Post/Author/DateTime	Post
A_Cruel_DM 09-02-03, 07:46 PM	I am SO confused about Nymphs can someone please clear this up for me? Are there male nymphs??? Well? I figure there must be, so they can breed... But would a male nymph die, or are they immune to a female nymph's beauty? Are male nymphs just as beautiful? I suppose Nymphs could be purely female, and theoretically, nymphs could breed via a blind humanoid male... but it would never make a pure blood nymph! Or is there some other weird nymph breeding method? Does anyone have any theories? Does anyone know what the answer is? Please help me! -A confused DM
primemover003 09-02-03, 08:26 PM	Nope there are only female Nymphs. They just mate with humanoid males with high charismas and daughters born are nymphs (or any children are nymphs, I don't exactly remember). I've never heard of a male equivelent, like Satyrs are the counterpart of Dryads.
was_fired 09-02-03, 08:39 PM	I always heard they were embodyments and nature and thus sprung from the land's beauty.
Oberon_of_Avalon 09-02-03, 09:26 PM	I've heard three versions of this: 1) A nymph mates with humanoid males that she finds attractive. Any children she bears is a female and therefore a nymph. 2) A nymph does the same as above, but there is an equal chance of having either gender child and male children are normal members of the father's base race. 3) Nymphs are "born" of the wild, whether it is through a flower that sought to see the world or a mountain lake that wanted to show those who gazed into her just how beautiful she was.
Count Arioch the 28th 09-02-03, 09:46 PM	I've always said that Satyrs were male nymphs in my campaign.
Brian.C 09-02-03, 11:44 PM	I believe that satyrs are the male equivalent of both nymphs AND dryads. Or maybe dryads are not "born" in the same way other fey are. I'm inclined to believe that, as spirits of trees, they are created by their trees, or they are a sort of physical embodiment of the trees' souls. But at any rate, satyrs mate with nymphs usually; in such cases, male offspring are satyrs, and female offspring are nymphs. Skip Williams once wrote in Sage Advice that nymphs can mate with other races, like humans or elves, but it is rare. In such cases, male offspring is the father's race, although the child may grow up to have high charisma. Female offspring is always a nymph. Although, I do believe there is a half-fey template now... - Brian
Sweet Steph 09-03-03, 01:58 AM	My view on nymphs is a combination of the second and third viewpoints that Oberon mentioned. Ordinarily, nymphs come into being as a manifestation of nature's beauty, spawning from plants, bodies of water, or even from the earth itself. However, they can also mate with humanoid races. The offspring of such couplings is always a nymph if female, and always its father's race if male. With regard to dryads, I see their habits as something out of a fairy tale. They come into being from trees (my dryads can be connected with any kind of tree, not just oaks) as tree spirits incarnate. They routinely mate with satyrs, and the result of such pairings is the creation of new seeds and saplings, creating new trees and promoting the growth of a forest. This is basically just a romanticized version of pollination, but it fits well in a fantasy setting that uses magic to explain the mysteries of nature. By the way, am I the only one who thinks that this thread would be best-suited for the mature boards?
Willie the Duck 09-03-03, 03:47 PM	no. This is not a mature-only thing. Nor does it require any "adult" themes. I always say that the male offspring of nymphs and dryads are fey-touched (Fiend Folio).