Knowledge: Cockbreeding?

[Piedmon_Sama]

For my latest character in an upcoming campaign, I wanted to play a Rogue who breeds fighting c ocks (¬¬) and fields them in live competition. This has given me a few questions....

1. How much would it cost to feed and keep a family of hens and chicks?

2. How long does a rooster typically take to mature? (I'd think it wouldn't be more than a year or two...)

3. What's the price of spurs?

4. What skills would this trade depend on? Would Profession [Cockbreeder] determine my ability to win (e.g make money) at this, or would Handle Animal make more sense?

[Dhavaer]

1. Probably not much. One chicken costs 2cp, and you can get a pound of wheat for 1cp. You could probably spend 1sp a week or less.

2. Not long. One of my cousins got a pet chicken, which grew very large in a few months (very large being difficult to hold in both hands, maybe the size of a medium-small dog).

3. Maybe a few silvers.

4. Profession might give bonuses to the animals' physical abilities, Handle Animal would be needed to teach them to fight.

[The Vorpal Tribble]

I've raised poultry for some thirteen years or so (never fought them of course, just keep them as a hobby), let me see here...


1. How much would it cost to feed and keep a family of hens and chicks? Far less than a horse. I'd say a hen and a dozen chicks could live on a copper per week. A grown, healthy rooster though would eat probably twice that much.



2. How long does a rooster typically take to mature? (I'd think it wouldn't be more than a year or two...)Completely mature? Yeah, about a year, though they'll be jumping the hens at half that age.



3. What's the price of spurs?Metal spurs? Beats me, though shouldn't be much. Less than a dagger for sure. I'd go for 5 silver for both, tops.



4. What skills would this trade depend on? Would Profession [Cockbreeder] determine my ability to win (e.g make money) at this, or would Handle Animal make more sense?Definetely handle animal as it would require training. Profession (cockbreeding) however I'd say would allow you to appraise the worth and deadliness of certain birds, the best of the chicks, good breeding stock, health of the birds, quality of feed, etc.


Btw, I statted up a gamecock long ago if interested:
Gamecock (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=338980)

[Piedmon_Sama]

K00. I'll suggest 2 lb. of wheat a week should be enough to keep a healthy **** plus a hen and some chicks well fed. The distribution of skills you suggested sounds good... hopefully my rogue will never lack for scrounging money so long as he's got these skills to back him up...

EDIT: Oh, great job on those stats VT. I'll ask if we can use these too. Maybe for a slow session or two the party will be able to stop by the arena and watch a few fights...

[Brickwall]

My bets is that Handle Animal takes care of pretty much everything skill-wise. Kinda what it's there for. If this were a White Wolf game or one of a few other systems, you could take a skill specialty to handle uhh, chickens better, but other than that, you're stuck with Handle Animal.

[Ikkitosen]

Just don't breed giant racing chocobos chickens.

[The Vorpal Tribble]

EDIT: Oh, great job on those stats VT. I'll ask if we can use these too. Maybe for a slow session or two the party will be able to stop by the arena and watch a few fights...
I once ran a session where a party of 1st level characters were investigating some strangeness in this rural area, animals attacking their handlers and such.

Well, the mayor of this town invites them to a cockfight he's hosting that evening and the players are looking about the farm. They go into the barn to look over the fighting birds when the farmdog comes along, nudges shut the door, and then pulls the latch down.

The roosters then open up their own cages and the players are quickly beset by half a dozen of them.

Was one of my favorite battles ever. They could hardly land a blow on the birds, while the ***** were giving them little tiny wounds that was beginning to add up. The half-orc paladin was actually reduced to minus hit points and one of the others had to stabilize him.

Basically a druid was messing with the townspeople and had an amulet that let him charm low-HD animals. Was great fun.

[Ikkitosen]

Awesome - go Animal Farm!

[Piedmon_Sama]

Brutal. Why is it that the guys with the biggest HD usually suffer ignominous defeat the most?

[The_Snark]

Because they're inclined to run into melee combat so often.

Defeated by chickens, though... that must sting the ego a bit.

[Demented]

Weapons don't get cheaper than 1 gp, if they aren't free.

[Piedmon_Sama]

I'm pretty sure a cockspur doesn't really count as a 'weapon' in the normal sense....

[mikeejimbo]

Wow, VT, those sound pretty foul.

*rimshot*

[F.H. Zebedee]

Now, what about enchanted vorpal spurs or such? That could get very ugly.

What about Awakening the rooster? I think making it more intelligent could be an odd way of getting an edge.

Other things that need to be considered about D&D cockfighting is if people would try to get away with casting buffs on their birds before fights, and such things like that. (Bluff checks for cheating, would it be, or some knowledge check for an official?)

[Hallavast]

:smallannoyed: I'm compelled to say that profession sounds like a more likely skill than knowledge for this particular ... endeavor. Handle animal wouldn't hurt either. I'm also compelled to say such a character had better not have a good alignment written upon their sheet.

[Dervag]

The roosters then open up their own cages and the players are quickly beset by half a dozen of them.

Was one of my favorite battles ever. They could hardly land a blow on the birds, while the ***** were giving them little tiny wounds that was beginning to add up. The half-orc paladin was actually reduced to minus hit points and one of the others had to stabilize him.

Basically a druid was messing with the townspeople and had an amulet that let him charm low-HD animals. Was great fun.Oh my God... that gives me flashbacks to playing Ocarina of Time on my N64 and the dreaded 'Mass Cuckoo Attack."

That's scary!

[Iituem]

Awakening the (male chickens)? Well, you'd be able to train them in Fighter classes. Otherwise, I think you'd have to go with normal 'gamecock' progression.

[Piedmon_Sama]

Now, what about enchanted vorpal spurs or such? That could get very ugly.

What about Awakening the rooster? I think making it more intelligent could be an odd way of getting an edge.

Other things that need to be considered about D&D cockfighting is if people would try to get away with casting buffs on their birds before fights, and such things like that. (Bluff checks for cheating, would it be, or some knowledge check for an official?)

Good call. I suppose either they'd give the judge the Spellcraft skill to see if either competitor's been "enhanced," or perhaps the gaming commission would simply keep a low-level wizard with Detect Magic on hand.

Also there should probably be some pretty stiff penalties for cheating--some gentlemen might pay a visit to your place of residence to have some words with you. Gaming commissions do not often employ the most understanding people....

[mikeejimbo]

Or the judge would BE a low-level wizard :D

[pestilenceawaits]

I had a second ed character that had a side business breeding all kinds of animals maybe your DM will let you make a small profit.