Feature Specification: Animal Empathy & Handling

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Feature Specification: Animal Empathy & Handling

Post by ç i p h é r »

Animal Empathy & Handling
I've only seen one discussion about how this might work on our forums, so I think we should probably start with the 3.5 edition definition as detailed below and work from there. A fair amount of rework may be necessary as some things in PnP don't translate well to NWN. Admin and H/DM opinions welcome.

For a short explanation of the feature specification format, visit:
http://www.alandfaraway.org/phpbbforum/ ... hp?t=27229

Functional Requirements
A ranger or druid can improve the attitude of an animal. This ability functions just like a Diplomacy check to improve the attitude of a person. The ranger rolls 1d20 and adds his character level and his Charisma bonus to determine the wild empathy check result. The typical domestic animal has a starting attitude of indifferent, while wild animals are usually unfriendly.

To use wild empathy, the character and the animal must be able to study each other, which means that they must be within 30 feet of one another under normal visibility conditions. Generally, influencing an animal in this way takes 1 minute, but, as with influencing people, it might take more or less time.

This ability can also be used to influence a magical beast with an Intelligence score of 1 or 2 but at a –4 penalty on the check.

Any character with ranks in the Handle Animal skill can attempt the following actions:

Handling an Animal (DC 10): 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 (DC 25): 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 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. 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 (15 + HD of 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 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.

Try Again: Yes, except for rearing an animal.

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.

A druid or ranger gains a +4 circumstance bonus on Handle Animal checks involving her animal companion. In addition, a druid’s or ranger’s animal companion knows one or more bonus tricks, which don’t count against the normal limit on tricks known and don’t require any training time or Handle Animal checks to teach.

If you have the Animal Affinity feat, you get a +2 bonus on Handle Animal checks.

Synergy: If you have 5 or more ranks in Handle Animal, you get a +2 bonus on Ride checks and wild empathy checks.

Untrained: If you have no ranks in Handle Animal, you can use a Charisma check to handle and push domestic animals, but you can’t teach, rear, or train animals. A druid or ranger with no ranks in Handle Animal can use a Charisma check to handle and push her animal companion, but she can’t teach, rear, or train other nondomestic animals.

NWN Object Dependencies
Targetable Training Tool Item, Handling and Empathy Conversation(s)

Local Variables and External Configs
TBD

Logging and Debugging (global LOG & DEBUG (on/off) constants)
TBD

Persistence Requirements
TBD

Event Dependencies
Item OnActivate
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Post by Overfilled Cup »

Cutting out the Charisma check for folks without skill ranks in Animal Empathy (or the NwN2 equivelant) would be the first modification Id recommend.

We cannot do training for Animal Empathy of creatures as time flies by and we only hold onto them for short periods of time. It seems to me they are speaking about if you keep an animal over sometime which we dont do.

So perhaps and this only perhaps we can tie some of those "teaching" skills into the Animal Companion mode allowing customizable animal companions. Would be very cool to not see every animal companion a clone of the next guys. But certainly not a top tier priotity.

If we still have a radial menu it should be worked off that.
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Post by ç i p h é r »

This hasn't really gotten much attention. We'll need to discuss Familiars and Animal companions here as well if there are any thoughts regarding them. I'll add all the land based ones listed in the PHB for now.
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Post by Overfilled Cup »

Theres going to be the Out of the Box familiars/companions in place as well.
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Post by ç i p h é r »

I haven't paid much attention to this part of the game. Is there an official position from Obsidian worth noting here, OC?
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Post by Overfilled Cup »

A quick search provided only this from the Devs.

Quote:
Quote: Posted 08/26/05 22:11:08 (GMT) by Anthony Davis

The current plan is that familiars will not fight. They can be put in your backpack.

I think the jury is still out on damaging familiars, but I would bet on 'No'.

Animal Companions are a completely different deal. They will be similar to how they were in NWN1.

Again, none of this is completely set in stone yet.
Not much. But i would expect similiar to what we have now with the above additions. Which im not sure are improvements from what we have now. :? Familiars that cant be damaged?? :shock: ??
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Post by ç i p h é r »

Given the mention of Animal Empathy in a recent interview with Obsidian, I'm going to lock this thread but leave it stickied here until we're certain it's what we want for ALFA.
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