PCs with a Harpy Egg...thoughts?

[Gromnar]

My PCs happened to kill a nest of harpies that had an egg. The PCs are generally good, and they've decided to take the egg with them so it won't die...possibly even raising the harpy to be 'good'.

Anyone know anything about harpy gestation an growth rate? I looked in Mythical Monsters Revisited, but I don't see anything about growth rate.

Kind of hesitant to let them raise it, but might be interesting to watch.

Anyone have any advise on handling it?

[lemeres]

A. It is a story, you can have things be contrived. IE- have the egg be close to hatching from the beginning. Heck, I am suprised you didn't have it hatch when they first found it, having it impress on one of them, and call them "MAMA!"

B.Advise them to get a baby sitter....or a familiar satchel. IE- try to find believable ways to keep it uninvolved in fights (unless you are being dramatic and taking it hostage- only do that once or twice though).

C. Growth rate- this is the tricky bit, since it involves time. So first, lets assume that the thing can mature enough to fly about and do basic survival in one year (basing it off of migratory birds, which is reasonable). Not grown, obviously, but enough that it can hunt rabits at least. After that....seriously, are you sure you guys want this to be more than just a team pet?

[Errant_Epoch]

Harpies age at a roughly human rate. They are usually considered to always be evil despite parenting. There's some good info about this at the bottom of this page: Harpy PFSRD

It says harpies in their twenties bear children about every two years so that says to me the child is somewhat mobile at two.

[Umbral Reaver]

Harpies are people, too!

[The Human Diversion]

Scrambled, with goat cheese and some spices. Should feed the entire party.

[Skull]

Remember reading a book where one of the main characters was a more human looking harpy. Think it was the demon hand.

Would like to read that book again, loaned it from a friend in high school.

Now I will need to look up that book sometime. I still frequently call my female RPG characters Harpy ;)

[Caedwyr]

The Monster Orphanages thread provided some ideas on this dilemma:

http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2m4cm&page=3?Monster-orphanages-and-sanctua ries#107

Mikaze wrote:

Harpy

Recommended Deities: Desna, Cayden Cailean, Sarenrae, Shelyn, Sinashakti, Abadar
Recommended Environment: Urban

Reviled as a feral, cursed race of cannibals, the worst elements of the stereotypical harpy's character is primarily a result of environmnet and an unhealhty culture. Being raised within civilization rather than cast out of it curbs the worst facets of harpy "nature". In fact, several "wild" harpies have acclimated to civilization and become successful members of society on their own.*

Harpies present unique problems and potential when integrating them into society, most of which stem from their capability of flight and their supernaturally captivating singing voices.

Housing harpies, both in their youth and adulthood, can require unconventional approaches to architecture and city planning. Multistory "loft" houses with upper story entrances are a popular approach, though it is suggested that such entrances be built with the safety of non-harpies in mind. Balcony-like designs can help aesthetically bring them in line with pre-existing neighboring buildings.

If older harpies are unavailable, teaching youths how to fly can prove difficult and highly dangerous. It is highly advised that spellcasters experienced with flight be on hand for a harpy's early development, as is access to the spell featherfall.

Natural flight and humanoid forms also provide harpies ample opportunities as messengers and couriers, and one with the right connections and patronage can find their services in great demand. Law enforcing entities and the military would also do well to consider recruitment of harpies capable of taking orders.

The captivating singing ability of the race typically manifests with the onset of adulthood. Caregivers are advised to teach the proper use of this ability, or rather how not to use it, before this phase of their life.

This ability has enabled many harpies to find success as entertainers and as attractions for businesses, but this has also brought with it no small amount of controversy as many have questioned the fairness and ethics of using such a magically charming ability to draw both audiences and customers. Critics question the ethics of using the mind-affecting nature of the ability and the unfairness of being able to literally steal audiences and customers from those without access to it. Defenders note that the ability can only draw customers, but cannot force them to buy wares or reward performances with coin. Notably, many bards and entrepreneuring spellcasters have kept relatively quiet in this debate. Different cities have taken different approaches towards the legality of the issue, most often erring on the side of healthy commerce, whoever that may favor. It should be noted that in the fields of law enforcement, this ability has been credited with preventing several suicides and defusing hostage situations without the loss of life.

As a monogendered race similar to medusas, they are dependant upon interaction with other races to propogate. This presents just one more way through which harpies can be integrated into society, as a race running parallel with "mainstream" humanoids.

It bears special notice that harpy and goblin populations have difficulty mixing well. While the stereotypical "death stench" is nonexistant among non-cannibalistic harpies, they do still have a distinct smell. This "musk" contains several pheromones that have proven highly agitating to goblins, inducing anxiety in the lightest cases and outright panic at worst. This is often touted as yet another reason why housing for harpies should be kept as high as possible, as well as why the lower stories of any such structures should be made primarily of stone.

Young harpies are ideally raised in groups, and caregivers will often find that cultural standards introduced to such flocks tend to be self-reinforcing within the group. While this explains the sad commonality of the brutal culture of most harpies, it does prove beneficial when bringing them back into the fold of humanoids as a whole.

While the average harpy lags behind most in intellectual aptitude, their natural abilities provide ample opportunities to thrive and carve out their own unique niche within civilization.

*Naming names would be a bit of a spoiler

Also opted out of the live birth vs eggs issue. SOMEONE ELSE can tackle that. :P

[Geistlinger]

Dungeon Magazine #48 had an adventure titled Melody, which featured a harpy raised by a bard. (It was backstory for the events of the adventure, but it went a bit into what was involved for him.)

[Hello? Yes, this is Bard.]

So long as it's not treated like a Tengu egg, things shouldn't get terribly lewd. After all, what purpose would a harpy have for a...

*gets whispered message*

Not Tengu?

Wrong vowel?

What do you...

*more whispers*

...oh!

Nevermind!