Abilities & Attributes

You have a natural affinity for animals, so much so that you seem to be part animal yourself. Perhaps you’ve learned ancestral techniques of animal communion. Maybe you’re a shapeshifter with the heart of a beast. Wherever your Talent comes from, you connect with animals on a level that often seems downright… primal.

On a practical level, this Talent helps you puzzle out hierarchies, read moods or states of health, communicate through vocalizations and body language, and come to understandings on an animal level. This doesn’t mean an animal will necessarily like you, but you can respect one another as peers. Intelligent animals tend to be easier to commune with than primitive ones; it’s far simpler to bond with, say, a wolf than with a shark. Hence, Animal Kinship difficulties are lower with smart or trusting beasts than with alien, hostile, or simple-minded ones.

Successes on an Animal Kinship roll can also help you lower the difficulty of a Riding roll or let you pass as “just another animal” if you’ve shapeshifted into beast form. With a Training specialty, you can train certain kinds of animals too; each beast type (horses, raptors, big cats, etc.) requires its own specialty, though the Well-Skilled Craftsman option may give you a break when buying several specialties. Even then, though, this is a Talent, not a power. You can get on an animal’s good side easily enough, but if you push that relationship too far, your friend is history.

• Novice: Domesticated animals tend to like you.

•• Practiced: Skittish animals tend to trust you.

••• Skillful: Wild animals tend to respect you.

•••• Expert: Folks call you “the Beast Whisperer.”

••••• Master: You seem closer to animals than to human beings.

Possessed By

Shapeshifters, Farmers, Hunters, Grooms, Witches, K-9 Cops, Animal Trainers, Pet Companions, Naturalists, Feral People Raised By Beasts

Suggested Specialties

Dominance, Befriending, Calming, Bonding, Reading Signs, “Talk To the Animals,” Training (specific animals – Canines & Lupines, Felines, Horses, Raptors, etc.)