Handle Animals

Key facts

Characteristic

Intuition

Overview

Handle Animals covers everything short of magic that gets a creature to cooperate: settling panicked horses in a burning stable, teaching a hawk to carry messages, backing away from a bear without triggering a charge, judging whether a strange beast is hunting or guarding. It is an Intuition skill because animals answer to instinct and body language. It comes up on the road, in stables and kennels, at the edge of a lair, and whenever the party would rather not fight something that only wants to be left alone.

How it works

Characteristic: Intuition. Skill group: Intuition skills. Test: 2d10 + Intuition; 11 or lower is tier 1, 12 to 16 tier 2, 17 or higher tier 3. Training grants a benefit and unlocks attempts untrained heroes cannot make. How it is used: Tier 3 gets full cooperation or a lasting bond. Tier 2 buys compliance for the moment. Tier 1 fails, and a frightened or hostile animal may bolt, bite, or raise an alarm. Edges and banes: Food, a familiar handler, or a domesticated animal grants an edge (+2). Wounded, starving, or magically enraged creatures, and anything that has been trained to hate your kind, imposes a bane (-2).

Tips and playstyle

Best for: Heroes who travel with mounts or animal companions, and scouts who work in the wild. Character concepts: Laborer career teamster, rural culture herder, a Fury raised among wolves. Synergies: Ride for staying on the animal once it agrees, Nature for knowing what a species wants, Monsters when the creature is more than an animal.

Frequently asked questions