Using haste to breed animals faster

Ad the title says. What are the ramifications for using haste to age animals to a better age for selling.

my take is that the aging caused by haste is unnatural, and represents damage to the body. I decide that when they ask me to use haste to make their young dragon venerable by casting haste on it every day. 

First off, I'd like to mention that I thought you were hasting the ....ah, more direct part of the breeding process, and was gonna suggest scoring that to 'Yakety Sax'.

But, off the top of my head:

  • Cost: Is the cost of the Haste less than the cost of rearing the animal the traditional way
  • Training: You can't train a hasted animal, even with a hasted trainer - the duration of the hasting isn't the same as the amount the animal is aged (it's a DVR skip to 1 year, not a fast-forward, basically). That limits your sale pricing for certain types of animals.
    • That being said, hasting to training age might work out, if there's not a lot of mental difference between the baby and the adolescent/etc.

I could see a case for the reverse "Slow" being advertised as well-aged Kobe-style beef though. :)

Imagine going from child to adult without any of the social and psychological development that occurs through natural aging. 

In the case of animals, by accelerating their aging I'd imagine the animal would either: have the mental maturity of an infant which is useless for most purposes, or even worse the physiology of an adult brain incapable of building certain pathways only found in early development, eg. the theory of language development regarding LAD.  Either way, the result would make the process of magical aging as a "farming tool" rather unfavorable. 

But you can still use it to grow a cow to the ideal slaughter age. They dont have to be smart to be meat. 

On the other hand, reverse aging could have some potential. I know the cost would be greater in resources, but imagine being able to race Secretariat in his prime over a hundred years. I could also see the possibility of buying old animal stock with all the proper training and experience, then reselling them as youthful veterans. 

[quote="Lucasdelsur"]

But you can still use it to grow a cow to the ideal slaughter age. They dont have to be smart to be meat. 

[/quote]

Good point. My mind went immediately into labor animals and not food farming. D&D GMOs. Funny

[quote="koewn"]

First off, I'd like to mention that I thought you were hasting the ....ah, more direct part of the breeding process, and was gonna suggest scoring that to 'Yakety Sax'.

But, off the top of my head:

  • Cost: Is the cost of the Haste less than the cost of rearing the animal the traditional way
  • Training: You can't train a hasted animal, even with a hasted trainer - the duration of the hasting isn't the same as the amount the animal is aged (it's a DVR skip to 1 year, not a fast-forward, basically). That limits your sale pricing for certain types of animals.
    • That being said, hasting to training age might work out, if there's not a lot of mental difference between the baby and the adolescent/etc.

I could see a case for the reverse "Slow" being advertised as well-aged Kobe-style beef though. :)

[/quote]

 

We did some sloppy play through after I asked. Anothy the horse breading wizard has just got a baby horse from his mare and after 6 months it can be trained. He tames it and then starts to teach it to be a warhorse. He rolls an 8 and has +3 from training moddifer and solo training, meaning it can learn 3 more tricks. He spends the 2 months taming it, 2 months teaching it to be a warhorse, 6 weeks teaching it other tricks and 2 weeks to find out it has reached its limit. In total a year as gone by.

He then uses haste on the horse, honestly should take more than 4 uses as it looks like hastes aging is based on race, but in a year and a week or so he has a well trained warhorse for sale. 

[quote="Lucerious"]

Imagine going from child to adult without any of the social and psychological development that occurs through natural aging. 

In the case of animals, by accelerating their aging I'd imagine the animal would either: have the mental maturity of an infant which is useless for most purposes, or even worse the physiology of an adult brain incapable of building certain pathways only found in early development, eg. the theory of language development regarding LAD.  Either way, the result would make the process of magical aging as a "farming tool" rather unfavorable. 

[/quote]

Animals are assumed to start training as a baby, so yeah. Mental ability doesnt come into play that much from what I am reading.

Edit: The reply feature doesn't seem to be working for me.

[quote="Demons_eye"]

Edit: The reply feature doesn't seem to be working for me.

[/quote]

that's a holdover from when the forum used to nest replies.  in long threads things would get ridiculously narrow.

Eating animals that have been magically aged sounds like something that should have unpleasant side-effects.

I guess the logical extension of that kind of overly-rapid growth would be some kind of fantasy version of cancer, and/or potentially turning the cow into an abomination.

[quote="SlipperiestChicken"]

Eating animals that have been magically aged sounds like something that should have unpleasant side-effects.

I guess the logical extension of that kind of overly-rapid growth would be some kind of fantasy version of cancer, and/or potentially turning the cow into an abomination.

[/quote]

At best, some of the hastefulness is still intact, and the meat makes you unusually energetic and quick. Side effects include paranoia, ADHD, the shakes. Highly addictive.

On the other hand, ‘the meat of an animal that was magically aged from baby to adult’ sounds like a great special component for something.

I've actually been pondering a similar question for magically aging humans to maturity. The goal is to rapidly bolster a domain's working population in order to increase its taxable income. (Unethical? Absolutely. Profitable? Likewise.)

I've been thinking of handling it as a permanent transmogrification spell, using the guidelines "Transform to the form of a living creature," "Mental characteristics replaced by new form’s" and possibly "Current form gains proficiency-like ability," but I'm not sure this is the best approach.

[quote="Demons_eye"]

 

 

Imagine going from child to adult without any of the social and psychological development that occurs through natural aging. 

In the case of animals, by accelerating their aging I'd imagine the animal would either: have the mental maturity of an infant which is useless for most purposes, or even worse the physiology of an adult brain incapable of building certain pathways only found in early development, eg. the theory of language development regarding LAD.  Either way, the result would make the process of magical aging as a "farming tool" rather unfavorable. 

 


-Lucerious

 

Animals are assumed to start training as a baby, so yeah. Mental ability doesnt come into play that much from what I am reading.

Edit: The reply feature doesn't seem to be working for me.

[/quote]

My understanding was that the aging effect was being used as early as fertilization to as late as shortly a after birth. My point was the risk to the animal's ability to learn (assuming use beyond a dietary source) would make the spell counterproductive. However, if the point was to use the spell after the animal has had sufficient training, then I wonder why one would want to do that as an animal both youthful and trained is far more valuable. 

This thread really just points out the endlessly fractal nature of rules. Provide game mechanics for creature life spans, creature training, and market value of creatures, and next thing you know, you need rules for the impact of magic on gestation...

ACKS THIRD EDITION IS GOING TO BE A ONE PAGE BLANK PIECE OF PAPER THAT SAYS ROLL 1D6 HIGH ROLL WINS

 

1 Like

what about ties

If the page is blank, then how does it say anything? Also, what if I wanted to use a d8?

[quote="Alex"]

This thread really just points out the endlessly fractal nature of rules. Provide game mechanics for creature life spans, creature training, and market value of creatures, and next thing you know, you need rules for the impact of magic on gestation...

ACKS THIRD EDITION IS GOING TO BE A ONE PAGE BLANK PIECE OF PAPER THAT SAYS ROLL 1D6 HIGH ROLL WINS

[/quote]

I think we just witnessed the struggle that produces so many abstract storygames.

Look, all I know is this 1d6 game seems like it will be the next big thing and I want in! Is there a Kickstarter? How do I go about investing?