Bhaalspawn

In the fictional universe of Forgotten Realms, Bhaalspawn is a name given to all children of the fictitious Bhaal, Lord of Murder, who foresaw his own death during the Time of Troubles and fathered children who could one day be sacrificed for his own return.


 * The Lord of Murder shall perish, but in his wake shall spawn a score of mortal progeny, chaos will be sown by their passage. - From the writings of the seer Alaundo.

During the storyline of the Baldur's Gate series of computer games the player (who is him or herself a Bhaalspawn) will encounter a number of Bhaalspawn, some as friends and some as enemies.

Issue number #288 of Dragon Magazine contains an article detailing Bhaalspawn for 3rd Edition Dungeons and Dragons, enabling a Gamesmaster to effectively reecreate the Baldur's Gate series of games for their own campaign.

Notable Bhaalspawn
The Bhaalspawn came from a wide variety of races and backgrounds, from the humble to the powerful. Here are some of the known Bhaalspawn:

Abazigal
A male half-dragon. He had one son, the half-dragon Draconis. He formed an alliance with the other Bhaalspawn, before he was killed by the possessed armor of Sarevok.

Abdel Adrian
The Bhaalspawn raised by the sage, Gorion, at the great library of Candlekeep.

Abdel is the protagonist of the novelization of the Baldur's Gate series. As such, he represents the player of the games (in the Baldur's Gate gaming community he is often referred to as "Charname", due to the lack of any official name for this entirely player-created character).

Balthazar
A male human monk. The leader of a monastic order based in the town of Amkethran. Balthazar wanted to become the Lord of Murder so that he could kill himself afterwards, thus destroying the evil essence of Bhaal.

Gavid
A male human. Gavid was a seemingly normal man who was killed before he discovered his true heritage. His spirit challenged Abdel to the prospect of being hounded without end.

Gavid is likely named after David Gaider, one of the designers of Baldur's Gate II.

Gromnir Il-Khan
A male half-orc. Gromnir briefly took control of the city of Saradush in a paranoid attempt to protect himself, but was killed by Abdel Adrian.

Illasera
A female human, and one of the Five. She tries to hunt down Abdel, Imoen and Jaheira in a forest. Abdel manages only to defeat her by succumbing to his Bhaal-essence rage.

Imoen

 * See also: Baldur's Gate NPCs

A female human and the close companion of Abdel Adrian. A skilled thief and wizard, Imoen accompanied Abdel throughout his adventures.

Sendai
A female drow. A powerful cleric and warrior, Sendai commanded a band of renegade drow and formed an alliance with Abazigal and Yaga-Shura before she was killed by Abdel.

Viekang
Viekang is a male human, who is taken by fear whenever he encounters another Bhaalspawn. Through his tainted blood, fear causes him to teleport away whenever he is afraid, causing his encounters with Bhaalspawn to be brief. However, after his encounter with Melissan in Saradush, he loses his power. It is possible for the player to scare Viekang into teleporting by casting a horror spell on him. Thus, if the player does, it is likely Viekang survives, but if the player does not, it is likely that Viekang is killed when Saradush is overtaken.

Yaga-Shura
A male fire giant. This powerful giant commanded an army of humanoids and, like Sarevok before him, wished to become the new Lord of Murder by killing the other Bhaalspawn. To this end, he laid siege to the city of Saradush, where many Bhaalspawn were in hiding. To stop him, Abdel discovered the secret to Yaga-Shura's invulnerability and destroys it, making Yaga-Shura himself vulnerable. By that time however, Yaga-Shura managed to demolish Saradush, however he was killed by Abdel shortly afterwards.