Downtime Activity

The following downtime activity is available.

Taming Wild Beasts

With dedicated time and resources, most beasts can be broken and trained. A beast must be kept in captivity during the training.

Resources. The amount of time and resources for taming a beast is dependent on how large the beast is and its challenge rating.

The beast must be kept well fed, requiring feed cost for every day it is captive, and double the normal amount during the training time. Herbivores require 5 cp of feed each day (10 cp each day during training), while carnivores require 2 sp of feed each day (4 sp each day during training). If the creature is Tiny, the feed costs can be reduced to half, while a Large beast requires three times the cost, and a Huge beast requires ten times the cost. A Gargantuan beast can’t be tamed under normal circumstances as it is too large to properly handle.

You will also have to pay the price for holding and keeping the beast. This requires an additional 3 gp each week the beast is held for maintenance, supervision, and land use fees.

The time required to tame a beast of up to 1/2 CR is 5 workweeks. A CR 1 or higher beast requires 5 + 5 times its CR workweeks. If the creature is feral to the point it doesn’t interact with humanoids, double the required time, while if the creature is domesticated or is still a child, halve the required time (rounded up). If the creature is hostile, double the adjusted time.

Resolution. At the end of each consecutive workweek, make a Wisdom (Animal Handling) check. If you don’t have proficiency with Animal Handling, you make this check with disadvantage. The DC for this check is equal to 10 + the CR of the beast. If the beast is hostile, increase the DC by 5. If the beast is domesticated, you make this check with advantage. If the beast isn’t well fed, the check automatically fails. If the check succeeds, you can advance taming one week, or change the beast’s attitude to neutral.

Once you have completed the taming progress, the beast’s attitude toward you is friendly and it won’t run away from you. At this point, the beast can used for basic functions it is suited for such as having a dog guard a location, a horse be ridden, or an ox pull a cart. If faced with danger, the beast will flee. You can repeat the training process to teach a beast to be bold enough to enter combat, but when it is injured, you will have to succeed on a Wisdom (Animal Handling) check to prevent it from fleeing.

Complications. During the training, it is common for the beast to lapse to its feral habits. Every 2 workweeks spent taming has a 10 percent of causing a complication.

Taming Complications

d6	Complication
1	An interested buyer seeks to possess your beast.*
2	The beast has suffered an injury or infection and needs time to recover. An infection could spread to other beasts, causing burden to other owners who may demand compensation.
3	The beast has reverted to its feral roots and caused an incident that could have resulted in damage to a creature or property or even the death of another creature.
4	The beast escapes its confines and has to be tracked and recaptured.
5	Someone claims your beast has cause an incident and demands its removal.*
6	A fellow tamer approaches you of the possibility of expanding stock, either through capturing more beasts or breeding tamed ones.*

Taming Nonbeasts
The DM may allow other creatures to be tamed. In these cases, the time it takes to train and tame the creature is longer (multiply the training time by up to 10) depending on how long it takes the beast to mature. Feed costs for the creature are likely to be higher, especially if the creature requires a more exotic or specialized diet. It is also much harder to break and tame nonbeasts; increase the DC of Wisdom (Animal Handling) checks by 10.

Monstrosities and other creatures are also more prone to attacking humanoids and domesticated beasts, leading to more severe results when the creature is lose or causes an incident. A creature with high Intelligence and Charisma can actively stymie attempts to tame it, increasing the DC of Wisdom (Animal Handling) checks by the higher of the creature’s Intelligence or Charisma bonus. If the creature has an alignment proclivity*, it may also prove harder to tame, as it is unlikely to change alignments which can cause it to oppose commands and ignore training.

Nonbeast creatures can also require additional restraints to keep in captivity. Other humanoids are likely to also be very uncomfortable around a creature generally regarded as a monster, so complications can more easily arise where a population is hostile to the creature’s presence.

*If following looser alignment mechanics, it is reasonable for a creature to change alignments or simply not have an alignment at all.