Newborn in the Party

[Diplomancy]

I have an 8th level halfling rogue who does a lot of tumbling. The problem is she just had a baby and needs to keep it with her and alive. I'm thinking having her refashion a bag of holding into a nursery. Any other bright ideas about babywearing in melee?

[Kuulvheysoon]

I may be horrible for suggesting this, but....

Bag of Holding/Portable Hole with either a Bottle of Air or a filled with water and have Water Breathing cast on the kid.

[MightyIgoo]

First of all, cheers on having a game-baby! I've only encountered one other player-character who's done this, and it led to an artificer-built chicken-legged baby-walker.

The bag of holding sounds about right-- nothing outside, other than a direct attack or a GM who's too free with magical fire, can hurt what's inside the bag. Keep in mind there's no air or light in a bag of holding, so you'll need to provide both for the little 'un. A bottle of air could provide air, but the baby would have to breathe directly from it, or you'd have to make an airtight bubble with the bottle attached-- the bottle won't create air fast enough to create a breathable pocket of air. But how to create something airtight that can hold a baby but still fit through the bag of holding's opening?

You might consider hiring a nanny to live in the bag of holding with the baby, to keep the baby's mind off the endless void that surrounds it in the bag. Hirelings are fairly cheap at level 8. Might want to pay extra for the odd working conditions.

[Unusual Muse]

Well, it's clearly time to take parental obligations more seriously, put aside the roguish ways, and dip into wizard for Familiar Pocket (SpC)! Maybe you could even talk your DM into letting you take your baby as your familiar when you take your first wizard level... it would certainly add even more incentive to keep your familiar alive.

[godryk]

Yeah, I don't know too much about what you can do with the available spells, but you really want to work towards a cute extra-dimensional baby room with a resident nanny, maybe a couple so that they can do shifts. I simply find a lot of awesomeness in the idea of having someone carrying a bag with a pink room inside, full of stuffed animals and an old but tender nany knitting on a rocking chair. And all of this while the mother is fighting some demons in some infernal pit.

[Unusual Muse]

Yeah, I don't know too much about what you can do with the available spells, but you really want to work towards a cute extra-dimensional baby room with a resident nanny, maybe a couple so that they can do shifts. I simply find a lot of awesomeness in the idea of having someone carrying a bag with a pink room inside, full of stuffed animals and an old but tender nany knitting on a rocking chair. And all of this while the mother is fighting some demons in some infernal pit.

I like that... you could take Leadership and have your cohort be a nanny wizard (anyone wanna stat out Mary Poppins?) who can cast Familiar Pocket; if they get an intelligent familiar who can babysit, even better!

[Suteinu]

[QUOTE=godryk;13054584]... cute extra-dimensional baby room with a resident nanny, maybe a couple so that they can do shifts. I simply find a lot of awesomeness in the idea of having someone carrying a bag with a pink room inside, full of stuffed animals and an old but tender nany knitting on a rocking chair. QUOTE]

First of all, congradulations!

Second, do you know who th efather is?

Third, is it a boy or a girl? I need to know what color of plush weapons to get th elittle darlin'.

[Toy Killer]

Ever consider a rod of security? that way, not only can you keep your baby in a safe location, you can visit at the end of each day. And you can even go into artic, magma filled lands of sulfur without endangering the baby.

for a lower level option, a Papoose on the wizard or other back line player? I mean, I don't know if i would trust my newborn in the front line with mommy...

[limejuicepowder]

As functional as a bag of holding might be, what a morally awful idea. Besides the obvious repugnance of leaving a baby in a completely dark (and weightless?) pseudo-space for hours on end, what if the party wipes? Or the bag is stolen? I highly doubt the demons of the nine hells are going to care about raising a baby (though I smell plot line right there).

This isn't any better, but what about an invisible tenser's floating disk w/ a ring of invisibility? Bonus points if you convince superstitious peons that their house is haunted by an angry infant.

[Cyrano]

Drop the baby in a plane with accelerated time in relation to the Material. Once an appropriate amount of time has elapsed, Leadership the now-grown baby.

Practicality and role-playing pathos all in one.

[deuxhero]

Too bad you are a Halfling an not a Dwarf...

[happyturtle]

Might I suggest foster parents?

[Diplomancy]

[QUOTE=Suteinu;13054649]

... cute extra-dimensional baby room with a resident nanny, maybe a couple so that they can do shifts. I simply find a lot of awesomeness in the idea of having someone carrying a bag with a pink room inside, full of stuffed animals and an old but tender nany knitting on a rocking chair. QUOTE]

First of all, congradulations!

Second, do you know who th efather is?

Third, is it a boy or a girl? I need to know what color of plush weapons to get th elittle darlin'.

The father is the head of a crime family who will stop at nothing to hunt down the baby.

The baby boy hasn't shown any color preferences yet.

[Roguenewb]

Umm...disintegrate the baby. When you obtain a high-enough level (17/18), have the baby true ressurectioned, and planeshifted to the super-fast time plane your wizard has created and staffed with constructs and programed amnesiacs (who love, worship and forever serve the wizard). Have the baby grow up for 100 years of perfect upbringing designed to max out the qualities of strong personality, good character and skill. Let your Wizard 3/Druid 5/Mystic Theurge 10/Arcane Heirophant 10 epic kid (who's been rasied his entire life learning how his entire purpose is to serve and aid you) warp in with the army of constructs he's (or shes) built and the legions of outsiders he's (she's) greater-planar binding/programmed amnesiad and let him (or her) defeat all problems who ever have for the rest of your adventuring life.

That's how one min-maxes giving birth.

[Alaris]

My friend would kill me for not suggesting this, so I must.

Has she considered taking a homebrewed feat? "Off-Hand Baby-Fighting?" Prince Charming did so well with that feat in Once Upon a Time.

[Namfuak]

1. Hire Jackie Chan as a sitter
2. Put him in a factory full of machinery with the baby
3. Make sure he don't want no trabble

There, baby's safe.

Alternatively, has no one considered fast forwarding time 16 years after your character settles in a village for awhile so you can raise the baby and your allies can go do other stuff that is tedious to play though but ultimately very helpful for their character? When your kid is 16, you should be able to bring him along as a cohort.

[Particle_Man]

If the party is approx. 8th level a lot of the suggestions are too high level (disintegrate, plane shift, etc.).

A level appropriate solution is to have an 8th level druid reincarnate the baby after someone kills it (painlessly). The baby comes back in a young adult body. Problem solved in 10 minutes and 1000 gp of material components, by a 7th level character.

Oh wait, do you mean you want an ethical solution?

Don't take the baby on adventures; that is dangerous. Give the baby to foster parents (as suggested earlier); that is safer.

[Zombulian]

wait... Does DnD actually have mechanics for having children? This interests me greatly.

[deuxhero]

The problem is the baby has no levels and loses 2 points of con.

[Malimar]

wait... Does DnD actually have mechanics for having children? This interests me greatly.

There are some... in the third-party Book of Erotic Fantasy.

[demigodus]

The father is the head of a crime family who will stop at nothing to hunt down the baby.

The baby boy hasn't shown any color preferences yet.

Hunt down as in kill the baby, or that he wants to find his son and become the kid's father?

If it is case one, your first action as a parent should be to make the party put a temporary halt on their current adventure so you can go kill the daddy and anyone who might want revenge. Otherwise the foster parent plan wouldn't really work.

Other then that, does your party have an artificer? If they can make constructs capable of making magical items, they should be able to make constructs capable of changing dipers, and handing out a milk bottle as needed. Have said nanny-construct(s) stay at the back of the party with whatever squishes.

That said, you need to have some contingency for a Total Party Wipe, or the party being captured. I mean, unless you have a high enough diplomacy to convince your foes to spare (and possibly raise) your child, even if they are going to kill you.

[Killer Angel]

Baby's phisical stats are awful, but the charisma should be sky high. Max his (her?) diplomacy skills and enjoy the ogre making funny faces at the infant.

[Bronk]

Can you afford or procure some ioun stones? It seems to me that with a 'clear spindle' (sustains without food or water) and an 'iridescent spindle' (sustains without air) you could keep the baby (and something for company) in there indefinitely core, and they could double as a mobile that never needs winding. I like the idea of taking a level in wizard or sorcerer too, so you could get a construct familiar that could hang out in there full time to keep an eye on things...

[Krotchrot]

Long stretch here, get a wizard to make or have one you know that has a Genesis Plane that speeds up time relative to the Material Plane. Get a couple of npcs like a Nurse and teachers. Make sure the Genesis is like 1 round is 1 year of time or something. When they come out your child will be older and more powerful. I like the Leadership suggestion with your child. Makes roleplay interesting.

Another suggestion would be to find some Druid or Cleric friends that wouldn't mind taking care of the child for a while. Of course, they could want to train the child in their ways, but again, get Leadership, heck ya I'll take a Cleric or Druid with me!

[Namfuak]

The problem is the baby has no levels and loses 2 points of con.

Last Breath instead of reincarnate.

[Yawgmoth]

Get a bunch of other babies, wear them as plate mail. The likelihood of him hitting the right one is so much lower!

[Person_Man]

Your character is a terrible person for putting a baby into that kind of danger. The baby has it's own hit points and Saving Throws, which it uses even if it's strapped to you. A single low level area of effect spell will kill your character's baby. And even if you're keeping it in a bag of holding or other extra-dimensional space, what happens if you die and your treasure gets taken? Or if you take the baby out and get ambushed? Or if your Bag of Holding gets Sundered?

The baby needs foster parents, or your character should take maternity leave, or your character should retire, or you should encase it in Quintessence and store it somewhere safe until you're ready to be a parent (and god parents who know its location in case you get killed).

[Bahamut Omega]

Consider having her pay the party wizard to research a spell like Mordenkaiden's Magic Nursery. Work with the group to make a spell that pretty much mimics many of the effects of Mordenkaiden's Private Sanctum, but has some neat little illusions and conjurated play things for the baby. Those outside the effect can't hear in and so forth.

Such a situation would create cause to alter how adventuring would work. Likely the group will remain stationary and guard the baby while mom scouts ahead for where the party's target is. At such time, pack it up, recast the Nursery and maybe hide it behind a stone wall made with Stone Shape, go kill the bad guys and get back in time for the 2 AM feeding.

There's no two ways about it, if the party intends to bring the baby with them and wants to be responsible about it (but not so responsible as to leave the baby with someone else) then they'll need to be spending a lot of their resources to ensure its safety. As the DM, I would strongly consider giving out roleplaying XP depending on how the players play their characters to handle such a situation.

[willpell]

Wouldn't Bag of Holding be a really awful idea given the "if the bag is cut or punctured from inside or out, the contents are lost forever in the Astral Plane" clause? Although that would give the kid a heck of a backstory if it managed to land on a rock and survive somehow (IIRC people don't age in the Astral Plane, but the Githyanki and Buommin races suggest there are exceptions to that rule, if it exists at all).

[happyturtle]

GM: "Everyone make your move silently checks."

Baby: "I GOT A FOUR!!!!"