[3.5; PEACH] The Chicken Master!

[Morph Bark]

Stats for chicken and inspiration for this can be found in this thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=167722) (though to be honest, this idea was the reason I asked for chicken stats there in the first place). Comments and constructive critique most welcome! :smallbiggrin:

EDIT: This now has a follow-up PrC (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=170098)!


CHICKEN MASTER

http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2010/160/b/3/CHICKEN_by_PrivetDan.jpg
by PrivetDan of DeviantART

Well, at least I got chicken!

At school, all the other kids used to harass you, make fun of you. The fighters-to-be would beat you up, the rogue-kids would spit in your face, even the nerdy or upstuck casters-to-be would laugh behind your back just because you are the son of a dirt farmer. Well, the time has come for you to beat them at their own game and see who will get the last laugh! You, who holds the power! The power of chicken!!

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
Feats: Quick Draw
Flaws: Chicken infested
Skills: Handle Animal 5 ranks

Chicken Infested
You have a peasant hat, like the one in the picture.
Benefits: Whenever you draw a weapon or pull an item out of a container, you have a 50% chance of drawing a live chicken (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=9317780&postcount=10) instead. No, we don't know where the chickens come from, it's your character.

Class Skills
The Class Name's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), and Use Rope (Dex).
Skills Points at Each Level: 2 + Int

Hit Dice: d4

{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special

1st|
+0|
+0|
+0|
+0|Bred for Purpose (feats), Cluck Fu

2nd|
+1|
+0|
+0|
+0|Bred for Purpose (-2/+2), Chicken Sense

3rd|
+1|
+1|
+1|
+1|Bred for Purpose (-4/+4), Otherfarmly Heritage (+1 CR)

4th|
+2|
+1|
+1|
+1|Bred for Purpose (-6/+6), Improved Chicken Sense

5th|
+2|
+1|
+1|
+1|Bred for Purpose (-8/+8) , Otherfarmly Heritage (+2 CR)[/table]

Bred for Purpose (Ex): Once per round, before drawing a weapon or pulling out an item, a Chicken Master can declare he is using this ability if he wishes to use it. If he pulls out a chicken instead of the item or weapon (50% chance as usual), he can change any of its non-bonus feats to any other feat it qualifies for.

At second level, he also can lower any of the chickens ability scores by up to 2 and increase another by the same amount. The ability score being lowered cannot fall below 1 and he cannot lower or increase Int. At third level he can lower an ability score by up to 4, at fourth level by up to 6 and at fifth level by up to 8.

Cluck Fu: A Chicken Master can wield chickens as improvised weapons that deal 1d6 nonlethal damage. When wielding more than one chicken he gains the benefit of the Two-Weapon Fighting or Multiweapon Fighting feat, as appropriate.

Chicken Sense: Starting at level 2, you can attune your senses very well to the presence of chicken. You automatically detect a chicken if it is within 60 feet of you, even if you don’t have line of sight or line of effect to it.

Otherfarmly Heritage: Starting at level 3, once per day, before drawing a weapon or pulling out an item, a Chicken Master can declare he will summon forth a chicken the likes of which none have ever seen before. If he pulls out a chicken instead of the item or weapon, the chicken can have a template applied to it that increases its CR by no more than 1. If he pulls out the item or weapon successfully, he does not expend his daily usage of this ability. The chicken with the Otherfarmly Heritage disappears at dusk.

At fifth level the Chicken Master can apply a template that increases the chicken’s CR by no more than 2.

Furthermore, also at fifth level, the Chicken Master may use this ability twice per day, but if he uses the second daily use of this ability while the chicken he pulled out with the first daily use of it is still alive, the second chicken must have the same template applied to it as the first.

Improved Chicken Sense: At level 4 your Chicken Sense becomes even greater and more awesome than it was before. Now you can - for a number of times per day equal to your class level - attune your senses to a chicken you have drawn within the last five minutes and become able to see and hear from where the chicken is standing. You can use your own Listen and Spot modifiers or the chicken’s, whichever are higher.

[DracoDei]

Since they don't have control over the chickens the utility of adding templates to them is... not immediately obvious. Note that this may fall under the category of "Its not a bug, its a feature."

[Morph Bark]

Since they don't have control over the chickens the utility of adding templates to them is... not immediately obvious. Note that this may fall under the category of "Its not a bug, its a feature."

Of course. :smallwink: This is moreso building further on Chicken Infested rather than making something highly useful for competitive play. In competitive play, a Chicken Master will likely end up being a... well... uhm... yeah.

[Thugorp]

Actually have you play tested this? Even with a template the fiendish/gigantic/dire/celestial/multi-headed/WINGED :'-D chicken is STILL an animal(an augmented one) which means that the character will still be able to use his/her, "Handle Animal," or, "Animal Empathy," skill/ability on the chickens. Using the "push animal" application of the skill would allow the, "Chicken Master," to order the chicken to do any one thing(per check) such as, attack, run, fly, carry, hunt, so on and so forth.

In fact assuming the character pulls 1 chicken per-battle throughout the day, by the time the character made camp he could just have am unbeatable swarm of chicken.

[Lolzords]

A possible different name for this class could be the Chicken Chaser, but make sure you give him the ability to kick chickens as a weapon. :smallbiggrin:

[Morph Bark]

Actually have you play tested this? Even with a template the fiendish/gigantic/dire/celestial/multi-headed/WINGED :'-D chicken is STILL an animal(an augmented one) which means that the character will still be able to use his/her, "Handle Animal," or, "Animal Empathy," skill/ability on the chickens. Using the "push animal" application of the skill would allow the, "Chicken Master," to order the chicken to do any one thing(per check) such as, attack, run, fly, carry, hunt, so on and so forth.

Yeap! That's kind of the point/idea here. :smallbiggrin:

I haven't playtested it though, admittably. Not much room in my current games for that, sadly.


In fact assuming the character pulls 1 chicken per-battle throughout the day, by the time the character made camp he could just have am unbeatable swarm of chicken.

I wouldn't say unbeatable. The chicken still all only deal 1 point of damage, have 2 hp and have terrible to-hit, especially for a level 7 character (which you'd be at minimum once you'd hit Chicken Master 5). Although I do think it'd be more than 1 chicken per-battle, or even out-of-battle...

The pros of this PrC are mostly hilarity, scouting ability and never needing to go without food - unless the character is a vegetarian or can't handle raw meat and has no access to fire.


A possible different name for this class could be the Chicken Chaser, but make sure you give him the ability to kick chickens as a weapon. :smallbiggrin:

...oh god, it took me literally two times reading over that post (with a break in-between to get a drink) to get that joke.

Chicken Chaser could be a feat for this, maybe.


At any rate, if you like this PrC, see the follow-op here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=170098)!

[DracoDei]

I have something that is PERFECT to go with this class... NO idea how why it took me so long to link this...
Presenting the perfect diety for a Chicken Master to worship...
CLUCKZOR (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=145296)!
Err... might I copy-paste it into a spoiler so people can tell me if the match really is as good as I think it is?

[Thugorp]

I don't know if you have ever heard of it but this actually reminds me a lot of the, "Eggplant Master." (i can post it if you wish) Also, would you mind if I made a 20 level base class off these prcs?

[Morph Bark]

I have something that is PERFECT to go with this class... NO idea how why it took me so long to link this...
Presenting the perfect diety for a Chicken Master to worship...
CLUCKZOR (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=145296)!
Err... might I copy-paste it into a spoiler so people can tell me if the match really is as good as I think it is?

It's a fine enough match. I remember you linking that in my thread on chicken stats, though when thinking of deities, first came to mind She Who Clucks (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=92025).


I don't know if you have ever heard of it but this actually reminds me a lot of the, "Eggplant Master." (i can post it if you wish) Also, would you mind if I made a 20 level base class off these prcs?

You can post it, though it'd be best if you made a seperate thread for that, of course.

A 20 level base class? That's... well, I'm not sure how you'd pull it off, but I say go for it. Please do give credit where credit is due though; and maybe link to the PrCs so reviewers can compare our material. :smallsmile:

[DracoDei]

It's a fine enough match. I remember you linking that in my thread on chicken stats, though when thinking of deities, first came to mind She Who Clucks (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=92025).
Yeah, for some reason I thought Cluckzor was a flat-out better match... can't remember why, and actually the correct answer is "Both!" since the allowed alignments for their clerics probably don't overlap at all (clerics of Cluckzor can only be Chaotic Good, where-as clerics of She-Who-Clucks probably can't ge Good).

[Thugorp]

Of course I will Give credit where it is due, and will link to your stuff, and I will post the eggplant master separately and just link it here(it is not my creation ether actually, I make it a habit of saving especially good home-brew stuff to my computers because net hosts(koff wotc koff koff) have a tendency to lose such things.(all of your chicken ones are already saved plus your barn lord)

Also, Dracodie I compliantly agree that yours is a better match, She Who Clucks could be interesting but it is to bogged down in gamer hummer to work in a game that is not based around gamer hummer where as Cluckzorz could work in any(slightly light harted) game.

Also I would like to suggest that otherfarmerly heritage be usable more than once per-day.

[Morph Bark]

Yeah, for some reason I thought Cluckzor was a flat-out better match... can't remember why, and actually the correct answer is "Both!" since the allowed alignments for their clerics probably don't overlap at all (clerics of Cluckzor can only be Chaotic Good, where-as clerics of She-Who-Clucks probably can't ge Good).

Shame there won't be chicken Paladins then.

...should I make me a Lawful Good chicken god? I think I should. :smallamused:


Of course I will Give credit where it is due, and will link to your stuff, and I will post the eggplant master separately and just link it here(it is not my creation ether actually, I make it a habit of saving especially good home-brew stuff to my computers because net hosts(koff wotc koff koff) have a tendency to lose such things.(all of your chicken ones are already saved plus your barn lord)

Heh, awesome. Don't forget that the *Barngod is not finished yet, and I intend to update it soon with many more Sizeabilities and fluff - or at least the former.


Also I would like to suggest that otherfarmerly heritage be usable more than once per-day.

1/day is already fair, I think, especially since you can keep the chicken around until the end of the day, unless it dies of course... a feat might work for this.

[Cieyrin]

Shame there won't be chicken Paladins then.

...should I make me a Lawful Good chicken god? I think I should. :smallamused:

Well, that depends, really, considering the Realms have Paladins of chaotic gods like Sune running about, it would really depend on how you describe said god that you could possibly scrape by paladins of other chaotic deities. Either that or just run with a Paladin of Freedom or a Sacred Harrier.

[Thugorp]

1/day is already fair, I think, especially since you can keep the chicken around until the end of the day, unless it dies of course... a feat might work for this.

If you don't mind I would like to retort, but first, I wish to say that I do so with the utmost respect, if you want I will delete this reply, further, at any point in discussion of this topic just tell me that you no longer wish to continue discussion of the issue and I will stop with apologies_ this is your topic after all.

Please consider the following: Someone starting this Prc must be second level, when they finish they will be seventh level, and when they first get, "Otherfarmly Heritage," they will be fifth level. Otherfarmly Heritage-I, at BEST along with all of the, "Bread For Purpose," abilities could raze a chicken's C.R. to about 1.5. so at fifth level a chicken Master can accidentally stumble across a 1.5 CR monster 1/day. At the same level a Bard could summon a monster with CR2 at least 1/day; a Cleric could summon 3-9(not including bonus spells) CR2 monsters per-day; a Druid could summon 3-5 CR2 creatures per-day; a Sorcerer could summon CR2 creatures 4/day; and finally a wizard could summon 3-5 CR2 monsters in a day. It is also worth noting, that with the exception of the bard and the sorcerer(with no bonus spells) all of these characters could summon a CR3 monster instead of 1d3 CR2 monsters during a day. Additionally, even the fifth level paladin and ranger can summon creatures about as powerful as a fifth-level Otherfarmly-I chicken 1/day. The difference in strength only gets more pronounced as levels increase.
There are two things that I can think of that would make this not so big an issue. First, change Bread For Purpose(feats) so that both of a chickens feet(pun intended) may be swopped out, instead of only the non-racial-bonus feat(this would allow for SOME combowing). Second, I suggest that Otherfarmly Heritage be changed to read like this:

Otherfarmly Heritage: Starting at level 3, 1/day per two character levels, a Chicken Master can, before drawing a weapon or pulling out an item, declare that he will summon forth a chicken the likes of which none has ever seen! If he pulls out a chicken instead of the item or weapon, the chicken can have a template applied to it that increases its CR by no more than 1. If he pulls out the item or weapon successfully, he does not expend a daily usage of this ability. A chicken with the Otherfarmly Heritage disappears at dusk.

At fifth level the Chicken Master can apply templates that increases a chicken’s CR by no more than 2.


I would also probably suggest making the amount/power of (the)template(s) scale with level as well[...as how many times per-day templated chickens could be summoned](partly because I think it would be funny to see, a two-headed, fiendish, half-dragon chicken that for some reason has the "Winged," template added on as well 8- o) but that might be a discussion for another day.

[Thugorp]

And here is the link to the Eggplant Mater! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=170336)


Heh, awesome. Don't forget that the *Barngod is not finished yet, and I intend to update it soon with many more Sizeabilities and fluff - or at least the former..

Oh, I am looking forward to you finishing the Barngod, the sooner you finish it the sooner I can save your final version and then use it to make my base class.(or will it be an 18 level Prc???) :-)

[Morph Bark]

Added a paragraph to Otherfarmly Heritage.

[Benly]

I remember this one time I was playing a Dread Necromancer with a pile of Corpsecrafting feats and the DM wouldn't let me start with any corpses I couldn't reasonably buy so I had a Portable Hole full of supercharged skelechickens.

What I'm getting at is that there is insufficient support here for necropoulters.

[Thugorp]

How did those super-charged chicken skeletons work out for you?

[Benly]

How did those super-charged chicken skeletons work out for you?

Alarmingly well. We used raven stats minus the flight speed. Since corpsecrafter feats apply flat bonuses, they work very well with huge swarms of crappity critters. In particular, the one that grants cold damage means that their terrible peck damage becomes quite good for their HD, and Destruction Retribution meant that a swarmed enemy was essentially standing in an aggressive minefield.

PS, I'm working on a relevant PrC now because I am bored and insomniac.

Edit: Here it is. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=9460013)

[Thugorp]

Thats pretty cool, could you imagin what would happen if a Chicken Master and a Dread Necro. teamed up!

[DracoDei]

Given that both She Who Clucks and Cluckzor are Chaotic (at least I THINK She Who Clucks is CE), I think I can see a need for a Lawful diety of chickens... someone must enforce The Great Pecking Order of the universe after all...

[Thugorp]

Hay, I am still making that 20 level progression of this P.R.C. and I am at the point where I am wrighting up Otherfarmly Heritage, I am wondering what the reason for this part of the ability was: "but if he uses the second daily use of this ability while the chicken he pulled out with the first daily use of it is still alive, the second chicken must have the same template applied to it as the first." :smallconfused:

[Morph Bark]

I did that as I wasn't all that fond of the Chicken Master having two chickens with wildly different templates running around. A celestial chicken and a fiendish chicken would probably try to kill one another due to their imposed alignment, and a fire and water chicken would cancel one another out. Plus there was the thought that wherever the Chicken Master got them from, the chickens would have a bond tying them together somehow, so the Chicken Master couldn't get chickens from a different Otherworld while the first still exists, like some sort of contract with that Otherworld.

Also, new PrC here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=175194). I am also going to start a PbP campaign with the Flaw-based PrCs soon, so if you want in, do tell so I can PM you once the recruit/interest thread is up.

[Thugorp]

Oh, dude I SOOOO DO want in!

[blackjack217]

Needs the battle cry su:LEROOOOOOOY JENKINS

[TenRedCats]

Could a halfling Chicken Master pull out a half-minotaur chicken and ride it?

[Toptomcat]

Disturbingly interesting feats to give your chickens with Bred for Purpose: Shape Soulmeld (try Dissolving Spittle to give each chicken a ranged touch attack for 1d6 acid damage), Open Minded (any five ranks in whatever weird skills you want...your random pocket chicken now knows five languages, for instance), any of the prerequisiteless 'gain three mediocre spell-like abilities 1/day' feats from Complete Arcane (telekinetic chickens, magic-detecting chickens, Ghost-Sounding chickens), Wild Talent (gain any 1st-level psionic power and 1 pp), any of the Domain feats from Complete Champion (flaming chickens, chickens with protective auras, chickens with adamantine slam attacks), Martial Study (Kung-fu chickens!)...basically anything without prerequisites.

I think that first-level ability is the most powerful in the entire class, actually.

[DracoDei]

If you try to decrease a chicken's charisma by 8 with Bred for the Purpose, does the ability fail, or does the charisma drop to 1? Because in many cases I could see that as being a pretty good way to get +8 to one ability score for no real cost. Of course, there would be times (chickens with SLAs) when you wouldn't want to do this, but in general it could be pretty good. If nothing else you could dump it into whatever save-effecting stat you think will be most useful.

[Toptomcat]

Why wouldn't it just drop it to 0 and render it unconcious like normal Cha damage/penalties?

[Morph Bark]

Needs the battle cry su:LEROOOOOOOY JENKINS

Heh. Well you could always create an NPC with that name and have him fluff-wise be a paladin of Cocklesworth, the LN god of pecking orders. :smallwink:


Could a halfling Chicken Master pull out a half-minotaur chicken and ride it?

Doubtful, since mounts generally must have more than two legs to be able to be used - unless they are more than one size category bigger than you. At least I'd rule that way, with a few highly specific exceptions perhaps. Plus, I'm not even sure if half-minotaur is applicable to chickens.


Disturbingly interesting feats to give your chickens with Bred for Purpose: Shape Soulmeld (try Dissolving Spittle to give each chicken a ranged touch attack for 1d6 acid damage), Open Minded (any five ranks in whatever weird skills you want...your random pocket chicken now knows five languages, for instance), any of the prerequisiteless 'gain three mediocre spell-like abilities 1/day' feats from Complete Arcane (telekinetic chickens, magic-detecting chickens, Ghost-Sounding chickens), Wild Talent (gain any 1st-level psionic power and 1 pp), any of the Domain feats from Complete Champion (flaming chickens, chickens with protective auras, chickens with adamantine slam attacks), Martial Study (Kung-fu chickens!)...basically anything without prerequisites.

I think that first-level ability is the most powerful in the entire class, actually.

To be honest, Shape Soulmeld was one of the feats I held in mind when I came up with that. :smallamused:

The language thing would not work though, since it'd need an Int of 3 or higher for those. The ones that grant cantrips (if the chickens qualify, I figure they have Cha prereqs) aren't too strong and I figure that that would make a Chicken Master basically like a 1st-level Warlock in some sense.


If you try to decrease a chicken's charisma by 8 with Bred for the Purpose, does the ability fail, or does the charisma drop to 1? Because in many cases I could see that as being a pretty good way to get +8 to one ability score for no real cost. Of course, there would be times (chickens with SLAs) when you wouldn't want to do this, but in general it could be pretty good. If nothing else you could dump it into whatever save-effecting stat you think will be most useful.

It would fail. If you don't pay the cost, you don't get the benefit.