Animal Master is a character theme.
Features[]
- Animal Master Starting Feature: Choose one of the following five animals —cat, dog, hawk, monkey, or raven—to be your animal minion. This creature accompanies you for as long as it lives. The animal doesn't have a normal complement of actions, but it can take a move action when you take one. If it has a power, it can use it only on your turn. (With your DM’s consent, you can substitute any similar creature for these choices; for example, an otter would be much like a cat with a skill bonus for swimming instead of climbing and jumping, and a badger is pretty close to a small dog in size and abilities.)
In addition, you gain the distracting attack power. - Animal Master Level 5 Feature: You can find and train a new animal minion at the end of any extended rest. If no suitable creatures are in your vicinity, you have to wait until you find a better spot. You can have only one animal minion at a time.
- Animal Master Level 10 Feature: You gain a +2 bonus to Bluff checks, Diplomacy checks, Insight checks, and Intimidate checks made against natural beasts.
Animal minions in combat[]
Your animal minion normally stays out of the way in combat, waiting by the outskirts of the fighting. You can direct it to help you by using distracting attack. If you’re not using your animal minion to harass a foe, you can assume that your pet is safely out of harm’s way and won’t attract any enemy attention. Distracting attack doesn’t normally provoke a response against your animal, since it moves in and out of the thick of the fighting quickly.
At the DM’s discretion, an animal minion can act independently; for example, if you are incapacitated, your minion might run off to bring help back to you.
Replacing Animal Minions[]
Until you reach 5th level, if your animal minion is killed, you can replace it after the end of your current adventure or one week, whichever comes first.
Alternative utility powers[]
The following utility powers can be selected by characters with the animal master theme:
- Timely Trick (lvl 2 utility)
- Guard My Back (lvl 6 utility)
- Shared Sight (lvl 10 utility)