There was a lot of nepotism in feudal societies. Kings and queens would go well out of their way to secure an heir because they couldn’t trust anyone else to have a handle on things besides their own flesh and blood. Is it the most ethical reason to have a kid? Eh, not really, but it is still a good idea in this kind of setting. Here’s how to have a child in Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord.
How to Have a Child in Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord
In Mount and Blade 2: Bannerlord, time passes for your player character just as it does for the rest of the world. This means that, someday, they will die of old age if someone else doesn’t stick a pointy thing in their back. Having a child ensures that you have someone to pass your assets and responsibilities onto when your player character bites it. Additionally, children inherit traits from their parents, so it can also be a handy opportunity to repsec your leader.
Related: How to Heal in Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord
How to Get Married
Naturally, the first step in the process is taking a spouse. If you press the N key to bring up your encyclopedia, you can get a profile of just about every NPC in any settlement or town. This allows you to suss out particular genetic traits and affiliations, as well as whether they’re actually married or not.
When you’ve found a spouse that interests you, you can meet them wherever they’re based. Strike up a chat with them, tell them you admire them, and that you’d like to get married. You’ll need to play a little courting minigame wherein you need to select the correct dialogue options to sway their opinion. You’ll get a readout of the success rate of each option, so just pick the one with the highest rate of success.
Once your spouse is officially interested, you’ll need to secure the blessing of their parent. They’ll give you a location to find them, and you’ll need to hunt them down. Once you find the parent, tell them you want their child’s hand in marriage, and enter a barter with them. You’ll need to give them money and valuables equivalent to their child’s value to get their approval. Once you secure approval, you’re officially married!
Doing the Deed
With all that out of the way, now it’s time for the fun part, relatively speaking. To conceive a child, you need to spend time with your spouse by choosing the “rest” option in the town they live. Generally speaking, this has a roughly 24% of leading to conceiving a child, the individual temperament of your spouse notwithstanding. There are a few ways you can fudge the odds a bit, though:
- Improve your relationship with your spouse by giving them gifts in the bartering menu
- Raise your Charm score
- Take the Virile perk, located under the first level of Charm. Your spouse can have this too, which causes the effect to stack
With any luck, after a few “rests,” you’ll get the news that your child is on the way. It’ll take 9 months for your child to be born, which is equivalent to about 63 in-game days, give or take.
Raise your child to be big and strong so they can take over your duties from you! A strong bloodline ensures an enduring rule for generations to come.
