Command an Animal

Auditory, Concentrate
Actions: 1

You issue an order to an animal. Attempt an Animal Handling check against the animal’s Charisma defence. The GM might adjust the DC if the animal has a good attitude toward you, you suggest a course of action it was predisposed toward, or you offer it a treat.

You automatically fail if the animal is hostile or unfriendly to you. If the animal is helpful to you, increase your degree of success by one step. You might be able to Command an Animal more easily with a talent like Ride.

Most animals know the Drop Prone, Leap, Seek, Stand, Stride and Strike basic actions. If an animal knows an activity, such as a horse’s Gallop, you can Command the Animal to perform the activity, but you must spend as many actions on Command an Animal as the activity’s number of actions. You can also spend multiple actions to Command the Animal to perform that number of basic actions on its next turn; for instance, you could spend 3 actions to Command an Animal to Stride three times or to Stride twice and then Strike.

Success: The animal does as you command on its next turn.

Failure: The animal is hesitant or resistant and it does nothing.

Critical Failure: The animal misbehaves or misunderstands and it takes some other action determined by the GM.

Commanded Animals

Issuing commands to an animal doesn’t always go smoothly. An animal is an independent creature with limited intelligence. Most animals understand only the simplest instructions, so you might be able to instruct your animal to move to a certain square but not dictate a specific path to get there, or command it to attack a certain creature but not to make its attack non-lethal. The GM decides the specifics of the action your animal uses.

The animal does what you commanded as soon as it can, usually as its first action on its next turn. If you successfully commanded it multiple times, it does what you said in order. It forgets all commands beyond what it can accomplish on its turn. If multiple people command the same animal, then the GM determines how the animal reacts. The GM might also make the DC higher, if someone has already tried to Command the Animal that round.