Misc

Herding

Animal Taming gets you a companion; Herding is what makes it worth having. Every bonus your active companion grants — damage, gold, drop chance, spell power, whatever its particular talent is — grows by one percent for every point of Herding you hold, so a Grandmaster gets exactly twice what an untrained handler does from the same animal at the same level. It changes nothing about the creature itself. It changes how well the two of you work together.

How you train it Hold a Shepherd's Crook, have a companion out, and press Start in any town or at your own house. Each attempt sends your companion out across the ground and calls it back. Pass the check and it goes where it is sent; fail it and it refuses, furious, and wanders back to you in its own time. A better crook is worth more Herding while you hold it: every wood above plain Wood adds 2, so a Blackwood crook is +18. That counts for the check, and for everything your companion gives you, so a Grandmaster holding a Blackwood crook gets 2.18 times what an untrained handler does. It never speeds the climb itself.

What you need A companion out with you and a Shepherd's Crook in your hand. The three fetchers — the mole, the beaver and the otter — will train it, but Herding adds nothing to what they do: their work is the trip, not a percentage.

Other Misc skills

Lockpicking Snooping Stealing Hiding Tracking Forensic Evaluation Animal Lore Animal Taming Taste Identification Jousting Detecting Hidden