CG)

[VanBuren]

Speaking in terms of alignment here, you've said that s/he's CG. Chaos has a tendancy to go the route of individual rather than traditional. Since the traditional view of gender is dependent on the anatomy, I'd imagine a CG character could very easily fell differently. That is, that regardless of the body the mind and soul are male and that's where it matters. Conversely, a lawful character might feel differently.

In the end, play it however you want. It's your character.

Now we deal with orientation. Heterosexuality has been the traditional real-world norm in Western Civilization (modern, at least. Greece had a different view) so a Lawful character who views themself as a now woman may try and pursue romantic relationships with men. A chaotic character would be more likely to eschew that and become a lesbian in effect, but there's no right answer for alignment. I'm simply offering my thoughts. Either of these scenarios could be played out by a Paladin as well as a Bard.

Alternatively, your character could just decide to be so confused that s/he is just not interested in romantic relationships. You can take this in about a thousand directions if you so please.

[Solo]

A word about hormones; they probably won't affect your emotions a great deal, so don't have your character go PMSing every month or something.

[TaintedLight]

I wasn't really going to have Kamasis PMS all the time, but I have little experience with being female (as a male) so I am just wondering what kind of changes to my worldview might take place with such a major event.

[kamikasei]

Unless I'm mistaken Changeling gender is little more than a suggestion or a preference. A Changeling shifting between sexes can impregnate others or bear children. Given that, I would think it would be very easy for a male reincarnated as a "female" Changeling to simply adopt his old form and stay in it without feeling any real change. Play it more as if he has suddenly gained innate shapeshifting rather than that he's actually got a new form.

How you want him or the rest of the world to react is entirely dependent on... well, how you want them to react. It's like asking us "I have come to realize I'm gay. How do you think my family will react?" ...Hell man, we don't know your family! The attitude of your character's ninja clan or whatever is something you are in the best position to predict.

You've caught a lucky break, though, in that however your character actually feels about it himself, he can appear to be his old self to anyone he wants and thus choose to reveal the change only to those he wishes.

[Solo]

I wasn't really going to have Kamasis PMS all the time, but I have little experience with being female (as a male) so I am just wondering what kind of changes to my worldview might take place with such a major event.

Well, if you hang around girls a lot, you'll probably notice that there are more similarities than differences in behavior, and many of the differences can be attributed to differences in upbringing rather than hormones.

Or at least that seems to be the case for the girls I hang out with.

[TaintedLight]

kamikasei: I'm pretty sure that gender is fixed for changelings, and that the effect of shapechanging is exactly as the disguise self spell, and in any case this is how my DM has decided to run it. As for my family, they were proud of my abilities and our clan has a strong foundation of respect for the prowess of its members. Kamasis is scared that s/he might lose the respect of her parents and friends or even be disowned. Keep in mind that s/he is not likely to be thinking straight because of this earthshaking event, so this may be a completely unreasonable line of thinking. As for having revealed my new form, only the other party members (and the goblin shaman) know about it, and I am keeping it a secret from everyone else at the moment.

[VanBuren]

kamikasei: I'm pretty sure that gender is fixed for changelings, and that the effect of shapechanging is exactly as the disguise self spell, and in any case this is how my DM has decided to run it. As for my family, they were proud of my abilities and our clan has a strong foundation of respect for the prowess of its members. Kamasis is scared that s/he might lose the respect of her parents and friends or even be disowned. Keep in mind that s/he is not likely to be thinking straight because of this earthshaking event, so this may be a completely unreasonable line of thinking. As for having revealed my new form, only the other party members (and the goblin shaman) know about it, and I am keeping it a secret from everyone else at the moment.

Actually, Races of Eberron says...

Unlike doppelgangers, which are entirely genderless, a changeling does indeed have a default gender that manifests in adolescence, but each changeling can adapt his or her form to be of either gender, hermaphroditic (both genders simultaneously), or entirely genderless. A changeling can alter his or her gender (and reproductive abilities) as part of using the race's minor shapechange ability.

[TaintedLight]

Solo: While this is true, Kamasis is still very much used to being a straight male half elf, and so s/he will probably take a considerable amount of time to adjust his/her view at all.

VanBuren: Thank you so much for telling me about that! This will really help soothe Kamasis's anxiety if my DM allows it. It could even be some kind of RP opp where I discover inadvertently that my shapechanging can alter my gender. The only snafu is that my DM has told me (at least for the time being) that I will be considered female regardless of my form and that anyone who overcomes my disguise check by enough will notice it even when I look male. This may change when I show it to him.

[Theli]

Yeah...I'm pretty sure failure on a disguise check for a changeling almost always just means that your changeling nature is found out (or simply that you're appearance is just not *right* for what you're trying to imitate).

The true nature of a changeling is so far different from the norm that most non-changelings would have a very difficult time differentiating between the sexes.

[SoD]

Can reincarnation change your gender? I don't recall reading that anywhere...learn something new every day, I guess.

[Jack_Simth]

Can reincarnation change your gender? I don't recall reading that anywhere...learn something new every day, I guess.

Like most things you'll care about on the spell, it's not particularly addressed in the 3.5 version. In this specific instance, the DM said it did, so it can in his campaign.

[SoD]

OK, seems fair enough to me. I like it though, I'm not sure if it trumps the Goliath barbarian willfully chopping his own head off (brain of Vecna anyone?) and the spirit shaman who offered to help reincarnated him...as an elf.

[VanBuren]

Yeah...I'm pretty sure failure on a disguise check for a changeling almost always just means that your changeling nature is found out (or simply that you're appearance is just not *right* for what you're trying to imitate).

The true nature of a changeling is so far different from the norm that most non-changelings would have a very difficult time differentiating between the sexes.

Would it make sense in this case for the player to have to make a disguise check for their old form? I figure they'd know it pretty well.

[Zeful]

That's easy, just drop a +20 circumstance bonus to disguise (a reversal of the practically impossible task rule) as he's so intimately familiar with his half-elven body that there's no way he can fail looking like, well himself.

Also you got lucky with the changeling thing. Role-play the character as he was before, but add some weird quirk like changing his hair and skin color. If you're character is secure in his masculinity, then it won't matter if your character's body is female if you're knocked out, if not then have him take it as an insult when someone points it out, get aggressive. You could run him like he's in denial, assuming his 'natural' form and taking great steps to hide the feminine figure.

As for the 'world-view' or women, it's really based on how they were raised more then biology, just with every other human on the planet.

[Tobrian]

Well... remember that animé character, whathisname? Ranma? The boy who fell into an enchanted lake and was cursed to turn into a girl everytime someone threw cold water on him, or it rained on him?

Just claim you're the same elf you always were, but that you're inflicted by an eldritch curse that transforms you into this odd quasi-woman-like creature when you sleep or lose consciousness. Resurrection magic can have strange side-effects.

[holywhippet]

I assume there is no way your character can get hold of a wish or miracle spell? Either would restore you to your old form. I suppose you could also get hold of a belt of gender change.