Hi there, once one of my characters, a male human sorcerer, changed his gender using alter self into a female human, of course it wasn't permanent, it wears off after one hour, the reason he did it is to ward off some human patroller guards who were part of the enemy city in the campaign, so, any of you had that??

Well, I've been meaning to play a wizard hoping to gain the power of true polymorph, in order to permanently change his gender to male. Until he gains that power, though, he'd rely on disguise and alter self.

Quote from Lyxen >>

First, one point, unless I'm mistaken, it is not explicitely stated in 5e that you can change your biological sex (I'm not speaking of gender here, it's a delicate subject and not necessarily linked to your physical form and biological sex) using alter self. Whereas, for example in 3e it was stated "The new form’s significant physical qualities (such as height, weight, and gender) are also under your control, but they must fall within the norms for the new form’s kind.", in 5e all that is stated is that :

You decide what you look like, including your height, weight, facial features, sound of your voice, hair length, coloration, and distinguishing characteristics, if any. You can make yourself appear as a member of another race, though none of your statistics change. You also can't appear as a creature of a different size than you, and your basic shape stays the same; if you're bipedal, you can't use this spell to become quadrupedal, for instance.

 

So sex and gender are not mentioned at all. That is not to say that it's not possible, I would certainly allow it as a DM in reference to the past, and it's probably in the RAI but I don't see it in the RAW.

That being said, I had an elven sorceress a few years back (so in 3e) who was very promiscuous and liked to experiment, so she made a lot of use of the spell for that respect. But she also had quite a high charisma and liked her true form the most so the impermanent nature of the spell suited her perfectly.

As a side note, she also liked to embarrass people, in particular the LG cleric of the group, and one of her best quote, when asked to pay a toll tax in a very nasty town, she pretended to be the cleric's pleasure slave so that he would pay the tax for them both. It was not about the money, but the look on the cleric's face was priceless. :D

 well yes it does not say you can change your gender, but you can change hair length height voice facial features coloration weight and distinguishing characteristics, so technically you can

I'd call one's 'nads a pretty distinguishing feature, indeed.

Quote from Lyxen >>

Quote from WoobyDoobyDoo >>

I'd call one's 'nads a pretty distinguishing feature, indeed.

 

And I honestly wouldn't, for me this refers more to things like scars or birthmarks, etc. I find it significant that this change to remove the gender was made from previous editions. It also says that your shape stays the same, so...

Again, I would not forbid it but I think there would be ground for discussion here.

 it does say your shape stays the same yes but that means like using alter self you can't become a dire wolf and stuff like that

Quote from Kotath >>

I'd say you most definitely can. It says your basic shape changes the same, but defines that as staying bipedal. It not specifically saying you can is offset by there being nothing specifically saying you cannot.

 Aye. If you're allowed to turn yourself into a fishman, I'd say you can most definitely give yourself a pair of knockers.