Delivering a baby
- Thread starter Trellian
- Start date
the Jester
Legend
This idea, frankly, is brilliant.
Sure, childbirth is natural; it is also often very difficult.
I think a Heal check, DC 15, would be about right for 'aiding a difficult birth.'
Sure, childbirth is natural; it is also often very difficult.
I think a Heal check, DC 15, would be about right for 'aiding a difficult birth.'
Patryn of Elvenshae
First Post
Now, before anyone gets all uppity, read this to the end. 
If I really wanted to do this, I'd treat pregnancy and delivery as a disease / poison.
Once labor starts, the mother needs to start making Fortitude saves. I haven't picked a DC, yet, but it's probably pretty low. Each save represents one hour of labor. Each hour after the first, the DC increases by a certain amount (probably +1 or +2). The mother must make ... 3? ... saving throws in a row in order to be "cured" - which, in this case, means giving birth to a happy, healthy baby. A failed save does 1 point of temporary Constitution damage to the mother (which, as normal, heals at 1 point per day).
Per the rules on providing care, an attending healer or midwife may make Heal checks. The mother may apply the result of the Heal check or her own saving throw, whichever is better, each hour. The attending healer or midwife, if they have appropriate spells available, may also cast them during the delivery (lesser restoration might be of particular use).
I'd also recommend clerics of certain sects having access to hourse-ruled spells like "Fertility's Blessing" (Chauntea) or "Dawning Joy" (Lathander), which grant long-term, small bonuses to Fortitude saves (+2, +4, etc.) made to deliver a baby, and reduce the number of successes required to deliver to 2.
By doing so, you reinforce the idea that having certain clerics on hand at a birth is a common and good idea, but, where they aren't available, a trained healer or midwife can help almost as much. Furthermore, there's a good chance that healthier women (those with higher Con scores) will have an easier time of delivery than sick women, and it leaves open the possibility that the mother might die in childbirth.
If I really wanted to do this, I'd treat pregnancy and delivery as a disease / poison.
Once labor starts, the mother needs to start making Fortitude saves. I haven't picked a DC, yet, but it's probably pretty low. Each save represents one hour of labor. Each hour after the first, the DC increases by a certain amount (probably +1 or +2). The mother must make ... 3? ... saving throws in a row in order to be "cured" - which, in this case, means giving birth to a happy, healthy baby. A failed save does 1 point of temporary Constitution damage to the mother (which, as normal, heals at 1 point per day).
Per the rules on providing care, an attending healer or midwife may make Heal checks. The mother may apply the result of the Heal check or her own saving throw, whichever is better, each hour. The attending healer or midwife, if they have appropriate spells available, may also cast them during the delivery (lesser restoration might be of particular use).
I'd also recommend clerics of certain sects having access to hourse-ruled spells like "Fertility's Blessing" (Chauntea) or "Dawning Joy" (Lathander), which grant long-term, small bonuses to Fortitude saves (+2, +4, etc.) made to deliver a baby, and reduce the number of successes required to deliver to 2.
By doing so, you reinforce the idea that having certain clerics on hand at a birth is a common and good idea, but, where they aren't available, a trained healer or midwife can help almost as much. Furthermore, there's a good chance that healthier women (those with higher Con scores) will have an easier time of delivery than sick women, and it leaves open the possibility that the mother might die in childbirth.
billd91
Not your screen monkey (he/him) 🇺🇦🇵🇸🏳️⚧️
I think it's reasonable as either a profession (midwife) or a healing check depending on what skill the character has. I'd set the DC for profession (midwife) at 10 and for healing a little higher since one is a bit more directly applicable than the other. If I determine the baby will have significant complications (breech, badly placed placenta, etc), I'd increase the DC by 5.
For the most part, I wouldn't sweat it too much unless it was going to be a major plot issue. I'd have them role-play out a bit what they plan to do, who is going to help, and so on. And have them roll a few dice and if the dice rolls didn't suck, that it was a success.
For the most part, I wouldn't sweat it too much unless it was going to be a major plot issue. I'd have them role-play out a bit what they plan to do, who is going to help, and so on. And have them roll a few dice and if the dice rolls didn't suck, that it was a success.
I like the idea of fort saves and heal checks but ony for difficult births.
This should not be the norm, most births are not difficult nor do they have complications.
So basically it would come down to a random situation (or DM fiat) that places the mother "at risk" and hence requiring the aid.
Now prenatal care (as pointed out) could be used ahead of time to reduce the chances of having complications. This also seems realistic and reasonable.
I just don't like, nor do I see any logic in requiring a check for a normal birth that doesn't ahve any complications.
This should not be the norm, most births are not difficult nor do they have complications.
So basically it would come down to a random situation (or DM fiat) that places the mother "at risk" and hence requiring the aid.
Now prenatal care (as pointed out) could be used ahead of time to reduce the chances of having complications. This also seems realistic and reasonable.
I just don't like, nor do I see any logic in requiring a check for a normal birth that doesn't ahve any complications.
Patryn of Elvenshae
First Post
irdeggman said:
Right. So, a healthy mother easily makes the three Fort saves in a row - at DCs 5, 6, and 7, for instance - has three hours of labor, and ends it not much worse off than she started (no Con damage to be healed).
By description based on the rules, it was an easy birth.
A normal human commoner - 10 Con, +0 Fort save - will have a completely uncomplicated delivery more than 40% of the time by herself. If she's got a half-way decent healer on hand (+4 Heal bonus), then the chanced of making the first three saves is almost 90%. An untrained Heal check (+0 bonus) will give her an ~57% chance of having an uncomplicated birth.
I'm liking my rules ...
Patryn of Elvenshae
First Post
Nail said:Assuming the mother is "untrained" at giving births. That's the "her" we're talking about, right?
Well, the "her" is the mother - the untrained healer helping her out would be the clueless father, doing whatever she told him to do!
I am not sure of the mechanism that would be used to represent this but here goes.
I suggest a "succeed by" mechanism instead of a fixed number of roles. Many women have children in suprisingly short time spans (half an hour) (not including early warning contractions). We hear and remember the dramatic stories. If the role is succeeded (resisted) well, it should be a very short labor.
Perhaps running sums of succeed or fail rolls? Every multiple of 5 you succeed or fail buy reduces or adds to (all respectively) the number of rolls remaining. Roll each hour for the results of the following hour.
I have not thought out the mechanism fully, but I thought I might offer this for your consideration.
I suggest a "succeed by" mechanism instead of a fixed number of roles. Many women have children in suprisingly short time spans (half an hour) (not including early warning contractions). We hear and remember the dramatic stories. If the role is succeeded (resisted) well, it should be a very short labor.
Perhaps running sums of succeed or fail rolls? Every multiple of 5 you succeed or fail buy reduces or adds to (all respectively) the number of rolls remaining. Roll each hour for the results of the following hour.
I have not thought out the mechanism fully, but I thought I might offer this for your consideration.
