Handle Animal
You are trained at working with animals and can teach them tricks, get them to follow your simple commands, or even domesticate them.
- NOTE
- This is a special skill that has to be earned/unlocked for a Character. Once earned, this skill instantly gets the Ranks of both Diplomacy and Survival combined. This skill is not limited by the Rank level rules. This skill is associated with either Wisdom OR Charisma. When the Skill is acquired, the Player must choose. The Player cannot spend skill points on this skill. To improve its Rank the Player must spend points on Diplomacy or Survival.
Check
The DC depends on what you are trying to do.
| Task | Handle Animal DC |
|---|---|
| Handle an animal | 10 |
| “Push” an animal | 25 |
| Teach an animal a trick | 15 or 201 |
| Train an animal for a general purpose |
15 or 201 |
| Rear a wild animal | 15 + HD of animal |
| General Purpose | DC |
|---|---|
| Combat Training2 (or "Combat Riding") |
20 |
| Fighting | 20 |
| Guarding | 20 |
| Heavy labor | 15 |
| Hunting | 20 |
| Performance | 15 |
| Riding | 15 |
Uses
Handle an Animal
This task involves commanding an animal to perform a task or trick that it knows. If the animal is wounded or has taken any nonlethal 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.
Push an Animal
To push an animal means to get it to perform a task or trick it doesn’t know but is physically capable of. This category also covers forcing an animal to perform a forced march or to hustle for more than 1 hour between sleep cycles. If the animal is wounded or has taken any nonlethal 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.
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.
Action
Varies. Handling an animal is a move action, while “pushing” an animal is a full-round action. (A druid or ranger can handle her animal companion as a free action or push it as a move 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 remaining time to complete the teaching, rearing, or training. If the attempt to teach, rear, or train the animal is interrupted or not carried through to completion, the attempt automatically fails.
Try Again
Yes, except for rearing an animal.
Special
- IMPORTANT: The Rank of this skill is the Rank of Diplomacy and Survival combined and doesn't follow the normal Skill Rank level restrictions.
- IMPORTANT: This skill can be either associated with Wisdom OR Charisma. When the Skill is acquired, the Player must choose.
- IMPORTANT: The Player cannot spend skill points on this skill. To improve its Rank the Player must spend points on Diplomacy and Survival.
- Low Intelligence: Non-Animals 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.