From the rules, wild empathy gives me a diplomacy check vs. pretty much any animal. All the descriptions I see say add the ranger lvl and charisma modifier to a d20 roll, basing the results on the diplomacy table. I then assume I use my handle animal skill to make attempts to handle (if the animal has the skill) or push. I am aware the WE skill takes a minute to complete and can't work in combat realistically.
This is what I have discovered, however when I was making the ranger (first one) I am pretty sure my dm stated that Wild Empathy uses the Handle Animal skill to make the attempt. I just want to get the right modifiers in place for when I use the skill. It is a +3 modifier difference between lvl+cha and straight skill.
Also, what is the conversion rate from copper to silver and silver to gold. This has been bugging me all day.
Thanks in advance,
-Pete
Wild Empathy does not use any skills, it is a special ability that works like diplomacy but uses level + charisma + 1d20. So, in a way, it is like a skill that gets a free skill point every level. So your GM is not correct in saying it uses Handle Animal.
Monetary exchange rate is 10:1. So 1 gold is 10 silver and 1 silver is 10 copper.
Awesome, exactly what I needed to know. Thanks.
There is also a Feat, in Ultimate Magic I think, that allows you to make a Wild Empathy check as a standard action rather than taking an entire minute. Interestingly enough, one of the pre-requisites for it is five ranks or so in Handle Animal.
Animal Companion "Link" gives a bonus to Wild Empathy and Handle Animal vs. your own Companion.
Wild Empathy doesn't normally have obvious uses for your own Companion, unless the Companion somehow get's turned against you (yet still has free-will). I'm not sure if such cases actually exist by RAW (?). One obscure use for the Companion-specific bonus to Wild Empathy that I recently noticed is that some monsters have an "Unnatural Aura" ability that prevents animals from approaching, which requires a DC25 Handle Animal, Ride, OR WILD EMPATHY check to over-come. You should be able to benefit from the Link bonus to WE for your own Companion in that case. I am curious if there are any more cases where a WE bonus vs. your own Companion is actually useful.