D&D General Can There Be Non-Problematic Fertility Deities?

[billd91]

I don't mean to sound flippant here, but since always? Are there any civilizations that didn't have an extensive set of rules designed to control sex and procreation?

I suppose it depends on what you might mean by control. Even without strict, largely patriarchal control of access to legal sex, a historical society might have rules regarding sexual appropriate conduct that reflect and encourage different values, rites, and rituals.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I suppose it depends on what you might mean by control. Even without strict, largely patriarchal control of access to legal sex, a historical society might have rules regarding sexual appropriate conduct that reflect and encourage different values, rites, and rituals.

And we're back to the ring toss!

 

[Tonguez]

Are there any civilizations that didn't have an extensive set of rules designed to control sex and procreation?

• The Mosuo of China/Tibet a matrifocal society where the women practice "walking marriages," taking consenting partners of their own choosing as they like. There are no restrictive moral codes dictating sex other than incest and lineage laws.
• The Trobriand Islanders where premarital sexual relations were not restricted, although permanent relations had to be outside the clan. This was a feature of a lot of Pacific Island societies
• Ancient Egypt: While it did place high value on fidelity within marriage it held no concept of premarital female virginity.
  
  The Egyptian approach is probably the most common but there are lots of civilisations where pre-marital sex isnt restricted.

 

[cbwjm]

I don't think there has to be anything problematic with fertility gods, unless you're just focusing on the sex aspect that some of them have but in that case it isn't the god which is problematic it's probably the players.

Other fertility gods covered childbirth, motherhood, the ability to have many children non of which is problematic. They also covered crops, Thor is a fertility god in this aspect since he brings rain.

There's no reason to have statues of a Priapus analogue in your game if you think it's an issue (although, ring toss...), and maybe don't add in temple prostitutes if you don't think your players will be able to handle it. I think a lot of this would be so far in the background of a campaign setting anyway that it probably wouldn't really come up unless the DM specifically notes the statues of Priapus lining the street, parts of which have been knocked off.

 

[Tonguez]

I don't think there has to be anything problematic with fertility gods, unless you're just focusing on the sex aspect that some of them have but in that case it isn't the god which is problematic it's probably the players.

Other fertility gods covered childbirth, motherhood, the ability to have many children non of which is problematic. They also covered crops, Thor is a fertility god in this aspect since he brings rain.

There's no reason to have statues of a Priapus analogue in your game if you think it's an issue (although, ring toss...), and maybe don't add in temple prostitutes if you don't think your players will be able to handle it. I think a lot of this would be so far in the background of a campaign setting anyway that it probably wouldn't really come up unless the DM specifically notes the statues of Priapus lining the street, parts of which have been knocked off.

I once had a game where the PCs visited a temple, where I causally mentioned that some of the Temple attendents were pregnant as a result of the last Great Festival, then carried on with the details of the temple and meeting with the Priestess of Mamae Ndalunda

Its funny though that people might be more shocked by sex gods than they are by those who regularly utilise the spilling of blood or burning of attendants in giant wicker effigies

 

[Laurefindel]

Echoing what others have said; I don't see any issues with a fertility DEITY, but I cant see potential problematic elements with a fertility DOMAIN designed for PC.

I could see a fertility theme-set of abilities being inappropriate with some groups and younger audiences, depending on how it is defined and how clerics of that domain are expected to act. There's also a potential for abilities and spells being inappropriate for the theme itself, like the unfortunate Love domain for clerics. Honestly, I find the Life domain is quite fitting for a fertility deity.

But a fertility deity itself? I don't see how problematic it could be short of sabotaging the description to make it deliberately inappropriate.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

The GM who's looking for how to run a thing that's arisen in their D&D game is a different beast than the one who's looking for how to make their D&D game about a single thing. Politics and heists seem like the major "things" in this context, but others are certainly plausible.

Sure, but even GMs looking to make their game about a given thing are often looking to make their adventure fantasy game be also about that thing, not trying to play a game thst is just that thing.

Genuinely the vast majority of times i see people ask for advice on adding a thing to their next dnd campaign, people try to convince them to not plag dnd and the OP is like..."we want to play dnd with the thing, not a game purely made up of the thing". And the people giving them "advice" just continue to ignore that.

 

[Kurotowa]

Echoing what others have said; I don't see any issues with a fertility DEITY, but I cant see potential problematic elements with a fertility DOMAIN designed for PC.

I could see a fertility theme-set of abilities being inappropriate with some groups and younger audiences, depending on how it is defined and how clerics of that domain are expected to act. There's also a potential for abilities and spells being inappropriate for the theme itself, like the unfortunate Love domain for clerics. Honestly, I find the Life domain is quite fitting for a fertility deity.

Pretty much. Sex and reproduction aren't inherently problematic things, but introducing a set of magic superpowers specifically themed around them can go bad places very quickly. There are just so, so many ways to misuse those.

So the problem isn't Fertility deities. The problem is the impulse so many people have to turn everything into a game ability, rather than just being a setting element. They want to pin down everything as a feat or spell or class feature, even when it really shouldn't be.

 

[Brotton Goodfellow]

I can see a distinct difference between fertility and sex.

Fertility is concerned with creating life, which involves the act of sex, but it doesn’t stop there. Clergy associated to a fertility god/ess, would be like mid-wives and other medical professionals associated with giving birth. They could bless couples looking to procreate and make potions to increase chances of getting pregnant. They would then work to help with the pregnancy and delivery of the baby. Pretty standard and clinical. No need to get weird about it.

Obviously there’s some pretty mature themes that can come up like infertility, miscarriage and abortion. But if the table doesn’t want that in the game then don’t include it.

 

[Tonguez]

Obviously there’s some pretty mature themes that can come up like infertility, miscarriage and abortion. But if the table doesn’t want that in the game then don’t include it.

That made me think of the start of the Beastmaster Movie where the the unborn baby Dar is magically transferred from his mother's womb into a cow. I'm not exactly sure what kind of spell that would require in DnD but it might inspire some thought on the topic