Animal Lore (Proficiency)

==Player's Handbook==
This proficiency enables a character to observe the actions or habitat of an animal and interpret what is going on. Actions can show how dangerous the creature is, whether it is hungry, protecting its young, or defending a nearby den. Furthermore, careful observation of signs and behaviors can even indicate the location of a water hole, animal herd, predator, or impending danger, such as a forest fire. The DM will secretly roll a proficiency check. A successful check means the character understood the basic actions of the creature. If the check fails by 4 or less, no information is gained. If the check fails by 5 or more, the character misinterprets the actions of the animal.
A character may also imitate the calls and cries of animals that he is reasonably familiar with, based on his background. This ability is limited by volume. The roar of a tyrannosaurus rex would be beyond the abilities of a normal character. A successful proficiency check means that only magical means can distinguish the character's call from that of the true animal. The cry is sufficient to fool animals, perhaps frightening them away or luring them closer. A failed check means the sound is incorrect in some slight way. A failed call may still fool some listeners, but creatures very familiar with the cry automatically detect a false call. All other creatures and characters are allowed a Wisdom check to detect the fake.
Finally, animal lore increases the chance of successfully setting snares and traps (for hunting) since the character knows the general habits of the creature hunted.
==Player's Option: Skills & Powers==
Adventurers with animal lore have a store of knowledge about animal behavior, and without any proficiency check will know the basic feeding and social habits (i.e. herding, nesting, etc.) of animals with which they have past experience.
With a proficiency check, a character can determine whether an observed animal is intending to attack or to flee, or predict that animals will come along a trail at a certain time of day. This character gets a +2 bonus to checks made using the set snares proficiency.
The character can imitate the calls of wild animals (except for very large creatures). A successful check means that the imitation is virtually perfect, and even fools animals of the same type. A failed check might fool other characters, but will not deceive the animals.
==The Complete Book of Dwarves==
The effectiveness of this proficiency varies according to the background of the dwarf. A dwarf who has lived his entire life underground knows little about animals living above ground, but he will be very knowledgeable about those underground. In this case, a dwarf gains a +1 modifier to his Intelligence when dealing with underground animals, but has no knowledge of surface creatures. A sundered dwarf who fears the underground may only have knowledge of above ground animals.
Dwarves with backgrounds of trade with other races or who live both below and above ground, may have normal animal lore proficiency with no modifiers, knowing both above and below-ground animals.
A character may imitate the calls and cries of animals as described in the Player's Handbook.
==Note from The Complete Paladin's Handbook==
Although this proficiency allows a character to imitate animal sounds, this ability neither helps nor hinders the paladin when summoning his bonded mount.
==The Complete Barbarian's Handbook==
Animal Lore: All barbarians automatically have the animal lore proficiency for creatures in their homeland terrain (see Chapter 1). In situations where a proficiency check is required, the DM should make an Intelligence check instead. If a barbarian spends a slot on this proficiency, he acquires a knowledge of animal lore for creatures other than those native to his homeland terrain. He then uses the rules in the animal lore proficiency description in the Player's Handbook.
Category:Player's Handbook Proficiencies
Category:The Complete Book of Dwarves Proficiencies