Birthing and Weaning

In Ars Magica Fifth Edition, birthing a beast follows the same rules as birthing a child, as detailed in Art & Academe (page 62). Essentially, treat the female as if she had a Medium Wound and make Recovery Rolls at regular intervals. For a Size 0 and smaller beast, make the roll every two hours. For larger beasts, double the interval for every Size category earlier 0. If she recovers, she delivers. A character skilled in Animal Handling can add her score to the recovery roll. This only applies to live births: hoofed beasts and clawed beasts. Animals that hatch survive on a Stamina + Survival + stress die vs. 9. As in live births, a trained handler can add his Animal Handling score to hatching young.

The type of beast determines what a maga should do with the newborn offspring. For fish, the maga should remove the offspring from the birthing pool immediately, for nothing is as appetizing to a hungry fish as its own young. For birds, the offspring should stay with the parents, who feed it and zealously defend it if it is approached. Magical insects generally disregard their young, who are born with the skills and instincts to survive. For hoofed and clawed beasts, the young should stay with the mother for at least a year, but the male should be separated from the young.

Birthing is generally not hazardous for a helping handler because the mother becomes exhausted in the process. Of course, this is dependent on the kind of creature and its Personality Traits. A birthing manticore might be even more dangerous than it usually is.

Weaning is the process of removing the young from the mother's care. Some beasts are removed immediately from parental care, but others must be weaned. This is one of the more dangerous tasks for handlers, as even the most docile mother resists being deprived of her young.

Ease of Birthing

CrAn 39

Pen: 20, Constant effect

R: Touch, D: Sun, T: Room

Instilled in a small wooden statue, this effect grants a mammal a +9 Recovery bonus to delivering its young. It is usually placed in a stall or pen, and the animal must spend the entire delivery period in the room to receive the benefits of the statue. Created to aid magical beasts, who are immune to Warping, it can be used on mundane animals, but will inflict a Warping point because it is a powerful mystical effect.

(Base 4, + 1 Touch, +2 Sun, +2 Room; +1 frequency (2 uses per day), +3 environmental trigger, +10 Penetration)

Required Lab Total: 1 season (78), 2 seasons (59), 3 seasons (52), 4 seasons (49)