Pregnant monk with wild magic fetus...

[Nonah_Me]

I'm running a game where two of my player's characters are in a married relationship, and they wanted to add a complication where the high elf monk gets pregnant. The father is an eladrin, so that coupled with some of the magical effects that the high elf monk has been subjected to, as well as being attuned to three magic items (one of which is the black dragon mask from HotDQ) has made me figure the child would grow up to be a wild mage sorc.

So, that being said (and my players would, I think, generally like this idea) how would you guys figure the unborn baby's wild magic surges would come into play? I'm thinking I'd randomly roll a d20 when the monk spends ki, and on a 1 roll on the wild surge table, as if the kid was using tides of chaos. The PCs are fairly high powered (12 to 13th level) so I think they could survive a fireball.

What do you folks think?

[Mr.Moron]

I might rule that since a fetus is more primal, primitive and unformed version of a person it's more closely attuned to the primal, primitive and unformed versions of magic what we call "Wild Magic".

Because of this Wild Magic, is not so wild for the unborn child. It isn't some random force that pops up like crazy, but instead a natural extension of it's own existence that while not strictly under control... is still wholly directed and purposeful. Like a reflex it reacts to the conditions the fetus is in without action or specific thought, but still with real and specific purpose.

This would manifest as the magic attempting to protect the child (and therefore mother) in danger. If she would be struck by an attack it will attempt to Shield her. If there is a suddenly loss in body temperature it'll try a weather protection spell. If she gets stuck under water it casts a water breathing spell.

[Corran]

To add to what Mr.Moron already said, you could have the monk be under the effects of bladesong every now and then.

If you want to add some possible negatives, you could have the monk be the subject of conditions like dazed, paralyzed, etc.

[JackPhoenix]

They propably won't...unborn child isn't a sorcerer, so s/he's got no ability to WMS. In older editions, it was mentioned that sorcerer's abilities usualy manifest during puberty. That said, there are many fictional examples where the children are born with magic powers they can't control...if they can, they are usualy evil, or there's something strange about them (but that may be because the authors are portraying the children as much more mature then they should be).

Even if the parents can survive the occasional WMS Fireball, the child can't...and not every future sorcerer's parent are experienced adventurers with enough HP. Chance of a "normal" wild magic children to survive to adulthood would be around zero. And now you know why the sorcerers have such a bad rep amongst common folk.

[Blacky the Blackball]

Bear in mind that (at low level, at least) a wild magic sorcerer's wild magic only flares up when they cast a spell of first level or higher. So a baby who knows no spells, or an adolescent who has maybe mastered a cantrip or two and is on the way to the sorcerer class but not yet a first level character won't ever get a wild magic surge.

Only once they're old enough and practised enough to count as a first level sorcerer and start adventuring will the wild magic surges kick in.

So even if a baby has that special magical something that will let them grow up into a wild magic sorcerer, I wouldn't expect them to be exploding left right and centre. Maybe I'd have some kind of background magical effect happen when they're born as an omen or something, but that's all.

[Douche]

Pregnant people shouldn't be adventuring. I mean at level 13 maybe it's cool to go roflstomp some bandits - it is good to stay active - but fighting dragons n such is a terrible idea for a pregnant lady.

Plus, then the child might be born on the battlefield and you'll have a baby Ocelot running around, triple crossing everyone and piloting metal gears. It'll just be too much for your players to follow anymore.

[Mr.Moron]

Pregnant people shouldn't be adventuring. I mean at level 13 maybe it's cool to go roflstomp some bandits - it is good to stay active - but fighting dragons n such is a terrible idea for a pregnant lady.

Plus, then the child might be born on the battlefield and you'll have a baby Ocelot running around, triple crossing everyone and piloting metal gears. It'll just be too much for your players to follow anymore.

Presumably evil forces trying to take over/destroy the world as we know it don't put their plans on hold for your maternity leave. I'd probably advise against pregnancy plots too, but the players wanted it and the deed is done. May as well get whatever engagement you can out of it.

[JumboWheat01]

I thought sorcerers didn't start manifesting their power until their puberty years, and if that's the case, absolutely nothing will come of it, save some creative fighting to protect the baby from any harm.

[Mara]

Have the monk lay an egg.

It's a wild mutation AND does not disrupt the adventure.

[Hudsonian]

Have the monk lay an egg.

It's a wild mutation AND does not disrupt the adventure.

This one is pretty brilliant I must say.

And for the fun of things I like OP's idea with a few adjustments I would make the triggers be reactionary instead of being caused by the mother:
Mother gets hit by a Critical Hit: Surge roll as per regular
Mother is targeted by a spell (Not AoE): Roll a d20, 1-5 the spell interacts strangely with the magic of the fetus and 25% of the damage is reflected back at the user. The mother takes the other 75% This stacks with the critical hit roll.

As for pregnant adventurers? It is a fantasy game... why not? The fetus is 1/4 angel and 1/2 fey(ish) and who knows what that pregnancy looks like? For all we know high elves are born Athena style. Add in the Angel blood for a little bit of preternaval awareness. (See what I did there?)

[Rusvul]

Not sure where you're getting Angel blood from, neither High Elves nor Eladrin are part celestial. Aasimar, even, are usually described as being descended from Celestials in a distant manner rather than directly- In 3.5, at least, there was a distinct difference between a Half-Celestial and an Aasimar. Regardless, that's largely irrelevant.

I second egg-laying, at least if your game isn't too serious in tone. It fits with all the magic running around, particularly if some of it is draconic, as with the mask you mentioned. Otherwise, I would say have it born as a normal child, a common theme in fantasy is sorcerers developing power as they age.

[Mr.Moron]

Not sure where you're getting Angel blood from, neither High Elves nor Eladrin are part celestial. Aasimar, even, are usually described as being descended from Celestials in a distant manner rather than directly- In 3.5, at least, there was a distinct difference between a Half-Celestial and an Aasimar. Regardless, that's largely irrelevant.

I second egg-laying, at least if your game isn't too serious in tone. It fits with all the magic running around, particularly if some of it is draconic, as with the mask you mentioned. Otherwise, I would say have it born as a normal child, a common theme in fantasy is sorcerers developing power as they age.

Keep in mind the players explicitly asked for a pregnancy. It's not like this is one of those times creepyGM decided to roll for pregnancy on a PCs character's at whim after an off-screen sexual encounters. The player going "I wanna get preggers" might feel a little short changed when she gets told "Yes....." and then "... YOU LAY AN EGG!".

[Rusvul]

...That's a good point. Again, I suppose it depends entirely on the tone of the game.

[Temperjoke]

Wouldn't the effect of the wild magic happen inside the mother's body? Might be best just to avoid some of the more extreme applications, maybe keep it to the harmless and fun aspects, like hair color changing randomly, bubbles flying out of her mouth when she talks, things like that.

[Nonah_Me]

The way I plan to do it is, as a monk, the character gets to draw on all the ki inside her body, including the nascent ki of her unborn child. That's what's causing the wild magic surges. I also wouldn't have the fireball go off inside the uterus, but outside the mother's body, because crazy chunky salsa would really piss the player off.

I do like the egg idea, though, especially since she's attuned to the Black Dragon Mask, and while going through Hoard of the Dragon Queen she was marked by Tiamat. So this might be one of the ways that's expressed.