Pregnancy and newborns...

[Doug McCrae]

GURPS, ofc, has rules for pregnancy. And in 3e D&D they're in the Book of Erotic Fantasy.

 

[Salthorae]

But pregnant female fighters (up to heroic levels arguably) are literally less useful than an untrained 8 year old boy with a stick in many situations.

You know that pregnancy lasts a long time right?

I've run half-marathons with friends who were pregnant at the time. Babies came out fine.

Woman ran Marathon 8 months pregnant.

I think your views of what a fictional pregnant female fighter might be capable of doing are... lacking.

 

[Son of the Serpent]

Never having been pregnant I can't say exactly how debilitated I'd be.

But @Tonguez post above gives a pretty good example of a real person not letting being in actual labour get in her way.

So as to exactly where you want to draw the line in your superhero fantasy game is your choice. Me, I wouldn't penalize a pregnant character in any way.

Yes. And there are stories of surgeons removing their own goose egg sizes kidney stones unnassisted in the middle of traffic jams to the hospital successfully. The common thread is that these are doubly abnormal in that they are not just freak individuals or fluke successes. They are freak individuals having flule successes. All that and its not a year long journey into the pits of hell fighting pitfiends who are very smart and very much so intentionally aiming for your protruding gut which you cant guard effectively all while taking advantage of your impeded movement and not to mention damage that would occur to the baby if you non stop shook your womb up and down on a frequent basis. And sustaine blunt slashing piercing and who knows what else damage all the time.

I would penalize the heck out of pregnant characters (depending on scenario). My players also encourage me to (female players included). Really whether this happens or not is directly modulated by how much your group likes realism. If you are in a less realism-heavy group then i would find it strange for a dm to penalize it frankly. But in a realism heavy group the opposite is true. Id find it strange NOT to penalize it. We penalize old age. Pregnancy is as debilitating as old age in many scenarios.

 

[uzirath]

They are freak individuals having flule successes.

Hmm. Not a bad alternate title for D&D: Freak Individuals Having Fluke Successes.

 

[Son of the Serpent]

You know that pregnancy lasts a long time right?

I've run half-marathons with friends who were pregnant at the time. Babies came out fine.

Woman ran Marathon 8 months pregnant.

I think your views of what a fictional pregnant female fighter might be capable of doing are... lacking.

there is a difference between running a marathon one time 8 months pregnant (idiotic risk btw although a relatively low one) and intensely sparring in a full body martial art 3 times a week 6 hours each day of the 3.

There is an even bigger difference between that and fighting in the blood war (to continue using my example from earlier)

 

[Son of the Serpent]

Hmm. Not a bad alternate title for D&D: Freak Individuals Having Fluke Successes.

Ummm no. D&d is not generally filled with fluke successes. The fluke successes are flukes by freak's performance standards.

Now consider having a "fluke" success every few seconds for a few hours of every day for about 3 months continuously (while the abdomen is quite large). Not happening for most classes. Druid can pull it off. A few others can.

 

[Salthorae]

there is a difference between running a marathon one time 8 months pregnant (idiotic risk btw although a relatively low one) and intensely sparring in a full body martial art 3 times a week 6 hours each day of the 3.

There is an even bigger difference between that and fighting in the blood war (to continue using my example from earlier)

You obviously don't know what training for a marathon entails. It's not running one time. The training plan I use is comprised of 435 miles of total training plus cross-training (i.e. swimming or biking or something) plus Strength & Core training (i.e. weights, resistance training, crunches/situps).

Running & exercise itself do not create pregnancy risk. Do some research.

Of course, fighting a Pit Fiend might entail some risk to your pregnancy but I don't think a pregnant belly will affect your AC or Dex until you're basically at the end. 8 months - delivery. There is very little impact before that.

 

[Son of the Serpent]

You obviously don't know what training for a marathon entails. It's not running one time. The training plan I use is comprised of 435 miles of total training plus cross-training (i.e. swimming or biking or something) plus Strength & Core training (i.e. weights, resistance training, crunches/situps).

Running & exercise itself do not create pregnancy risk. Do some research.

Of course, fighting a Pit Fiend might entail some risk to your pregnancy but I don't think a pregnant belly will affect your AC or Dex until you're basically at the end. 8 months - delivery. There is very little impact before that.

I do know what training for a marathon consists of.

You example was not training for one. It was running one. Since you did not include it in your description indid not include it in the consideration for my answer lest anyone call afoul the fact that i added things you didnt add and declare me to be movong the goal posts.

I see where that got me.

Also, ill bet she didnt come close to winning it. This is relevant. You cant just take a fight with a pit fiend slow. You are forced to perform at a higher level than you woupd have had you not been pregnant. Because that ia the nature of a fight.

 

[MGibster]

It’s happened exactly once in all my years of gaming and it was Deadlands. It was a condition the player choose for character , and, uh, the PC ended up committing infanticide shortly after the birth. And the PC was instantly transformed into an Abomination the other PCs had to confront later.

 

[Son of the Serpent]

You obviously don't know what training for a marathon entails. It's not running one time. The training plan I use is comprised of 435 miles of total training plus cross-training (i.e. swimming or biking or something) plus Strength & Core training (i.e. weights, resistance training, crunches/situps).

Running & exercise itself do not create pregnancy risk. Do some research.

Of course, fighting a Pit Fiend might entail some risk to your pregnancy but I don't think a pregnant belly will affect your AC or Dex until you're basically at the end. 8 months - delivery. There is very little impact before that.

also your dex is often crap often within the first few days (not always) and only gets worse (always). The distended belly isnt the only issue. Pregnancy messes with you in multiple ways.

The alterations i make to pregnant characters are gemerally the following with some not appearing until later stages (with allowances for unusual anatomy, class, or other non-irl effects):

Always prone (disadvantage also applies to ranged attack ac whereas normally its an advantage)
Penalty to dex skills
Penalty to charisma skills (present or kot depending on percentile roll beginning of day)
Penalty to wisdom skills (like above paranthetical)
Penalty to will saves
Penalty to con saves
Penalty to initiative
Reduced movement speed
Reduced hustle
Reduced number of extra attacks per round
Modified fatigue rules

shrug

Thats just how my group rolls. And although ive already said some of this let me say it again with more context. No woman has ever had a problem with these rules and as a matter of fact they came up with some of them.