Animal Training and Animal Companions (by Icarus)

*These rules were created by Icarus on the old Green Ronin forums. The only changes I (jaythegreenling) made were to fix typos and formatting.*

### Info

These rules expand the Animal Training talent (Dragon Age Core Rulebook p. 58) and the Ranger Specialisation (Dragon Age Core Rulebook p. 69).

### Animal Training

The Animal Training talent now allows you to turn animals you train into prime examples of their kind. You probably can sell your skill for a patron for a very high price (to train an animal you can charge at least the price one would pay to buy it—meaning that an animal you trained costs at least twice as much as a regular animal of the same kind). You can also keep one (and only one) animal companion. This animal companion can be any animal you're able to train (with the GM's approval). Your animal companion is considered completely trained to the limit of your ability (see below).

For each rank of the talent (novice, journeyman, or master) you can improve the stats of a certain kind of animal. It takes an advanced test to train an animal. The target number and success threshold depend on the animal and each test takes a week of work.

As a novice you can train fairly common animals: dogs, mabari, birds of prey, etc. The TN to train these animals is 13 and the success threshold is 10. After the animal is completely trained you can add the Elite template to it or turn a non-combatant animal into a combatant (such as training a riding horse as a war horse able to attack on command).

As a journeyman you can train larger and uncommon animals: black bears, halla, horses, bronto, giant rats, wolves. The TN to train these animals is 15 and the success threshold is 15. After the animal is completely trained you can add the Elite template to it. At this level, you can also train a novice-level animal and add the Heroic template to it.

As a master you can train exotic and rare animals: great bears, great lions, giant spiders, wyverns. The TN to train these animals is 17 and the success threshold is 20. After the animal is completely trained you can repeat the training and add the Elite template to it. At this level, you can also train a novice-level animal and add the Epic template to it or train a journeyman-level animal and add the Heroic template to it.

The Elite, Heroic, and Epic templates can be found in DA: Core, p. 270.

### Ranger

A character with the Ranger Specialisation also can add templates (Elite, Heroic, or Epic) to the animals they command.

* The novice Ranger can add the Elite template to all animals summoned.
* The journeyman Ranger can add the Heroic template to all animals summoned.
* The master Ranger can add the Epic template to all animals summoned.

To summon an animal with a template, add +2 to the TN of the test per rank of the template.

So, luring a common animal usually has TN 13, but luring an elite animal is TN 15, luring a heroic animal is TN 17, and luring an epic animal is TN 19.

Finally, I recommend that rangers are allowed to extend the time their animals stay with the party. Instead of half an hour, the animal stays with the party for one significant encounter (a "significant encounter" is any encounter where the animal's traits are useful to the characters, at GM's discretion), and that for each encounter after that the ranger may be allowed to repeat the Communication (Animal Handling) test to keep the animal around.

### Equipment for Rangers

Rangers can buy specific lures and items to help them summon their animals. The cost for this is 20 silver and it adds a +2 bonus to lure a single animal.

#### Ranger Collar

*This collar is masterfully crafted and can fit animals from the size of small dogs to large bears.*

When a ranger tries to lure an animal using this collar, the time to lure the animal is reduced to 1 minute.

* Item Type: Animal collar
* Estimated Value: 2-4 gold pieces