When a man and a woman love each other very much...


Advice


... How are you supposed to make the baby? More specifically, how are you supposed to come up with the ability scores of the kid?

I'm currently in a long-running Kingmaker campaign where this issue is flaring up; since my character is in a "serious" relationship with an NPC he's known since the third session, the DM's been doing rolls in the background when, lo and behold, he announced some months after a certain roll that the NPC is noticeably pregnant.

Fluff aside, the DM asked me for advice on how to handle the crunch of the child (which might actually get old enough before campaign's end to get a map token) since he's just as clueless as I am on how to figure this out.

I mean sure we could always go with raw point buy or a number array but that feels... Weird; if a character's naturally gifted with strength and constitution and their mate's naturally gifted in the same thing, wouldn't the kid have a high chance of being gifted with strength and constitution? That however opens up a whole other can of worms; how would you determine the modifiers? What about racial abilities (since one character's a half-giant, making a simple "Oh the kid's a half-Elf and gets half-Elf stuff" a bit tricky?)

Or should we just throw dice to the wind and wing it?


What races are the parents?

Edit: While I'm at it, what are the stats of the parents?


Barathos wrote:

What races are the parents?

Edit: While I'm at it, what are the stats of the parents?

Male is a half-giant with ability scores (usual order) at 20, 12, 18, 10, 14, 12

Female is a Human with ability scores 18, 12, 14, 11, 15, 10


Pick whatever race is easiest to use as a base. Don't know if there are any good bases for half-giants so probably whatever the other parent is (or half elf is that one is an elf, it's close enough).

Then pick a suitable point build and spend about one third to get the stats of the five year old, another third at 10 and the full at 15. This means you can have good old uncle party member wizard be a bad influence and get the kid to want to be a spell caster while growing up and involve the entire party in the kids upbringing if you want to.

Scarab Sages

Wing it. Seriously. I come from a pretty large family, having four brothers and two sisters, and I can't say that we have all a similar constitution, strength, a predisposition towards science, a certain social behavior or anything else.
Yes, there are traits that run in families (and better: genetic predispositions) but not something as blunt as 'genetically predisposed to be strong, healthy, smart etc).


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uh, unless you are planning to retire your character and start playing that boy as he comes of age .. just roleplay it?

what race is he? "he's a tall boy, takes afte his mother but has his fathers nose"
what class is he? "he can be a petualant child at times but cares deeply for his friends. likes fishing and watching the clouds on summer days"
What racial special abilities does he have? what template? does he have any special skills? "he's a good whistler, and has quite the charming smile when he isn't brooding about his place in the worlds"

seriously, you only nedd a full character sheet if you are going to roll dice based on the stats, and unless you are planning on adventuring with a toddler on your arm then you don't need to know his hp or anything .

I relize I'm not giving the answer you asked for but if I was the GM I would arbitrarily assign stats when and if I ever need them.-in my game npc don't have stats unless I know I need them.
-do I know what class the street urchin is? nope, I only know he's got blue eyes, a dirty face and a sleight of hand of +7.
If I need more than that I'll grab a statblock from the databases or make him on in a generator later
- untill then, I assume he has +2 in most things that are untrained and maybe +5 in some things that would fit him, like acrobatics and stealth.

or, to be more helpfull: what do you need his stats for?


Mr. Bubbles wrote:
Barathos wrote:

What races are the parents?

Edit: While I'm at it, what are the stats of the parents?

Male is a half-giant with ability scores (usual order) at 20, 12, 18, 10, 14, 12

Female is a Human with ability scores 18, 12, 14, 11, 15, 10

I'd make a human with good strength and constitution (maybe a rnd stat generator that makes it randomly generate stats between parentAstat-1 to parentBstat+1, where parentA is the one with the lower stat and parentB is the one with the higher stat), apply young PC rules, give it an additional -4 penalty to all stats while it's a baby / young toddler, then reduce the penalty to -2 when it's a older toddler / young kid, then remove the additional penalty when it reachs 8 years old.

How'd the GM handle determining pregnancy?

Edit: A lot of people with good advice here, it only really needs stats if it will be involved in combat or something.


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I don't think the 'half-giant' race requires a giant and a human. I'd say 1/4 giant would qualify as a half-giant as well. Either go with that for the offspring, or at the very least, make the baby a human with the Racial Heritage (Giant) feat.
And yeah, as Barathos said, it shouldn't even need stats until it gets of some age where it might actually do something. Considering Half-Giants don't reach maturity until around 30 years old, I'd say you've got some time. With that 'adulthood' age, a 'Young' Half-Giant would be 15 years old. Don't worry about stats until then. Then you can either roll, or point-buy, but I would avoid the trap of 'average of parents scores'. That is not just unrealistic (plenty of offspring are stronger/weaker than both parents in a number of ways), it's quite boring to boot.

Going with the Half-Giant race is already going to give it the boost to STR and WIS, and penalty to DEX, which will trend it towards the parents scores anyway.

If you do feel like actually using this character at age 15, read through the 'Young Characters' section in Ultimate Campaign.


CraziFuzzy wrote:
I don't think the 'half-giant' race requires a giant and a human. I'd say 1/4 giant would qualify as a half-giant as well.

Since there aren't rules for quarter-giants, a reasonable rule is 50% change of half-giant, 50% chance of human.


The child is still a half giant. Use whatever system you always use to generate stats, apply the young template, and you're finished.

Also, just because the parents are tough jock types doesn't mean junior won't end up a deep thinker. Lots of kids don't turn out like their parents.


Matthew Downie wrote:
CraziFuzzy wrote:
I don't think the 'half-giant' race requires a giant and a human. I'd say 1/4 giant would qualify as a half-giant as well.
Since there aren't rules for quarter-giants, a reasonable rule is 50% change of half-giant, 50% chance of human.

I don't think there's any precedence in the rules to state that half-breeds are truly 50/50 breeds. To the contrary, there are mentions of later generation 'half-breeds' in some of the alternate racial traits. The Half-Orc Alternate Racial Trait 'Skilled' states:

Quote:

Second- and third-generation half-orcs often favor their human heritage more than their orc heritage. Half-orcs with this trait gain 1 additional skill rank per level. This racial trait replaces darkvision.

Half-outsiders description often mentions 'some' outsider blood in their ancestry, not necessarily direct parentage. I think this all can easily point to the fact that it doesn't take a direct giant parent to make a half-giant child. For that reason, I'd argue the option of a half-breed 2 or 3 generations of watering down with human. More watered down that than I'd say is where the Racial Heritage feat comes into play, as well as some sorcerer bloodlines (Kobold Press and Spes Magna each have a Giant bloodline).


Look, unless someone wants to bring in the "Book of erotic fantasy", the only rules source for sex & reproduction (it's 3rd party OGL), we are very much winging it.

I do happen to have the book though; and their statement on half breeeds and pregnancy:

"For the purpose of the Book of Erotic Fantasy, children resulting between the coupling of a half breed and a full blooded member of a related race are considered to be full-blooded as it pertains to statistics and racial abilities."

I'd hardly say it's the authority, but it's the only reference I've got....


The rule of thumb is that the child is always the same size catagory as its mother. Unless you are planning to have the baby kill her. And since there are no rules for 1/4 giants the baby is human for stat purposes, although having a giant blooded feat or trait is certainly a possibility.

As for actual stat generation just use the standard method your table uses for NPCs. Mine uses Elite array but there are many varied methods. The GM and player decide what class the child will grow into and assign stats based on that... Or you could place highest to lowest based on the child's parents and let fate/role play determin his/her later class.


williamoak wrote:

Look, unless someone wants to bring in the "Book of erotic fantasy", the only rules source for sex & reproduction (it's 3rd party OGL), we are very much winging it.

I do happen to have the book though; and their statement on half breeeds and pregnancy:

"For the purpose of the Book of Erotic Fantasy, children resulting between the coupling of a half breed and a full blooded member of a related race are considered to be full-blooded as it pertains to statistics and racial abilities."

I'd hardly say it's the authority, but it's the only reference I've got....

Wow another pregnancy thread. This is great.


Rabbiteconomist wrote:
williamoak wrote:

Look, unless someone wants to bring in the "Book of erotic fantasy", the only rules source for sex & reproduction (it's 3rd party OGL), we are very much winging it.

I do happen to have the book though; and their statement on half breeeds and pregnancy:

"For the purpose of the Book of Erotic Fantasy, children resulting between the coupling of a half breed and a full blooded member of a related race are considered to be full-blooded as it pertains to statistics and racial abilities."

I'd hardly say it's the authority, but it's the only reference I've got....

Wow another pregnancy thread. This is great.

I know I cant help it! WHAT IS HAPPENING TO ME!

Ahem.


Isn't there a feat for humans that lets them count as other races due to parentage? Forget what it is called, but they could be humans that have that feat for half giants.


Average the stats between the characters for each attribute for the kid's adult stats. Apply the young template.

You end up with 19, 12, 16, 10, 14, 11 as an adult.
As a kid, size category small, 15, 16, 12, 10, 14, 11.
Race is human (since he's 3/4 that, it just makes sense to lump it into full human). I would, however, throw in racial heritage with whatever type of giant your character is half of...if that can be done.


I actually did this very thing a couple of years ago. It was a half orc/nixie couple. I made the daughter a half orc water sorceress and wrote her up as an NPC, then made her a young character with the Ultimate Campaign rules. She was never meant to be a playable character, so I didn't sweat the stats too much.


Rabbiteconomist wrote:
williamoak wrote:

Look, unless someone wants to bring in the "Book of erotic fantasy", the only rules source for sex & reproduction (it's 3rd party OGL), we are very much winging it.

I do happen to have the book though; and their statement on half breeeds and pregnancy:

"For the purpose of the Book of Erotic Fantasy, children resulting between the coupling of a half breed and a full blooded member of a related race are considered to be full-blooded as it pertains to statistics and racial abilities."

I'd hardly say it's the authority, but it's the only reference I've got....

Wow another pregnancy thread. This is great.

Ultimate Campaign/Kingmaker has made 'life-long' campaigns an easier reality, along with a full character life cycle, is offspring, so its going to come up. Especially in kingdom building, where nepotism is a natural thing.. :-)


If a Half Elf has a child with a Human then the child is human so in this case I would say the same for your child it would be human maybe a bit on the tall side of human.

As for stats I would say add the parents stats and divide by 2.

20, 12, 18, 10, 14, 12 (Father)
18, 12, 14, 11, 15, 10 (Mother)

38, 24, 32, 21, 29, 22 now divide those stats in half rounding down.

So child's stats would look as follows:

19, 12, 16, 10, 14, 11 and since it is human you would have the ability to add 2 to one of the above stats but I would most likely not add it to strength or constitution since those were the main stats and I would most likely add to one of the stats that were rounded down so either Intelligence or Wisdom.

Then do a little role playing of the child, is he/she rebellious? If so then they likely won't take the class of either of the parent. If the child is a momma's child then they may take on the class of the mother and vice versa if they are a papa's child.

As for the sex have the GM randomly roll behind the scenes to determine the sex of the child.

Grand Lodge

Pathfinder PF Special Edition, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber
LuxuriantOak wrote:


or, to be more helpfull: what do you need his stats for?

My guess would be for dramatic infanticide. After all, isn't that why we have that vocal minority clamoring for god stats?


Noteleks the parents probably already had their racials added in and those should be removed before averaging if you are doing it that way. Although I would recommend not doing it that way at all. Children are normally able to grow in ways their parents aren't.


Noteleks wrote:
If a Half Elf has a child with a Human then the child is human...

I have not seen this written. Got a linky?


One of the Pathfinder books has stats for kids. The question is are you creating a young child version, or teenage(but not old enough to be adult per game rules) version?


If the kid is only ever going to be an NPC, then whenever they get old enough for it to matter just roll 3d6 in order and apply racial stat adjustments.


3d6?! Did you see their parents stats? They are at worst 4d6 drop lowestand reroll 1s. Powerful and smart parents tend to pass those genetics on to their kids. 3d6 would only make sense if they were adopted.


How about a halfling/human? The folks in Kaer Maga are trying to find a way to crossbreed.

Perhaps work off half-elf? +2 to a stat, +1 luck bonus for starts.


I'd suggest playing around with randomness. Seeing as a child is not just a mix of their parents properties.

And so first see what it does inherit - flip a coin for each property (each stat and race) to see whose part is dominant - the mothers or the fathers. For race the mothers pick is straightforward, but for the father flip again to see if he gets the human or giant part and add in the halves. half human + half human = human, half human + half giant = ..well half giant basically unless the mothers part is dominant (though still with potential to giant-connected stuff..giant bloodline sorcerers exist?).
For stats take the points above 10 from that parent and give the kid that much * 10% chance for an additional +1 to that stat. Then just roll them depending how heroic you want it to turn out and apply the normal modifiers + the abovesaid inherited 1 where applicable.

Thus you do get somewhat higher than usual stats where parents have them high, but it still gets down to upbringing and choices for the end result.

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