Quote from Pime2 >>

This is an old thread, but I'll agree with the above suggestion for a way to have the ability to alivate their dysphoria without having to use up their combat resourses if you want the character to have not found a way to have completely transitioned before the start of the campaign. It does also create potential for interesting, because while making a deal with a devil to gain the ability to magically transition can very easily lead into some harmful subtext (or plain text), there are so many options for patron which could be run in call ways. Maybe a chance encounter with an archfey or celestial unicorn saw them for the girl they really were, or maybe the hexblade or great old one you met cares only about their own incomprehensable plans and you are just able to use the powers they give you to get what you want in addition. Hell, with Tasha recently coming out, maybe it was the wish you made when you met the genie who would become your patron. 

When I first made my Bard/Warlock Elf I had origonally had her be a fiend pact (because this was before Xanathar came out and it was the only one that made sense for the backstory I had come up with), but the extreme cliff notes version is that her sister basically became a powerful lich who was supposedly destroyed before the campaign started, but one of the few things she had done before her disappearance was to use her magic to perminantly transform my character into being a woman (at the time I wanted her to start out female presenting), while leaving the spark of magical ability in her. Since then my character travelled around, living the bardic lifestyle, but (outside of the one level of bard I started her with) she took pure warlock after that point and I just flavoured all of her abilities to make them seem 'bardic' (my favorate was imagining eldritch blast as a concentrated note of sound), and once other patron options came I swapped the pact to hexblade, with the power being something her sister gave her which she gained more mastery over over time (taking mask of many faces and eventually master of myrad forms to represent her gaining a more fluid control over her form). Obviously I set it up so the DM could have her lich sister reimerge as a potential future villian or dark ally, but then I enjoy having characters have conflicting feelings about antagonists. 

 
Although I had a blast making this character and enjoyed meeting and talking to the people I did while doing my research for her, I ultimately shelved the character because I couldn’t get her quite right. There was little things that I couldn’t quite get the flavour of and I needed more time to practice playing her, and the the moment past. 

I commissioned art work and everything for this character, did quite a lot of reading about the experiences of transgender people, talked to some people who were willing to talk to me about their lives and answer the questions that I wasn’t able to get answers to from the books and articles that I read.  I even spent quite a number of weeks practicing her character. 

I must have looked like a fool trying to find Litten’s voice. 

I hope to one day still be able to play her, but she just hasn’t been right for the kind of games I’ve been part of. She is kind of special to me, I spent so much time on her and even spent money on her. She is almost like my baby and I feel so protective of her because of how close I’ve getting her. 

Litten started off as just an idea I had for a different kind of character, but she became something else. She opened my eyes to a world that I had not been a part of before.  Because of her I discovered new interests and met some wonderful people that I became friends with  

I might not have played Litten at an actual table but she changed my life and found a place in my heart. 

No doubt that sounds ridiculous and like a load of sentimental tosh to most people though.  Still, there we have it. 

A D&D character changed my life, made me a better person and helped me make new friends. 

Hardly tosh at all, Forge.  I've been roleplaying for over twenty years, even if it's only recently been in D&D, and I wouldn't in any way be the person I am today without the people I met doing it or the characters I created to do it with.  When you really pour your heart and soul into that creation, it becomes important in a way few people who haven't done it themselves ever really realize.  Like Stormknight said, you took the time to try and really understand.  That's valuable even if Litten never sees the table, don't ever let someone tarnish that experience for you.

That's all very helpful advice. Thank you for sharing that with us.

A trans mage is a very important character in an original story I'm writing and I'll be sure to keep your comments in mind.