Yeah I can see an adventurer leaving their baby in the care of a close friend or relative while they continue adventuring, motivated either by trying to get enough treasure to build a new life for them and their child, or trying to ensure the kid has a world to grow up in if you're playing a big, epic world-saving story campaign. The assumption, unless the player thinks the baby would be better off without them in their life, would be that the PC will eventually come back for them.
That’s really sweet 💗. My character would’ve come back for her baby to raise her after a couple years adventuring.
So in D&D fiction, there's actually sorta established precedence for this. We're talking decades old fiction, but it's Dragonlance which is a story being revisited or some such in short order so I'll put it under spoiler tags if folks really want to discover Krynn lore on their own:
The original dragonlance trilogy focused on the Heroes of the Lance. One of them was Sturm Brightblade a Knight of Solamnia of the honorbound virtue set. A major antagonist is Kitiara Uth Matar, a sibling of two of the heroes of the lance, and actually a former member of the group. She was an equal warrior to Sturm in terms of skill but with mercenary drives where Sturm had honor, so prior to the book's beginnings, she chose to ally herself with the bad guy Dragonarmies and actually achieve a high level of rank within the war machine. In a defining moment for many of the main characters, Kit kills Sturm.
After the success of the fiction trilogy, authors Weiss and Hickman and TSR and I guess Wizards worked to milk as much $ from the Dragonlance fanbase expand the lore of the world. One story (not written by Weiss and Hickman) was one which reveals prior to the trilogy Sturm and Kit went on an adventure together that included a romantic liaison of sorts. Weiss and Hickman ran with it and published fiction featuring Steel Brightblade, who resulted from that, basically a hook up. Sturm never knew about him. Kitiara had hidden him before the war, with the intention for her son to join him once he was a trained warrior, but his sort of foster parent kept him hidden until Kit's death.
In other words, pregnancy and offspring needn't matter at all to a character's backstory until the table feels it's something that could be explored.
When Kit was first written, "mother" wasn't actually part of her character. Then it was in order to add another dimension to an established character.
This sort of speaks to my general "meh" attitude toward meticulous backstory. You could have an adventurer have children to care for or estranged as somehow working in their motivation. Or "who the character is" at home could be a whole arc to explore and figure out after the fact.
Real world precedent, there are plenty of close bonds among folks who fight in actual conflicts ... who they were before they became part of that army etc. isn't necessarily known by those peers. Heck, that's sort of the entire concept of the French Foreign Legion where you're actually assigned a nom de guerre.
As a DM if I was handed a backstory that included some sort of narrative of pregnancy and childbirth, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with that. However, if during the course of the game, a character proposes a course of action and says, "Let's say my character's been pregnant or has cared for young children," then I'm interested.
One thing to thing about in some family structures it's actually the eldest children that take care of the infants in a family or community because there's "real work" to be done. And still other younger children take care of them because the eldest are involved in work to be done. There are lots of ways to have a character have some sort of bond with an infant.
As far as infantile or childhood experiences influencing a character ... that's sorta psychological of you, but really in the therapeutic contexts where defining a self through childhood experiences actually occur, some think there's a sort of overdetermination taking place ... a sort of defining that would actually be needless restraint on a TTRPG character (and there are so many ways to go about identity formation besides such psychologism). But if you want to delve into tertiary motivations, a table wouldn't stop you. I wouldn't push it as. DM though.
Well, most people play D&D more for escapist monster killing than for the creative exercise of building complex characters. That's one of the reasons I don't bother with AL and have started exploring less war-gamey RPGs. AL play practically discourages players from thinking about their PC's background as something with a lot of moving parts since you as a player have zero incentive to get to know the backstory of the other PCs and there isn't any chance of the DM caring about your PC's backstory unless it fits neatly in with their own world-building.
Well, most people play D&D more for escapist monster killing than for the creative exercise of building complex characters. That's one of the reasons I don't bother with AL and have started exploring less war-gamey RPGs. AL play practically discourages players from thinking about their PC's background as something with a lot of moving parts since you as a player have zero incentive to get to know the backstory of the other PCs and there isn't any chance of the DM caring about your PC's backstory unless it fits neatly in with their own world-building.
AL is not the end all be all or gold standard of D&D, largely because sure some people play to slay for XP, but many don't. But why start this thread in the first place if you're already evidently dismissive of the prospect to the point where you're exploring other systems you're finding more compatible with your play style?
Well, most people play D&D more for escapist monster killing than for the creative exercise of building complex characters. That's one of the reasons I don't bother with AL and have started exploring less war-gamey RPGs. AL play practically discourages players from thinking about their PC's background as something with a lot of moving parts since you as a player have zero incentive to get to know the backstory of the other PCs and there isn't any chance of the DM caring about your PC's backstory unless it fits neatly in with their own world-building.
AL is not the end all be all or gold standard of D&D, largely because sure some people play to slay for XP, but many don't. But why start this thread in the first place if you're already evidently dismissive of the prospect to the point where you're exploring other systems you're finding more compatible with your play style?
Why not? Speech is one of the few things I can engage in without paying money. Plus, this is way to find other people who might enjoy thinking outside the usual D&D hit box for once.
I am making a Bugbear thrown weapon fighter who is the last of her clan. She see's it as her duty go keep the clan alive by having pups, but she will not be tied down by them. The idea is that she adventures with an eye open for an attractive male. She seduces/intimidates him into mating with her, then adventures until she can't anymore and then goes back to her base and has the pups. Sticks around long enough to make sure they are healthy, drops off any excess cash and items for the minders and the growing clan and goes on her way. She is a thrown weapon fighter, so she can minimize the likely hood of a hit causing miscarriage. If she makes it to tenth or fifteenth level, I may retire her to stay at home and train the clan warriors and take on the identity of her eldest child.
have been working on two pregnancy/infant characters of late (mainly for fun and potential world building later) one is a goblin child via goblin parents (no other species were involved or harmed in the process), currently thinking of ways to separate them from their clan mainly for story purposes, trying to avoid saying an adventurer cleaned house and the goblin escaped.
second is a warforged artificer mother wanting to experience the birth of a child in order to become more organic, something along the lines of the movie "bicentennial man" crossed with a walking incubator for style (some species may be involved or harmed in the process) - currently trying to decide it the mother wants to pass its conscience/soul into the offspring or if the offspring would be a new entity with a new conscience/soul.
second is a warforged artificer mother wanting to experience the birth of a child in order to become more organic, something along the lines of the movie "bicentennial man" crossed with a walking incubator for style (some species may be involved or harmed in the process) - currently trying to decide it the mother wants to pass its conscience/soul into the offspring or if the offspring would be a new entity with a new conscience/soul.
i would like to hear more about this warforged character idea.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
second is a warforged artificer mother wanting to experience the birth of a child in order to become more organic, something along the lines of the movie "bicentennial man" crossed with a walking incubator for style (some species may be involved or harmed in the process) - currently trying to decide it the mother wants to pass its conscience/soul into the offspring or if the offspring would be a new entity with a new conscience/soul.
i would like to hear more about this warforged character idea.
the concept first came to me when reading through "Eberron: Rising from the Last War" and the warforged information, in particular the following: "Warforged share a common facial design, with a hinged jaw and crystal eyes embedded beneath a reinforced brow ridge. Beyond these common elements of warforged design, the precise materials and build of a warforged vary based on the purpose for which it was designed."
this made me think "what would a warforged look like if its purpose was medical??" around the same time i was also questioning if warforged were a stable species or if others needed to be "manufactured" to prevent them from breaking down leading to extinction... leading to the thought of bicentennial man constantly saying "that won't do" before overcoming an obstacle
from there i eventually settled on a concept of a cross between an incubation pod and a scorpion shaped warforged (mainly for style since the humanoid form didnt fit with what i was after at the time, a scorpion shape also seemed more secure)
for the child aspect i was drawn towards the simic hybrid from "Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica" due to the parts in the description that said "uses magic to fuse different life forms together", "these hyper evolved specimens are called simic hybrids, though they sometimes refer to themselves as guardians" and "can change its appearance drastically, though most hybrids retain their basic physical form" and seemed to fit quite well with what i had in mind.
as for the characteristics of the child, they were to be gained from monsters and npc's with a sort of viability check leading eventually to the birth of the child. what appearance the child took would depend on a few factors, allowing for alot of potential.
whether that would be the end of that story or just a part of a bigger story to follow is still undecided, have since put that world building and fun on hold, been focusing on other ideas :)
An interesting catch up read. One thing to consider is long lived species- an elf or dwarf could easily take a long break (15-100yrs) to raise a child/children then go back to adventuring once the child is grown. Even a half elf could do this under some circumstances.
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Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
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So in D&D fiction, there's actually sorta established precedence for this. We're talking decades old fiction, but it's Dragonlance which is a story being revisited or some such in short order so I'll put it under spoiler tags if folks really want to discover Krynn lore on their own:
The original dragonlance trilogy focused on the Heroes of the Lance. One of them was Sturm Brightblade a Knight of Solamnia of the honorbound virtue set. A major antagonist is Kitiara Uth Matar, a sibling of two of the heroes of the lance, and actually a former member of the group. She was an equal warrior to Sturm in terms of skill but with mercenary drives where Sturm had honor, so prior to the book's beginnings, she chose to ally herself with the bad guy Dragonarmies and actually achieve a high level of rank within the war machine. In a defining moment for many of the main characters, Kit kills Sturm.
After the success of the fiction trilogy, authors Weiss and Hickman and TSR and I guess Wizards worked to
milk as much $ from the Dragonlance fanbaseexpand the lore of the world. One story (not written by Weiss and Hickman) was one which reveals prior to the trilogy Sturm and Kit went on an adventure together that included a romantic liaison of sorts. Weiss and Hickman ran with it and published fiction featuring Steel Brightblade, who resulted from that, basically a hook up. Sturm never knew about him. Kitiara had hidden him before the war, with the intention for her son to join him once he was a trained warrior, but his sort of foster parent kept him hidden until Kit's death.In other words, pregnancy and offspring needn't matter at all to a character's backstory until the table feels it's something that could be explored.
When Kit was first written, "mother" wasn't actually part of her character. Then it was in order to add another dimension to an established character.
This sort of speaks to my general "meh" attitude toward meticulous backstory. You could have an adventurer have children to care for or estranged as somehow working in their motivation. Or "who the character is" at home could be a whole arc to explore and figure out after the fact.
Real world precedent, there are plenty of close bonds among folks who fight in actual conflicts ... who they were before they became part of that army etc. isn't necessarily known by those peers. Heck, that's sort of the entire concept of the French Foreign Legion where you're actually assigned a nom de guerre.
As a DM if I was handed a backstory that included some sort of narrative of pregnancy and childbirth, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with that. However, if during the course of the game, a character proposes a course of action and says, "Let's say my character's been pregnant or has cared for young children," then I'm interested.
One thing to thing about in some family structures it's actually the eldest children that take care of the infants in a family or community because there's "real work" to be done. And still other younger children take care of them because the eldest are involved in work to be done. There are lots of ways to have a character have some sort of bond with an infant.
As far as infantile or childhood experiences influencing a character ... that's sorta psychological of you, but really in the therapeutic contexts where defining a self through childhood experiences actually occur, some think there's a sort of overdetermination taking place ... a sort of defining that would actually be needless restraint on a TTRPG character (and there are so many ways to go about identity formation besides such psychologism). But if you want to delve into tertiary motivations, a table wouldn't stop you. I wouldn't push it as. DM though.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Well, most people play D&D more for escapist monster killing than for the creative exercise of building complex characters. That's one of the reasons I don't bother with AL and have started exploring less war-gamey RPGs. AL play practically discourages players from thinking about their PC's background as something with a lot of moving parts since you as a player have zero incentive to get to know the backstory of the other PCs and there isn't any chance of the DM caring about your PC's backstory unless it fits neatly in with their own world-building.
AL is not the end all be all or gold standard of D&D, largely because sure some people play to slay for XP, but many don't. But why start this thread in the first place if you're already evidently dismissive of the prospect to the point where you're exploring other systems you're finding more compatible with your play style?
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Why not? Speech is one of the few things I can engage in without paying money. Plus, this is way to find other people who might enjoy thinking outside the usual D&D hit box for once.
I am making a Bugbear thrown weapon fighter who is the last of her clan. She see's it as her duty go keep the clan alive by having pups, but she will not be tied down by them. The idea is that she adventures with an eye open for an attractive male. She seduces/intimidates him into mating with her, then adventures until she can't anymore and then goes back to her base and has the pups. Sticks around long enough to make sure they are healthy, drops off any excess cash and items for the minders and the growing clan and goes on her way. She is a thrown weapon fighter, so she can minimize the likely hood of a hit causing miscarriage. If she makes it to tenth or fifteenth level, I may retire her to stay at home and train the clan warriors and take on the identity of her eldest child.
have been working on two pregnancy/infant characters of late (mainly for fun and potential world building later)
one is a goblin child via goblin parents (no other species were involved or harmed in the process), currently thinking of ways to separate them from their clan mainly for story purposes, trying to avoid saying an adventurer cleaned house and the goblin escaped.
second is a warforged artificer mother wanting to experience the birth of a child in order to become more organic, something along the lines of the movie "bicentennial man" crossed with a walking incubator for style (some species may be involved or harmed in the process) - currently trying to decide it the mother wants to pass its conscience/soul into the offspring or if the offspring would be a new entity with a new conscience/soul.
i would like to hear more about this warforged character idea.
What would be the rules if I decided to bring my child with me on an adventure?
there are no rules for that
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
The child would be an NPC. Beyond that, hard to say, since it depends a lot on the DM, what species the child is, and what kind of adventure it is.
the concept first came to me when reading through "Eberron: Rising from the Last War" and the warforged information, in particular the following:
"Warforged share a common facial design, with a hinged jaw and crystal eyes embedded beneath a reinforced brow ridge. Beyond these common elements of warforged design, the precise materials and build of a warforged vary based on the purpose for which it was designed."
this made me think "what would a warforged look like if its purpose was medical??"
around the same time i was also questioning if warforged were a stable species or if others needed to be "manufactured" to prevent them from breaking down leading to extinction... leading to the thought of bicentennial man constantly saying "that won't do" before overcoming an obstacle
from there i eventually settled on a concept of a cross between an incubation pod and a scorpion shaped warforged (mainly for style since the humanoid form didnt fit with what i was after at the time, a scorpion shape also seemed more secure)
for the child aspect i was drawn towards the simic hybrid from "Guildmasters' Guide to Ravnica" due to the parts in the description that said "uses magic to fuse different life forms together", "these hyper evolved specimens are called simic hybrids, though they sometimes refer to themselves as guardians" and "can change its appearance drastically, though most hybrids retain their basic physical form" and seemed to fit quite well with what i had in mind.
as for the characteristics of the child, they were to be gained from monsters and npc's with a sort of viability check leading eventually to the birth of the child. what appearance the child took would depend on a few factors, allowing for alot of potential.
whether that would be the end of that story or just a part of a bigger story to follow is still undecided, have since put that world building and fun on hold, been focusing on other ideas :)
An interesting catch up read. One thing to consider is long lived species- an elf or dwarf could easily take a long break (15-100yrs) to raise a child/children then go back to adventuring once the child is grown. Even a half elf could do this under some circumstances.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.