Is there any feat/condition/encounter that gives a character grey eyes?

Question

We are going to start a D&D 3.5 campaign. One of the players said that he wants to play a character something like "kissed by angels" or "a character who encountered something divine before and got grey eyes". He said that it is a D&D feature, but he couldn't recall which edition it is in.

I have never come across a condition/feat like this. I looked it up on internet and couldn't find anything. Does anyone knows or heard about something like this?

An acceptable answer can cite any edition of D&D, or AD&D. Officially published modules, Dragon Magazine articles or other published lore are all fair game. Although we are going to play D&D 3.5, if this feature is from another edition I will be able to adapt it.

Answer 1

1. Characters are free to pick any eye-color they want. The character can have gray eyes just because the player says he or she does.

2. Likewise, having seen an angel in the past is, in most campaigns, a reasonable thing for a player to include in a character’s backstory. In some campaigns, for example in a campaign where angels haven’t been seen for eons, the DM might want to nix that backstory concept, but in most D&D campaigns angels aren’t that rare.

3. The best source of information, therefore, on why this character has gray eyes due to an angelic encounter, is the player him-or-herself.

Basically, this sounds much, much more likely to me to be the player inventing a concept for their backstory, than it seems like a reference to any specific feat, condition, or effect in D&D. Actually, if it is from some source beyond the player’s imagination, I’d suspect a TV show, anime, comic, or similar, before I would suspect something out of D&D itself. I cannot find any mention of such a thing (though admittedly, attempting to search for information like this is rather difficult, since the results have lots of things about gray angels, seeing angels in real life, photos of pretty gray eyes, etc. etc.).

Therefore, just talk to the player about it. Ask them where, if anywhere, they got this from.

If the player is just making this up, then without a particular reason to not do so, I suggest just letting him or her run with it. The player has made up a detail about the world: that seeing an angel, at least in some circumstances, can cause someone to have gray eyes, and this is a thing that happened to the player. Players adding to the world’s detail is a good thing: now your world has a little more going on, and you didn’t have to do the work.

If the player is referencing some non-D&D material, I would be somewhat more leery—D&D tends to model other narratives poorly, and trying too hard to bring a non-D&D character into a D&D campaign is, in my experience, rather problematic. Characters inspired by characters in other media is fine, generally, but gray eyes due to an angelic encounter is really quite specific. I would be somewhat worried about the player trying to warp the game more and more to match whatever media he or she is referencing. I dislike it when players try to do that in games, whether I’m DMing or one of the other players.

If the player is referencing some D&D material, then you have less concern, and more opportunity. They can point you in the right direction, to where you can read up more about it. You can more easily judge for yourself if this is appropriate, if there is some feat or whatever that’s expected here.

Answer 2

As mxyzplk pointed out in a comment on the question (five years and change ago), the player was probably talking about the playable race Aasimar, or the Player's Guide Lesser version thereof, from the Forgotten Realms setting.

Aasimar were human-based planetouched, native outsiders that had in their blood some good, otherworldly characteristics. They were often, but not always, descended from celestials and other creatures of pure good alignment[.]

[...]

Aasimar bore the mark of their celestial touch through many different physical features that often varied from individual to individual.

[...]

While several aasimar were immediately identifiable as such, [...] commonly standing out with only one unusual feature. Most aasimar had pupil-less pale white [or] gray [...] eyes and silver hair[.]

Answer 3

You mention that you're using 3.5e so I'll make my answer relevent to that since it's more than adequate. There are several ways to do what you want.

Regarding the eyes, this is a harmless cosmetic sign of the divine favour that the PC wants for their character, just give it to them. Most of the items I mention below have their own cosmetic signs so either offer them to the player instead or let them have the grey eyes. Grey eyes are quite subtle, so might be considered too easily hidden but if it's in addition to other effects then sure, give them for free.

The books that you should look up for this are Complete Divine (CD) and Book of Exalted Deeds (BoED) (the latter is considered semi-official by some people, maybe just because it's where Sacred Vow comes from).

From BoED we get several handy feats:

• Servant of the Heavens: This gives a 1/day +1 luck bonus to any roll in exchange for loyalty to an Archon. Sounds about right for your PC, add grey eyes for free.
• Nymph's Kiss: +2 CHR checks, +1 Skill Point/level, +1 save vs spells, Fey consider you to be fey, have to maintain 'an intimate relationship' with a Nymph - this is quite overpowered but pretty close to the PC's description.
• Nimbus of Light - +2 dip/sm vs good creatres, shine like a lantern - leads into an aura that damages undead and stigmata that lets you heal people by taking their damage All are EXALTED feats which means that they can not be used if the PC willingly commits an evil act, until atonement anyway.

Complete Divine has the:

• True Believer which gives 1/day +2 save.
• the class Favoured Soul which is a divine sorcerer, more or less. They cast divine spells without prayer through some personal connection with a deity.

Races of Destiny has:

• Heroic Destiny which is just 1/day +1d6 to most rolls - human/half-human only Unearthed Arcana has:

• Omniscient Whispers which requires contact with the Commune or Contact Other Plane spell but allows a 1/week question similar to Commune. Easy to work into an Angelic contact background.

Planar Handbook has:

• Celestial Heritage - +4 fort save vs disease, +1 save vs spells by evil creatures, descended from a celestial

On a separate note, I have a vague recollection of what the player is talking about but I can't find any mention of it anywhere. I was sure there was some sort of Destiny feat which left a mark on the character but I can't find any trace of it.