The character can train or handle an animal. The Difficulty Class and the time required to get a particular effect depend on what the character is trying to do.
| Handle Animal Task | Time | DC |
|---|---|---|
| Handle a domesticated animal | Varies | 10 |
| “Push” a domesticated animal | Varies | 15 |
| Teach an animal tasks | 2 months | 15 |
| Teach an animal unusual tasks | 2 months | 20 |
| Rear a wild animal | 1 year | 15 + HD of animal |
| Train a wild animal | 2 months | 20 + HD of animal |
Time: For a task with a specific time frame, the character must spend half this time (at the rate of three hours per day per animal) working toward completion of the task before making the skill check. If the check fails, the character can’t teach, rear, or train that animal. (At that point, he can quit the failed unfinished attempt.) Should the check suc- ceed, the character must invest the remainder of the time before the teaching, rearing, or training is complete. If someone interrupts or if the character fails to follow the task through to completion, any further attempts to teach, rear, or train the same animal automatically fail.
Handle a Domesticated Animal: Examples of this task include commanding a trained dog, driving beasts of labor, tending to tired horses, and so forth.
“Push” a Domesticated Animal: To push a domestic animal means to get more out of it than it usually gives, such as command- ing a poorly trained dog or driving draft animals for extra effort.
Teach an Animal Tasks: This means to teach a domestic animal some tricks. The character can train one type of animal per rank (chosen when the ranks are purchased) to obey commands and perform simple tricks. The character can work with up to three ani- mals at one time, teaching them general tasks. An animal can be trained for one general purpose only.
Teach an Animal Unusual Tasks: This is similar to teaching an animal tasks, except that the tasks can be something unusual for that breed of animal, such as training a dog to be a riding animal. Alternately, the character can use this aspect of Handle Animal to train an animal to perform specialized tricks, such as teaching a horse to rear on command or come at a whistle, or teaching a falcon to pluck objects from someone’s grasp.
Rear a Wild Animal: To rear an animal means to raise a wild creature from infancy, effectively domesticating it. A handler can rear up to three creatures of the same type at once. A character can teach domesticated animals tasks while raising them, or can teach them tasks as domesticated creatures later.
Train a Wild Animal: To train a wild animal means to teach a wild creature to do certain tricks, but only at the character’s com- mand. The creature remains wild, though usually controllable.
Retry: For handling and pushing domestic animals, retries are allowed. For training and rearing, they are not.
Special: A character with 5 or more ranks of Handle Animal gets a +2 synergy bonus on Ride checks. An untrained character can use a Charisma check to handle and push animals.
Monte Cook’s Arcana Unearthed ©2003 Monte J. Cook.