The Multiverse

The Complete Guide to Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
For Fantasy Role-Playing Games

Pregnancy in a RPG?

Length of Pregnancy

With mammals, gestation period is usually dependent on size. Instead of making things complicated, size is not dependant on gestation in these rules but rather maximum age. This will be explained after Table 1.

Table 1 lists the length of pregnancy for each race. Also, it lists the duration of each stage of the pregnancy. The length of each stage is given as well. Half-elf pregnancies could last as long as 24 months or as little as 9 months depending on how much human or elf the unborn child is. The number given is for GMs who don't want to bother with complicated inter-racial percentages.

TABLE 1: Pregnancy

NOTE: The length of pregnancy was derived from the assumption that an elf's pregnancy lasts 24 months and that the elves life span is 750 years. 750 divided by 24 yields the number 31.25. 31.25 was then divided into the life spans of all races to get the length of pregnancy with the exception of humans. Since human pregnancy in an RPG can have real-world basis, the length is given as 9 months. 14.44 (derived from dividing 130 by 9) could have been used rather than 31.25 but the 31.25 is based on the fantasy elf race and so that number was used for the other fantasy races. GMs may alter the list as they wish.

Twins or Better

For those GM's who want to add a little spice to the pregnancy, Table 1b gives the chance of more than one child being born based on race. For example, a human has a 1 in 10 chance of having twins while a dwarf has a 1 in 100,000 chance of having twins. This can also be interrupted as 1 in 10 humans having twin sibling while 1 in 100,000 dwarfs have a twin sibling.

These chances are only suggestions and GMs may adjust the table as he sees fit for his campaign.

TABLE 1b: Chance of more than one child

Stages of Pregnancy

Each stage of pregnancy is listed below with the effects that the pregnant character will suffer. Refer to the effects section for specifics. Elf pregnancies are quite nice and comfortable. Therefore, GMs may forgo certain unpleasant effects for pregnant elves.

1st Stage

• Check for mood swings at 55% chance.
• Check for morning sickness (20%).
• Lower constitution by 1 because of increased fatigue.

2nd Stage

• Check for mood swings for this stage at 65% chance.
• Check for morning sickness (25%).
• Lower constitution by an additional 1 for a total of -2 to constitution because of increased fatigue.
• Increase in urination output.

3rd Stage

• Check for mood swings for this stage at 75% chance.
• Check for morning sickness (30%).
• Danger during spell-casting.
• Increase in urination output.

4th Stage

• Check for mood swings for this stage at 45% chance.
• Check for morning sickness (10%).
• Noticeable weight gain. Increase weight appropriate to race.
• Food cravings: Friends may be sent on wild treks to find exotic food to curb the pregnant women's cravings.
• Lower dexterity by 1 due to loss of agility.
• Thief skills Climb and Move Silently suffer a -5%.
• +5% chance of spell failure due to discomfort.

5th Stage

• Check for mood swings for this stage at 35% chance.
• Check for morning sickness (05%).
• Weight gain. Increase weight appropriate to race.
• Food cravings.
• Lower dexterity by an additional 1 for a total of -2 to dexterity because of lack of agility.
• Thief skills Climb and Move Silently suffer an additional -5%.
• +1d6% chance of spell failure due to discomfort.

6th Stage

• Check for mood swings for this stage at 25% chance.
• Weight gain. Increase weight appropriate to race. Adjustment to armor size is likely and probably expensive.
• Food cravings.
• Lower dexterity by an additional 1 for a total of -3 to dexterity because of lack of agility.
• Thief skills Climb and Move Silently suffer an added -1d10%.
• +1d6% chance of spell failure due to discomfort.

7th Stage

• Check for mood swings for this stage at 35% chance.
• Check for backache.
• Lower dexterity by an additional 1 for a total of -4 to dexterity because of lack of agility.
• Speed cut by half. Must rest triple the normal amount of times.
• +1d6+6% chance of spell failure due to discomfort and lack of concentration.

8th Stage

• Check for mood swings for this stage at 45% chance.
• Check for backache.
• Lower dexterity by an additional 1 for a total of -5 to dexterity because of lack of agility.
• Speed cut by half. Must rest triple the normal amount of times.
• +2d6+3% chance of spell failure due to discomfort and lack of concentration.

9th Stage

• Check for mood swings for this stage at 55% chance.
• Check for backache.
• Lower dexterity by an additional 1 for a total of -6 to dexterity because of lack of agility.
• Speed cut by half. Must rest triple the normal amount of times.
• +3d6+2% chance of spell failure due to discomfort and lack of concentration.
• Develops nesting habits (i.e. desire to make a warm, cozy home and prefer not to go anywhere).

Effects

Backache

The formula to check for backache is as followed: 50% - (Strength + Constitution) + 5 for every previous stage of backache. The backache lasts for 2d4 days. If a woman has a backache, she is in great pain. She should get rest and not engage in strenuous activity. If she decides to, the GM may want to impose a 1d4 hit point loss for every turn of strenuous activity to simulate the agony.

Usually in the last three stages of pregnancy, backache is constant, so GMs may wish this upon the character. GMs may desire to make a temporarily (until pregnancy is over) drastic reduction of hit points to simulate the constant agony of the woman.

Mood Swings (The Bitch Rule)

The following are the steps to develop a moody female:

• The female character must roll 1d6 every eight waking hours for an attitude.
• The female may reroll if a situation has been unusually stressful (i.e. after melee, during an argument, etc.).
• Any person who comes in contact with the female (ex. other player characters) may request a reroll once per day. Only one reroll may happen each day. The reroll represents people who influence the female thereby changing her moods (for better or for worse).
• For a roll of 6 on Table 2, roll 1d6 again. A 1 indicates an obsessive behavior. Thus, she becomes obsessive about whatever the party is doing at the moment to the point of not letting anyone or thing in her way of trying to accomplish her goal.

TABLE 2: Moods & Attitudes

Needless to say, running a character with all of these different attributes which change all of the time tests the player's ability to roll play to a maximum.

Morning Sickness

Roll d% on Table 3 to get the level of morning sickness. If the woman continues to have morning sickness from a previous stage, then an additional rule on the table isn't necessary. Mild morning sickness consists of 1 to 2 hours of nausea a day. Moderate morning sickness lasts 1D4 hours a day after which check for 1 to 2 hours of nausea with-1 penalty. Chronic morning sickness lasts 2D4 hours a day after which check for 1D4 hours of nausea with -2 penalty.

TABLE 3: Level Of Morning Sickness

Nausea

A character has nausea if a constitution ability check is failed. A person with nausea feels like vomiting. The character has difficulty concentrating and therefore has a -05% chance of spell failure for every hour of nausea. Furthermore, she suffers a -1 to dexterity and strength for the duration of nausea.

Charisma, Attractiveness, and Pregnancy

Some feel that there should be a charisma penalty imposed to a pregnant character. Supposedly, pregnant women find themselves fat, ugly, and undesirable. Thus, they don't give off an aura of coolness, magnetism, leadership, and determination. Not to many will follow a moody, weak woman. This "ugly" state would also be reflected in attractiveness.

Others feel that a pregnant character should get a bonus to charisma. Supposedly, pregnant women "glow with motherhood". Being pregnant is the essence of womanhood and many males find this attractive. In fact, a pregnant woman can get people to wait on her beckon call because she seems so helpless. This "natural beauty" can be reflected in attractiveness.

Given these completely different views. A GM should make charisma adjustments based on the individual views of those that the pregnant character meets. Thus, one NPC may find her attractive and thus she gains a bonus to attractiveness and charisma. On the other hand, an NPC can find her repulsive and thus she suffers a penalty to attractiveness and charisma.

Dangerous effects on a unborn child

Spell-Casting

A pregnant mage or cleric can cause weird things to happen to an unborn child if she casts spells after the 2nd stage of pregnancy. Magic is the ability to shape, control, harness, and utilize natural forces that infuse the world and surround the character. When a mage or cleric uses her magic ability, this force can influence the development of an unborn child.

Every time a mage or cleric casts a spell after the 2nd stage of pregnancy, there is cumulative chance equal to the spell level that an effect has occurred.

For example, Roxanne The Mage is in her 3 stage of pregnancy. She casts a 2nd level spell. There is a 2% that the unborn child is effected. The player rolls a 25 on the percentile dice and thus nothing happens to the unborn. Then, Roxanne casts a 3rd level spell. Now there is a 5% (2+3) chance of the unborn child to be effected. But the percentile dice show a 56 and the child is safe.

Psionics

A psionicist shapes, controls, harnesses, and utilizes natural forces that infuse her own being. The essence of a psionicist is mind and body. Since the unborn is in the body, psionic powers that are manifested can greatly effect the unborn child.

For every psionic strength point (PSP) used by the psionicist after the 2nd stage of pregnancy, there is cumulative chance equal to the number of expended PSPs that an effect has occurred.

Extraplanar Travel

Each time a pregnant character travels to another plane after the 2nd stage of pregnancy, there is cumulative chance that an effect has occurred.

Going to the elemental planes gives a cumulative 5% chance of an effect occurring.

Going to the ethereal plane gives a cumulative 25% chance that an effect has occurred.

Going to the astral plane gives a cumulative 50% chance that an effect has occurred because of the strain.

The effects of going to the outer planes is relative to alignment. For each difference in alignment there is a cumulative 2% chance that an effect has occurred. Thus, a lawful good character visiting a chaotic evil outer plane will give the unborn child a 12% (lawful -> neutral -> chaotic = 3 or 6%, good -> neutral -> evil = 3 or 6% for a total of 12%) chance of an effect.

Level Draining

Every time the pregnant woman loses a level for whatever reason after the 2nd stage of pregnancy, there is cumulative chance equal to the number of levels drained multiplied by 10 that an effect has occurred. If an effect does occur, minus 5 to the die roll on the Type of Effect Table for each level drained.

Magical Aging

If any aging effect is inflicted upon the pregnant woman (such as a Haste spell), the aging effect is split between the mother and child equally. This, of course, may cause immediate labor and birth of the child. Due to increased development rate, the child must make a system shock roll based on its mother's constitution. Failure indicates that an effect occurs.

If there is an effect roll on the following table (subtracting the stage of pregnancy, i.e. add 10 if in the 5th stage of pregnancy)to decide if the effect is positive or negative (use appropriate modifiers).

TABLE 4: Type of Effect

TABLE 5: Positive Effects (ROLL 1D10)

1. Born with infravision which enables child to see up to 60 feet in the dark. If the child's race already has the benefit of infravision than add 20 feet to the range.
2. Born with a +1 bonus to all saves vs. paralyzation, poison, or death magic.
3. Born with a +1 bonus to all saves vs. rod, staff, or wand.
4. Born with a +1 bonus to all saves vs. petrifaction or polymorph.
5. Born with a +1 bonus to all saves vs. breath weapon.
6. Born with a +1 bonus to all saves vs. spell.
7. Born with 10d10 - 5 % magic resistance.
8. Born with a lifetime regeneration ability. The child will be able to naturally (subconsciously) regenerate 1 hit point every turn.
9. Born with a natural (subconscious) ability to "turn" 1 Hit Die undead. Great potential for child to grow up to be a infamous cleric.
10. Born with a psionic wild talent. If the effect was created due to psionics, then two wild talents develop.

TABLE 6: Negative Effects (ROLL 1D12)

1. Born with a -1 penalty to all saves vs. paralyzation, poison, or death magic.
2. Born with a -1 penalty to all saves vs. rod, staff, or wand.
3. Born with a -1 penalty to all saves vs. petrifaction or polymorph.
4. Born with a -1 penalty to all saves vs. breath weapon.
5. Born with a -1 penalty to all saves vs. spell.
6. Unborn is mutated into a demon. Possible possessed by the evil intelligence of a demonic creature. The GM should decide what type of demon the child shall be.
7. Radically different coloration of skin. The color change can either be advantageous or disadvantageous to the child, depending on whether the new color will give him/her a camouflage appearance or make him/her a laughing stock. A child's color can change to any other color. The color change is left to the GM and is limited only by the imagination.
8. The child's eyes are much different than normal. Roll 1D6 to determine the types of eyes: 1 = huge and protruding; 2 = small and stalked like a crab's; 3 = large ad turreted, move independently like a chameleon; 4 = appear normal but child has 1d4 additional eyes; 5 = multifaceted like an insect's; 6 = the child appears to have no eyes (any eye sockets are empty, but the child moves and reacts like one with normal vision).
9. The child's eyes appear and function normally except for their color: 1 = solid black; 2 = blank white; 3 = glowing red; 4 = glowing, venomous green; 5 = putrid pink; 6 = opalescent.
10. The skull or head of the child is adorned with unusual outgrowths. While it is possible for a child to attack with these outgrowths (when he/she grows up), this mutation does not give the child an additional attack per round. Roll 1d4 to determine the type of adornment: 1 = antlers, as a small deer, that do 1-2 hp slashing and rendering damage each; 2 = horns, as a small bull, doing 1-3 hp stabbing damage each; 3 = single horn, like a small unicorn horn without magical properties, doing 1-4 hp stabbing damage; 4 = curved horns, like a ram, that can be used to butt an opponent for 1-4 hp damage.
11. The child has a tail. While it is possible to use the tail for attack, this does not give an additional attack per round. Roll 1D4 to determine the type of tail: 1 = short, useless, and non-functioning; 2 = long and prehensile, can be used to hold a shield or other object but cannot be used in attack; 3 = long and segmented, ending in a nonpoisonous stinger that does 1-4 hp damage; 4 = long and whip-like, can be used to inflict 1-2 hp damage.
12. REROLL

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Ch07-Pregnancy.php -- Revised: January 27, 2021.