Choosing animal companions for ease of mobility, tastiness and nutrition.

[Dannyalcatraz]

Over the fence? That turtle must have great jumping legs.

Nah- it was chain-link, and snapping turtles are actually pretty decent climbers considering they are meat in a shield sandwich, so to a 4 year old, it was entirely believable.

And, BTW, there was a repeat a couple of years later when, returning to New Orleans on a family trip to go to Mardi Gras, I adopted a large crawfish I dubbed Freddie...

Whom I was "walking" when he was picked up and put in the pot.

Creoles...no mercy, us.

 

[Nyaricus]

My mother's advice based on personal experience: It tastes better if you did not give it a name.

MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

 

[Nyaricus]

On a more serious note:

Baleful Polymorph a few cows into toads ahead of time. (Easy to carry, and can't run as fast as a mouse if you drop one, and permanent duration!) When food becomes an issue, dispel the Baleful Polymorph - instant cow!

Next time I play a wizard, I'm going to use this one...

Shrink item + stone to flesh. Instant food for the whole family!

And this one...

Or just the cast create food and water. For you old fuddy-duddies out there.

And just ignore what the fuddy-duddys say



cheers,
--N

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Waitaminit...

What about Animal Growth? I know the duration is in minutes/level...but what happens if you kill the critter- insta-shrink? If not, then I'm sure there are all kinds of ways to extend the duration of the spell to a decent length so that you can cook, eat and digest the parts, & gaining the nutrative value, before the spell ends...

 

[Henrix]

Seriously though, any animal companion, paladin mount, familiar, etc. eaten by the party

You can't eat a paladin's mount, it disappears when killed. And, no, the paladin should not stand idly by while his erstwhile companions carve up his still living mount.

 

[Cor Azer]

Does the predator/prey relationship automatically track to an evil/good anaology?

Isn't Nature served by the predator/prey relationship?

Isn't it the proper and natural role for a prey animal to be eaten by a predator?

What if the animal companion volunteers?

I wasn't trying to link it to a good/evil axis. I wouldn't stop my players from doing such an action, but the consequences would likely be that other animals would no longer willing come near the character (fear of the predator, basically). I admit I'm no zoologist, but I can't think of any animal that consciously* volunteers to be eaten. Rabbits tends not to play around wolves, so to speak.

Isn't there a spell (mayhaps from an earlier edition) that specifically said the caster's intent towards the animal needed to be genuine friendship or some such, and that it couldn't be used to gather food (I paraphrased that a fair bit)?

* I'm aware of a certain breed of spider that gets eaten by its young, but that's because its young hatch within its thorax (or whatever the bulbous part of a spider is called) and the spider has no mechanism for ejecting them. Similarly, most domesticated animals like cows aren't aware enough to realize they might be getting corraled and headed for a slaughterhouse.

 

[Rel]

Reincarnation really outshines Raise Dead in situations like this.

ESPECIALLY since you can Reincarnate them AGAIN from their own leftovers!

You can get a lot of meals out of a Cohort before they run out of Con.

 

[joshuakanton]

ESPECIALLY since you can Reincarnate them AGAIN from their own leftovers!

You can get a lot of meals out of a Cohort before they run out of Con.

This is so wrong.

Roll d100 to see what's on the menu tonight!

 

[lukelightning]

I hear Dire Weasel milk is extremely nutritious.

 

[kenobi65]

I hear Dire Weasel milk is extremely nutritious.

Yes, but milking one without suffering Con drain due to blood loss is a trick.