Handle Animal, The Guide! Get Your Combat Animals Today :)

[Paulcynic]

Cool, I'm working on a series of guides, and this one is the first to reach a presentable state. Critiques, Contributions, and Corrections are all very welcome.

The GoogleDoc can be found Here. Read the intro to get an idea of what this skill really has to offer :)

Intro:

Quote:

Handle Animal is one of those skills that nobody wants to deal with. The rules seem overly convoluted, muddy, and tedious. This is not a false perception, however the rules do actually make sense, and work, and this is one of the most powerful skills in the game, rivaling many class-abilities. The only thing it requires from you is time and gold. And GM approval ;)

The purpose of this guide is to walk you through the steps of obtaining and training a combat animal through the use of Handle Animal. Combat Animals are different than a Druid’s Animal Companion, having slightly different requirements to obtain, train, keep, and employ.

The Steps needed to obtain and prepare your combat animal are explained below, and summarized here:
1. Rear or Purchase your animal(s)
2. Train your animal(s) for a specific purpose. Most likely they will be customized.
3. Understand the mechanics of Handle Animal when employing your combat animal.
4. Pick, Add to, or Replace your combat animals from the comprehensive list.
5. Keeping and Feeding your animals.

We will need a base line reference character for this guide. Assume any class with a Charisma of 16, Handle Animal as a class skill...

[Experiment 626]

Sweet! Just what I as looking for! Thanks!

[VRMH]

Interesting! I do have one remark though:

Handle Animal: The Guide wrote:

There is no consequence to failing a Knowledge check, and so at 1st level with Take 20

There is a "consequence" to failing a Knowledge check: you don't know the answer to the question. And so you cannot, as I understand it, take 20.

Taking 10 would be okay though.

[W Canepa]

I know this is an old thread, but feel this is a valuable guide. Mentioning Skill Focus (Handle Animal) and the training harness (new human equipment in the ARG) would be helpful. A masterwork skill tool is 50 gp and grants a +2 equipment bonus (training manual?). The Savannah Child trait gives a +1 to Handle Animal, and grants it as a class skill. A human with a 16 Charisma a +17 skill bonus at 1st level. If you're short on starting gold and the trait is allowed, Rich Parents can mitigate things.

Handle Animal +17 (1 Rank, +3 Class, +3 Charisma, +1 Trait, +2 Tool, +2 Animal Affinity, +3 Skill Focus, +2 Harness)

Cheers. :)

[Cevah]

Paulcynic wrote:

Cool, I'm working on a series of guides, and this one is the first to reach a presentable state. Critiques, Contributions, and Corrections are all very welcome.

The GoogleDoc can be found Here. Read the intro to get an idea of what this skill really has to offer :)

I would like to also see all critters listed as [Improved] Familiars, as I can see a desire to have a "Fake" one, especially if you really need to protect yours. [Witch's spellbook anyone?]

I would also like to see relevant spells that can affect training or control added.

Editing notes for your guide:

Step 4 wrote:

At level 5, with a Wealth By Level of 10,500g, I could have a magical item with a magical +7 Skill bonus to Handle Animal, and a Circlet of Persuasion which adds another +3 to all Charisma-based checks.

These don't stack as both are competence bonuses.

Magical Beast table:
The heading "Magical Beast" lacks a "*" denoting a footnote.

Other table:
Maturation for the following are:
Crawling Hand -- 1 hour (Spell: Create Undead, CL 11)
Crawling Hand, Giant -- 1 hour (Spell: Create Undead, CL 14)
Terra-cotta Solider -- 19 days (Craft Construct)

Some equipment I noticed:

Harness
Source Animal Archive
Training Harness: This specialized harness must be tailored to a specific type of animal. A training harness provides a +2 bonus on Handle Animal checks made with an animal wearing it.

Training Sleeve
Source Animal Archive
Price 100 gp; Weight 5 lbs.
This thick, heavily padded sleeve fits over the wearer's arm and serves as a target for animals being trained to attack. When used in conjunction with the Handle Animal skill to train an animal for a general purpose, this item grants the user a +5 competence bonus on her Handle Animal check to successfully combat train an animal.

W Canepa wrote:

A masterwork skill tool is 50 gp and grants a +2 equipment bonus (training manual?).

Tool, Masterwork wrote:

This well-made item is the perfect tool for the job. It grants a +2 circumstance bonus on a related skill check (if any). Bonuses provided by multiple masterwork items do not stack.

Be careful of bonus types. :-)

/cevah

[Devilkiller]

Has anybody seen guidelines suggesting what mounts might be appropriate for PCs of a particular level? The idea that anybody with 500gp and some ranks in Ride and Handle Animal can walk into a store and get a tiger seems a little crazy to me. I think elephants only cost around 1,000gp. Obviously these are issues where the DM needs to make a judgement call when deciding what's available and what's reasonable. I just wonder if there's any guidance out there since players and DMs only rarely agree on such matters.

[W Canepa]

Cevah, thanks for the catch.

Also, humans have access to this feat (ARG):

Huntmaster
You are an expert trainer of horses, hounds, falcons, or hunting cats.
Prerequisites: Handle Animal 1 rank; either the animal companion, divine bond (mount), or mount class feature; human.
Benefit: If you have the animal companion class feature, pick one of the following types of animal companions that this feat affects: bird, dog, small cat, or horse. If you have the divine bond (mount) or mount class feature, this feat always affects horses.
You gain a +2 bonus on Handle Animal and Knowledge (nature) checks with creatures of that type of animal. Furthermore, you are treated as one level higher when determining the abilities of your animal companion or mount, as long as it is of the chosen type.

[Cevah]

Has there been any work on this?

I also spotted another error. The guide states: "There is no consequence to failing a Knowledge check, and so at 1st level with Take 20, your result will auto-succeed up to about DC 24." Incorrect.

SRD Knowledge wrote:

Try Again

No. The check represents what you know, and thinking about a topic a second time doesn’t let you know something that you never learned in the first place.

There is a consequence for failure: you cannot know something you never learned.

/cevah

[Andrew Phillips]

Dotted.

[BigNorseWolf]

The harness effectively is the masterwork tool for handle animal. I doubt they stack.

[Cevah]

Given that the MW tool is a circumstance bonus and the harness is an untyped bonus, they do stack. Should the harness have been typed as circumstantial? Could be, but without errata, it is up to the GM to rule against stacking.

/cevah

[BigNorseWolf]

ULtimate equipment on masterwork tools:

This tool is perfect for its
intended job. It grants a +2
circumstance bonus on a
related skill check (if any).
The bonuses provided by
multiple masterwork items
do not stack.
Several common items already count as masterwork
tools for particular skills. These are the alchemist’s lab,
climber’s kit, disguise kit, healer’s kit, masterwork musical
instrument, and masterwork thieves’ tools. Therefore, there
is no masterwork climber’s kit, masterwork healer’s kit, and
so on—those items are already the best available for general
checks with the relevant skill.
Some skills have no appropriate tool or masterwork tool—
no nonmagical item exists that grants a bonus for all uses
of that skill. For example, just because a certain perfume is
favored by local nobles (granting a +2 circumstance bonus
on Diplomacy checks to influence them) doesn’t mean that
perfume has the same effect on a member of the thieves’
guild, a foreign berserker, or a medusa. Likewise, just because
a fake beard woven by dwarves out of the beards of famous
dwarves may grant a +2 circumstance bonus on Use Magic
Device checks to emulate the dwarven race doesn’t mean the
beard has any effect on using that skill to activate elven items
or paladin items, or to decipher a written spell.
Individual GMs may want to allow masterwork tools for
other skills at the listed cost. The circumstance bonus for
such a tool should never be more than +2. The tool should
either have a limited number of uses (such as the disguise
and healer’s kits) or only apply to certain aspects of the skill
(such as the balancing pole’s bonus on Acrobatics checks to
traverse a narrow surface or the magnifying glass’s bonus on
Appraise checks for detailed items).

[Paulcynic]

Cevah wrote:

Has there been any work on this?

I also spotted another error. The guide states: "There is no consequence to failing a Knowledge check, and so at 1st level with Take 20, your result will auto-succeed up to about DC 24." Incorrect.

SRD Knowledge wrote:

Try Again

No. The check represents what you know, and thinking about a topic a second time doesn’t let you know something that you never learned in the first place.

There is a consequence for failure: you cannot know something you never learned.

/cevah

Hey folks, thank you for the corrections. I will be looking over the Animal Companion supplement that came out about a year ago, and then updating this guide :)

[Cevah]

Just rechecked the guide. No work since at least may. Any news? You said you were going to do some updating.

/cevah

[blackbloodtroll]

Indeed. I hope for updates as well.

[Lausth]

Thread necromancing for newer tips in handle animal checks in 3...2..1

[Kip TeaLeaf]

Lausth wrote:

Thread necromancing for newer tips in handle animal checks in 3...2..1

One of the best animal handlers at level 1 is an eidolon with the Skilled evolution, a high-charisma familiar with the Skilled evolution (via the Evolved Familiar feat), or a halfling's or human's high-charisma animal companion with the Skilled evolution. (Halfling or human is required to boost intelligence, via the Caretaker or Eye for Talent alternative racial trait, respectively. On that note, taking the Precocious Companion archetype would further boost the companion's intelligence at level 4.)

The inquisitor is the most Paizo-only animal-friendly class at level 1. The inquisitor can get:
- a permanent animal companion via the Sacred Huntmaster archetype
- a permanent mount via the Chivalry inquisition
- multiple permanent purchased animals (e.g. tiger/jaguar/giant vulture/dire bat/giant gecko...) via the Rich Parents trait
- a familiar via the Familiar bond or Wasp Familiar feats, noting that the House of the Green Mother Pupil trait can qualify one for Familiar Bond
- multiple 1-hour duration horses (Dangerously Curious trait + scrolls of Mount)
- multiple 1-round duration monsters or animal allies (scrolls again, noting that SNA I includes an intelligent mite)

Essentially, you (the inquisitor) could handle one purchased animal, while your intelligent monkey animal companion handles another, while your familiar handles another, while your purchased pseudodragon handles another. An 18-strength grabbing jaguar costs only 100 gp (hunting cat), and the pseudodragon costs 200 gp, so that's only 600 gp expenditure so far. You could thus have an army of 4 jaguar-mounted warriors at level 1. ... furthermore... remember that Ride, including directing a mount to attack, is a free action! This means you could "ride-attack" with a mounted creature while using Handle Animal to get an unmounted creature to attack. This is where the Mount scrolls could be further beneficial - or additional purchased animals, such as Bison, which cost only 75 gp.

If you wanted, you could swap out Sacred Huntmaster for Monster Tactician. Instead of a permanent animal companion, you'd have a 3+wis/day Summon Monster SLA - further mixing things up. (I prefer the permanence of the companion, though.) Oh, and of course you could use a spell slot to summon a monster the old-fashioned way.

...

Outside of Paizo, the Shaper Psion may be the best level 1 "animal-friendly" class. The companions would not be true animals, but Astral Constructs (sculpted to be just like animals). The Advanced Constructs feat - which a Psion can get "for free" via its level 1 bonus psionic feat - allows summoning for hours/level (converting to rounds/level should combat begin), and the feat should, as written, apply to uses of Power Stones. So, with the Rich Parents trait, a level 1 Shaper Psion could buy 36 Astral Construct power stones, equating to 36 different "animals," each for 1 hour. Furthermore, unlike most of the creatures mentioned above, Astral Constructs can fly, and a character could take Boost Construct with his/her level 1 general feat to boost the size of the construct. That ultimately allows for a medium-size flyer with decent strength - a perfecting flying mount for a small character wanting to play a full caster with skills as opposed to, say, a summoner. Plus, the variety of the constructs adds much flavor. ... If the character were human or didn't care about Boost Construct, s/he could take Scribe Scroll, doubling the Astral Constructs to 72.

If the shaper is also a Dual Disciple archetype with the Egoist (psychometabolism) discipline, then the shaper can also turn him/herself into a mount/animal! Minor Metamorphosis is a level 1 spell for an Egoist. Furthermore, that power can be used on a psicrystal with Share Powers - an option easily obtained via a feat (and remembering the Psion gets a bonus feat at level 1) - all allowing for much mixing and matching. Add to all this that the Shaper can use Ectoplasmic Creation, for free, to conjure 1 cubic foot of organic material for anything, and there is quite a lot the Shaper can do at level 1.

The Nightmare Constructor archetype of the psionic Dread class might be even better than the Shaper because it can get an eidolon-like Nightmare annnnd use Astral Construct power stones via Use Psionic/Magic Device (taking Dangerously Curious for the class skill). The drawback with this option is that the Nightmare Constructor does not qualify for the Advanced Constructs feat, and so the Astral Constructs are all only for 1 round/level.

Note that the Shaper can still also take feats like Wasp Familiar, Familiar Bond, and Evolved Familiar, too.

Another stand-out option, particularly for a flyer, is the Totem Spiritualist. While far weaker generally than the inquisitor or shaper, the spiritualist provides a distinct benefit for paizo-only games: a flying companion that is portable. It's portable insofar as it can be housed in the character's consciousness. It still lacks the intelligence of another companion that can do the same, however: the eidolon.

There are other options, too - too many to list... Springing to mind is the Promethean Alchemist, who gets a 10 strength small flying homunculus and can make creative uses of Craft Construct. Another is the draconic druid, which is fairly weak but allows for Noxious Bite at level 3. A vanilla Paladin is good for its Divine Bond mount, too, because it's "unsummonable" and intelligent - and qualifies the character for the Monstrous Mount feat at level 5. Level 3 is the key level for any character with a familiar, including any class character with Variant Multiclassing (witch or wizard), as a Maule archetype familiar is perfect for transforming for social situations/scouting and then for combat/mounting (for a small character).

Halflings can make the best knights, due to their small size and the Caretaker trait (boosting intelligence).

Finally, there's Spheres of Power.

[Mark Hoover 330]

So let's look at the Handle Animal skill from a player's perspective. They're running, say, a vanilla Paladin at L5. For their divine bond they choose a mount, but they want to also have a mundane animal by their side when quarters get too small to be riding a horse into battle.

This PC chooses a black bear. This isn't an animal you can purchase, though you can buy a grizzly for 740 GP, so let's say we give them a cost of, say, 500 GP. Now, this PC has already put out significant GP for their level to buy the animal, but now they have to spend 6 weeks training this bear in all the tricks needed, two of which are the Attack trick so that the bear will be willing to attack ANY creature it might face.

So after all of this time and money, the PC ends up with a Medium animal with AC 17 and 32 HP accompanying them into tighter dungeon spaces. This animal doesn't automatically have the feat to wear armor, so its defenses are only the leather barding and any buff spells the party can afford to spare. This is added expense on top of the cost already spent.

Once engaged in battle, the PC needs to always decide; do they spend their Move action commanding the bear to Defend OR physically move in combat? This might only come up occasionally but it can modify tactics greatly. Finally, if this bear has weaker defenses than the heavily armored paladin it is protecting, or even the mage-armored wizard in the back of the party, foes may decide to target IT instead of a PC.

The average CR5 foe can deal approximately 20 HP damage with it's "high attack" during a full round of combat. If the bear has 32 HP, it can MAYBE survive 1 round, maybe 2 tops.

In short, a PC needs to weigh all of these cons against the advantage of having, say, an extra flanker or a creature with Pounce for DPR, or Grab for grappling.

Last, but certainly not least... development. An AC or Divine Mount will gain HP, feats and other advantages as the character levels. In order to retain the benefits of animal friends purely through the use of Handle Animal, a PC would need to house their older animals that survived a couple levels and replace them, spending time and money over again, in order for their mundane animal friends to keep pace with their current level.

For all of these reasons, not many of my players choose to use this skill in this manner.