Adventuring while pregnant

Queen_Dopplepopolis

First Post

• Sep 25, 2004

• #1

So, my DM and I were talking about what would happen if my female character ended up pregnant while adventuring... and we were wondering how people have made it work in the past?

Can you cast Status on the fetus in order to monitor the baby's health? Does the baby have Hit Points? Does the mother take progressively larger negative motifiers to any stats?

What do you think? How would you do it?

 

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Planesdragon

First Post

• Sep 25, 2004

• #2

I'd say, "yes" to using status to monitor the child's health, but only after the first month. During pregnancy, any crtical hit or reduction of more than 50% of the mother's HP would result in a chance for a miscarriage -- I'd say make it a DC 20 fortitude save, made by the mother.

As for stat modifiers--I've known pregnant women who could barely move, and pregnant women who moved around as well pregnant as when they weren't. For simplicity's sake, why not just apply a -2 penalty to physical stats (but a +1 to charisma checks with similar creatures and will saves) when the pregnancy is sufficient to show.

 

Alzrius

The EN World kitten

• Sep 25, 2004

• #3

The Complete Guide to Unlawful Carnal Knowledge has a fairly large section on this and related questions. Since the file is too large for me to upload here, this link will take you to a page where it can be downloaded.

Alternately, view it in an HTML formatting here.

 

Queen_Dopplepopolis

First Post

• Sep 25, 2004

• #4

Has anyone used any of the rules for adventuing while pregnant (in any book)?

If so, how have they balanced out?

 

RangerWickett

Legend

• Sep 25, 2004

• #5

I'm sorry. I find the concept of how balanced pregnancy is a little funny. We're discussing it almost like we're considering a feat.

"So, if I get pregnant, I get a cohort in 16 years, but I take a -2 penalty to my Dexterity for six months? That sounds fair. Maybe I should look for a prestige class that lets me get pregnant with eight kids at once."

I personally think anyone who'd adventure while pregnant had better have a dang good reason for it. If you can afford to wait a few months to address the issue, you ought to. The dungeon crawling can probably wait.

 

Queen_Dopplepopolis

First Post

• Sep 25, 2004

• #6

RangerWickett said:

I personally think anyone who'd adventure while pregnant had better have a dang good reason for it. If you can afford to wait a few months to address the issue, you ought to. The dungeon crawling can probably wait.

Click to expand...

I tend to think the fate of the universe is a good enough reason to adventure while pregnant. And, she may not have a choice-- if the character is sexually active, the DM determines whether or not she is pregnant randomly based on ovulation charts and the like...

While on the dangerous adventuring path, if she were to discover she was pregnant, it's not like she can just turn around and go home... sometimes, it's a little more complicated than that... additionally, we can't just hit "save" on the game...

There are lots of other interesting options that we are looking at for this character-- ie, sending her to a plane where time passes differently... but, we're just wondering what how the rules would apply to a situation like this.

 

D

dougmander

Explorer

• Sep 25, 2004

• #7

RangerWickett said:

"So, if I get pregnant, I get a cohort in 16 years, but I take a -2 penalty to my Dexterity for six months? That sounds fair. Maybe I should look for a prestige class that lets me get pregnant with eight kids at once."

Click to expand...

Hmm, I can just imagine that conversation when the kid turns 16:

"Mom, I've decided to become a ranger."
"But Justin, I thought we'd agreed you'd become a paladin. Everyone knows rangers never amount to anything. I need a cohort who can detect evil and lay on hands!"
"STOP TRYING TO RUN MY LIFE!" [Slams bedroom door, begins to play loud music]

 

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drothgery

First Post

• Sep 25, 2004

• #8

Well, I'd assume player characters don't become pregnant (or impregnate anyone, for that matter) unless their players want them to, and even then I'd only let it happen if I were running a campaign where a few months of down time were approriate; incapacitating a character for a few months and then saddling them with a dependent is not something you do to a PC unless you're the kind of DM who takes joy in screwing over your players.

 

RangerWickett

Legend

• Sep 25, 2004

• #9

Droth', it depends on whether you're going from a gamist perspective, or a narrative one. As a game for fun, yeah, most people probably wouldn't enjoy having their character be pregnant, or have some similar situation where they're not able to adventure safely or as well. But if you're roleplaying because you enjoy telling the story, then sometimes it's more interesting if you have to deal with unwanted children.

 

Queen_Dopplepopolis

First Post

• Sep 25, 2004

• #10

drothgery said:

Well, I'd assume player characters don't become pregnant (or impregnate anyone, for that matter) unless their players want them to, and even then I'd only let it happen if I were running a campaign where a few months of down time were approriate; incapacitating a character for a few months and then saddling them with a dependent is not something you do to a PC unless you're the kind of DM who takes joy in screwing over your players.

Click to expand...

It's not a matter or a DM screwing over anybody-- it's a matter of accepting the consequences of a world with very unreliable birth control. And, if the DM says "so you and that character are having sex?" and the you say yes... there's only so much you can do... it's not a matter of deciding "I think my character should be pregnant"-- it's a fact of life.

And, more importantly, it's not up to the DM-- it's up to the dice! Boy oh boy, I love this game!