Goblin13 |
So this one came out during a dinner, we all started laughing but then there was an embarassed silence ..
In one of the books there's a female Nalfeshnee, very grotesque, and we all know there are Succubus and their male counterpart, the Incubus, but
there are, or can exist, female Balors ? If so how you describe her ?
Lord Gadigan |
There are female Balors. Ungortu, the Rapturous Flame (from Lords of Chaos and Demons Revisited) is currently the only one I know of. I'd keep the general overall Balor 'look' for them (modified by whatever unique powers they have) just shifted to female, so I'd go with some description of a massive demon with spines, black armor, enormous wings, a massive sword, and a flaming whip, only dropping in a 'she' instead of a 'he' when referring to it. Ungortu is a bit of a weird case since she has a lot of illusion magic as part of her special ability and is looking to get 'hallucinations' as part of her portfolio as a nascent demon lord, so she's actually liable to show up with a more friendly-looking appearance part of the time (with exact specifics depending on whatever would help her achieve her goals at the time).
James Jacobs Creative Director |
Orfamay Quest |
1 person marked this as a favorite. |
In the vast majority of cases, demons can be either gender.
Some are always 1 gender (succubi, incuibi), but they are exceptions.
According to many of the historical myths, succubi and incubi were also gender-fluid. A succubus would collect semen from a man, transform itself into an incubus, and impregnate a woman. (Theologically, that has the advantage of not granting the Infernal the power to create life, which avoids falling into the heresy of Manichaeism. For more details, you are referred to James Blish's A Case for Conscience, which I recommend on other groups. The original short story is probably better.)
James Jacobs Creative Director |
James Jacobs wrote:According to many of the historical myths, succubi and incubi were also gender-fluid. A succubus would collect semen from a man, transform itself into an incubus, and impregnate a woman. (Theologically, that has the advantage of not granting the Infernal the power to create life, which avoids falling into the heresy of Manichaeism. For more details, you are referred to James Blish's A Case for Conscience, which I recommend on other groups. The original short story is probably better.)In the vast majority of cases, demons can be either gender.
Some are always 1 gender (succubi, incuibi), but they are exceptions.
They're gender-fluid in Pathifnder as well. Note that they can change shape at will.
Astral Wanderer |
Unless a creature is very human-like, you don't have to worry about gender differences.
Like for dogs and cats and most other animals, you don't see gender differences, unless you go looking in certain spots. Same for dragons, and same for anthropomorphic (but not human-like) creatures, such as most demons. You think a Balor should have breasts, for example? Well, it could be a GM-to-GM varying issue, but it's very unlikely that a Balor needs to lactate and thus has womanlike breasts. Starting from the fact that outsiders are generated from planar energies and souls, not from reproduction; and even if that was the case, who said it has to be mammal-like reproduction? Maybe they lay eggs or something else.