Page 80 - World of Darkness

Animal Training spond as intended. You also get a bonus on the roll equal
to the animal’s Wits.
Dice Pool: Composure + Animal Ken + equipment
(trainer) versus Stamina + Resolve (animal) Roll Results
Action: Extended and contested (the task demands Dramatic Failure: The regimen fails completely and
a number of successes equal to the opponent’s Willpower; the animal resists the intended behavior. A whole new
each roll represents one day of training) training session must get underway for the intended trick.
Training an animal involves communicating a need, If animal abuse is involved, the creature may attack and
encouraging a type of behavior and/or discouraging un- try to escape its handler.
wanted behavior. It’s an extended and contested process. Failure: Your character fails to make any progress on
Make Composure + Animal Ken + equipment rolls for the current trick.
the trainer. Roll Stamina + Resolve for the animal. The Success: Your character makes progress in condition-
number of successes that each participant seeks is equal ing the animal’s behavior.
to the other’s Willpower dots. Thus, if a trainer has 5 Exceptional Success: Your character makes dramatic
Willpower and the animal has 3, the interrogator wins if progress with the creature.
he accumulates three successes first. The animal wins if it Suggested Equipment: Physical abuse (+1), rewards
accumulates five successes first. The winner breaks the or treats (+2)
opponent’s will to continue training or to resist the de- Possible Penalties: Training non-mammal (-1 to -
sired behavior. The trainer’s roll can be modified by equip- 3), animal already been trained poorly (-1), animal dis-
ment such as rewards (food) offered and abuse inflicted. tracted by environment (-2)
Rolls made for the animal might receive a bonus based on
how feral it is. A cat brought in from the wild might get a Empathy
+3 bonus, for example. Likewise, non-mammals (lizards,
birds) can be harder to train than mammals, imposing a The crime scene was the usual mix of order and chaos.
penalty on a trainer’s rolls (say, -1 to -3). Some animals Detective Wagner pushed his way past the news hounds and
such as wolverines are so fierce that they simply can’t be under the yellow police tape. “Where is she?” he said to the
trained. first officer he found.
Only one trick or type of behavior (house breaking, “Over there, Lieutenant.” The cop pointed at the open
“attack,” or retrieving a certain item whenever it’s thrown) rear door of a squad car. “Don’t know how much you’re
can be taught per extended and contested series of rolls. going to get out of her. She’s messed up pretty bad.”
Alternatively, a few minor tricks such as “sit,” “shake” and
“stay” can be combined in a single series of rolls. Wagner headed for the car, stepping around the form
Should an extended and contested training session splayed out on the asphalt, which was only partly covered by
end in a tie, neither side applies its will over the other. a blood-soaked tarp. He saw Dr. Feingold a few yards away,
The process must start again from scratch if the trick is to kneeling by the parked car, playing a small flashlight over
be learned. what looked like a severed hand.
If training for a type of behavior is interrupted for a The girl was curled up in the fetal position in the back of
number of consecutive days in excess of the animal’s In- the squad car, pulling a blanket around her shoulders as if it
telligence, all successes gained thus far are lost. Training could shut out the world. There was matted blood — her
for that trick must start again from scratch. Animals with fiancé’s blood — in her hair. Her white-knuckled hands
zero Intelligence cannot be trained at all. trembled.
An animal can be taught a number of tricks (can
Wagner closed the rear door of the car and got into the
undergo a separate number of training sessions) equal to front seat, putting a barrier between the two of them. He
its Wits. was going to have to play this very carefully if he hoped to get
Example: Raymond has a pet raven that he seeks to any useful information from his one and only witness.
train to fly away and return to him on command, which the
Storyteller decides is one trick. Raymond has 4 Composure, This Skill represents your character’s intuition for
3 Animal Ken and 6 Willpower. The bird has 2 Stamina, 4 reading people’s emotions. For some, it’s a matter of ob-
Resolve and 7 Willpower. Raymond needs to get seven serving body language and non-verbal cues. Others em-
successes before six are rolled for the bird. The process ploy an extraordinary sense that helps them divine a
begins, but is interrupted for two days in which no training person’s true mood. As the name implies, Empathy also
occurs at all. Those two days exceed the bird’s 1 Intelligence, involves the capacity to understand other people’s views
so the training process has to begin again from scratch. and perspectives, whether your character agrees with those
positions or not. This is useful in everything from nego-
For animals’ traits, see p. 202. tiations and crisis counseling to reading faces in a crowd
Even after an animal has been trained in a behavior and looking for potential trouble. If a subject actively con-
or trick, it does not necessarily perform the action auto- ceals his emotions or motives, make a contested roll ver-
matically on command. You need to make a successful sus the person’s Wits + Subterfuge + equipment.
Manipulation + Animal Ken roll for the animal to re-

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SOCIAL SKILLS- ANIMAL KEN-EMPATHY