Animal Handling

This skill requires specialization

Default: IQ-5

Animal Handling (IQ/Average) is a skill that allows one to train and work with animals.

You must specialize in a category of animals – the more intelligent the animals, the narrower the category. Examples of interest to adventurers:

• Big Cats (jaguars, lions, tigers, etc.)
• Dogs
• Equines (horses and donkeys)
• Raptors (eagles, falcons, and hawks)

The default between specialties is -2 within the same order (e.g., Dogs to Big Cats), -4 across orders (e.g., Dogs to Equines), and -6 for larger differences (e.g., Dogs to Raptors). Typically, any creature that can be handled with Animal Handling will also be affected by Animal spells, and will be easier to understand with Animal Empathy.

Common Sense

Animal Handling should probably come with some common knowledge on an animal's general habits. A character who handles animals (at 12+) shouldn't make the mistake of needlessly bothering an animal just because the player doesn't have that skill. Some characters may even know about an animal's behavior just from biology!

Calming Creatures

This skill can also (sometimes) be used to quiet a wild, dangerous, or untrained animal. This roll is at -5 if the creature is wild or very frightened, or -10 if it is a man-eater or man-killer. Sometimes it's just enough to distract a creature while the adventuring party carefully sneaks by. Reverse-wise, Animal Handling can be used to provoke animals away from allies, if need be (this presumably needs no penalty).

Tactical Knowledge

Animal Handling gives an advantage in combat against animals within your specialty. If you have Animal Handling at level 15, an animal’s attack and defense rolls are at -1 against you, because you can predict its behavior. At skill 20, the animal’s rolls are at -2.

Training

To train an animal, make an Animal Handling roll once per day of training. A failed roll means the animal learned nothing; a badly failed roll means you are attacked. The time it takes to train an animal depends on the beast’s intelligence and tractability.

When working with a trained animal, roll against skill for each task you set the animal. This roll is at -5 if the animal is not familiar with you, -5 if the circumstances are stressful to the animal, and -3 or more if the task is a complex one. To put on an entertaining circus act, snake-charming show, etc., you must make a separate Performance roll!

Herding

Animal Handling is even used in herding (not a common adventurer skill, for sure), and a rudimentary form of it can even be taught to dogs to help round up other animals, such as sheep.

Mentions

• Banestorm (p. 224) on handling hybrid fantasy animals
• Dungeon Fantasy 2 (p. 10) on use by druids and (p. 12) on provoking animals
• Dungeon Fantasy 5 (p. 4) on improving animal allies through training and (p. 5) on controlling summoned animals
• Space (p. 224) on alien animal specialties.

Kromm Quotes

Sean Punch has commented on Animal Handling in the following posts to the SJG GURPS Forums:

• As concerns falconry [1]
• On animal breeding as an optional specialty

Talents

• Animal Friend contains several animal skills, including Veterinary[2]

See Also

• Riding
• Teamster
• Veterinary
• List of Skills

References

• Basic Set, p.175