using Intimidation on a Bear / Cat / Dog

[David Johansen]

I'm thinking looking big and growling or roaring would work on most dogs and cats upto maybe the size of a cougar. Try it on a bear and you'll die.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by David Johansen

I'm thinking looking big and growling or roaring would work on most dogs and cats upto maybe the size of a cougar. Try it on a bear and you'll die.

Noise in general works better, I think. The classic thing to do is bang your cookware together. It works on black bears, less so on grizzlies.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by David Johansen

I'm thinking looking big and growling or roaring would work on most dogs and cats upto maybe the size of a cougar. Try it on a bear and you'll die.

A number of breeds of domestic dogs just don't care how big an intruder looks. It's bred into them (or even just is natural pack instinct) that their job is to summon reinforcements as loudly as possible. Some breeds will proceed directly to the attack being utterly sure that reinforcements are already on the way.

This might be the place to have tried your Animal Handling default and tried to convince the dog that you aren't an intruder you're just a new friend who's brought him num-nums. You probably do need num-nums to pull this off.

[Donny Brook]

My sense is that any animal that deliberately confronts humans has overcome generations of intimidation to do so.

[Plane]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

I'd rule that zombies don't have the same fear of death that living animals do, and so that rule doesn't apply to living IQ 4 beings.

Zombies without fear probably need to buy that with Fearlessness or being outright Unfazeable but I'm not sure if all zombies would be designed that way.

It is made part of the Inexorable meta-trait, for example.

But 117 words it like there may be zombies who lack this:

affects only zombies that have IQ 6+ and neither Indomitable nor Unfazeable

So it seems like you get some degree of indomitable/unfazeable (whatever resists the intimidation skill) inherently to IQ 5 though I'm not sure why (maybe something to do with language?)

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by Donny Brook

My sense is that any animal that deliberately confronts humans has overcome generations of intimidation to do so.

Or has a compelling reason to protect its life, territory, young, etc.

Intimidation should work on any terrestrial creature that's suffered due to humans being the planet's top predator species for the past 100k+ years. You're just taking advantage of the animal/bird/whatever's instinctive "two-legs bad" fear response.

It might NOT work on prehistoric beasts where that wasn't true.

[Inky]

It also seems to be a known thing with populations of animals that just haven't encountered humans for a few generations, such as the notorious Arctic terns on the Farne Islands, which also seems to be a stay-away-from-my-nest scenario. (Although the terns do encounter humans fairly often, but not hostile ones, since it's a nature reserve... so they've got used to the idea that you can bully humans).

You possibly could scare them off if you really tried, just due to being so much bigger than them. The rules for Intimidation do already cover that - you get a bonus corresponding to your Size Modifier minus the subject's. (When dealing with animals, it might be appropriate to give a penalty if the subject can fly and knows you can't!)

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by Inky

(Although the terns do encounter humans fairly often, but not hostile ones, since it's a nature reserve... so they've got used to the idea that you can bully humans).

This is also true for other types of commensal wild animals who know that humans they encounter can't or won't fight back, like urban populations of monkeys or seagulls. If you've got something that they want Intimidation might get them to back off temporarily, but not for long.

[Phil Masters]

Originally Posted by Pursuivant

Or has a compelling reason to protect its life, territory, young, etc.

Having been menaced by a muntjac deer only the other day, I can only agree. It had a kid, so it just ignored its disadvantage in size.

(Which said, even if it had been better at Intimidation, it not only took penalties for small size, but also for being outnumbered and the fact that its kid hadn't read the manual yet and followed along behind it to see what the fuss was about. Muntjac kids sometimes seem to have the survival instincts of a soap bubble.)

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

Having been menaced by a muntjac deer only the other day, I can only agree. It had a kid, so it just ignored its disadvantage in size.

(Which said, even if it had been better at Intimidation, it not only took penalties for small size, but also for being outnumbered and the fact that its kid hadn't read the manual yet and followed along behind it to see what the fuss was about. Muntjac kids sometimes seem to have the survival instincts of a soap bubble.)

My guess (after finding out that there are over a dozen species of muntjac deer, most of them in East and Southeast Asia) is that you encountered a pair of Reeves's muntjacs, a deer small enough to be seriously threatened by a large house-cat.