Just like the Owlbear. Poor owlbear, Fighter's don't like you.
Printable View
The world is not medieval. Casters can make water pure by touching it and produce food for a dozen people every day, at low level. They can cure any disease in seconds. That changes the game early on.
Later, we can move goods instantly, create them from nothing and change htem from one material to another. That changes the economy.
Really, in a world where casters can stop time, go for a cup of tea in heaven in the afternoon, talk to gods, summon rainbow coloured flying snakes, clone themselves, build golems out of stained glass and demon parts and create new worlds that are made out of rubber and prone to earthquakes, what is so bad about someone creating a chicken with alchemy?
I'm going to clock in to the: does it work in your game world.
Balance wise, I'd be careful letting them create things beyond basic animals.
But really it matters most if it fits the setting fluff.
I know in mine a combination of high level arcane and divine magic can create life as can other high level magic. Theoretically you also need the appropriate skill set (Craft (Alchemy), Knowledge skills).
So I'd say there's no universal answer only the right one or wrong one for you.
Maybe, it depends, I probably would have the same spellcasting requirement as alchemy, and make it livestock only, hence craft livestock, because if its animals, crafting wartrained legendary tigers is a go, and everything, you can bet they'll start making angels and dragons and ask for prices for those things. Still at low levels, animals can be rather powerful (More so in 2nd ed, two 2nd ed light warhorses sometimes were as effective as the PC with them, when he got them to attack). If I don't want something like that in my setting, no, if it's added mid game, I'd have want an explanation, and make townspeople say "That ain't natural, it ain't right." and if they know how it was made, be cautious to buy it, though the PC doesn't have to tell.
Do they want to grow actual animals, or just the meat, or similar?
I'd probably allow the lesser, as a normal craft check (so, earning money, I suppose) from (maybe) Craft: Alchemy. The latter, I might allow, but not quite so easily.
Bah!
By the D&D 3.5 rules we have:
A level 1 character. With infinite power.
Infinite action loop on a level 5+ crusader.
The ability to point at a Wall of Force spell and make it go away. Without magic.
Tippyverse.
And Eberron.
You can create Iron Man if you want. 3.5 is not what it's supposed to be. Look past the lies, and see Fabricate. See Craft (Underwater Basketweaving). See the self-resetting Create Water traps.
Also, may I be the first to point out that a regular glass vial would also work just as well?
^ This
I just don't see how growing animals via scientific method functions in a typical fantasy world. Some of the simplest tools needed would be a hypodermic needle and a microscope and as far as I know here's not really a viable alternative for those in most settings.
And don't forget the term "test tube animal" is kind of a misnomer. They aren't literally growing a cow in a big glass tube. They remove an egg and sperm and fertilize them outside of the body and then place the fertilized egg back inside the uterus.
Can you explain a method in which the PC would be able to accomplish this?
I don't know why it has to be achievable without magic; alchemy sets a precedent for magical crafting. The setting's more the stumbling block.
The results aren't magical but the process is implied to be (a sorcerer can do it, but an expert can't). That's the same impression I'm getting from the OP's situation.
I think that the does it fit in your campaign world question is a good one. It seems like most people who say "no its stupid" have campaign worlds where it is very pseudo-medival-y and the people who think it would be okay think that
as Eldan put it:
They want to grow actual animals, not meat.
The method for making the animal would be somewhat magical, it would be more than growing animals via scientific method.
@invaderk2: I can't really explain the method which the PC would be able to accomplish this. I think that it is meant to be somewhat unclear and magic-y.
@ Gnomish Wanderer: I think that the point of it is humor and so that if your donkey gets killed while your in a dungeon you could spend a few days growing a new one and then taking the treasure away on the test-tube donkey instead of going back to town, buying a donkey, going back to the dungeon and then taking the treasure away on the normal donkey.
@Eldan: Could I sig "I'd call a Donkey a complex item"?
I agree it may be magic, though it ends up being a mundane chicken, though it is created through alchemy. Making it fall under a magic item creation feat would make it so nobody would take it, you lose a bit of EXP, for a creature that won't help much, and it takes a feat.
You might use one of the weaker bags of tricks as a balancing point to figure out price.