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Table
5-01: Conception Rolls
Fertility |
Sample
Races |
DC |
| Very
High |
Orcs,
Goblins |
15 |
| High |
Humans,
Gnolls |
16 |
| Average |
Halflings,
Dwarves |
17 |
| Low |
Elves,
Gnomes |
18 |
| Very
Low |
Dragons |
19 |
Contraceptives
+1 Contraceptive used
+2 Masterwork Contraceptive used
If the result
of a confirmation roll is a natural 20, you make an additional roll
for another conception (which will result in twins). If this roll
is a natural 20, roll for a third conception (which will result
in triplets), and so on. Where the DC has been modified to 20 or
more, a natural 20 still results in a confirmation but does not
incur further rolls.
INTERBREEDING
In the myriad of creatures found across the Great Wheel, few have
the common blood necessary to breed together. The following rules
provide rules on which humanoid couplings can bear fruit, and guidelines
for other unions. They are by necessity intricate and indefinite,
and DMs are advised to use their good sense when deciding matters
for the group.
All relationships
between races are given as one of three types: Related, Relatable
or Unrelatable, and this governs the possibilities of conception
and form of the child. As a unless two races are specified as Related
or Relatable to each other, they are to be considered Unrelated.
Related
The two races share common blood, being related at some point in
their distant ancestry. When rolling for conception, use the higher
DC of the two races. The child borne of this coupling has an equal
chance of being of one race or the other. The Related format applies
to races with a clear halfbreed status (such as half-elves with
elves) or those with such similar characteristics that it seems
logical that interbreeding could occur.
Relatable
The races are distinct and separate, but there is the possibility
of procreation. When rolling for conception, use the higher DC of
the two races. Should the coupling bear fruit, the child will be
a halfbreed, combining their characteristics, who is in turn Related
to both parent races. The Relatable format applies to races who
have defined halfbreeds between them (such as humans with elves).
Unrelatable
The races are too different for any possibility of interbreeding
to occur. Conception checks between these races automatically fail,
even on a natural 20. Potent magics may be able to spawn combinations
of the two; if so, the child will be a halfbreed, combining the
characteristics of both races.
Sidebar:
Halfbreeds
In many campaign settings, halfbreeds are very much the exception
to the norm. The rules above assume that this is not because of
biological factors, but of social ones. Members of one race must
overcome geographic segregation, social disapproval and not least
differences in desires, emotions and lifespans that separate them
from their partners in order to achieve a successful coupling, and
this accounts for halfbreeds’ rarity. The rules use the higher
fertility DC of the two parents, but no additional modifiers: it
is assumed that the more virile race makes up for any drop in interracial
fertility, and so no further penalties are applied.
Subraces
Subraces of common humanoids, such as the myriad types of elves,
dwarves and halflings are slight variants on their own race. They
are considered Related to their fellow subraces, and follow the
same characteristics of their species as a whole when breeding with
other races. For example, aquatic, moon, wild, wood elves and drow
are all Relatable to humans, and the child of such a coupling will
always be a half-elf, regardless of which subrace of elf was involved.
Humans
Humans have far and above the most freedom in choosing a partner
amongst hte humanoids; their seed is as flexible as their minds
and culture. Humans are Relatable to elves and orcs, and Related
to the offspring of such unions, half-elves and –orcs. They
are also Related to halflings, the latter race having originated
through the coupling of Humans and some lost species of yesteryear.
Humans are also considered Relatable to fey (excluding sprites),
producing elven offspring, or half-fey in the case of nymphs and
satyrs.
Elves
& Half-Elves
The many species of elves are considered Relatable to humans and
Related to half-elves, but this is the extent of their ability to
breed with other humanoids. However, elves are Related to many fey,
with the exception of sprites, with whom they are Unrelatable; and
nymphs and satyrs, with whom they are Relatable, forming half-fey.
Half-elves are Related to both parent races, and may breed with
feys as if they were humans (see above).
Orcs
& Half-Orcs
Orcs are considered Relatable to humans, forming half-orc offspring.
They may also interrelate with goblins and the bestial humanoids
that take their characteristics, such as gnolls and lizardmen, to
whom they are Related. Half-orcs are Related to orcs and humans,
but no other humanoids.
Dwarves
Dwarven subraces are usually confined to their own kind, and cannot
breed with non-dwarves. They are, however, Related to gnomes, having
bred with some since-lost race to produce the race.
Gnomes,
Halflings and Goblins
Gnomes, goblins and halflings were originally the halfbreeds of
a long lost race that spawned them, and are considered Related to
their existing racial parents (dwarves, orcs and humans, respectively)
and to each other. They typically eschew larger partners, however,
because of size concerns.
Nymphs
& Satyrs
Nymphs and satyrs are powerful embodiments of masculinity and femininity,
and this is reflected in their fecundity. They are considered Relatable
to any humanoid, producing a half-fey child with the same gender
as the fey parent. They may freely interbreed with each other, as
they are of the same race.
Bestial
Humanoids
Bestial humanoids such as gnolls, lizardmen, and kobolds are Related
to the humanoid race and the animal or beast from which they acquire
their characteristics: gnolls are related to orcs and hyenas, lizardmen
to orcs and monitor lizards, and kobolds to goblins and raptors.
Their humanoid kin generally spurn their company, and they in turn
find relations with animals somewhat beneath them, so interbreeding
rarely occurs.
Dragons
Dragons are relatively infertile (accounting for their scarcity)
but their seed crosses many racial boundaries; they are considered
Relatable to any other living creature, producing half-dragon offspring.
They may not breed with other varieties of dragons, however. Half-dragons
are Related to their basic and draconic race, and may breed with
others as though a member of their non-draconic parent race, with
a 50% chance that their offspring will also be considered a half-dragon.
Giants
Civilised giants (hill, fire, ice etc.) are Related to each other,
but Unrelatable to other creatures. Ogres are Relatable to orcs
and humans, producing half-ogre offspring. Half-ogres are Related
to ogres, humans and orcs, but cannot interbreed with other humanoids.
Shapechangers
All shapechanges have flexibility in crossbreeding. Lycanthropes
in human form act as a member of their basic race, and in animal
form act as that animal. In hybrid form, they may breed as either.
The children of lycanthropes will appear to be the non-lycanthropic
parent’s race until puberty, when they gain their lycanthropic
nature. True shapechangers assume the breeding capability of any
form they adopt; if they become pregnant, the child is a shapechanger.
If the non-shapechanger parent becomes pregnant, the child will
also be a shapechanger, but is fixed in the non-shapechanger parent’s
racial form until puberty.
Outsiders
Outsiders are infused with a quasi-divine power that allows them
great discretion in interbreeding; those capable of breeding are
Relatable to any living creature. However, outsiders embody unique
concepts that cannot be easily tainted; they may not interbreed
with other. Children borne of couplings with outsiders are the non-outsider
parent’s race, but subject to the appropriate race. Those
celestials and fiends capable of breeding produce half-celestials
and half-fiend (MM) children, respectively. Other outsiders of strong
alignment are treated similarly, but the child is subject to the
celestial, fiendish, anarchic or axiomatic template accordingly
(MM for first two, MotP for the others). Pairings with pseudonatural
creatures produce pseudonatural children (MotP; NOT EHB rules).
If an outsider does not fit in any of these categories, the result
is left up to the DM, although the child will always be modified
to Outsider status.
Half-Outsiders
Half-outsiders are more restricted in interbreeding, and follow
the patterns of a normal member of their basic race. The children
of half-celestials, half-fiends, celestial, fiendish, anarchic and
axiomatic creatures are planetouched (MM & MM2) according to
their celestial parentage if the child is a humanoid; otherwise,
the divine taint fades and their offspring will be a normal member
of their race. Children of a planetouched, if humanoid, retain their
parent’s trait.
Deities
The deities can create races by their own hand, and so mundane procreation
is of little challenge to them. They are Relatable to anything,
including each other. Their children, rich with divine blood in
their veins, are best represented by the application of the Paragon
template (EHB), or Beast of Legend (SS) if the basic parent race
is an animal or beast.
Other
Creature Types
Other creatures are generally Unrelatable to other races, unless
specified above. Potent magic arts may allow living creatures to
father children with other races, in which case they are considered
Relatable. Typically, couplings with animals form anthropomorphic
creatures (SS), those with beasts form tauric creatures (MM2/SS),
those with elementals form half-elementals (MotP), those with fey
form half-fey of a sort, those with giants form larger creatures
(MM size increase rules), those with oozes form half-oozes (SS),
those with plants form wood element creatures (MotP), and those
with vermin form insectile creatures (SS). Those with beasts and
animals may produce new bestial humanoids, at the GM’s discretion.
Those with aberrations and magical beasts are extremely erratic,
and best left up to the GM’s devices.
Sidebar:
Changing the Rules
As DM, you may exercise your discretion over all the rules above,
changing them in accordance to your materials and campaign setting.
If a rule contradicts something you’ve written into your campaign,
sounds stupid or has adverse consequences, ignore the rules, or
make up your own. If you have created or have access to material
beyond those in WotC rulebooks, you may wish to extend the interbreeding
rules accordingly. For example, if you have rules for half-dwarves,
you could change Dwarves’ relationship to humans to Relatable.
The GUCK offers a single extension of its own, in the form of the
Half-fey template, so that nymphs and satyrs who would normally
be Unrelatable (or Related) are instead Relatable to many species.
The rules on subraces, most notably, have been simplified to avoid
over-complexity. You may wish to devise your own system for interrelating
producing each of the different subraces if you have the time, dedication
and motivation to do so, but we felt such intricacy did not warrant
its inclusion in the core guide.
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