When there is any question whether you can calm down a domesticated animal, intuit an animal’s intentions, or attempt to train or rear an animal, the GM might call for a Handle Animal check. You also make a Handle Animal check to control your mount when you attempt a risky maneuver.
You can also use Handle Animal on creatures that are not of the animal type if they have an Intelligence score of 1 or 2, but you take a -5 penalty on the check.
Handle an Animal
Handle Animal can be used to command an animal to perform a task or trick it has learned or push it to perform one it hasn’t learned but is physically capable of performing.
The base difficulty class to command an animal is 10. If the animal does not know the task or trick, the DC is increased to 25.
Pushing an animal also covers making an animal perform a forced march or forcing it to hustle for more than 1 hour between sleep cycles.
Ride a Mount
Simply riding a mount does not require a skill check, but riding in combat, performing tricks, or making special maneuvers does.
Control Mount in Battle
Controlling a mount in battle that is not trained for combat has a DC of 20 and requires a move action, while trained mounts can be directed as a free action and do not require a check.
Fast Mount or Dismount
You can attempt to mount or dismount as a free action, provided that you still have a move action available that round. If you fail the skill check, it becomes a move action.
Leap
You can get your mount to leap obstacles as part of its movement. Use your Handle Animal modifier or the mount’s Athletics modifier, whichever is lower, to see how far the creature can jump. If you fail your skill check, you fall off the mount when it leaps and take the appropriate falling damage. This does not take an action, but is part of the mount’s movement.
Spur Mount
You can spur your mount to greater speed with a move action. A successful skill check increases the mount’s speed by 10 feet for 1 round but deals 1 point of damage to the creature. You can use this ability every round, but each consecutive round of additional speed deals twice as much damage to the mount as the previous round (2 points, 4 points, 8 points, and so on).
Wild Empathy
Handle Animal can be used to improve the attitude of an animal. This ability functions much like a Persuasion check. The typical domestic animal has a starting attitude of indifferent, while wild animals are usually unfriendly. If an animal is wounded or has taken nonlethal damage or ability damage/drain, the DC is increased by 2.
To use wild empathy, you and the animal must be able to study one another, which means that you must be within 30 feet of each other under normal conditions. Generally, influencing an animal in this way takes 1 minute but, as with influencing people, it might take more or less time.
Calm an Animal
Whenever an animal is in an unusual situation or confronted by a threat, it can become skittish and afraid. When an animal that is friendly towards you is subject to a Will save against against fear, you may make a Handle Animal check against the DC of the save. If your check is successful, the animal resists the fear, regardless of its own Will save result. You may use this ability once per round, and the animal must be within your reach. You may not take 10 when trying to calm an animal.
Train an Animal
You can use Handle Animal to teach an animal a specific trick or train it for a general purpose.
The DC to teach an animal a trick is 15, and each trick requires one week of work. Make one skill check at the end of the week to determine if the animal has successfully learned the trick.
General purpose training consists of packages of related tricks, allowing for easier training. The animal must meet all the normal prerequisites for all tricks included in the training package. An animal can be trained for only one general purpose, though if the creature is capable of learning additional tricks, it may do so.
The DC to train an animal for a general purpose is 20, and it requires one week of work for each trick in the package. Make one skill check at the end of the training for each week. If at least one of the checks is successful, the animal has been trained successfully.
Details on specific tricks and training can be found in the section detailing Animal Companions.
Rear a Wild Animal
To rear an animal means to raise a wild creature from infancy so that it becomes domesticated. A handler can rear as many as three creatures of the same kind at once. A successfully domesticated animal can be taught tricks at the same time it’s being raised, or it can be taught as a domesticated animal later. The DC to rear a wild animal is 15 + the animal’s Hit Dice.