The Chicken-Infested Were-Chicken Thread

[mattie_p]

So, I a recent Iron Chef competition, I entered Sentrosi (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=16084519&postcount=279), a chicken-infested Strongheart Halfling Were-Chicken / Commoner 1 / Death Master 6 / Thrall of Orcus 10.

Here's the full entry, if you were too lazy to click the link above:


http://www.goatgarden.com/images/chickens.jpg
Sentrosi the Death Chicken
Sentrosi was born to a poor family of dirt farmers in the Midlands. In addition to raising dirt, her family had a small flock of chickens, which she eventually bonded with. She loved her chickens more than life itself. She would spend all of her free time with them, finding weeds and bugs for them to eat. She often slept in the coop with the chickens on hot afternoons. They would often peck at her, lovingly she thought, until one day a strange rooster appeared in the coop. It pecked her fiercly, drawing blood. After she ran home, she told her family. They followed her to the coop, but the strange and awful chicken was not there.

Then bandits came and took all of her family's dirt, leaving behind only the chickens and slaughtering her family. How she survived, she didn't know, at least at first. As she stood in the ashes of her cottage, destroyed by an evil sorcerer who accompanied the bandits, she swore revenge on everyone and especially on all magic users. She left her home, followed only by her flock.



White Meat
Sentrosi, NE Strongheart Halfling Were-Chicken / Commoner 1 / Death Master 6 / Thrall of Orcus 9
{table=head] Level | Class|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Skills| Feats|Class Features
1st | Commoner |
+0 |
+0 |
+0 |
+0 | Control shape 4 Craft (Pottery) 4 Handle Animal 4 Listen 4 Profession (Dirt Farmer) 4 Spot 4 | Chicken Infested, Evil Brand |
2nd | LA |
+0 |
+0 |
+0 |
+0 | | | Wis +2, natural armor +2, alternate form (Chicken), low-light vision, shapechanger subtype, Were-chicken feat (Alertness)
3rd | LA |
+0 |
+0 |
+0 |
+0 | | | Alternate form (hybrid), chicken empathy, damage reduction (5/silver), were-chicken feats (Iron Will, Weapon Finesse)
4th | Animal HD (Chicken) |
+0 |
+2 |
+2 |
+0 | Control Shape 5 Handle Animal 4.5 Listen 5 Knowledge (Nature) 1 Spot 5 | | Str -10, Dex +4, Claws
5th | Death Master 1 |
+0 |
+2 |
+2 |
+2 | Control Shape 6 Concentration 2 Knowledge (Arcana) 1 Knowledge (Religion) 1 Spellcraft 1 | Lichloved | Rebuke Undead, spells, undead minion
6th | Death Master 2 |
+1 |
+2 |
+2 |
+3 | Control Shape 7 Concentration 4 Knowledge (Arcana) 2 Knowledge (Religion) 2 Spellcraft 2 | |
7th | Death Master 3 |
+2 |
+3 |
+3 |
+3 | Control Shape 8 Concentration 6 Knowledge (Arcana) 3 Knowledge (Religion) 3 Spellcraft 3 | |
8th | Death Master 4 |
+3 |
+3 |
+3 |
+4 | Control Shape 9 Concentration 8 Knowledge (Arcana) 4 Knowledge (Religion) 4 Spellcraft 4 | Thrall to Demon |
9th | Death Master 5 |
+3 |
+3 |
+3 |
+4 | Control Shape 10 Concentration 10 Knowledge (Arcana) 5 Knowledge (Religion) 5 Spellcraft 5 | | Master of the dead
10th | Death Master 6 |
+4 |
+4 |
+4 |
+5 | Control Shape 11 Concentration 11 Knowledge (Arcana) 6 Knowledge (Religion) 6 Spellcraft 7 | |
11th | Thrall of Orcus 1 |
+5 |
+6 |
+4 |
+7 | Control Shape 12 Concentration 12 Knowledge (Arcana) 7 Knowledge (Religion) 7 Spellcraft 9 | Lycanthropic Spell | Carrion Stench
12th | Thrall of Orcus 2 |
+6 |
+7 |
+4 |
+8 | Control Shape 13 Concentration 13 Knowledge (Arcana) 8 Knowledge (Religion) 8 Spellcraft 11 | | Touch of fear
13th | Thrall of Orcus 3 |
+7 |
+7 |
+5 |
+8 | Control Shape 14 Concentration 14 Knowledge (Arcana) 9 Knowledge (Religion) 9 Spellcraft 13 | | Demon wings
14th | Thrall of Orcus 4 |
+8 |
+8 |
+5 |
+9 | Control Shape 15 Concentration 15 Knowledge (Arcana) 10 Knowledge (Religion) 10 Spellcraft 15 | Divine Defiance | Massive girth
15th | Thrall of Orcus 5 |
+9 |
+8 |
+5 |
+9 | Control Shape 16 Concentration 16 Knowledge (Arcana) 12 Knowledge (Religion) 11 Spellcraft 16 | | Summon minor undead
16th | Thrall of Orcus 6 |
+10 |
+9 |
+6 |
+10 | Control Shape 17 Concentration 17 Knowledge (Arcana) 14 Knowledge (Religion) 12 Spellcraft 17 | | Pallor of death
17th | Thrall of Orcus 7 |
+11 |
+9 |
+6 |
+10 | Control Shape 18 Concentration 18 Knowledge (Arcana) 16 Knowledge (Religion) 13 Spellcraft 18 | Willing Deformity | Demon wings (at will)
18th | Thrall of Orcus 8 |
+12 |
+10 |
+6 |
+11 | Control Shape 19 Concentration 19 Knowledge (Arcana) 18 Knowledge (Religion) 14 Spellcraft 19 | | Death touch
19th | Thrall of Orcus 9 |
+13 |
+10 |
+7 |
+11 | Control Shape 20 Concentration 20 Knowledge (Arcana) 20 Knowledge (Religion) 15 Spellcraft 20 | | Summon major undead
20th | Thrall of Orcus 10 |
+14 |
+11 |
+7 |
+12 | Control Shape 21 Concentration 21 Knowledge (Arcana) 21 Knowledge (Religion) 17 Spellcraft 21 | Heighten Spell | Summon nightwing [/table]



Dark Meat
Spells per day/Spells Known
{table=head]Level|0lvl|1st|2nd|3rd|4th|5th|6th|7th|8th|9th


1st|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

2nd|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

3rd|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

4th|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

5th|3|1|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

6th|4|2|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

7th|4|2|1|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

8th|4|3|2|-|-|-|-|-|-|-

9th|4|3|2|1|-|-|-|-|-|-

10th|4|3|3|2|-|-|-|-|-|-

11th|4|4|3|2|1|-|-|-|-|-

12th|4|4|3|2|1|-|-|-|-|-

13th|4|4|3|2|1|-|-|-|-|-

14th|4|4|3|3|2|-|-|-|-|-

15th|4|4|3|3|2|-|-|-|-|-

16th|4|4|3|3|2|-|-|-|-|-

17th|4|4|4|3|2|1|-|-|-|-

18th|4|4|4|3|2|1|-|-|-|-

19th|4|4|4|3|2|1|-|-|-|-

20th|4|4|4|3|3|2|-|-|-|-
[/table]

Commonly used spells include animate dead (level 2) and dispel magic (level 3, later heightened and used in slots for spell levels 4 and 5)




The gizzard
Starting Stats: Str 12, Dex 8, Con 14, Int 18, Wis 8, Cha 14
Template: +2 Wis
Levels: All to Int
Final (without items) Str 12, Dex 8, Con 14, Int 22, Wis 18, Cha 14



Break down that bird:
Levels 1-5: Sentrosi survives her initial levels due to hiding with her chickens. When confronted, she fights, using her chicken allies as a "white-meat"-shield to protect herself, and using her DR to help protect against direct damage. She learns a few spells, not many though, as a Deathmaster.

Levels 6-10: Sentrosi sells her soul to Orcus for revenge. She continues to grow in power, learning to animate dead corpses and to dispel magic. Typically she relies upon her allies to fight and do damage, while she readies actions to counterspell any casters, sending her undead minions to fight and protect her while she casts.

Levels 11-15: Sentrosi's camouflage is complete - she can cast spells while in chicken form, meaning all foes see is a bunch of chickens clucking and scratching on the ground while their spells are counterspelled. Because of divine defiance, she can counter twice as many spells per round as she was formerly able to, should she ready an action to do so.

Levels 16-20: Sentrosi and her undead minions continue their rampage. She is the magic against her foes magic, while her minions and undead summons are the steel against their steel. Because honestly, who believes the chicken is behind all of it?

Are you kidding me? A were-chicken?!?

No, this is legitimate.


This animal can be any predator, scavenger, or omnivore whose size is within one size category of the base creature’s size.

As a halfling, Sentrosi can go to size tiny.


The Common Raven has coexisted with humans for thousands of years and in some areas have been so numerous that they are considered a pest. Part of its success comes from its omnivorous diet.


These glossy black birds are about 2 feet long and have wingspans of about 4 feet. They combine both claws into a single attack. The statistics presented here can describe most nonpredatory birds of similar size.


Chickens are omnivores.

So chickens can use the same stats as a Raven (size timy), and as omnivores, qualify for the animal side of a lycanthrope.




Sources:
Faiths and Pantheons: Lycanthropic Spell Feat
MM: Control Shape Skill, Were-RavenChicken
Fiendish Codex II: Divine Defiance feat
Dragon Magazine Compendium: Death Master
Book of Vile Darkness: Thrall to Orcus, Evil Brand, Lichloved, Thrall to Demon
Dragon Magazine #330: Chicken Infested Flaw Feat
Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting: Strongheart Halfling
Sword of Truth Novels: Inspiration behind sentrosi (a chime)


I'd like to improve on this concept, and develop a were-chicken that could truly be a BBEG. If you are familiar with Sword of Truth, this is one of the chimes who likes to destroy magic. So I focused on dispelling.

Since we're no longer bound by Thrall of Orcus, I can fit more class levels of whatever in there. I was thinking cleric of tenebrous / binder 5 (with improved binding) / tenebrous apostate. Using tenebrous' rebukes to fuel divine defiance (able to counterspell as an immediate action).

Where else should I go with this?

I need to add Planar Touchstone (Catalogues of Enlightenment: Inquisition Domain), probably servitude to an elder evil for bonus vile feats.

[Snowbluff]

Hi Mattie.

The binder rebuke only works once every five rounds. It could be argued that using it to fuel a feat would trigger the CD, making it less effective for counterspelling.

[Toy Killer]

Are chicken's carnivorous? Isn't that a requirement to be applicable for the Were animal template?

[TuggyNE]

Are chicken's carnivorous? Isn't that a requirement to be applicable for the Were animal template?

No, it's not.
This animal can be any predator, scavenger, or omnivore whose size is within one size category of the base creature’s size (Small, Medium, or Large for a Medium base creature).

[Toy Killer]

Correction, are chickens Omnivorous?

[fluke1993]

Given that they are capable of cannibalism I would say so.

[Kennisiou]

Yes actually! Insects and plants and even some actual meat.

[mattie_p]

Hi Mattie.

The binder rebuke only works once every five rounds. It could be argued that using it to fuel a feat would trigger the CD, making it less effective for counterspelling.

I'm not sure what you mean by CD? Sentrosi will have rebukes from cleric levels anyway, so if you are talking about losing class features she'll retain them due to the base number of turns. Also, the turn/rebuke ability in Tenebrous Apostate specifically states they can be used for divine feats.

(the ability to be a were-chicken is handled above, and also in the spoiled entry under "break down that bird!")
---------------------------------------------------

Anyway, so this is what I have right now, through ECL 15 (LA will be bought off, but for simplicity I'm just posting this for now).

A couple of notes: I'm the DM, so I can approve things that need to be houseruled (like lycanthropic spell). Rebuilding rules from PHBII are utilized, after qualifying for Tenebrous Apostate, because we don't need actual binder levels, only effective binder levels. Potential to use DCFS. This will be a BBEG (or a SBEC - Small Bad Evil Chicken?) so some mild shenanigans are permitted.

CE Strongheart Halfling Inherited Were-chicken

Level 1: Commoner 1 (2 feats available) (Also probably dedicated to Elder Evil)

Levels 2-4: Lycanthrope LA +3 (Inherited template -> Wis +2, Nat Armor +2, bonus feats: alertness, iron will, weapon finesse, DR 10/silver)

Level 5: Binder 1 (Binder level 1)

Level 6: Binder 2 (Binder level 2)-> Rebuilt to C. Cleric 5 at ECL 15 (Feat: Improved Binding -> requires 4 ranks intimidate)

Level 7: Binder 3 (Binder level 3)-> Rebuilt to C. Cleric 4 at ECL 14

Level 8: Binder 4 (Binder level 4)-> Rebuilt to C. Cleric 3 at ECL 13

Level 9: Binder 5 (Binder level 5)-> Rebuilt to C. Cleric 2 at ECL 12 (Feat: Lycanthropic Spell from Faiths and Pantheons (3.0, houseruled that improved control shape is not required as it used to be a bonus feat for lycanthropes)

Level 10: C. Cleric of Tenebrous 1 (Binder level 5, Cleric level 1)

Level 11: Tenebrous Apostate 1 (Binder level 5, Cleric level 1)

Level 12: Tenebrous Apostate 2 (effective Binder level 6, effective Cleric level 2, B5, C3 after rebuild, this ensures we remain qualified for TA) (Planar touchstone[Catalogues of Enlightment: Inquisition Domain])

Level 13: Tenebrous Apostate 3 (effective Binder level 6, effective Cleric level 4, B5, C5 after rebuild) (Also, prior to rebuild, maybe we DCFS the bonus binder feat to something good, just cuz?)

Level 14: Tenebrous Apostate 4 (effective Binder level 6, effective Cleric level 6, B5, C7 after rebuild)

Level 15: Tenebrous Apostate 5 (effective Binder level 6, effective Cleric level 8, effective B5, effective C9 after rebuild) (Divine Defiance)

So I have 5-8 levels to play with remaining, I'd like to max cleric casting for this so there'd better be a good reason to drop caster advancement in an additional prestige class(es).

What prestige classes should I look at? Preferably ones that use feats already utilized or gained from the Lycanthrope template (unless I decide to DCFS them).

Also, have two feats at level 1 available (its a commoner level, so beware of pre-reqs. I'll probably count Chicken Infested as a feat, not a flaw, so maybe 1 feat available at level 1), as well as potential for up to 5 bonus [Vile] feats and up to two additional feats from levels.

Two domains available: selected from Death, Chaos, Evil, and Trickery. Which options do you prefer?

[dysprosium]

Two domains available: selected from Death, Chaos, Evil, and Trickery. Which options do you prefer?

If you want to have shenanigans pick Trickery Domain and trade it for Trickery Devotion. Multiple copies of yourself for the win.

Death Devotion would probably be my other pick.

Complete Divine web enhancement had a prestige class for lycanthrope clerics: Moon Guardian. It's for good clerics that get turned against their will but work through it anyway. 3/5 or 2/5 casting though. And you'd have to refluff it.

[mattie_p]

Trickery devotion is probably going to happen - considering that Sentrosi already disguises herself in a swarm of nearly identical creatures, why not add one more level of misdirection? I could take that as a feat, though, I do have at least one spare available.

I'm not sure we need another devotion feat beyond that (trickery) though (are there any cloistered clerics that don't take knowledge devotion?)

Any other suggestions? Especially for prestige classes. Strangely enough, Moon Guardian grants Natural spell as a bonus feat, despite a lycanthrope not meeting the prerequisites or gaining any benefit from the feat. Not only that, lost caster levels (Sentrosi looses enough already :smallfrown:)

[mattie_p]

Moon guardian won't work for this concept, even with refluffing. I prefer to refluff within the RAW, not outside, and I'd have to homebrew a "dark side of the moon guardian" in order for it to work with this concept. I'll keep looking, but other ideas would be appreciated.

[Caligstro Smith]

Chicken Infested is actually a flaw, so you know. So really you have two more feats free than you thought (the one you spent on Chicken Infested and the one you get from TAKING Chicken Infested).

As soon as I saw the "magic against magic" and "steel against steel" I knew we had a SoT fan here. :smallbiggrin: I was thinking of the chimes with the dispel-magic chickens, so I'm glad it was intended.

You might want to look into getting other anti-magic spells though, like AMF, Forbiddance, etc.

IIRC there are ways to get planar traits to apply to areas of the material plane (semi?)permanently... And I'm pretty sure there's a "magic dead" trait -- maybe look into finding a way to get that? That's perfect for a chimes-SBEC.

It's been quite a while since I read SoT -- do the chimes do anything else besides just permanently sucking magic out of the world?

A note though: Having the Chimes be a BBEG/SBEC might be a bit tricky/awkward in practice. Remember that they weren't something that was directly fought in SoT because you couldn't know where they were -- they were more like a ticking timebomb kind of threat or a force of nature, where you had to find a way to stop their influence. So the key might not be to have your SBEC be really powerful or directly difficult to face, as is the case with most BBEG designs, so much as be super hard to detect/find and catch up to. If you could ever find and catch all the chimes, you'd be set.

[Coidzor]

SoT? :smallconfused: