Ogre:CharacterCodex:Skills:Animal

Animal

This is your affinity with animal. You know how to approach them, take care of them and make them help you.

Handle Animal

Ability	Charisma
Action	See below
Armor Penalty	None
Untrained	Yes; see below
Concentration	No

Synergy: Ride, Wild Empathy

Proficiency: Double: Animal Type and Trick or Purpose

Check: The DC depends on what you are trying to do.

Purpose	DC	Purpose	DC
Combat riding	20	Hunting	20
Fighting	20	Performance	15
Guarding	20	Riding	15
Heavy labor	15

Handle an Animal: This task involves commanding an animal to perform a task or trick that it knows. If the animal is wounded has or ability score damage, the DC increases by 2. If your check succeeds, the animal performs the task or trick on its next action.

Push an Animal: To push an animal means to get it to perform a task or trick that it doesn't know but is physically capable of performing. This category also covers making an animal perform a forced march or forcing it to hustle for more than 1 hour between sleep cycles. If the animal is wounded or has taken any non-lethal damage or ability score damage, the DC increases by 2. If your check succeeds, the animal performs the task or trick on its next action.

Teach an Animal a Trick: You can teach an animal a specific trick with one week of work and a successful Handle Animal check against the indicated DC. An animal with an Intelligence score of 1 can learn a maximum of three tricks, while an animal with an Intelligence score of 2 can learn a maximum of six tricks. Possible tricks (and their associated DCs) include, but are not necessarily limited to, the following.

Attack (DC 20): The animal attacks apparent enemies. You may point to a particular creature that you wish the animal to attack, and it will comply if able. Normally, an animal will attack only humanoids, monstrous humanoids, giants, or other animals. Teaching an animal to attack all creatures (including such unnatural creatures as undead and aberrations) counts as two tricks.

Come (DC 15): The animal comes to you, even if it normally would not do so.

Defend (DC 20): The animal defends you (or is ready to defend you if no threat is present), even without any command being given. Alternatively, you can command the animal to defend a specific other character.

Down (DC 15): The animal breaks off from combat or otherwise backs down. An animal that doesn't know this trick continues to fight until it must flee (due to injury, a fear effect, or the like) or its opponent is defeated.

Fetch (DC 15): The animal goes and gets something. If you do not point out a specific item, the animal fetches some random object.

Guard (DC 20): The animal stays in place and prevents others from approaching.

Heel (DC 15): The animal follows you closely, even to places where it normally wouldn't go.

Perform (DC 15): The animal performs a variety of simple tricks, such as sitting up, rolling over, roaring or barking, and so on.

Seek (DC 15): The animal moves into an area and looks around for anything that is obviously alive or animate.

Stay (DC 15): The animal stays in place, waiting for you to return. It does not challenge other creatures that come by, though it still defends itself if it needs to.

Track (DC 20): The animal tracks the scent presented to it. (This requires the animal to have the scent ability)

Work (DC 15): The animal pulls or pushes a medium or heavy load.

Train an Animal for a Purpose: Rather than teaching an animal individual tricks, you can simply train it for a general purpose. Essentially, an animal's purpose represents a preselected set of known tricks that fit into a common scheme, such as guarding or heavy labor. The animal must meet all the normal prerequisites for all tricks included in the training package. If the package includes more than three tricks, the animal must have an Intelligence score of 2.

An animal can be trained for only one general purpose, though if the creature is capable of learning additional tricks (above and beyond those included in its general purpose), it may do so. Training an animal for a purpose requires fewer checks than teaching individual tricks does, but no less time.

Combat Riding (DC 20): An animal trained to bear a rider into combat knows the tricks attack, come, defend, down, guard, and heel. Training an animal for combat riding takes six weeks. You may also upgrade an animal trained for riding to one trained for combat riding by spending three weeks and making a successful DC 20 Handle Animal check. The new general purpose and tricks completely replace the animal's previous purpose and any tricks it once knew. Warhorses and riding dogs are already trained to bear riders into combat, and they don't require any additional training for this purpose.

Fighting (DC 20): An animal trained to engage in combat knows the tricks attack, down, and stay. Training an animal for fighting takes three weeks.

Guarding (DC 20): An animal trained to guard knows the tricks attack, defend, down, and guard. Training an animal for guarding takes four weeks.

Heavy Labor (DC 15): An animal trained for heavy labor knows the tricks come and work. Training an animal for heavy labor takes two weeks.

Hunting (DC 20): An animal trained for hunting knows the tricks attack, down, fetch, heel, seek, and track. Training an animal for hunting takes six weeks.

Performance (DC 15): An animal trained for performance knows the tricks come, fetch, heel, perform, and stay. Training an animal for performance takes five weeks.

Riding (DC 15): An animal trained to bear a rider knows the tricks come, heel, and stay. Training an animal for riding takes three weeks.

Rear a Wild Animal: To rear an animal means to raise a wild creature from infancy so that it becomes domesticated. A handler can rear as many as three creatures of the same kind at once.

A successfully domesticated animal can be taught tricks at the same time it's being raised, or it can be taught as a domesticated animal later.

Special: You can use this skill on a creature with an Intelligence score of 1 or 2 that is not an animal, but the DC of any such check increases by 5. Such creatures have the same limit on tricks known as animals do.

Proficiency: Animal Types are: Bird, Canine, Equine, Feline, Fish, Insect and Arachnid, Primate, Reptile, Sea animal, Small animal, Big animal

Total Success: The training time of the animal is reduced by 1 day per rank of Total Success.

Total Failure: The animal seems to have learned the trick, but on serious situation, the animal won't listen.

Action: Varies. Handling an animal is a short action, while pushing an animal is a long action. For tasks with specific time frames noted above, you must spend half this time (at the rate of 3 hours per day per animal being handled) working toward completion of the task before you attempt the Handle Animal check. If the check fails, your attempt to teach, rear, or train the animal fails and you need not complete the teaching, rearing, or training time. If the check succeeds, you must invest the remainder of the time to complete the teaching, rearing, or training. If the time is interrupted or the task is not followed through to completion, the attempt to teach, rear, or train the animal automatically fails.

Untrained: Yes; see below

Try Again: Yes, except for rearing an animal.

Ride

Ability	Dexterity
Action	Short
Armor Penalty	None
Untrained	Yes
Concentration	No

Proficiency: Bird, Canine, Equine, Feline, Fish, Insect and Arachnid, Reptile, Sea animal, Big animal

Description: You can ride an animal. Typical riding actions don't require checks. You can saddle, mount, ride, and dismount from a mount without a problem.

Check: The following tasks do require checks.

Task	DC	Task	DC
Guide with knees	5	Leap	15
Stay in saddle	5	Control mount in battle	20
Fight with warhorse	10	Fast mount or dismount	10
Cover	15	Soft fall	15

Guide with Knees: You can react instantly to guide your mount with your knees so that you can use both hands in combat. Make your Ride check at the start of your action. If you fail, you can use only one hand in this action because you need to use the other to control your mount.

Stay in Saddle: You can react instantly to try to avoid falling when your mount rears or bolts unexpectedly or when you take damage. This usage does not take an action.

Fight with Warhorse: If you direct your war-trained mount to attack in battle, you can still make your own attack or attacks normally. This usage is a immediate action.

Cover: You can react instantly to drop down and hang alongside your mount, using it as a three-questers cover. You can't attack or cast spells while using your mount as cover. If you fail your Ride check, you don't get the cover benefit. This usage does not take an action.

Soft Fall: You can react instantly to try to take no damage when you fall off a mount-when it is killed or when it falls, for example. If you fail your Ride check, you take 1d6 points of falling damage. This usage does not take an action.

Leap: You can get your mount to leap obstacles as part of its movement. Use your Ride modifier or the mount's Jump modifier, whichever is lower, to see how far the creature can jump. If you fail your Ride check, you fall off the mount when it leaps and take the appropriate falling damage (at least 1d6 points). This usage does not take an action, but is part of the mount's movement.

Control Mount in Battle: As a short action, you can attempt to control a light horse, pony, heavy horse, or other mount not trained for combat riding while in battle. If you fail the Ride check, you can do nothing else in that action. You do not need to roll for warhorses or warponies.

Special: If you are riding bareback, you take a -4 penalty on Ride checks.

If your mount has a military saddle you get a +2 circumstance bonus on Ride checks related to staying in the saddle.

If you attempt to ride a creature that is ill suited as a mount, you take a -4 penalty on your Ride checks.

Mounted Archery: A mount is constantly moving and make it difficult to aim range attack. When using a range attack, you suffer a -4 penalty per speed level of the mount.

Total Failure: You fall from the mount taking 1d6 points of damage. You are prone.

Feats

Bareback Rider

When you are riding bareback, you take a -2 penalty on Ride checks.

Specialist: When you are riding bareback, you take a -1 penalty on Ride checks.

Expert: You suffer no penalty when you are riding bareback.

Mounted Archery

The penalty you take when using a ranged weapon while mounted is -2 per speed level.

Specialist: Your penalty is -1 per speed level.

Expert: You suffer no penalty when using a ranged weapon while mounted.

Mounted Combat

Your mount received a +2 Defense bonus.

Specialist: Your mount received a +4 Defense bonus.

Expert: Your mount received a +8 Defense bonus.

Master: Your mount received a +16 Defense bonus.

Move-By Attack

You may move, attack and then move again continuing your movement in a single action. The attack is done one initiative category slower than normal.

While doing a move-by attack, you only suffer one opportunity attack from your target even if you pass in many targets threaten squares.

Normally, you would need three actions to resolve such an attack: one to move to the target, one to attack and another on to move away from the target.

Specialist: You do not provoke attack of opportunity from your target while doing your move-by attack.

Push Mount

You can push your mount to go faster than it could normally go. Your mount receives +1 bonus to its movement.

Specialist: Your mount receives +2 bonus to its movement.

Expert: Your mount receives +4 bonus to its movement.

Master: Your mount receives +8 bonus to its movement.

Spirited Charge

When mounted and using the charge action, you deal x2 damage with a melee weapon (or x3 damage with a lance).

Specialist: When mounted and using the charge action, you deal x3 damage with a melee weapon (or x4 damage with a lance).

Expert: When mounted and using the charge action, you deal x4 damage with a melee weapon (or x5 damage with a lance).

Master: When mounted and using the charge action, you deal x5 damage with a melee weapon (or x6 damage with a lance).

Trample

When you attempt to overrun an opponent while mounted, your target may not choose to avoid you. Your mount may make one hoof attack against any target you knock down, gaining the standard +4 bonus on attack rolls against prone targets.

Unhorse

When charging another person riding a beast and your attack is successful, you can make a bull rush attack as an immediate action against your opponent. If the bull rush succeeds, you move your foe normally, but his mount remains where it was.

Wild Rider

When riding ill-suited mounts, you take a -2 penalty on Ride checks.

Specialist: When riding ill-suited mounts, you take a -1 penalty on Ride checks.

Expert: You suffer no penalty when riding ill-suited mounts.

Wild Empathy

Ability	Charisma
Action	See below
Armor Penalty	None
Untrained	Yes
Concentration	No

Proficiency: Bird, Canine, Equine, Feline, Fish, Insect and Arachnid, Primate, Reptile, Sea animal, Small animal, Big animal

You can improve the attitude of an animal. The typical domestic animal has a starting attitude of indifferent, while wild animals are usually unfriendly.

To use wild empathy, you and the animal must be able to study each other, which mean that they must be within 30 feet of one another under normal visibility conditions. Generally, influencing an animal in this way takes at least 1 minute, but, as with influencing people, it might take more time. Check: The DC to change an animal attitude is the animal Will resistance with the following modifiers depending on the animal current attitude.

Attitude	Modifier
Indifferent	0
Friendly or Unfriendly	10
Helpful or Hostile	20
Ally or Nemesis	30

Total Failure: You worsen the creature attitude by one category for each 5 ranks of Total Failure.

Action: Time spend changing an animal attitude depends on its initial attitude.

Attitude	Time
Nemesis	15 minutes
Hostile	10 minutes
Unfriendly	5 minutes
Indifferent	1 minute
Friendly	5 minutes
Helpful	10 minutes
Ally	15 minutes