Taming a wild animal

Step One: Capture

Pretty straight forward. Find and capture the beast you intend to tame (Whether or
not the creature can even be tamed is at the discretion of the DM). The only thing
to note here would be the method the players use to capture the creature: using
nonviolent and non-magical methods is much more difficult obviously, but will
make the taming process easier as the creature would have less reason to resent
you. (Some exceptions may apply depending on the creature, some creatures may
only respond to violence for instance)

Step Two: Taming

Once you capture/pacify the creature then you have arduous task of making it not
hate you. This is arguably the most difficult stage of the process and requires
certain number of stars to align before you have much of a chance of taming the
beastie which I'll get to in a moment.
The actual taming of the animal will be handled through a modified skill challenge.
Each day the player must spend at least 3 hours near the creature and 1 hour
having one on one bonding sessions (4 hours total). During that time they make an
animal handling skill check, on a success that days bonding went well, on a fail the
bonding went poorly (there can be consequences for poor bonding sessions, one I
read was to have the creature bite off the player's hand). The player must succeed
on x checks before failing y checks in order to tame the creature (eg. you must
reach 10 successes before you reach 5 fails)
Once the player has passed the skill challenge then their creature has been tamed.
The creature becomes friendly towards the player and will follow them around if
not left contained. The creature will not defend the player, but will attack perceived
threats to itself. The creature retains it's alignment while tamed and, though
friendly towards the player, will still be hostile towards those it would normally
consider a threat (A tamed creature with an evil alignment may not attack the
player, but it may still be inclined to eat babies).
The specifics of taming a creature may be influenced by a number of things
including: The creature's alignment and intelligence, the creature's Challenge
rating, the creature's size, the player's class, the player's roleplaying skill and of
course the method used during the creature's capture.
(Note: In general you want to keep the base skill checks high enough that taming an
animal would be a task you'd need to carefully plan around. I use 10 successes
before reaching 5 failures with a DC of 15)
● The Creature's Alignment
Different alignments should have different effects on the requirements of the
creature.
● Unaligned, true neutral and lawful creatures have no change
● Chaotic creatures are automatically harder to tame than normal, increasing
the number of successes required to pass the skill challenge by 2.
● Good creatures respond better to good aligned players. If a good aligned
player is taming a good aligned creature then the number of fails needed to
fail the skill challenge is increased by 1. This same rule applies to evil players
taming evil creatures.
● Conversely, a good creature responds poorly to evil aligned players. If an evil
aligned player is taming a good aligned creature then the number of fails
needed to fail the skill challenge is decreased by 1. This same rule applies to
good players taming evil creatures.
● The Creature's Intelligence
A creatures intelligence can influence parts of the taming process.
● A creature with 4 or less intelligence have no change
● A creature with more than 4 but less than 10 intelligence can potentially
understand what you're trying to do and may help or hinder your efforts at
the discretion of the DM (A Harpy may recognise that you are attempting to
train it but allow you to continue so long as you continue to provide the food
it craves)
● Creatures with more than 10 intelligence most likely cannot be tamed
through this method (The DM may allow exceptions).
● The Creature's Challenge Rating
A creature's challenge rating should influence the DC of the skill challenge.
● Challenge ratings less than 1 should be easier than normal (At the discretion
of the DM)
● Challenge ratings between 1 and 3 have no change
● Above 3 the challenge should get progressively harder (I use a rate of +1 to
the DC every 2 challenge levels. so CR3 = DC15 || CR4 = DC16 || CR6 = DC17
and so on so forth)
● The Player's Class
Some classes are naturally more adept at taming animals than others.
● Rangers have the DC for the skill challenge lowered by 2
● Druids and Beastmasters have the DC for the skill challenge lowered by 4
● Beastmasters are naturally better with animals. The number of successes
needed to pass the skill challenge is decreased by 2 and the fails needed to
fail it are increased by 2. (eg. 10 successes before reaching 5 fails becomes 8
successes before reaching 7 fails)
 ● Rogues are incredible at the skills they practice. But for some reason they
just can't seem to tame animals. A player with any levels in the rogue class is
unable to tame a creature through this method.
● Rogues can procure already tamed animals however. The details of this
process is detailed at the bottom of this post.
● The Creature's Size
Bigger creature's are tougher to train, the bigger the beastie the bigger the
challenge.
● Small, Medium and Large creatures have no changes
● Tiny creatures allow all skill checks in the skill challenge to be taken with
advantage
● Huge creatures can only be trained if the whole party chips in to help. The
full party must be present at all stages of the taming process, in addition the
creature requires an additional 2 hours of one on one time each day.
Increases the number of successes required by 2
● Gargantuan creatures can only be trained if the whole party chips in to help.
The full party must be present at all stages of the taming process, in addition
the creature requires an additional 6 hours of one on one time each day and
all skill checks involved in the challenge must be taken with disadvantage.
Increases the number of successes required by 4 (Note: When the whole
group is required then the party must elect a player to become the lead
trainer, that player's character is the only one used when determining the
difficulty of the skill challenge)
● The Capture Method
The way a player catches a creature can influence the chances of taming it.
● Using nonviolent methods to capture or pacify a creature makes it more
friendly towards you. If nonviolent methods are used then lower the DC of
the skill challenge by 1
● Violent methods have the opposite effect, making a creature less responsive
to your training. If violent methods are used then increase the DC of the skill
challenge by 1
● Roleplay bonuses
Player's who roleplay a taming session well might earn bonuses at the discretion of
the DM. Some possible bonuses could include:
● Taking a single check in the skill challenge with advantage
● Lowering the DC of a single check in the skill challenge
● Crits and Fumbles
Finally we can't finish this off without adressing natural 20's and natural 1's. Quite
simply:
● A natural 20 counts as 2 successes
● A natural 1 counts as 2 failures
Step Three: Training
A tamed creature is all well and good, but you want something that can fight by
your side, something to ride into glorious battle on! For that you'll need to train
your creature. This step is significantly easier than taming your creature, however
it take a significantly longer time.
There are 4 basic commands that you must teach your creature before you are able
to teach it other commands:
● Move
● Stay
● Come
● Calm
Once your creature has learned the basics it becomes more docile. It will no longer
follow it's baser instincts will not attack another creature unless provoked (it will
still be hostile towards creatures it perceives as a threat or prey, and it may attack
you do not calm it). You may now teach it more complex commands. These
commands are:
● Dash
● Help
● Disengage
● Ready
● Action
Note: The action command refers to any actions the creature is able to perform.
Each action is treated as a separate command and must be taught separately.
Multiattack is treated as an action and is automatically known once all other actions
have been taught.
Once all complex commands have been taught then the creature is considered
fully trained.
Other special commands do not count when determining if a creature is fully
trained and can only be taught to certain creatures (at the discretion of the DM),
these can also only be taught after the creature knows the 4 basic commands. Some
example special commands include:
● Search
● Track
● Forage
There is one other command. Advanced attack is a unique command that you can
only take if the DM took the Beastmaster Supreme optional rule detailed at the end
of this post. Advanced attack can only be taught to a creature that has has learned
all other basic and complex commands and has known all it's action commands for
at least 2 months. (The beastmaster can teach this command immediately without
needing to teach any action commands)
Teaching each command takes time and effort. Basic commands only require time,
complex commands however, also require you to pass a skill challenge in order to
successfully teach them to your creature. If you fail a training skill challenge you
are unable to teach your creature any commands for 1 week (you can reattempt
any failed commands after the week). You can only teach one command at a time.
Some things influence the training times for each command: Creature size,
creature alignment and player class.

Note: The DM should alter the time between individual checks as necessary to
compensate for altered learning times
● Creature Size
● Tiny Creatures halve the time required to teach each command and double
the number of fails needed to fail a skill challenge (applied after other
modifiers)
● Large and Huge creatures increase the number of successes needed to pass a
skill challenge by 1
● Large creatures double the time required to teach a command
● Huge creatures triple the time required to teach a command
● Gargantuan creatures quadruple the time required to teach a command and
double the number of successes needed to pass a skill challenge (applied
after other modifiers)
● Creature Alignment
● Chaotic Creatures increases the time to teach a command by 1 month
(applied before other modifiers)
● Lawful Creatures halve the time required to teach a command
● Player Class
● Druids and Rangers reduce the number of successes required by 1
● Beastmasters halve the time required to teach a command
● Roleplay bonuses
Player's who roleplay a training session well might earn bonuses at the discretion of
the DM. Some possible bonuses could include:
● Taking a single check in the skill challenge with advantage
● Lowering the DC of a single check in the skill challenge
● Crits and Fumbles
● A natural 20 counts as 2 successes
● A natural 1 counts as 2 failures
Command List

Command: Move
Time required: 1 month (3 months if creature flies)
Skill Challenge: None
Command type: Basic (no action required)
Description: You teach your creature to move to precise locations you command.
You can verbally command the creature where to move.

Command: Stay
Time required: 1 week
Skill Challenge: None
Command type: Basic (no action required)
Description: You teach your creature to remain stationary and not follow you. You
can verbally command the creature to stop moving, it will remain stationary until
otherwise instructed.

Command: Come
Time required: 1 week
Skill Challenge: None
Command type: Basic (no action required)
Description: You teach your creature to come to you when called. You can verbally
command the creature to return to your side and follow you around.

Command: Calm
Time required: 1 month
Skill Challenge: None
Command type: Basic (no action required)
Description: You teach your creature to calm down on command. You can verbally
command the creature to calm down, it will immediately cease any hostile activity
it was performing.

Command: Action
Time required: 1 month
Skill Challenge: 3 successes before 2 fails (one check per week)
Command type: Complex (1 action required)
Description: You teach your creature to perform an action on command. You can
use your action to verbally command the creature to perform one of it's actions.

Command: Dash
Time required: 1 week
Skill Challenge: 3 successes before 3 fails (one check per day)
Command type: Complex (1 action required)
Description: You teach your creature to dash on command. You can use your
action to verbally command the creature to take the Dash action.

Command: Help
Time required: 1 month
Skill Challenge: 3 successes before 2 fails (one check per week)
Command type: Complex (1 action required)
Description: You teach your creature to help another creature on command. You
can use your action to verbally command the creature to take the help action.

Command: Disengage
Time required: 1 week
Skill Challenge: 3 successes before 3 fails (one check per day)
Command type: Complex (1 action required)
Description: You teach your creature to Disengage on command. You can use your
action to verbally command the creature to take the Disengage action.

Command: Ready
Time required: 2 months
Skill Challenge: 6 successes before 3 fails (one check per week)
Command type: Complex (1 action required)
Description: You teach your creature to ready and action on command. You can
use your action to verbally command the creature to take the Ready action.

Command: Search
Time required: 4 months
Skill Challenge: 6 successes before 3 fails (one check every 2 weeks)
Command type: Special (1 action required)
Description: You teach your creature to search for an object on command. You can
use your action to verbally command the creature to take the search action.

Command: Track
Time required: 4 months
Skill Challenge: 6 successes before 3 fails (one check every 2 weeks)
Command type: Special (no action required)
Description: You teach your creature to track. You can verbally command the
creature to track something (DMG pg. 244). If the creature has the keen senses
ability then it has advantage on all tracking checks.
Command: Forage
Time required: 4 months
Skill Challenge: 6 successes before 3 fails (one check every 2 weeks)
Command type: Special (no action required)
Description: You teach your creature to forage for food. You can verbally
command the creature to forage for food in the surrounding area (DMG pg. 111). If
the creature has the keen senses ability then it has advantage on all foraging checks.

Command: Advanced Attack

Time required: 6 months
Skill Challenge: 7 successes before 2 fails (one check every 3 weeks)
Command type: Unique (1 action required)
Description: You teach your creature to attack a target. You can use your action to
verbally command your creature to attack another creature, your creature will
continue to attack to target without requiring you to use any actions until it is
issued another command or until the target is dead.

Congratulations! You have now tamed and trained a Wild animal!