Haste to age young monsters

My players found some fledging hippogriffs and are in the process of raising/training them to be war mounts, but were very disappointed when they realized that even though they may be *trained* relatively quickly it would be a couple of game years before they'd be ready to serve as mounts. One of the players suggested using Haste to age them. I'm . . . not sure whether to allow it or not. It seems like it is granting an unintentional offensive benefit (in the sense that aging a target could, in theory, be used offensively) to a spell that is already pretty powerful. What do y'all think?

I'd say Haste just ages a target, it doesnt actually make them grow/mature physically let alone mentally.  Even if it did make physical growth, mental growth wouldn't accompany it making for a creature to still have the mentality of a youth (so technically lower intelligence).  As the tricks are based directly on intelligence that wouldnt be an optimal solution.

However it makes for a good concept for a self created spell to research.  Something that essentially accelerates the growth of a creature to that of say over one month the creature grows/matures as if a year has passed.  While the creature also consumes a lot more food and water (or even superior food and water) in the process as it will need something to assist the growth.

More talk on that here:

http://www.autarch.co/forums/general-forums/ask-autarchs/using-haste-breed-animals-faster

Loswaith has a good idea. Something like the ritual Harvest but for animal growth, and you have to pay the same food/water costs that you would if time passed normally. Get them trained first, then quick-age them - you save time and handler cost, essentially. 

If training a monster begins when it's a baby/adolescent, then the monster's mental age is irrelevant.  It's mentally old enough for training. 

It's not clear to me that you couldn't use a trained adolescent monster in whatever role it was trained for.  Aside from physical size, it's ready to do the job once training is complete.

I have no idea how a creature ages without being physically affected.  It seems to me like aging an adolescent would make it move toward adulthood physically.

The only thing that makes me think this wouldn't work is that the description of the Haste spell specifically writes out the effects of the spell on humans, dwarves, and elves.  I could see a Judge saying that Haste won't work on anything other than those three races.

Senescence is different from growth. We combine the two as "aging" in casual speech because both occur over time in order, but it is possible to have growth without senescence, and it is possible to have senescence without growth. What Haste causes is senescence - shortening the telemores, if you'd like, and adding free radicals.

 

 

 

[quote="sulldawga"]

If training a monster begins when it's a baby/adolescent, then the monster's mental age is irrelevant.  It's mentally old enough for training. ...

[/quote]

Training typically occurs when young because the learning is generally absorbed much quicker when they are young and thus developing.  Sure it doesnt really take all that long for the basics of the actions down (relativly speaking), it does take a while for them to get to a consistently proficient level, especially for more complex tasks.  
Likewise even a game as solid as ACKs is still a game and has some aspects abstracted (animal/monster training is little different) and is very generous with the time it takes to train animals, let alone trying to domesticate monsters or wild animals while training them.

I would rule that the aging from haste effectively shortens your lifespan. It does not progress your body and mind as time does, but rather wears it down, thus hastening the point when natural death occurs.

I’ve encountered this with my players. I allowed it, but I force a tampering with mortality roll for each age category a creature ages into. Keeps things interesting.

Man, you guys are no fun. I’d totally allow it, and then have every dragon capable of casting third level spells have used it retroactively to age themselves unto wyrms.

[quote="jedavis"] Man, you guys are no fun. I'd totally allow it, and then have every dragon capable of casting third level spells have used it retroactively to age themselves unto wyrms. [/quote]

I need to implement funny/smart/etc. buttons so I don't have to type out my approval of this post.

[quote="koewn"]

 

Man, you guys are no fun. I'd totally allow it, and then have every dragon capable of casting third level spells have used it retroactively to age themselves unto wyrms.


-jedavis

 

I need to implement funny/smart/etc. buttons so I don't have to type out my approval of this post.

[/quote]

:thumbs-up: :crying-laughing: :crossed-swords:

We went with the obvious solution: sell the hippogriff kids, buy some adult ones, and chalk up the difference in price as "the cost of having cool flying mounts in under three years".

Although rumors swirl of a mysterious mystical practice called "vivimancy" that can accelerate the aging process without all that nasty senescence.