The following proposed changes to the Taming profession and pets are being considered toward helping balance Taming as a class, as well as improving its place within the greater gaming systems that comprise Ultima Online. Please keep in mind as you read this documentation that these changes are not yet finalized, and after testing and reexamination there may be some exclusions, alterations, or additions to this proposal.

The usage and utility of the Animal Lore skill will be altered in the manner described below. (The exact nature of how "Legacy" pets are incorporated into this system has not yet been determined.)

Animal Lore

• Upon successful use of the Animal Lore skill, players can see the following data for any tamed creature they control, or any tamed creature within a trade window:
  • Exact numeric data for: All Skills, Strength, Hits, Dexterity, Fatigue, Intelligence, Mana, Number of Previous Owners, Damage, Natural Armor, and Loyalty.
  • A list of all foods the creature can eat.
  • A list of all special abilities (See "Pet Special Abilities," below). If the pet has the "Enemy" special ability, it will display the potential enemies as well as developed enemies.
  • A general description of how well you can control the pet based on your skills, the taming difficulty, orneriness, and current loyalty.
• Animal Lorists with 100.0 skill can view the above statistics for any tamed creature.
• Animal Lorists with 110.0 skill or greater can view the above statistics for any tameable creature, even if it is not tamed.
• Animal Lorists with 120.0 skill or greater can view the above statistics for any creature in the game.

Stable Slots

• In additional to the current stable slot system (which is: two pets may be stabled if Taming, Veterinary, and Animal Lore total to less than 160, three if between 160 and 199.9, four if between 200 and 239.9, and five if at or above 240), players will be awarded another slot for each of the following skills at 100.0, 110.0 and 120.0: Animal Taming, Animal Lore, and Veterinary. In this way the maximum possible number of stable slots will be 14.

Pet Limit

• You will be limited in the number of pets you can control. Keep in mind that you don't need to control a mount to ride it, so you'll only need to keep control slots open for your mount if you plan on dismounting and using them to fight.
• The number of pets you can control is directly related to your Animal Taming and Animal Lore skills. At 90 Animal Taming/90 Animal Lore, you can control one dragon or white wyrm. At 100/100, you can control one white wyrm or dragon as well as one drake, ki-rin, unicorn, or nightmare. These numbers are not exact or set in stone, and won't be until we have crunched enough numbers, play tested, and considered feedback.
• Finally, you can never control more than 5 pets at once.

Pet Loyalty

• The following activities can increase a pet's loyalty at any level:
  • If the pet's owner heals it with the veterinary skill.
  • If the pet's owner successfully commands the pet.
  • If the pet feeds on something it killed (automatic).
  • If the pet kills a hated enemy (see Pet Special Abilities).
• Feeding a pet can only raise it to 80% of its maximum loyalty.
• The following activities will decrease a pet's loyalty:
  • If the pet's owner unsuccessfully commands the pet.
  • If the pet cannot see its owner during combat.

Pet Bonding

• Pets that are treated extremely well over a period of time may bond to their owner. If an animal requires more than 29.1 minimum skill to tame, you must have the minimum skill to tame that animal before it will bond with you.
• You are limited in the number of pet bonds based on your Animal Taming, Animal Lore, and Veterinary skills. You receive the ability to bond with 1 pet regardless of skill, 2 pets at 200 total points, and 3 pets at 300 total points.
• Bonded pets receive the following special benefits:
  • It will be easier to control your bonded pet, and they will lose loyalty at a slower rate.
  • Instead of the usual "[tame]" tag above its name, a bonded pet will display "[bonded]" above its name.
  • The Veterinary skill will be slightly more effective for bonded pets.
  • Your bonded pets will recall with you.
  • Upon the death of a pet, those which are bonded pets will turn into a "pet ghost" (see Pet Resurrection).
• The bonded pet keeps friends, but will not listen to them. Friends of bonded pets will not be able to command the bonded pet, but will be able to resurrect the pet upon its death.
• The bond is only broken if the pet goes wild, is released, or dissipates.
• Casting the 5th circle Summon Animal spell normally brings forth a random animal, but if the casting player has a bonded pet, this spell will instead always try to summon your bonded pets (if they are not nearby or in the stables). This spell works even when the bonded pets are in ghost form.

Pet Resurrection

• When a bonded pet dies, it turns into a "pet ghost." This ghost can still obey the movement commands (follow, come, etc.). If not resurrected within an hour, the pet ghost will dissipate and is gone forever.
• If the owner or a friend is nearby, the pet ghost can be resurrected with bandages by any player with at least 80.0 Veterinary and 80.0 Animal Lore.
• Resurrected pets suffer a permanent skill penalty of 1 to 2 percent. However, it's possible to regain those lost skill points through continued training of your resurrected pet.

Pet Taming

• If the tamer hides or becomes invisible while taming, any Animal Taming attempt will fail.
  
• If an animal cannot pathfind to the person trying to tame it, the taming attempt will fail. This limitation includes situations where the creature is blocked by placed objects, walls, energy fields, and any other such object.
• Paralyzation taming will remain as a valid technique. However, a bonus is granted to the skills, stats and bonding time for any animal that is tamed without the aid of paralyzation.
• Pets will suffer some level of skill loss (not stats, armor, or damage) after they are successfully tamed, but will have full potential for training.

Pet Skills

• Spellcasting pets (see the "Spellcasting Ability" in the "Pet Special Abilities" section, below) will automatically use their Meditation skill to regain their Mana, and will be able to gain Meditation skill when they do so.
• All pets will be able to learn Anatomy, Resist Spells, Tactics, and Wrestling.
• Pets with the Spellcasting ability will be able to learn Magery, Evaluate Intelligence, and Meditation.
• Pets with Natural Poison will be able to learn the Poisoning skill. The Poisoning skill is used to determine how often they inject poison in combat.
• Bonded pets will learn skills more quickly.
• Pets with 90% or higher loyalty will learn skills more quickly.

Pet Special Abilities

Some pets will have innate special abilities, as per the list of abilities below. Some creatures/pets may have more than one special ability.

• Pack Instinct. When more than one of this animal is grouped with others of its kind, it gains more Hits, does more damage, and is easier to control while in the pack. The bonus is cumulative.

• Hated Enemy. This pet has the potential to develop enemies. Each time this pet kills a creature of a type that is a potential enemy, there is a chance it will develop into a "Hated Enemy." After a pet has developed a Hated Enemy, it becomes more fearsome in battle against that type of creature by inflicting more damage. The potential enemy types for a pet are innate. For example, a hell cat could develop ice, canine, and faerie enemies, or a unicorn could develop demon, orc, ogre, troll, and undead enemies.

  The current types of possible enemies are Acid, Animal, Arachnid, Canine, Cold, Demon, Domesticated, Dragon, Elemental, Faerie, Feline, Fire, Gargoyle, Giant, Human, Insect, Juka, Living, Magical, Meer, Metal, Non-living, Ogre, Ophidian, Orc, Reptile, Sea Creature, Terathan, Troll, and Undead. More types may be added later.

• Iron Stomach. Pets with this ability can eat almost anything, including metal and leather. Feeding your pet magic items causes temporary, random magical effects.

• Human-Healer Friendly. This pet is especially receptive to the Veterinary skill and will be easier to heal. This ability can be developed.

• Natural Poison is an innate ability that allows the pet to poison a foe with a successful attack and poisoning skill check. This ability is developed as the pet's Poisoning skill increases.

• Fire Breather. This pet can breath fire. Roar! This ability can only be developed by increasing the pet's strength.

• Spellcasting is an innate ability. This pet can cast spells, although it makes its own decisions on what spells to cast and when to cast them.

Veterinary

• The bug that prevents you from using veterinary due to the z-axis or flying pets will be fixed.

• Using Veterinary to heal a pet will increase its loyalty.

Taming Difficulties and Skill Gain

• The minimum skill required to tame a Drake will be lowered to 84.3.

• Taming aggressive creatures will give a slight bonus for skill gain.

Miscellaneous Taming Issues

• The "guard" command will require loyalty checks similar to the "kill" command.