Animal Handling

This broad skill provides a character with the basic ability to train animals to perform a variety of tasks, including doing labor, accepting riders, tracking, and attacking. It’s also used to determine if a character can get a trained animal to perform a task, to ride an animal, or to calm, capture, or otherwise handle a wild animal or an unfamiliar domestic animal. Note that the methods of training and the commands used with different animal species can vary widely.

Purchasing the broad skill entitles a character to select one type of animal that he is able to train, subject to the approval of the Gamemaster. (e.g., “horse”, or more specific breeds if required). To handle more than one type of animal, the character should possess the Animal Training specialty skill.

Training Animals

Any use of the Animal Handling broad skill to train a creature requires a complex skill check.

• Time Commitment: The character must spend at least 4 hours a day working with the creature.
• Check Frequency: A skill check is made at the end of each week of continuous work.
• Interruptions: If the training is interrupted by one or more days, any days worked since the last check are lost. An interruption of a week or more may cause the entire training attempt to fail.

Training Outcomes:

• Critical Failure: The animal goes berserk and attacks its trainer.
• Three Failures: The animal refuses to be trained by this character.

Task Difficulty

Untrained animals (wild or domestic) can only perform tasks of up to Ordinary difficulty.

• Ordinary: Simple, one-word commands (Attack, Come, Sit, Stay, Fetch, Speak, Quiet).
• Good: Combinations of two Ordinary tasks, or more difficult actions (e.g., pushing a lever).
• Amazing: Tasks very few animals can or will do on command (e.g., rescuing someone from a burning building).

Animal Handling Situation Modifiers

Other Modifiers

• Unfamiliar animal: +1 penalty (cumulative with others).
• Trained animal:
  • Ordinary task: +0
  • Good task: +2
  • Amazing task: +4

Riding Animals

The broad skill enables a character to ride any animal used for basic ground transportation (horses, mules, etc.).

• Movement: When ridden, the creature moves in every phase.
• Maneuvers: During a character’s action, they can attempt maneuvers (Routine, Moderate, or Extreme) as described in Vehicle Maneuvers.

Animal riding

This specialty skill enables a character to improve this aspect of the Animal Handling broad skill. A character with this skill can attempt racing over dangerous terrain, making jumps or performing other stunts, and engaging in mounted combat.

▶ Rank 3[Trick Riding]: The character learns to perform special stunts or tricks while mounted. See trick riding.

Trick Riding

The character can direct their mount to jump fences, leap chasms, or move backward.

• Critical Failure: The animal trips (damage as an Extremely Short fall for both).
• Failure: The animal refuses to perform.

Horizontal Leaps

• Ordinary: Normal distance + 1 meter.
• Good: Normal distance + 2 meters.
• Amazing: Normal distance + 3 meters.

Jumping Obstructions

• Ordinary: Normal distance + 1 meter.
• Good: Normal distance + 1.5 meters.
• Amazing: Normal distance + 2 meters.

Moving Backward:

• Ordinary: Half walk movement rate.
• Good: Full walk movement rate.
• Amazing: 1.5x walk movement rate.

Mounted Cover

The character can use their mount for cover. This provides a penalty to an opponent’s chance to hit the rider:

• Ordinary: +1 step.
• Good: +2 steps.
• Amazing: +3 steps.

Note: This does not protect the mount. Trick riding cannot be combined with other actions (e.g., attacking while leaping).

---

Animal training

This skill allows a character to handle, ride, and train a specific type of animal (the “Primary Animal” selected when purchasing the broad skill). A character can also use their Animal Training rank to interact with animals other than their Primary Animal, but they suffer a penalty to the skill check based on the biological or behavioral distance from their specialty:

---