[3.5] Figurine of Wondrous Power - Jet Alleycat

[Thurbane]

So, this article (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=lg/dndlg/20071127a) mentions a particular Figurine: Jet Alleycat.


Jet Alleycat

“I know for sure that I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for my trusty friend who alerted me to those dastardly ogres.”
- Larst Farisnt, swashbuckling scout

This tiny black figurine is shaped in the form of a watchful cat. Two dark red rubies form its glittering eyes. Rumors of its mysterious origins still echo through the streets of Greyhawk City, but its usefulness is undeniable. Many adventurers covet this figurine, for it is a faithful companion to have when going to sleep at night.

Benefit: When placing the figurine on the ground and uttering the word ‘dispara’ a slender black cat appears (use the cat statistics in the Monster Manual, page 270). It can be used once per week for 8 hours. If the cat is ever slain, it goes back into the figurine form and cannot be used for one week. The jet alleycat will not attack under any circumstances and only runs away to hide. If it senses or sees an intruder it will rouse its master awake by caterwauling (DC 10 Listen check to awaken anyone within 60 feet of the cat). You can only have one jet alleycat in your adventuring party and in your stack at a time. The jet alleycat otherwise functions like other figurines of wondrous power (see the Dungeon Master’s Guide, page 256).
Obviously it is very low-powered compared to most other Figurines (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?615427), summoning a normal cat (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/cat.htm) that won't attack, once/week for 8 hours.

The Silver Raven is the cheapest, summons a normal raven, and can be used up to 24 hours/week that need not be continuous. The cat should be less than that, right?

Thoughts?

Cheers - T

[nedz]

Cute, but only for a party which can't use any of the usual 15 min adventuring day tricks and, even then, it's not much use six days out of seven.

[Thurbane]

Cute, but only for a party which can't use any of the usual 15 min adventuring day tricks and, even then, it's not much use six days out of seven.

Maybe I could price it as a one/week unslotted item of Alarm (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/alarm.htm) or similar?

Or just use 1/3 the cost of the Raven?

[Palanan]

In terms of price point, I wouldn't pay more than 500 gp, given its limitations.

Either that, or give it the same uptime as the silver raven and call it 1000 gp.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Alarm lasts 2 hours/level, so that's CL 4 since it lasts 8 hours.

Command Word activation (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/creatingMagicItems.htm) is spell level 1 x caster level 4 x 1,800 gp = 7,200 gp.

At one charge per day it's 1/5 the normal price, at once per week it should be a further 1/7 of that, or about 206 gp.

[Venger]

This is worse than just having a dog or mundane cat, who exists for 24 hours a day, and can even attack. Since you can befriend and train an animal for free or purchase one at a negligible cost, I don't think I'd ever pay anything for this. Even if I got it as loot, I'd consider it vendor trash to be dumped immediately. If we were in a world's largest dungeon type scenario and couldn't sell stuff after each encounter, I guess I'd use it then if we somehow lacked a 15 minute adventuring day trick and didn't have a party member who didn't sleep.

[Kish]

"In your stack"? What's that?

[Venger]

A term from magic the gathering that a sloppy designer put here out of habit. It has no discrete rules definition in 3.5.

[Tiktakkat]

"Stack" has no definition in 3.5.

It did have a specific definition in the RPGA Mark of Heroes and Xen'drik Expeditions Living Campaigns, where it referred to the "stack" of campaign cards you had available for use during any particular adventure round, and was connected to the number of action points you had available.

In the Living Green Regent and Living Greyhawk campaigns, the limit was based on character level, and the term was not directly used, but carried over from the Eberron campaigns onto some of the later Living Greyhawk cards, such as the Jet Alleycat.

[Telonius]

It's possible the card itself listed the price, but I haven't been able to find any legible images of it. (The broken image links in the archive website probably housed it at one point).

[Thurbane]

OK, so somewhere between 206gp and 1267gp seems fair.

FWIW, I agree it's a pretty useless item, I was just looking for a price for the sake of completeness.

For my own games, if I used it as an item, I would remove the clause about it not attacking (honestly, are there any balance issues having a tiny animal attack? You'd have to buff it like crazy to make it remotely worthwhile), and make it usable for a total of 24 hours per week, same as the Raven.

Side note: I'd rather have a Migrus Locker (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/m-p/migru/) anyway. So freaky and fun.

[Bullet06320]

https://web.archive.org/web/20160313223836/http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=lg/dndlg/20071127a

waybackmachine has the cards still intact, but im not good at blowing up pics all i get is blurry images trying to read them

[Thurbane]

https://web.archive.org/web/20160313223836/http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=lg/dndlg/20071127a

waybackmachine has the cards still intact, but im not good at blowing up pics all i get is blurry images trying to read them

Great call! But sadly, far too blurry to read, even enlarged (for me anyway)...

https://web.archive.org/web/20151009144454im_/http://www.wizards.com/rpga/images/ddc_cclg2_05ja.jpg

Found another, but still tiny:

https://i.imgur.com/2N6EjYj.png

[Telonius]

Yeah, those are the images I found too; unfortunately too low-res for me to see them. Maybe if someone on the boards actually has a copy they'd be able to say. (Google Image search thinks it looks like a spider monkey, so I think we're out of luck).

[noob]

It is super valuable.
Imagine having a cat but the cat is actually helpful and does not tries to convince you to feed it nor create waste.
And unlike the Migrus you can actually show it to normal people (not adventurers) without scaring them forever.