Bhaal

Bhaal
Skull within a counter-clockwise circle of nine blood drops
Alignment	Lawful Evil
Divine Rank	1E: Lesser God 2E/3E: Dead God 5E: God
Pantheon	Faerûn (Dead Three sub-pantheon)
Portfolio	Murder, Death, Ritualized Death, Assassination, Violence
Domains	3E: Death, Destruction, Evil, Retribution 5E: Death
Home Plane	Throne of Blood (Gehenna)
Worshippers	Assassins, Murderers, Serial Killers
Favoured Weapon	Dagger

Bhaal is the God of Murder from the Forgotten Realms setting of Dungeons & Dragons. Patron god of Assassins, his holy symbol is a skull or skull-like dessicated face surrounded by nine blood droplets forming a counter-clockwise circle around it.

Bhaal was once a mortal, a brutal assassin who, alongside Bane and Myrkul, was part of the Dead Three, epic level evil adventurers who sought to slay Jergal, Faerun's original god of Strife, Death and the Dead. Instead, the world-weary and jaded deity willingly abdicated; after a game of knucklebones, each took one third of Jergal's portfolio. Bhaal took the portfolio of death, becoming the lord of all murderers and assassins.

Officially, Bhaal got killed off at the end of 1e as part of the Avatar Trilogy tie-in novels event. This was used to explain why the Assassin class got removed in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2e; when Bhaal died, all of Faerun's assassins were oblitered as part of the backlash.

Bhaal is the keystone of the excellent AD&D videogames known as the Baldur's Gate trilogy, in which you play one of the mortal heirs Bhaal created to ultimately resurrect himself with, a trick that Bane also succeeded at pulling off. In fairness, it ultimately did work for Bhaal... it just took some time.

Bhaalists believed that every murder committed strengthened holy Bhaal. As a result, they viewed murder as both a pastime and a duty. Bhaalists were required to deal death once in every tenday during the darkest period at the heart of the night. If imprisonment or other constraining circumstances made this impossible, they had to murder twice for each death missed. In accordance with the Lord of Murder's teachings, Bhaalists strove to ensure before they died, murder victims knew who was killing them and that their death was in the name of Bhaal. Novices of Bhaal were charged as follows: "Make all folk fear Bhaal. Let your killings be especially elegant, or grisly, or seem easy so that those observing them are awed or terrified. Tell folk that gold proffered can make the Lord of Murder overlook them for today".