Creatures, Pets & Mounts
The world is full of things with teeth, and some of them can be yours. Taming is a real pursuit in Nephibis, not a flavor line on a character sheet: creatures can be won over, bonded, trained to fight beside you or carry you into it. What you get back depends entirely on what you put in — a neglected pet is a liability, a bonded one will die for you without being asked.
Five ways to tame
| Method | How it works | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Food | Offer food over days or weeks; CHA check + food quality | Hungry, non-aggressive creatures |
| Skill | Animal Handling — read its body language; WIS check vs hostility | Most creatures, with patience |
| Combat | Defeat it without killing it, then show mercy | Predators who respect strength |
| Bond | The orphaned, injured, or lost creature seeks you out | No check — a narrative event, and the strongest start |
| Tech | Neural link, obedience chip, conditioning | It obeys — but loyalty is artificial, and if the device fails it may turn on you |
Difficulty runs from Very Easy (a domestic dog) to Nearly Impossible (a titan), and size is only part of it. Temperament moves the bar: a giant herbivore is easier to tame than a lone apex predator; a lab escapee starts traumatized and slow to trust; sapient creatures must be treated as equals — you don't tame people, you earn them. Bigger attempts are also bigger risks: a failed check on a Giant-class creature escalates into a fight or a chase, not a shrug.
Loyalty is the whole game
Every bond is measured on a 0–100 loyalty scale, and every interaction moves it.
| Loyalty | What you have |
|---|---|
| 0–10 | Hostile. It will turn on you at the first opportunity |
| 10–25 | Fearful. Obeys out of fear; flees or bites when it sees a chance |
| 25–40 | Wary. Reluctant cooperation, minimal effort |
| 40–60 | Neutral. Obeys commands, basic partnership |
| 60–75 | Loyal. Follows willingly, protects you |
| 75–90 | Devoted. Actively protects you, prioritizes your safety |
| 90–100 | Bonded. Will die for you; reads your mood like a packmate |
You earn it in small steady ways: regular feeding, grooming, play, fighting beside it, treating its wounds, giving it freedom instead of a cage. Saving its life is worth +10 to +20 in one stroke. You lose it faster: missed meals, forcing it into danger, abuse, betraying its trust, killing its offspring. Trust broken at high loyalty takes two to three times longer to rebuild — and some betrayals are permanent.
Personality colors everything. A Loyal pet bonds fast and forgives; a Wild one is barely tameable and first out the gate; a Proud one never forgets a disrespect; a Curious one bonds through what you show it. Two tamed creatures raised identically will still be different companions.
Your pet in a fight
Pets don't wait for commands. From the first exchange they act on instinct, personality, and loyalty — you never have to spend your turn directing them (see Combat, You are never alone). Loyalty decides how they enter the fight:
- Below 40 — they hang back, flee, or simply won't fight for you at all.
- 40–75 — they fight alongside you in their own fashion. Orders can steer them; silence doesn't bench them.
- 75+ — they self-deploy: flank, interpose, drag you out of danger. A devoted pet may join even when told to stay out. A bonded pet doesn't understand duels — if it thinks you're about to die, it breaks the rule.
| Size | Combat role |
|---|---|
| Small (cat, bird) | Scout, spotter, distraction |
| Medium (wolf) | Full combatant — flanks, grapples, trips |
| Large (bear) | Primary combatant — tanks hits, mount-capable |
| Very large | Area denial, siege capability, platform |
Pets have their own stats, HP, and injuries, and they grow through combat participation and bond strength. They can go down and be stabilized like anyone else — and every pet that watches another die feels it.
Care, or consequences
A creature's needs are real: species-appropriate food, water, shelter, exercise, grooming, and for many, company. Miss meals, and loyalty ticks down. Ignore it for weeks and it starts looking for a better life — runaways bolt below loyalty 20. Turned pets are worse than gone ones: below loyalty 10, an abused or betrayed creature may attack you in your sleep or alert your enemies to your position. Keep loyalty above 40, respect its limits, and never force an impossible situation. The bond repays maintenance.
Mounts
A creature needs to be Large or larger and at loyalty 40 to carry a rider at all:
| Size | Riders | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Large | 1 | Horse, bear, storm wolf |
| Huge | 1–2 | Rhino, crystalback tortoise |
| Giant | 2–4 | War beasts, giant mutants |
| Massive | 4–10 | Leviathan-class platform mounts |
| Titan | 10+ | Kaiju — a mobile fortress, not a pet |
Carrying capacity is roughly STR × 15 lbs × a size multiplier; an armored humanoid with gear runs ~250 lbs. Overload a mount and it moves at half speed, loses charges and flight — and dumps you at the first hard turn.
Taming earns the bond. Riding is trained separately. Loyalty 40 lets training begin, 60 makes riding reliable in combat, and 75 unlocks charges, jumps, and aerial or zero-g maneuvers. A naturally rideable species trains in three sessions; a wild predator takes six or more; an alien or traumatized creature takes ten-plus. Animal Handling skill adds to every stay-mounted check.
Gear matters: a riding saddle adds +20% to stay mounted, a combat saddle removes the mounted accuracy penalty entirely and adds a quick-release, space harnesses and aquatic saddles open vacuum and depths. Bareback costs −20% — though some mounts respect the trust and warm to you for it.
Mounted combat shares one turn: you act, the mount acts, and commanding it is a free action at loyalty 60+ (an action below that). Attacking while it moves costs −10% accuracy unless you're in a combat saddle; from its back you get +10% against grounded targets. A charge (loyalty 75+) adds +50% to the first hit and can knock the target prone. The ride goes both ways: your mount is a valid target, enemies can called-shot you in the saddle or cut the girth out from under you, and a hard hit means a DEX check to stay on. Fail it and you eat the fall, prone and separated. A loyal mount makes a final attack on its killer before it goes down — and every other pet that witnessed the death carries the weight of it.
Space and water
In vacuum you need one of three things: your own suit, a sealed riding harness (four hours of oxygen, pressure, thermal, radiation), or the creature's own protection — an air membrane, a biological bubble. Without one of them, you're unconscious in under a minute and dead in minutes more. Know your mount's vacuum survival: a Void Wolf holds its breath for an hour; some creatures are native to the void and need nothing. Untethered riders who come adrift have to be caught — tether is cheap insurance.
Underwater, an aquatic saddle feeds you air and protects to 300 feet; without one you're holding your breath (CON × 2 seconds, +50% for trained swimmers). Below the surface, firearms are useless, energy weapons lose half their punch, and melee swings at −20% — unless your mount gives you a stable platform. Surface riding on the right mount keeps you dry.
What's out there
A standard wolf is tamed by proving yourself a pack leader and hunts beside you for life. A Nightstalker Wolf bonds to an alpha and tracks by echolocation. A Void Wolf demands you demonstrate strength and compassion — then bonds unbreakably and phase-shifts through firefight lines at your side. A Storm Wolf is proud, difficult, and worth the patience. A Crystalback Tortoise is a gentle, near-indestructible fortress that reflects energy off its shell and bargains politely for crystals. Lab escapees start shattered and need weeks of consistent kindness before their true personality surfaces. A dragon wyrmling is tamed by impressing it — treasure, riddles, feats — and bonded for a century. And a creature slime, fed and cared for, may one day wake up as a person. Choose accordingly.