D&D 5E Dragonborn Interspecies Pregnancy

[Zorku]

Another thing to take into consideration with the rulings is the affect a child will have in the game. I mean if said female is a PC well there goes that char you ever seen a pregnant women walk up a hill? Now imagine that same women lugging around a 150lbs pack marching for 8hours a day and all other adventure based things. Now think about the male (im assuming he is the PC) will he give up his career as an intrepid adventurer to get a steady job with less risk of death? just my 2p

Didn't native American women use to pretty much walk along with the tribe all over the place and then just excuse herself for a bit when the due date finally rolled around, only to catch up virtually immediately afterward?


Biologically it's not that mammal vs hard egg would be a big issue (the way that early mammal cells divide and structure themselves is actually exactly the same thing as reptiles or birds, but it looks funky when it's not resting on a big yolk.) The two issues that actually stop this kind of thing are if the genes are so different that combining them just makes a tortured mess worse than you'd find in a Cronenberg flick, or if the immune system of the mother picks up on some really foreign/out of balance stuff and decides this lump isn't a viable baby. I'd rule the second case in the real world but when you've got Tieflings viable through multiple generations and minotaurs running around I don't think a dragonborn mix would be the biggest deviation from a humanoid's body plan.

But back to the table, I agree that what matters is what kind of story you can tell.

As many have stated before, you can make whatever ruling you want at your table. There is no clear ruling on your question. At my table, I would allow it if I wanted it to happen (i.e. if it furthered the story in some way and didn't bugger up the rest of the world). If I were to make a ruling based on current, and prior, edition rules...I would say no.

[Disclaimer: There has been tons of material published over the years from a variety of sources, but I am focusing on the core-game rules/mechanics]

Assuming that interspecies breeding leads to 'half' races, the only ones we see with any regularity are half-elves and half-orcs. We also see half-ogres and half-dragons on occasion. The first two imply that elves, humans, and orcs can interbreed. Apparently ogres can also breed with something, presumably humans I guess. Dragons can shape shift in order to breed, so they differ from the other groups.

We have no half dwarfs, half gnomes, etc. I would posit that these races are much closer to humans than are dragonborn (biologically). If they can't interbreed, I can't see dragonborn being able to interbreed.

I am sure that somewhere in the D&D publishing history we could find a half version of almost every major race. So an argument could also be made to allow it, based on prior rules. I just don't think it is as strong of an argument.

The Dark Sun setting seems prominent enough to shrink the list before we do any deep dives.

 

[Nebilim]

If I understand well, you'd said that dragons use magic to reproduce with human, so, magic could solve the dragonborn interspecies pregnancy problem. What do you think?

 

[EzekielRaiden]

If I understand well, you'd said that dragons use magic to reproduce with human, so, magic could solve the dragonborn interspecies pregancy problem. What do you think?

*puts on Devil's Advocate's uniform, which is disturbingly comfortable*

Often the explanation for the "used magic to reproduce with a human" answer contains two pretty essential caveats. The first is just that dragons are inherently magical beings--it's the only way they could fly--so weird, biology- and physics-defying magic is kind of a part of their very existence in a way that it just doesn't apply to Dragonborn. (Plus, y'know, dragons are nigh-immortal, and in 3e at least, they automatically gained caster levels as they aged.) The second: Polymorph. Dragons don't just employ "magic" in a generic sense. It's a thing for dragons that they polymorph themselves into bodies compatible with mortal races (read: humans, elves, and half-elves, mostly). Thus, a "half-dragon" may in fact be born to two parents who look very non-dragony; I imagine this would not go over very well with a non-dragon mother if it were revealed after the bun is already in the oven.

*divests*

Fortunately, in a certain sense, your answer is also perfectly legitimate: that is, it may be that humans and dragonborn are compatible, but require a small amount of magical assistance to ensure a healthy birth (or hatching, if appropriate--remembering that monotremes are mammals that lay eggs and suckle their young, as much as a creature without nipples can "suckle" its offspring.)

It might be that, if such pregnancies are not uncommon, the ritual is not too difficult to acquire. On the other hand, if this is a first-time deal, or if such pregnancies have never succeeded before, it might be that the would-be parents need to locate or discover the appropriate ritual. It may also be that such pregnancies take a specific form depending on the sexes of the parents, much like how ligers and tigons have different sizes and favor the overall appearance of the father over the mother. So, for example, it might be that a male Dragonborn and a female Human produce human children with an affinity for magic or their father's breath weapon element (similar to a genasi or planetouched), while a female Dragonborn and a male Human produce dragonborn children with some other difference (perhaps this is where the +Con/+Cha variant comes from, rather than +Str/+Cha, which is 'more typical' or at least was the original stats for 4e).

This could even have some interesting knock-on effects for other situations. For example, if it is widely believed that humans and dragonborn are not interfertile, then (as I mentioned in my previous post) it might be seen as a socially acceptable form of "fooling around" (read: affairs that don't "count" as infidelity) for high-status nobles to have a courtesan of the opposite species, especially in nations where both species are present in moderately high numbers. This allows for potential intrigues when a human noble finds out that his favorite courtesan is carrying his child, while he's trying to find a wife whose status will improve his own. Additionally, it allows for mixed-species families to be a real thing that actually happens--growing up as a human with a human father, a dragonborn step-mother, and a dragonborn half-sibling. And that's without considering even the slightest bit of phenotypic mixing! (Though I, personally, think it's a more interesting situation to have no mixing and just a sharp distinction despite the interfertility, because that's a thing that doesn't happen in real life.)

Or, again, this could be a first-time deal--or something that has failed to work in the past, but the player is determined to see succeed...or something that just can't work, no matter how hard they try, and the only option is adoption.

Pretty much now matter how you rule on this, there are some interesting stories you could tell. Some answers will (or could) have wide-ranging effects. Others won't.

 

[Sunseeker]

If I understand well, you'd said that dragons use magic to reproduce with human, so, magic could solve the dragonborn interspecies pregnancy problem. What do you think?

In numerous sci-fi stories, unnamed "science(aka: magic)" is used to resolve pregnancy issues between two similar but usually incompatible species (Spock or Jadzia and Worf) or even two vastly different species(Scorpius, Scarrans and Peacekeepers). The latter comparison here might be more appropriate for this conversation given that Scarrans are a reptilian race and peacekeepers are essentially space humans. These solutions are never explained in the story, just noted that someone worked on them, eventually found one and presto-changeo, the problem is resolved.

These situations can sometimes provide great plot points, perhaps the crazy wizard trying to make two people's DNA match up is secretly experimenting on others of your respective races, buying slaves, kidnapping people and doing horrible things to them. (or not). But if your solution to incompatibility is "magic" then as I said before, don't make an overt effort to explain it. It's magic, it works because you say it does.

Didn't native American women use to pretty much walk along with the tribe all over the place and then just excuse herself for a bit when the due date finally rolled around, only to catch up virtually immediately afterward?

Walking long distances for a people who have been nomadic for generations is not the same as treking through uncharted wildernesses, fighting monsters, dungeon delving and so on.


This thread also demonstrates that people have a horrible misunderstanding of pregnancy. If you're going to include it in your game, take some time to do a little research.
Here's some tips: aside from some possible swelling, hunger cravings, possible morning sickness, a woman may not even know she's pregnant until a month or two in.
Physical changes to a womans body vary from woman to woman. Some women put on lots of weight, some don't. For the most part, these effects won't hinder your routine physical activities unless you're one of the unlucky few who get the severe version of them.
A woman won't have a noticeable swollen belly (to the outside observer, the woman herself will likely notice) until late 4th, sometimes well into the 5th month. The growth of a child is exponential, think of the old "double the number of pennies you have". The impact this could have on an adventurer would reasonably depend primarily on their physical stats. A wizard may have more trouble dealing with pregnancy than a barbarian.


So honestly a female adventurer is going to be looking at ~3 months where there are no substantial physical restrictions. ~3 months where they are noticeable, but their impact varies based on stats, and ~3 months where the woman has substantial physical effects from the pregnancy. There's a reason pregnancies are broken down in to "trimesters" and it's not just because its an easy way to divide the average 9-month pregnancy.


There are some lingering after-effects of pregnancy, but once again how impactful these effects are will depend on the character in question, and how quickly a new mother may return to battle will vary.


So in conclusion: if you're going to include pregnancy in your game in any meaningful sense:
Do your research!
Leave it in the players hand to determine when they quit fighting, but don't be afraid to make it clear that prolonging things is dangerous.
Be ready to roll some dice because the effects of pregnancy can vary from day to day, person to person, pregnancy to pregnancy.
Real pregnancies take hard work. So do simulation pregnancies. If you want to include it, be prepared!

 

[Zorku]

This thread also demonstrates that people have a horrible misunderstanding of pregnancy. If you're going to include it in your game, take some time to do a little research.
Here's some tips: aside from some possible swelling, hunger cravings, possible morning sickness, a woman may not even know she's pregnant until a month or two in.

Wow, thanks for clearing up the misunderstanding that you don't just suddenly swell up like you swallowed a watermelon whole the morning after successful conception...
Especially after I've touched on how the intricate details of cell division in mammals and reptiles only really differ by the presence of a yolk to act as scaffold for moving cell layers- clearly I knew nothing of reproduction.

Anyway the complications of pregnancy in humans would be minimally relevant if they lay eggs. They get that thing out fairly quick. Estimating the energy requirements the required egg size would mean a lot of complications I don't think many people want to picture, but with the note that Dragonborn breastfeed we can throttle that back to a much more reasonable egg. The much faster maturation than in humans suggest some kind of shortcut or front loading of brain development, but seeing as they are larger than most humans we can chalk that up to the bone structure and proportions of their pelvis being better suited to the whole birth situation.

So with it being a matter of laying eggs there's another question: do they routinely prepare an egg internally, and then just break it down if it's unfertilized? (I'm assuming nobody wants to say they're like chickens, laying unfertilized eggs all over the place.) If they do pretty much construct the egg then for a dragonborn female adventurer we'd have to assume that their torso accommodates a baby sized mass often enough that it's not an issue for them. Maybe some final touches on the egg would lead to some nausea and appetite issues, but for a variety of reasons we can assume it to be on the easy end of the spectrum of what human women deal with, or even beyond the spectrum. The feeding the new child part could easily be a bigger hassle than producing, carrying, and then laying the egg.