Beast Master
A loyal animal or monster is likely to serve its master far better than adventuring comrades ever will. A beast master is one who trains these creatures to obedience.
Rules
- 35 Beast Master (Ver 1.1)
A loyal animal or monster is likely to serve its master far better than adventuring comrades ever will. A beast master is one who trains these creatures to obedience. They take a wild animal and, from an adversarial relationship, develop a rapport with it. They train young animals from birth until they heed their every command. A beast master will, in almost all cases, become very fond of animals. They will defend them against wanton cruelty and slaughter, and will treat their personal charges as family.
A beast master will encounter three kinds of animals:
the easily domesticated (such as the horse),
the naturally wild (such as the pegasus)
and the intelligent or rebellious creature (such as the unicorn).
The latter can never be steadfastly loyal to the beast master; such creatures always have at least a subconscious desire to escape.
A beast master can be a slaver if they specialise in training humanoids.
- 35.1 Restrictions
A beast master must have at least 15 Willpower.
A beast master may only train animals for their own personal use until they achieve Rank 5. They may domesticate animals at any Rank.
A beast master will normally use their skill to train or domesticate animals for their own use. Animals which spend their lives with a beast master and are trained by them will be loyal to their master and serve and protect them as much as possible. If necessary, an animal can be trained to temporarily serve another master (if one week of mutual training is undergone), but the animal will always obey the original master before any new one.
If a beast master's Rank is 5 or greater, they may train animals for other people. The being who is acquiring the trained creature must spend (12 - Rank) weeks before it will accept them as its new master, during which the beast master must be present at least one day per week. The creature will heed the beast master's commands before those of its new owner for as many years as the beast master's Rank at the time the creature's ownership is transferred.
A beast master of any Rank may domesticate, rather than train, animals. Such animals can be commanded by any other person, but will tend to wander off or revert to their wild state if not supervised, tied up, or stabled. Note that horses and dogs, the most common domestic animals, are governed by this rule.
- 35.2 Benefits
A beast master acquires the ability to train one type of animal or monster at Ranks 0, 5 and 10.
A beast master may acquire the ability to train additional types of creatures without increasing in rank by spending 5,000 Experience Points and 4 weeks training per type. These costs are discounted by 25% if the beast master has reached rank 8, or by 50% if they have reached rank 10.
A type consists of all creatures listed within one subsection of the beastiary (e.g. avians). A beast master may choose, instead, all creatures subsumed under a single animal family (e.g. canines).
A beast master must spend (12 - Rank) months to train an animal or monster, or a like number of weeks to domesticate one.
| Creature to be trained is | Time |
|---|---|
| Easily domesticated | x 0.5 |
| Naturally wild | x 1.0 |
| Intelligent or rebellious | x 3.0 |
| Raised by beast master from adolescence | x 0.5 |
| Domesticated by another beast master | x 1.0 |
| Caught in wilderness | x 1.5 |
The unmodified number of months required is multiplied by all applicable modifiers. The time to train a monster or animal is always dependent on the beast master's Rank when they begin the process. Any increases in Rank during the training or domestication period have no effect on the time required.
A trained animal or monster must make a loyalty check whenever it recognises that its master is endangering it, or whenever its master commands an action that runs counter to its instincts.
Whenever a loyalty check is required, the GM rolls percentile dice. The base chance is 2xbeast master's WP + (4 x Rank if the creature is intelligent or rebellious, 6 x Rank if the creature is naturally wild, and 8 x Rank if the creature is easily domesticated). If the owner is not a beast master, use their WP and the Rank of the beast master when they trained the creature. If the roll is less than or equal to this success percentage, the trained creature will do as its master commands. If the roll is greater than the success percentage, the creature's reactions will range from balking to fleeing to turning on its master, as the roll increases (GM's discretion).
A domesticated creature must make a loyalty check if the circumstances described above arise.
The GM rolls D100. If the resulting number is less than or equal to current master's WP + beast master's Rank, the domesticated creature will perform the action.
If the roll is greater than the success percentage, but less than or equal to twice that percentage, the creature will balk. If the roll is greater than two times the success percentage, but less than three times that percentage, the creature will take flight. If the roll is greater than three times the success percentage, the creature will turn on its master.
A roll of 100 always indicates that a domesticated creature turns on its master. A roll of 96 through 99 indicates that the creature takes flight if the success percentage is 47 or greater.
A beast master who intimidates their animals adds one to their Rank when calculating training or domestication time, but the GM adds 10 to any loyalty check dice-roll for one of their animals.
A beast master may train or domesticate as many creatures as their Rank at one time. All creatures being trained or domesticated concurrently must be of the same type.
- 35.3 Cost
A beast master must pay 100 Silver Pennies per creature trained and 25 Silver Pennies per creature domesticated.
They may halve the cost for upkeep of creatures if they build a stable. A horse-sized stable costs (500 + 150 x Stalls) Silver Pennies to construct, and costs (Stalls) Silver Pennies for repairs after the first year.
