Healing factor and Children...

[Nightmask]

Healing Factor is just a normal ability to heal amped up, it's not going to have any problems at all with a female getting pregnant. The only problem that might occur is one that occurs in RL where the infant's an RH Positive blood type and the mother is RH Negative. While it's not often a problem for the first child later children of the same factor are at risk as the body's immune system targets them seeing them as intruders to destroy (and why doctors came up with an injection to help negate this risk) after being sensitized by the first fetus.

So you should look at the blood types of the parents and determine whether or not that might be a problem (the reverse isn't a problem since the healing factor isn't going to complain about a lack of the factor, it only works when you don't have it and the infant does).

[drewkitty ~..~]

In the first days of a pregnancy the woman's body reacts as if the child is a foreign body and the immune system attacks it. [This bit of science that is the most ignored/left out in the political debates.plain evidence that the baby is another body.] Thus it would be very difficult for a woman with a very active immune system to become pregnant.

The rh situation was one of the reasons, scientists have found out, was one of the reason Henry 8th was having problems getting a male heir.(I believe I heard this on NPR's Science friday.)

[LeeNapier]

In the first days of a pregnancy the woman's body reacts as if the child is a foreign body and the immune system attacks it. [This bit of science that is the most ignored/left out in the political debates.plain evidence that the baby is another body.] Thus it would be very difficult for a woman with a very active immune system to become pregnant.

#1 - this is a very politically charged statement to make on this board.

#2 - this is scientifically inaccurate. I would recommend that you read up on the topic. Here's a site that offers a good overview: http://www.enotes.com/reproductive-immu ... immunology

Specifically, note: "The reasons why the fetus and placenta are accepted by the maternal immune system are still largely unknown. It is, however, a harmonic equilibrium among maternal cells of the immune system." (emphasis mine)

Certainly doesn't sound like the blastocyst is being attacked. Not only are you talking about something still largely unknown, but you're stating as fact something demonstrably false.

Further, immunological fetal loss is usually caused by immunological disorders, not by a healthy immune system.


BACK ON TOPIC... as Nightmask said, Healing Factor only amps up the character's natural healing factor. There are few things more natural than pregnancy and childbirth. As a GM, I would rule that the Healing Factor would provide a complication-free pregnancy - not cause a loss of the pregnancy.

[Nightmask]

BACK ON TOPIC... as Nightmask said, Healing Factor only amps up the character's natural healing factor. There are few things more natural than pregnancy and childbirth. As a GM, I would rule that the Healing Factor would provide a complication-free pregnancy - not cause a loss of the pregnancy.

The only time I've seen a pregnancy hampered by a healing factor was the delivery of Brittany Diggers daughter in Gold Digger and that was because the enchantments of her were-cheetah nature had been interfered with causing her to go into a dangerous situation where she was suffering horrible agony and because she healed so fast it wasn't possible to do a Cesarean either. Took another were-female sharing her undamaged enchantments with her to finish delivering without pain or further trauma.

I don't think Palladium's various versions of Regeneration/Healing Factor are fast enough to cause that kind of trouble, although I haven't done a comparison. But a female running on any of those healing factors should be so obscenely healthy having problems with a pregnancy should be remote.

[csyphrett]

Nightmask is right about this. healing factor doesn't care about pregnancies unless there is some kind of injury caused by the baby which it will fix. It also will not heal immediately in case of c-section unless the doctor takes forever, or the mother uses the superheal ability.
CES

[TechnoGothic]

Your Preggers Concrats !!!
Your baby is a Mutant, congrats !!!

Pray the baby does not have supernatural strength or APS Fire powers...

[Nightmask]

Your Preggers Concrats !!!
Your baby is a Mutant, congrats !!!

Pray the baby does not have supernatural strength or APS Fire powers...

There isn't any reason super-powers should ever become active in the womb, contrary to the Marvel (and occasional DC ) angst associated with it. Really counter-survival to have super-powers go active when they kill the host crucial to your survival and birth, although I'm reminded of that forgotten Marvel villainous who had a stack of powers only to have it revealed that her fetus was not just massively super-powered it was also mutated into a parasite and permanently ensconced within her womb never to be born and dependent on keeping her alive to remain alive so it not she had the powers.

[AlanGunhouse]

Actually, the problem is not with after the woman gets pregnant, it is with becoming pregnant in the first place, the haploid cells of the sperm and egg are attacked by the strong immune system as foreign bodies (at least, in a lot of stories involving such things).

[LeeNapier]

Actually, the problem is not with after the woman gets pregnant, it is with becoming pregnant in the first place, the haploid cells of the sperm and egg are attacked by the strong immune system as foreign bodies (at least, in a lot of stories involving such things).

Not so. Sperm contains molecules called "glycoproteins" which cause the immune system to recognize it and not consider it foreign. If there were all these immunological barriers to pregnancy, we wouldn't be here. The reproductive system is designed to take immunological considerations into account, and actually works with the mother's immune system - and that includes before fetal implantation.

For a person with healing factor, there are two ways in which a healing factor would be amped up: detection and response. I think we all know what the amped-up response would be - the immune system's increased ability to fight off infections.

Amped-up detection means that the immune system would be better able to determine what constitutes a threat. That means not wasting time fighting off a perceived infection where no infection exists. What that means to this conversation is that a super healing factor simply wouldn't waste its time attacking a sperm cell (unless it carried disease), because it wouldn't register as a threat.

[Snowtiger]

Okay, if becoming pregnant isn't an issue, nor the delivery, what about genetics then. If we take into account that the parent with Healing Factor successfully passes this genetic trait to his/her offspring, how does this affect the child. There are a few common ailments, such as chicken pox and whatnot, which usually require predisposement in order for the body to build up a resistance at an early age. How does the kid with HF fit into this scheme of things, considering that the kid needs to become ill so their modified immune system can recognize the threat? Does it mean that the kid has the trait as latent and it only activates during puberty or something, so the immune system will have the necessary time to build up resistances for common diseases normally, before the HF comes into the play?

Furthermore, kids tend to be amazingly perceptive when it comes to differences, so if the HF is active from birth, wouldn't the classmates and friends start to notice things like the usual scrapes and bumps disappearing on sight, and that the kid never seems to get sick or tired. It can be a good thing, but a kid that gets going and keeps going far longer than humanly possible(the whole tires and fatigues at a reduced pace) is weird and the kids friends and their parents could start thinking that something is off with the kid. Especially if the kid unwittingly does something not normally possible, such as direly injuring himself (for example falls while running with scissors and stabs himself, after being sternly reminded of what could happen) and then bounces back into action at an alarmingly fast pace, without actually needing any medical attention.

[Nightmask]

Okay, if becoming pregnant isn't an issue, nor the delivery, what about genetics then. If we take into account that the parent with Healing Factor successfully passes this genetic trait to his/her offspring, how does this affect the child. There are a few common ailments, such as chicken pox and whatnot, which usually require predisposement in order for the body to build up a resistance at an early age. How does the kid with HF fit into this scheme of things, considering that the kid needs to become ill so their modified immune system can recognize the threat? Does it mean that the kid has the trait as latent and it only activates during puberty or something, so the immune system will have the necessary time to build up resistances for common diseases normally, before the HF comes into the play?

Well first off if the HF was active from birth it isn't going to generally be at adult potency. Second since it's just a normal HF only better that just means when given the same exposure as everyone else it just does a better job in that situation (such as recognizing something's foreign, destroying it, and remembering it for later exposures to react even quicker). Either way it just means the child builds up resistances faster and doctors might remark on how healthy the child is without really noticing much beyond that.

Furthermore, kids tend to be amazingly perceptive when it comes to differences, so if the HF is active from birth, wouldn't the classmates and friends start to notice things like the usual scrapes and bumps disappearing on sight, and that the kid never seems to get sick or tired. It can be a good thing, but a kid that gets going and keeps going far longer than humanly possible(the whole tires and fatigues at a reduced pace) is weird and the kids friends and their parents could start thinking that something is off with the kid. Especially if the kid unwittingly does something not normally possible, such as direly injuring himself (for example falls while running with scissors and stabs himself, after being sternly reminded of what could happen) and then bounces back into action at an alarmingly fast pace, without actually needing any medical attention.

People aren't that perceptive actually, it's easy to just go 'well I guess it wasn't as bad as I thought it was' rather than think there's something abnormal about the kid. Look at the movie 'Unbreakable', the protagonist lives a fairly normal life because people just assume things (like his wife feeling like he just had to have been sick at some point because 'well everyone gets sick'). He might get praise for being able to go so long without tiring, and even if someone who tried out for track people might not particularly notice he isn't as bothered by it as they'd think and simply consider him to be just that healthy. Remember athletes are remarkably fit and the idea of them having a great deal of stamina isn't a shocker to people.

The running with scissors might draw attention, provided the character was observed by someone who'd keep close watch and realize something odd was going on. After all you fall, stab yourself, friend rushes to help, you insist it's not as bad as it looks, bandage it so that the damage can't be seen and just pretend for a week or so that you're treating it and let no one see and problem solved. It'd be actually more of a problem getting badly injured in public where you would get medical care because now you're on record, the doctors have seen you, and if kept in the hospital because 'well that's too serious an injury to let you go home' THEN people are obviously going to notice that you recovered faster than humanly possible.

[KillWatch]

Ok without reading any other posts;
A) A baby is both a natural process and a parasite. They feed off of the mother, taking nutrients and controlling their moods. And really, they are still parasites til they start helping out around the house when they become symbiotes,

B) The major thing here that I would play off of is that she is unstable. Determine what her next ability might be and use the child in that context. so here are some possibilities;
1-The mother dies while the child takes on the new ability
2-The child is absorbed and converted into the ability, IE the child has the ability but the healing factor destroys it while the mutation absorbs the ability
3-The baby takes on the healing factor and begins fighting off the mother
4-The baby has the new ability as the mother and baby are joined, the mother can use the ability until the baby is born, with some disruptions as the baby develops, with intermittent usage problems where they get better or worse. I would think that the power would work MINIMALLY in that like fire expulsion would do a point, almost to the point of uselessness

[KillWatch]

Healing factor is a passive ability that tries to keep the body normal. No one is going to notice unless it is hugely dramatic, like a compound fracture of the leg with bone sticking out that heals in an instant with a power heal. but kids heal fast anyhow. Their bodies are growing and adapting quickly. They get sick and then are no longer sick. And assuming that powers at level 1 have been there for a while, developing.So as a child the power might heal 1 pt per day extra, never get sick, etc. Most people are not going to notice passive powers like XPP XPE XME. Invulnerability will be noticed since the doctors will not be able to give them their shots.

[Nightmask]

Healing factor is a passive ability that tries to keep the body normal. No one is going to notice unless it is hugely dramatic, like a compound fracture of the leg with bone sticking out that heals in an instant with a power heal. but kids heal fast anyhow. Their bodies are growing and adapting quickly. They get sick and then are no longer sick. And assuming that powers at level 1 have been there for a while, developing.So as a child the power might heal 1 pt per day extra, never get sick, etc. Most people are not going to notice passive powers like XPP XPE XME. Invulnerability will be noticed since the doctors will not be able to give them their shots.

Not necessarily, remember some parents exploit the loopholes in the laws to get out of vaccinations for their children so it's possible for a child with Invulnerability active almost from birth to have it never be noticed. Depending on your life choices it could never end up being noticed (like in Unbreakable). So unless you wanted to travel abroad to somewhere with required vaccinations, or joined the military, or similar things Invulnerability is possible to go under the radar as well.