Food College Mage - Adventurer?

[martin_rook]

Originally Posted by Rowan

I've had it in mind to make a PC with the food college for a Yrth campaign. My only question is.. what kind of competent adventurer could I make with the food college? If those were his only spells for instance?

I honestly think it would make sense for even someone who got into magic for the food would find other colleges useful. I think some low-level fire spells are prerequsites for some food spells, and they're also handy for getting the campfire started. Plant spells seem like a natural fit, too, if he grows his own produce.

I don't think there's much you can do with the Food college, itself, to make it very useful for an adventurer... but I do think it makes very interesting character *concepts* possible.

(He could be very wealthy, too, and be like the dude who built Kitchen Stadium and sponsors the Iron Chef competitions.)

[Crakkerjakk]

Originally Posted by Gold & Appel Inc

Like Indiana Jones, only with food instead of archaeology.

One of my players wanted to do a culinary wizard. I had images of her arch-enemy the mercenary cook Emeril taunting her outside of the tomb where the lost recipe for Orcish Peacock Flambe had just been recovered, and her snarling " ...it belongs in a culinary institute!!!"

[Napoleon]

Originally Posted by Rowan

I've had it in mind to make a PC with the food college for a Yrth campaign. My only question is.. what kind of competent adventurer could I make with the food college?

Obviously, your PC is a Magic Chef.

(http://www.magicchef.com)

[Gudiomen]

One of my old players was fixated on the ability of Ferment to supply endless yogurt. His character was an elf who carried a yogurt keg. He is known to this day as the "yogurt-elf" and the players annoy him endlessly. Be warned.

Adventuring in the traditional sense isn't going to call for much food college spellcasting. Some spells can be quite effective, specially in more thoughtful and historical campaigns. A Food Mage is a terrific siege weapon, he can cut/poison the supplies of his enemies while keeping supplies and moral high for the invading force. Or vice-versa.

[Ed the Coastie]

Originally Posted by Ze'Manel Cunha

Is that one an area effect gas spell?

It's from an old issue of Pyramid that had spells of the Cheese College. I'm just warped enough for some of my mage characters to learn such spells. (In AD&D, for example, I once had a character whose favorite spell was Snilloc's Cream Pie.)

[combatmedic]

Single college food mage? Heck yeah! I'm sure if you get creative with spell use, you could be effective.

[William]

In the wilderness or a dungeon, his magic serves a quartermaster role. If you absolutely must make him at all effective in combat using strictly Food College spells rather than weaponry, your only real choice is Thirst. Learn it to skill 20, and it will take 5 seconds to cast; blowing 8 FP, preferably from a Powerstone, will give you a good chance of removing 8 FP from an enemy mage or fighter, and dealing 2 HP of damage in the process.

In a city, his magic serves as a means of legitimate employment, possibly for undercover work, and as an aid to alchemy. At present, the specific effects of Mature and Distill on alchemical production are not specified, but depending on the GM's calls you might be able to whip up certain formulas in game time.

[Captain-Captain]

And just for the heck of it:

Name: Colorado Y. Oming
Race: Human

Attributes [85]
ST 10
DX 10/17
IQ 14 [80]
HT 10

HP 10
Will 14
Per 14
FP 10

Basic Lift 20
Damage 1d-2/1d

Basic Speed 7/5.25 [5]
Basic Move 7/5

Ground Move 7/5
Water Move 1

Social Background
TL: 3 [0]
Cultural Familiarities:
Languages:

Advantages [65]
Extra DX (7) (Affects displayed DX score; Chi; One skill only: Whip!) [42]
Magery (3) (Food College Only) [18]
Magery 0 [5]

Disadvantages [-70]
Code of Honor (Adventurer's (includes "Overconfidence")) [-10]
Enemy (Nullifying Asymetrical Zebra Intellectual Society) (Small group (3-5 people)) (9 or less) [-10] (hey, how can you make an Indy clone without N.A.Z.I.S. as villains?)
Lecherousness (12 or less) [-15]
Miserliness (12 or less) [-10]
Unluckiness [-10]
Weirdness Magnet [-15]

Quirks [-5]
Dislikes Snakes [-1]
Distinctive Feature (that damn hat!) [-1]
Nosy [-1]
Old Girlfriends slap the tar out of him [-1]
Trademark (Whip) [-1]

Skills [28]
Alchemy/TL3 IQ/VH - IQ+0 14 [8]
Archaeology IQ/H - IQ-2 12 [1]
Area Knowledge! IQ/WC - IQ-2 12 [6]
Fast-Talk IQ/A - IQ-1 13 [1]
First Aid/TL3 (Human) IQ/E - IQ+0 14 [1]
Geography/TL3 (Earthlike) IQ/H - IQ-2 12 [1]
Merchant IQ/A - IQ-1 13 [1]
Naturalist (Yrth) IQ/H - IQ-1 13 [2]
Savoir-Faire (High Society) IQ/E - IQ+0 14 [1]
Whip! DX/WC - DX-2 15 [6]

Spells [47]
Apportation IQ/H - IQ-2 12 [1]
Cook IQ/H - IQ+1 15 [1]
Create Fire IQ/H - IQ-2 12 [1]
Create Food IQ/H - IQ+1 15 [1]
Create Water IQ/H - IQ-2 12 [1]
Debility IQ/H - IQ-2 12 [1]
Decay IQ/H - IQ+1 15 [1]
Destroy Water IQ/H - IQ-2 12 [1]
Distill IQ/H - IQ+1 15 [1]
Essential Food IQ/VH - IQ+0 14 [1]
Far-Tasting IQ/H - IQ+1 15 [1]
Fool's Banquet IQ/H - IQ+1 15 [1]
Foolishness IQ/H - IQ-2 12 [1]
Foul Water IQ/H - IQ+1 15 [1]
Great Voice IQ/H - IQ-2 12 [1]
History IQ/H - IQ-2 12 [1]
Hunger IQ/H - IQ+1 15 [1]
Ignite Fire IQ/H - IQ-2 12 [1]
Itch IQ/H - IQ-2 12 [1]
Know Recipe IQ/H - IQ+1 15 [1]
Mature IQ/H - IQ+1 15 [1]
Monk’s Banquet IQ/H - IQ+1 15 [1]
No-Smell IQ/H - IQ-2 12 [1]
Odor IQ/H - IQ-2 12 [1]
Pain IQ/H - IQ-2 12 [1]
Poison Food IQ/H - IQ+1 15 [1]
Prepare Game IQ/H - IQ+1 15 [1]
Preserve Food IQ/H - IQ+1 15 [1]
Purify Air IQ/H - IQ-2 12 [1]
Purify Food IQ/H - IQ+1 15 [1]
Purify Water IQ/H - IQ-2 12 [1]
Resist Pain IQ/H - IQ-2 12 [1]
Scents of the Past IQ/H - IQ+1 15 [1]
Season IQ/H - IQ+1 15 [1]
Seek Food IQ/H - IQ+1 15 [1]
Seek Water IQ/H - IQ-2 12 [1]
Seeker IQ/H - IQ-2 12 [1]
Sound IQ/H - IQ-2 12 [1]
Spasm IQ/H - IQ-2 12 [1]
Test Food IQ/H - IQ+1 15 [1]
Thirst IQ/H - IQ+1 15 [1]
Thunderclap IQ/H - IQ-2 12 [1]
Trace IQ/H - IQ-2 12 [1]
Voices IQ/H - IQ-2 12 [1]
Water to Wine IQ/H - IQ+1 15 [1]
Wizard Mouth IQ/H - IQ+1 15 [1]
Wizard Nose IQ/H - IQ+1 15 [1]

Stats [85] Ads [65] Disads [-70] Quirks [-5] Skills [28] Spells [47] = Total [150]


Now, I'm REASONABLY sure that no GM in their right minds and MOST GMs who aren't will not allow +7 DX (only for Wildcard skill), but this isn't being sent to a GM.

However his Speed/Dodge/Initiative is 7.00 when he's using Whip! which is generally when he's in combat. [cue: Evil laugh]

The other WC skill Area Knowledge! simply lets him more or less know whatever place he's in. It's not actually that abusive a skill, but I'm including in this anyway. ;)

Any 12- spell is out of college and known only for prerequisite purposes. He can't cast them at all except in High and Very High Mana.

[Not another shrubbery]

Make him an Alchemist.

[Kromm]

Provided that the GM is strictly enforcing the rules for rations, meals, starvation, etc., this doesn't have to be a silly concept at all if the party's primary role is essentially exploration, scouting, and raiding far from friendly territory. Not having to carry a ton of food into the desert, for instance, will let the party move quickly and without leaving much of a trail (even low-tech rations come wrapped in something). Infinite endurance in the field is a truly enviable advantage for a small unit.

Don't overlook the misuses of the spells, either. Seek Food is a quick and easy way to find enemies if the mage has a good Survival skill and knows what to exclude -- just seek any food but what's indigenous to the area and you'll quickly find your foe's rations and thus your foe. Hunger and Thirst are (or ought to be, if the GM is on his toes) very effective for persuading captives to talk -- especially if you can dangle the results of a Fool's Banquet nearby as a "reward." Water to Wine and Distill, taken together, mean an infinite supply of flammable liquid.

The key to making it all work is to ensure the wizard also has mundane skills to back up his handiwork: enough Survival to abuse Seek Food, enough Interrogation to play mind games with starving captives, enough Throwing to chuck burning liquids around, etc. Alchemy is a "maybe yes, maybe no" prospect, depending on how available ingredients are, but not a bad use of a few points. It's probably wise for the wizard not to be too much of a purist when it comes to using out-of-college prerequisites, too.

And as others have pointed out, outfit him like a chef. Drop $400 on a fine, balanced kukri (Martial Arts, p. 228) and you'll have a light, handy weapon that's as deadly as a shortsword, effective in close combat, and that you could probably convince the GM is a cleaver of some kind that might get past searches for weapons. Make sure he keeps his chili powder in a long corked tube -- corked at both ends -- and has the Blowpipe skill. There's nothing like a chef ninja!

(And yes, I once GMed for a player who ran a food mage.)