I'm curious how other people have intentionally incorporated background details about pregnancy and early-childhood experiences into either the game universe or into their specific PCs? I know it's not a dice-roll option for character background, so I am wondering how people have dealt with that major detail in their own games or have witnessed creative ways that they have seen DMs use pregnancy or infants as game relevant facts other than Villain-of-the-Week kidnapped/killed So-and-So NPC and now Revenge Time/Quest Hook.
Are you referring to PCs being infants or pregnant? Backgrounds can include dice-rolled marriages and children in XGtE.
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Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
Not so much the PCs being infants so much as backstories involving early childhood experiences and/or being preggers. Esp for non-human races/species. Also wondering how DMs have incorporated such details into world-building.
How do you explain the character going back to adventuring after giving birth? (I'm assuming the PC didn't miscarry or decide to terminate pregnancy.)
For example: One of my characters, who was a Tiefling, I wrote it so that the character's backstory included getting pregnant sleeping with a mentor figure, but the mentor figure was actually married, eventually forcing my character to accept ship passage out of town to actually have the baby and later going adventuring to pay for costs incurred as result of food and shelter for herself and the child during first several months after giving birth. Nothing special about the pregnancy itself, but I just had assumed that both parents of my character were at least part human anyway.
I'm trying to write up backstories for two other PCs now, both from Volo's Guide to Monsters.
I guess I'm curious how playing a non-human character, esp. one of the non-PHB races/species affects the ways that DMs and players think about pregnancy and childhood for the fiction world?
My character miscarried. But she had planned to give the baby to her sister and brother in law to raise after she gave birth and went back to adventuring.
I like the backstory for your tiefling. Who takes care of her baby while she’s out adventuring?
My one character was a female Dragonborn. If you have any questions about her back story I’ll be happy to answer them in dm.
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.
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.
Well, the only time I've done it is when I created a half-drow divine sorcerer. My character's mother was a throw away NPC from a 4e campaign my group had done that I remembered and repurposed (she was blinded in the campaign) who before that campaign, and used conception to power a spell, and sacrificed my character's father to Lolth at the moment of conception. The magic lingered and sort of "stuck" to my character so he had a spark of Lolth's power.
He ended up as a good character, but Lolth tormented him relentlessly. I drew inspiration for the relationship from that between The Lady and Croaker in The Black Company.
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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.
We played a campaine once from the birth of the character it was very very fun, but also exhausting for the DM and for the players. But I guess more for the DM.
It is tricky to play a child and even trickier (for me) to play a pregnant woman or someone in love who wants to get married and stuff.
@PenelopeTheWeaver I am married, too. And luckiely we are still in love^^ but I don't know how it is to love a child and care for it. It was very difficult for me to react properly. In the and I had a very very spoiled daughter^^
We played a campaine once from the birth of the character it was very very fun, but also exhausting for the DM and for the players. But I guess more for the DM.
It is tricky to play a child and even trickier (for me) to play a pregnant woman or someone in love who wants to get married and stuff.
What was the ancestry of the character you played from birth?
How did you and the DM handle the childhood aspects?
Actually, this is a key component to one of my PC's backstory. However, she really had no intention of going off adventuring to begin with. She would have been content to resettle in her home village. So, when she did get pregnant, she was actually looking forward to the possibility of having a small sliver of that reality.
She lost her child though. According to the backstory, she thinks she miscarried and that it was her patron god punishing her for conceiving out of wedlock. In reality, her head priest, who's been trying to micromanage her and everyone else in the temple, caused it to happen and conveniently "sent away" the man she conceived with because it didn't suit his needs for her. Her adventuring is now something she considers part of her penance for her "sin," or at least until she's able to figure out the truth.
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Lvl 2 - Dathyra Galanodel - High Elf Cleric of the Life Domain - Platinum Plated Keys
Lvl 5 - Dathyra Galanodel - High Elf Cleric of the Life Domain - Hunted
Two of the players in a campaign I'm DMing want to adopt a 6 year old tiefling that they rescued from an angry mob. All four of the characters like her, but the Bard and Sorcerer especially have a close bond with her. It's not exactly the same thing as having a kid, but they've been leaving her behind (at what's basically their home base) and contacting her with sending each night if they have spell slots left.
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All stars fade. Some stars forever fall. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Homebrew (Mostly Outdated):Magic Items,Monsters,Spells,Subclasses ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
Two of the players in a campaign I'm DMing want to adopt a 6 year old tiefling that they rescued from an angry mob. All four of the characters like her, but the Bard and Sorcerer especially have a close bond with her. It's not exactly the same thing as having a kid, but they've been leaving her behind (at what's basically their home base) and contacting her with sending each night if they have spell slots left.
Awesome 😊😊😊
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I'm curious how other people have intentionally incorporated background details about pregnancy and early-childhood experiences into either the game universe or into their specific PCs? I know it's not a dice-roll option for character background, so I am wondering how people have dealt with that major detail in their own games or have witnessed creative ways that they have seen DMs use pregnancy or infants as game relevant facts other than Villain-of-the-Week kidnapped/killed So-and-So NPC and now Revenge Time/Quest Hook.
Are you referring to PCs being infants or pregnant? Backgrounds can include dice-rolled marriages and children in XGtE.
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
Not so much the PCs being infants so much as backstories involving early childhood experiences and/or being preggers. Esp for non-human races/species. Also wondering how DMs have incorporated such details into world-building.
One of my characters got pregnant and I do try and include childhood/teen experiences in my PCs’ backstories.
How do you explain the character going back to adventuring after giving birth? (I'm assuming the PC didn't miscarry or decide to terminate pregnancy.)
For example: One of my characters, who was a Tiefling, I wrote it so that the character's backstory included getting pregnant sleeping with a mentor figure, but the mentor figure was actually married, eventually forcing my character to accept ship passage out of town to actually have the baby and later going adventuring to pay for costs incurred as result of food and shelter for herself and the child during first several months after giving birth. Nothing special about the pregnancy itself, but I just had assumed that both parents of my character were at least part human anyway.
I'm trying to write up backstories for two other PCs now, both from Volo's Guide to Monsters.
I guess I'm curious how playing a non-human character, esp. one of the non-PHB races/species affects the ways that DMs and players think about pregnancy and childhood for the fiction world?
My character miscarried. But she had planned to give the baby to her sister and brother in law to raise after she gave birth and went back to adventuring.
I like the backstory for your tiefling. Who takes care of her baby while she’s out adventuring?
My one character was a female Dragonborn. If you have any questions about her back story I’ll be happy to answer them in dm.
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.
Well, the only time I've done it is when I created a half-drow divine sorcerer. My character's mother was a throw away NPC from a 4e campaign my group had done that I remembered and repurposed (she was blinded in the campaign) who before that campaign, and used conception to power a spell, and sacrificed my character's father to Lolth at the moment of conception. The magic lingered and sort of "stuck" to my character so he had a spark of Lolth's power.
He ended up as a good character, but Lolth tormented him relentlessly. I drew inspiration for the relationship from that between The Lady and Croaker in The Black Company.
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
We played a campaine once from the birth of the character it was very very fun, but also exhausting for the DM and for the players. But I guess more for the DM.
It is tricky to play a child and even trickier (for me) to play a pregnant woman or someone in love who wants to get married and stuff.
@inch77 I understand. I guess I find it easier to play someone in love who wants to get married and stuff cause I’ve been thru that more than once.
@PenelopeTheWeaver I am married, too. And luckiely we are still in love^^ but I don't know how it is to love a child and care for it. It was very difficult for me to react properly. In the and I had a very very spoiled daughter^^
That is so awesome 💗💗💗
Lone Wolf and Cub
More Interesting Lock Picking Rules
I'm in a game right now where one of the PCs keeps adopting orphans. She's got something like four adopted kids by now.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Also awesome!!
What was the ancestry of the character you played from birth?
How did you and the DM handle the childhood aspects?
Actually, this is a key component to one of my PC's backstory. However, she really had no intention of going off adventuring to begin with. She would have been content to resettle in her home village. So, when she did get pregnant, she was actually looking forward to the possibility of having a small sliver of that reality.
She lost her child though. According to the backstory, she thinks she miscarried and that it was her patron god punishing her for conceiving out of wedlock. In reality, her head priest, who's been trying to micromanage her and everyone else in the temple, caused it to happen and conveniently "sent away" the man she conceived with because it didn't suit his needs for her. Her adventuring is now something she considers part of her penance for her "sin," or at least until she's able to figure out the truth.
Lvl 2 - Dathyra Galanodel - High Elf Cleric of the Life Domain - Platinum Plated Keys
Lvl 5 - Dathyra Galanodel - High Elf Cleric of the Life Domain - Hunted
Lvl 1 - Geth Hornraven - Human Wizard - Lost Mine of Phandelver
DM - Imela: The Adventure Begins
Two of the players in a campaign I'm DMing want to adopt a 6 year old tiefling that they rescued from an angry mob. All four of the characters like her, but the Bard and Sorcerer especially have a close bond with her. It's not exactly the same thing as having a kid, but they've been leaving her behind (at what's basically their home base) and contacting her with sending each night if they have spell slots left.
All stars fade. Some stars forever fall.
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Homebrew (Mostly Outdated): Magic Items, Monsters, Spells, Subclasses
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If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
Awesome 😊😊😊