A question for the women...a pregnant PC?

[Oryan77]

Ok, so far it's:

surprise her - 0
ask her first - everyone

Glad I listened to my instincts and brought it up here first

 

[Barastrondo]

I thought of doing this but the stubborn side of me says, "That would ruin the realism of the world". Realism in a fantasy game? Yeah I know but it's like me warning ahead of time that an item is cursed & asking them if they'd like to put it on. Or like God coming down and asking her if she wants to get pregnant for sleeping with the NPC.

In my opinion, if you assume the risk of conception with any given sexual encounter (for both male and female PCs — the guys should have to worry about paying child support or crossbow weddings as well), you should give the players a chance to say "I use some form of contraception." Otherwise, it's kind of like assuming that they automatically try to put on and use the cursed item when they tell you they're adding it to the loot pile. If adventurers are at risk of unwanted consequences even in their personal lives, they should have the opportunity to reduce those risks with preparation if they so choose — it's the adventurer way.

 

[drothgery]

Ok, so far it's:

surprise her - 0
ask her first - everyone

Glad I listened to my instincts and brought it up here first

Basically, the rule of thumb is to never radically alter someone's character without their permission. Pregnancy is just one case.

 

[Jeysie]

I'm mainly interested in what other women players would think if their DM told them that their PC is pregnant.

I would be very upset if a DM sprung *any* sort of major change on my character without consulting me first. It's my character... I don't want the DM dictating parts of it unless I know said changes are a possibility ahead of time so I can avoid them or take the risk as I desire.

Peace & Luv, Liz

Edit: Bah, Drothgery beat me to it.

 

[Silver Moon]

This is a question mainly for the female players...

Why? I'm male but I have two female characters, one of whom is married to the party's leader and we played out her pregnancy and subsequent birth of their son over the course of around two years of game time.

It depends a lot on how you run your game if it takes years or decades from start to finish it is less of a issue.

Absoultely, we've been playing our campaign continuously for the last 26 years during which 17 years of character time have elapsed. We've had multiple relationships, marriages, pregnancies and births in that time.

But this is NOT something to spring on a player no matter how much you like the idea.

I have mixed feeling about that one. In one of my other campaigns I surprised a player with her character being pregnant, which fit the story perfectly and the player welcomed that development, but one of the other players in the game took issue with that situation. I would agree with the other posters that a group discussion might be in order before heading down this path.

 

[Deset Gled]

She has been playing this character for 5 years

This fact is significant to me. It would be one thing to unwittingly spring pregnancy on a character in a one-shot, a short term campaign, or even on a new character. But I'd never throw it at a long term character that someone wanted to continue playing for a long period of time. Having a child could effectively be the same as death or forced retirement for a PC if the player feels that the character would be morally obligated to stop adventuring and raise the child.

 

[DemonKing]

She probably won't feel like adventuring much during the preganancy in any case, in any case. If my wife's pregnancy was anything to go on - all you can do is sit around and bring her chocolate in large doses to try and distract her from it all. Not sure if theis would fit in with your campaign!

The only time I used pregancy in one of my camaigns is when one of the players (a CG ranger) slept with a disguised female demon and eventually had to confront his cambion son!

I couldn't help myself and had to use the line from Excalibur "Come father...let us embrace at last!" when they finally met.

 

[Alzrius]

I don't know that this is a very good idea, but if you want something of a middle ground between springing it on her, and letting her have the final say over whether or not it happens, would be to make a check. The BoEF says that, for a singular encounter between humans, the chances of conception are 2%. Make a die roll (openly, with her there to see the results) and let that decide, if you want to be fair about that.

Of course, you'll want to explain that to her ahead of time, and if she doesn't agree to let the dice fall where they may, then there's little point in doing it. Still, that's the most "fair" method of determining if her character becomes pregnant or not (though that doesn't necessarily mean that this is the best idea).

 

[Elf Witch]

I am a female player. I have had two pregnant PCs. One was a surprise one was not. I enjoyed both.

I am really big into role playing so I am okay with changes that challange my character as long as I trust my DM I trust that the changes will make for a good story. But not everyone is so I would talk to any player before springing this on them them.


We had the issue of would a raise dead work on an unborn baby and the DM ruled no. It turned out in his game unborn and newborn babies that die become lantern archons. My character pissed off Lloth and she sent a spider to posion me I made the save for me but not the baby. My character went a little mad after that for awhile it was some great role playing.

The second time was in a Kalamar game and the DM had been hinting through out the game that the time was coming that the line of the old Emperor would be restored. My character was a member of a group dedicated to bringing down the nobles and replacing their rule with some form of democracy.

My character was married to a privateer turns out that he was the last of the old royal blood line though he didn't know it at the time. Portents seemed to suggest that our child would one day sit on the throne and restore the empire and help bring about a new golden age.

It was a real ratbastard thing to do my character to make her the mother of a future emeror when she was so against that kind of system. I loved the role playing in that game.

In the right game the idea of a pregnant PC can work but it really depends on the kind of game the players want.

 

[Harmon]

If the character were played by anyone but the wife, I would say "go for it," but with the wife being the player- "Whow!!! Are you nuts!?! If I slap you, you will thank me later when you come to your senses."

That child will at some small part get her thinking about children of her own, and how that child is treated in the game will reflect on you.