D&D Variant

The human female is fertile for

illustration by David R. Dudley only a couple of hours every month.
Due to the lifespan of the sperm and
other factors, the actual period of
fertility is a few days longer. On the
average, the period of fertility can be
considered to be five days long.
The GM should roll for one day
each month. The average number of
days in a month in our campaign is
2977.. I roll up a number between one
and 29. This is the day of the month
on which a human female is 98%
certain of becoming pregnant if she
does the right, or the wrong thing.
Such acts around this date have odds
determined by the following table:

Human Female Fertility Period

Day of Period ChancePregnant
3rd day before ideal 46%
2nd day before 73%
Day before 87%
Ideal day 98%
Day after 67%

The average gestation period for a

human is 270 days. For adjustments
to this as well as other data, roll per-
centile dice and consult the following
table:

Human Gestation Table

Percentile Roll Result

GIVIMG 01-04 Miscarriage(will only carry

05·18
for 5-60 days)
10·60 days premature /
4·6 pounds (45% chance

BIRTH of dying within the first

By Roby Ward
How should a GM determine whether
or not a female player-character has
gotten herself pregnant? It certainly
should not be an arbitrary ruling from
a GM. The life of a character for the
next year, and possibly longer depen-
ding on the customs within the cam-
paign's societies, is at stake. There
should be some justification for such a
decision besides a GM's whim.
The females in our campaign
wanted a workable solution to this
problem. They needed to know the
situation before an accident happened
to their player-characters. By talking
with them, researching data, and
putting my ex perience in Advanced
Dungeons & Dragons and fantasy
together a workable solution was
reached.
The tables presented here are very
close to being accurate for humans in
our real world. The tables also reflect
the close to ideal conditions of the
typical AD&D characters. No loss of
abilities is assumed.
week)
19·55 1·20 days premature /5·7
pounds
56·60 Right on time / 5·10
pounds
61·86 1·20 days late / 7·10
pounds
87·95 6·36 days late / 7·10
pounds
96-99 Twins / roll again for time
of birth and weight (If this
rolled again then triplets,
etc.
00 Deformed / roll again for
time and weight (If this
rolled again then child is
stillborn. If 96·99 rolled
then twin need not be
deformed.)

18 DIFFERENT WORLDS
For example: Athena the Heroine
allows herself to be seduced by Bro-
maine the Curate on the 16th of the
month. The day for Athena is the 18th
of the month. Two days previous gives
a 73% chance of pregnancy. The GM
rolls a 54. Athena will bear Bromine
a child. Another roll by the GM gives
a 19. This says that the child will be
1-20 days premature and will weigh
5-7 ponds.
I leave choosing the sex of the child
to the GM. For our campaign I roll a
D6 and a roll of 14 means that the
baby is a boy. The gods in our cam-
paign realize that a lot of males lose
their life in adventuring and wars.
Therefore the gods are very free about
giving out male children.
A pregnant mother should have at
least a three percent greater chance of
contacting a disease each month. If a
disease is contacted, then there is a
chance for complications to develop
which will cause the child to die. For
any race, if a mother catches a disease
then consult the following table. If
complications develop, the child has a
ten percent chance of surviving for
every month it has developed, although
any child which is conceived before
five months will soon die outside the
womb. A mother has her constitution
times five to survive childbirth on per-
centile dice.
Disease & Complications Table
Disease Severity Complications
Mild 25%
Severe 55%
Terminal 90%
It must be emphasized that only
recently was the relationship between
fertility and the menstruation cycle
determined. A female player-character
should not be told when her fertility
period is. A female player-character
also should not be told until two or
three months into her pregnancy that
she is pregnant. We do tend to give
Druids a benefit in these areas due to
their knowledge and study of nature.
Halflings and Halforcs should use
the same tables as humas. The halfling
is described as being similar to a
human in the Tolkien books and in the
Monster Manual. For halflings I would
just subtract three pounds from the
rolled weight. It states in the Player's
Handbook that halforc characters are
considered to be part of the 10%
MARCH 1982
which are hardly recognized as having
ore blood. I take this to mean that
they are close enough to human beings
to be assumed the same.
Dwarves and Gnomes are creatures
of the earth. Both live to be many
times the lifespan of humans. If their
females were as fertile as human
females they would quickly over-
populate the planet. The cycles of the
human female correlate to the cycles
of the moon. Dwarven and gnome
females respond to the seasons of the
earth. Once each season they will be
ideally fertile, but due to their slower
metabolism they will be fertile longer.
Consult the following tables for
dwarven and gnome females.
Dwarf & Gnome Fertility Periods
Day ofPeriod Chance Pregnant
4th day before ideal 19%
3rd day before 62%
2nd day before 83%
Day before 93%
Ideal day 98%
Day after 87%
2 days after 54%
The gestation period for dwarves and
gnomes is 350 days. They are less
likely to have miscarriages or multiple
births than are humans. Subtract two
pounds for gnome babies.
Dwarf & Gnome Gestation Table
Percentile Roll Result
01-02 Miscarriage (will only carry
for 5-100 days)
03-14 4-80 days early /5-10
pounds (33% chance of
dying within the first week)
1547 1-20 days early / 6-11
pounds
48-68 Right on time / 6-11
pounds
69-89 1-12 days late / 6-11
pounds
90-97 3-18 days late / 7-12
pounds
98-99 Twins / roll again (if this
rolled again then triplets,
etc.)
00 Deformed / roll again (if
this rolled again then child
is stillborn. If 98-99 rolled
then twin need not be de-
formed)
Elves and halfelves are creatures of
faerie. Halfelves do have human blood
in them, but the ways of faerie still
play a strong part deep inside them.
The Dungeon Master's Guide states
that halfelves are usually much like
their elven parent as far as character-
istics go.
Elves also live for an extremely
long time. The elven female is only
fertile once a year during the spring
when all of nature is fertile. The GM
should randomly choose a day during
spring when an elven female is ideally
fertile. The magic and mystery of
nature allows the elven female to be
fertile for seven days.
Elf Female Fertility Period
Day of Period Chance Pregnant
4th day before ideal 42%
3rd day before 73%
2nd day before 88%
Day before 95%
Ideal day 98%
Day after 78%
2 days after 38%
The gestation period for elves is 210
days. The elven child is born small,
frail, and with its eyes closed. The
child develops very slowly and will not
even be able to open its eyes for
another 120 days. Still, by the magic
of faerie, it will usually pull through
and develop into a proud and frivolous
creature. There are a number of stories
of twin siblings among elven folks as
well as stories of deformed children.
This is reflected in the following table.
Add one pound for halfelf babies.
Elf Gestation Period
Percentile Roll Result
01-06 Miscarriage(will only carry
for 448 days)
07 -22 1-12 days early / 3-5
pounds (18% chance of
dying within the first week)
23-75 Right on time / 3-6
pounds
76-93 1-12 days late / 4-6
pounds
94-98 Twins / roll again (if this
rolled again then triplets,
etc.) _
99-00 Deformed / roll again (if
this rolled again then child
is stillborn. If 94-98 rolled
then twin need not be de-
formed)
In all cases use the appropriate table
for the female in question. 0
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