Talk:Animal Taming

This is Lyrrin's sandbox page, for detailing how the new taming system works and finding places that need tweaking.

One question: current skill to tame is 62, 72, 82, 92, 98. This means there is no point in taking 60 taming and you have to have it as at least a secondary skill to tame any of these pets. Should we lower taming skill needed to something like 55, 65, 75, 85, 95?

Stable Slots

Everyone, regardless of skill gets 5 stable slots

Number of stable slots increases by 2 for each level of pet you have enough skill to tame

Maximum 15 stable slots: 5 base + 2*5 levels of pets

Legacy Pets and Mounts

When the new taming system with Baby Pets are introduced all previously existing tamables will be known as Legacy Pets.

• Normal mounts; horses, ostards, llamas, swamp dragons, (lyrrin insert list), will be tamable with little or no taming skill and will take up one slot.
• Low end tamables, such as chickens, cats, rats, sheep, etc will still be tamable, but they are intended to be used for role-play purposes only, not as combat pets.
• High-end tamables, currently in the wild, will no longer be tamable.
• All currently owned tamables will not be removed from your stable, but they will no longer be ressurectable. You may keep them for the sake of sentimentality.
• Staff are able to convert one or two of your favorite pets into the new form.

New Pets and Mounts

Stats and Skills

General idea

Level 1 (AOE)

Lowest hit points, stats, and skills, but you can have up to 5 of them

All combat skills

Balanced str and dex, low int

Level 2 (Ranged)

Heavy emphasis on magic skills, but can train melee skills

Moderate str, low dex, high int

Level 3 (Healer)

Emphasis on combat skills, weak magery for healing/cure. Adult gets boosted to a moderate amount of magery.

Mostly balanced stats, str > dex and int

Level 4 (High damage)

All combat skills. Slightly higher HP than L3, much lower HP than L4

Highest stat total of all levels. High str, moderate dex, low int, for high damage combat

Level 5 (Tank)

All combat skills. Highest HP, but lower stats than L4.

Stat total equivalent to L3 but distributed differently. High str, moderate dex, low int.

All special attacks will use stamina. This leaves L2 and L3 able to do fewer special attacks, as a trade-off for being able to cast spells or heal while still doing melee combat.

Baby Pets

	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4	Level 5
Hit Points	50	70	80	90	120
Str	100	75	100	140	120
Dex	100	50	75	100	100
Int	25	110	70	25	25
Stat Total	225	235	245	265	245

	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4	Level 5
Wrestling	50	0	60	65	70
Tactics	50	0	60	65	70
Anatomy	50	0	0	65	70
Magic Resist	50	55	60	65	70
Magery	0	55	30	0	0
Meditation	0	55	30	0	0
Eval Int	0	55	0	0	0
Skill Total	200	220	240	260	280
Skill Caps	80	80	80	80	80

A baby pet will grow up into an adult as soon as any of its skills reaches 80. With the current setup this means it will take longer to train a level 1 than it will take to train a level 5. I actually like this, since you can simultaneously train 5 L1's together but can only train one L5 at a time. Having L5 need less time to get to adult sounds like a fair tradeoff to me and a "benefit" of GM-ing taming. Open to changing though.

IDEA: Higher taming = faster pet skill gain?

Adult Pets

	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4	Level 5
Hit Points	100	150	200	225	300
Str	125	75	125	175	155
Dex	125	50	90	125	125
Int	25	170	90	25	25
Stat Total	275	295	305	325	305

	Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4	Level 5
Wrestling	80	*	80	85	90
Tactics	80	*	80	85	90
Anatomy	80	*	*	85	90
Magic Resist	80	80	80	85	90
Magery	0	80	60	0	0
Meditation	0	80	*	0	0
Eval Int	0	80	0	0	0
Skill Total	320	>350	>330	340	360
Skill Caps	110	120	130	140	150

"*" denotes that these skills are left at the pet's current skill level.

L2 combat skills are capped at 80.

L3 magery and meditation are capped at 80.

Behavior

The following rules apply to all pets
Attack	All pets will attack a given target with the "kill" command. When the target dies, the pet returns to the owner's side and switches to "guard" mode. Pets will periodically try to use their special attack On successful melee hit, they have a 25% chance to use their special attack. On successful special attack use, there is a 30 second cooldown before another attempt will be made. Lyrrin note: Is 30 seconds too low for cooldown? Also, since swing speed is dependent on stamina, should the pets be smart enough to not use the ability if they are below X stamina? Lara says yes.
Guard	Pets will only attack mobs that are attacking their owner or themselves, in that order. As with attacking, if the target mob dies the pet will return to the owner and stay in "guard" mode.
Follow	Pets will stay at your side and not attack anything. They will ignore any mobs that attack them. Pet follow speed has been increased so that they keep up with you when you are running or mounted. If a pet gets more than 16 tiles away from you, it will teleport to your side. It will also do this while attacking or guarding.

Each level of pet has special behaviors during attack and guard:

Level 1 - Split up to attack multiple targets
Attack	When given the 'kill' or 'all kill' command, each L1 pet from the same owner will attack a different target within 5 tiles of the original target. If there aren't enough targets in range, they will split up existing in-range targets between them. L1 pets do not care about what L2+ pets are doing, so they may attack the same target as an L2+ pet from the same owner. Because peripheral target selection is not under the player's control, L1 pets are hard-coded not to attack their owner, other players, anyone's pets or summons, or anything that will flag the owner as criminal, even on the mainland where PvP is allowed.
Guard	L1 pets will split up and attack different targets, but only ones that are currently attacking their owner or themselves. Targeting restrictions for attacking do NOT apply for guarding. If a player or their pet attacks the owner, L1 pets will attack back. (Lyrrin double-check that this is true)

Level 2 - Ranged (magery) attack
Attack	L2 pets primarily attack with spells, with close-range melee as a backup. To attack with spells, L2 pets need reagents. Players can drag/drop reagents onto the pet or open their backpack and put reagents inside. If they run out of reagents, they will say, "*Stops casting to look around for more reagents*". This message is throttled to only happen every 1 minute, to avoid spamming. While out of reagents, they will revert to melee combat. As long as they are able to cast, they will try to stay 3 tiles away from the mob they are attacking to avoid getting hit. If they run out of mana, they will revert to close-range melee attacks until they have more than X mana (Lyrrin needs to re-evaluate this in light of the new regen code) L2 pets will not use special attacks unless they are doing melee combat.
Guard	If a mob attacks their owner, L2 pets will guard by casting spells or doing close-range melee the same way they attack. If no mobs are currently attacking the player, L2 pets will meditate. When they start meditating, they will say, "*Settles into a trance, regaining energy*". This message is also throttled to every 1 minute to avoid spamming.

Level 3 - Healer
Attack	In addition to melee combat, L3 pets can heal themselves, their owner, and their owner's other pets. To heal, L3 pets need reagents. Players can drag/drop reagents onto the pet or open their backpack and put reagents inside. If they run out of reagents, they will say, "*Stops casting to look around for more reagents*". This message is throttled to only happen every 1 minute, to avoid spamming. While out of reagents, they will not be able to heal and will do melee combat. Healing takes priority over combat. L3 pets will attempt these actions in order: Cure a poisoned owner/pet, cast greater heal, cast heal, do melee combat. Healing/cure has a cooldown of 10-15 seconds before any heal/cure action can be used again. The cooldown is dependent on the owner's taming skill. 60 taming = 15 seconds, 100 taming = 10 seconds. If the pet runs out of mana, they only do melee attacks until they have enough mana to cast cure or heal again.
Guard	If a mob attacks their owner, L3 pets will guard by healing or doing melee combat the same way they attack. If no mobs are currently attacking the player, L3 pets will meditate. (Lyrrin double-check this is true)

Level 4 - High Damage
Attack	L4 pets do standard close-range melee combat. They have a small chance (1%) to stun their opponent for 5 seconds on successful hit.
Guard	L4 pets follow standard pet guarding rules.

Level 5 - Tank
Attack	L5 pets do standard close-range melee combat. They have a small chance (1%) to taunt other mobs away from their owner, to attack the pet. Will not taunt if HP is below 50.
Guard	L5 pets follow standard pet guarding rules.

Feeding, Bonding, and Loyalty

To keep your pet's spirits up, you can feed them normal food, of course. However if you want to give them a boost, you can feed them special pet food, which is made with the Cooking skill. Pet food will cheer your pet up more than normal food, and as a bonus, your pet's passive and active skill gains are doubled for two minutes. This timed effect stacks, so if you feed them 5 pet food at once, their skill gain will be doubled for 10 minutes total, unless you stable the pet or log off before then.

Bonding your pet

A "bonded" pet can be resurrected if it dies, while an unbonded pet is gone for good on death. Babies bond easily to their new handlers. To bond a baby, feed it pet food immediately after taming it. Adult pets, aka original OSI "legacy" pets, still need to be put in the stable for a week before they will bond.

Sulking pets

One significant change from OSI is that our custom tamables will not go wild if you forget to feed them. Instead, they will start to sulk. They will refuse any commands from you, and will instead wander around acting pitiful. They will not teleport to you automatically if you get too far away from them (but the Call Home spell will still work on them), and they cannot be appeased with normal food.

To make them happy again, you or another person has to feed them pet food. If you feed them, they will start listening to you again immediately. If someone else feeds them, the pet will follow them to the stable and go into one of your open stable slot. If you don't have open stable slots, the pet will either 1) teleport to you if you are logged in, or 2) wander around the same area until you log in again, at which point it should teleport to you. Note that it can go hungry again if it waits too long for you to log in.

While your pet is sulking, it is no longer bonded to you! If it dies while sulking, it cannot be resurrected. Feeding it pet food will re-bond it as well as make it happy again.

Special Attacks

Pet special attacks can be triggered from the taming book or with .cast <Spell ID>. Attacks will drain a small amount of mana and stamina from the owner, and a larger amount of stamina from the pet. Attacks are done by pet level, i.e. casting "Level 1" special attack will cause all level 1 pets in range to do their special attacks. All pets doing a special attack will pay the stamina cost, but the owner only pays the mana/stamina cost once per cast regardless of number of pets.

Your Animal Lore skill determines how close to the pet you need to be for it to do a special attack. At 60 Lore, you need to be within 2 tiles. This increases with skill, up to 6 tiles at GM Lore.

Pet Level	Icon	Owner Cost	Pet Cost	Cooldown	Spell ID
Level 1	Image here	2 stamina	20 stamina	2 minutes	901
Level 2	Image here	3 mana	20 stamina	2 minutes	902
Level 3	Image here	4 stamina	20 stamina	2 minutes	903
Level 4	Image here	5 mana	20 stamina	2 minutes	904
Level 5	Image here	6 stamina	20 stamina	2 minutes	905

Attacks by Pet Category

Each pet category has a special attack. All pets in the same category will perform the same special attack, regardless of pet level.

Birds - Peck

"Peck" is the weapon ability Bleed Attack. Mobs will take damage regularly for 10 seconds.

Canines - Howl

This is a modified version of Necromancy's "Evil Omen" spell. Each mob within a 5 tile radius of the pet will receive 25% increased damage and increased poison level (if poisoned), the next time the mob is harmed.

Felines - Sneak Attack

This is a modified version of Deception's "Backstab". The pet will temporarily hide, then strike with a bonus to damage, and unhide. Bonus scales with the pet's wrestling skill, to 1.5x damage at GM wrestling.

Reptiles - Fire Breath

Modified version of fire field. Pet breathes out field of fire centered on mob. Duration scales with wrestling skill, to 10 seconds at GM wrestling.

Ursines/Bovines - Berserk

This is the weapon ability Whirlwind Attack. The next hit will also strike all enemies within 1 tile of the pet, with a damage bonus. Bonus increases with number of nearby enemies and with wrestling skill.

Arachnids/Beetles - Poison

Will cause poison on next hit as long as mob is not immune to poisoning. Level of poison ranges from Lesser at 30 wrestling, Regular at 60, to Greater at 90+ wrestling. Pets whose caps go high enough can inflict deadly poison at 120 skill and lethal poison at 150.

Plants/Earth - Thorn Strike

This is the weapon ability Double Strike. Pet will attempt to strike twice on one swing.