Fertiitiy magic & How to Rpresent It

[Michael Hopcroft]

I was responding to a mailing list psot of gifts that make you more attractive to the rcipient when it occured to me that one could make a smiliar gift to present to a spouse (such as an enchanted wedding ring) to improve their fertility. That led to some general thoughts about the role of fertility magic in a fantasy world. it's hard to represent in agem terms because the concept is rarely dealt with, but it a world where magic is known and plentiful 9or at least commonly known) magic to improve fertility would be a very important concept.

 

This can apply on several levels. For humans, kings and other nobels depend for the srurvival of their lines and the stability of their realms on large families. One of the very first thoughts that crosses a king's mind on assuming the thorone is 'what is going to happen to the kingdom when i die? Who will i leave it to?" Having an heir in line is essential for a kigndom's stability. Thus a royal marriage could feature wedding rings that increase the wearer's fertility. In addition, if one of the partners in a royal marriage is infertile for some reason, a ring could be forged with the curative spell so they could still have children, heris, and a stable succession.

 

The peasant, of course, may not have acces to the kind of magic that ensures a large family 9although a large family is important to him too -- more children means more hands to share the workd). But what about his cows. his horses and his crops? Village priests of the God of Agriculture would narually know blessing spells to make the crops grow hardier, more weather 0-resistant and more fruitful. More croips means larger harvests, a wealthieer society, and a larger population of craftsmen and merchants that can be supported -- more propserity in general.

 

Evil priests or wizards who cast a blight on the crops have an easy way to derail the fantasy-world economy -- and are good targets for player-character party of adenturers to seek to reverse the effects and punish the offender. Blighting the crops, casting a curse on the king to render him sterile -- all of those would be high crimes against the state that can be committed with magic and punished with extreme prejudice.

 

The problem is that these are very difficult effects to put into game terms. Even Dungerons & Dragons 3.5 ignores the subject.

[Victor]

Sounds like a cosmetic Transformation, to me, when applied to an individual.

 

Change Environment works for larger scale effects like bountiful/blighted crops or fertilizing/sterilizing a whole kingdom, with Megascale.

[Guest Keneton]

Luck or Unluck, only to increase (decrease) chance of conception.

[cutsleeve]

Most RPG's gloss over or totally omit "Utility" spells. Some spells like fertility spells would in truth be more useful then a fireball spell to kingdoms and the citizens who serve them.

 

For human and animal fertility i would use a transform for environmental fertility i would recommend a change enviroment. The effects are the most appropriate ones to use inho. they may turn out to be quite expensive but if you take into consideration what exactly you are doing its cost is quite cheap. changing the land to green fertile land or changing a male or female into a more fertile male or female.

 

And yes one wizard for hire with an infertility spell can ensure the transfer of a kingdom to more unscrupulous individuals for a good price. No need for wars no need for arguement just make sure the king has no heirs and then step into the vacuum after his death and declair a puppet relative to the throne. Of course you will make sure that you have had a daughter ,that darn wizard again, and get the 2 together then have the same wizard make sure the child is a boy. Since your the grandfather you raise the boy the best you can , you evil evil man, and your family line will rule the country after that king dies.

[Vondy]

1d6 Minor Transformation (normal woman into a magically super-charged brood mare with a dangerous reputation for being a "fertile field" or non-pregnant woman into lactating soon to be mother)

 

Cumulative (+1/2), 0 End Cost (+1/2), IPE (+1/4)

 

IIF Simple Gold Band (-1/4); Independent (-2); Wearer must engage in the act of "coitus to completion" with a fatherhood capable male of the same or genetically compatible species to activate transformation (-1)

 

Real Cost: 5

 

And of course, for the impotent or sterile male we have:

 

4d6 Minor Transformation (sterile or impotent man into a hard charging lover of women with copious amounts of potent seed - yech! This is starting to sound like the Porn Hero thread.)

 

OAF Potion (-1), Fragile (-1/4), 1 Charge (-2), Non-Recoverable (-1/2), Expensive Ingredients (-1/4), Preparation Time (-1)

 

Real Cost: 6 (but you don't lose the points so you can keep making them all day long...)

[McCoy]

In Champions this hasn't come up.

 

Back when I was playing D&D we added 1st level clerical/druidical spells, fertility/infertility. The infertility spell, magical birth control, insured that the character could not conceive/sire a child for the next month. The fertility version insured that the character would conceive/sire a child at the next opportunity, but it expired if the character didn't have sex within a month. "Traditionally" there were mass castings of the infertility spell at the new moon, and the fertility spell at the full moon.

 

In Fantasy Hero, I'd say Transformation, woman into pregnant woman, trigger (having sex). Could also do it as a summoning with 9 months extra time.

[badger3k]

Originally posted by McCoy

In Champions this hasn't come up.

 

Back when I was playing D&D we added 1st level clerical/druidical spells, fertility/infertility. The infertility spell, magical birth control, insured that the character could not conceive/sire a child for the next month. The fertility version insured that the character would conceive/sire a child at the next opportunity, but it expired if the character didn't have sex within a month. "Traditionally" there were mass castings of the infertility spell at the new moon, and the fertility spell at the full moon.

 

In Fantasy Hero, I'd say Transformation, woman into pregnant woman, trigger (having sex). Could also do it as a summoning with 9 months extra time.

 

Could you make a summon into a DNPC? Or have a-megascale duration?

 

Seriously, I'd just add the same ideas as other people posted. That summon does sound like an interesting idea - have to look into the mechanics when I'm fiddling around. Could make an interesting challenge for a player. Heh - heh - heh.

[Victor]

Originally posted by cutsleeve

And yes one wizard for hire with an infertility spell can ensure the transfer of a kingdom to more unscrupulous individuals for a good price.

 

Of course, if the wizard WAS the unscrupulous individual, he could cast a spell that made the queen conceive HIS child, instead of the King's... or perhaps even a clone of him (a la duplication, with delayed effect).

[Brett]

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4d6 Minor Transformation (sterile or impotent man into a hard charging lover of women with copious amounts of potent seed - yech! This is starting to sound like the Porn Hero thread.)

 

OAF Potion (-1), Fragile (-1/4), 1 Charge (-2), Non-Recoverable (-1/2), Expensive Ingredients (-1/4), Preparation Time (-1)

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Maybe this should be :"OAF Blue Diamond-Shaped Tablet (-1)"

 

Probably the main reason these issues are not addressed in Hero or other RPGs is that it is ususally unimportant to a RPG Character except as a plot device.

 

The character's ability to produce children (or even have sex) does not matter much to a player (although I'm certain it does matter to the character, who however, gets no imput into the matter).

 

Even something as important as aging is not very important in RPGs. In Hero, a character can be Immortal for 5 points.