Canine Skills

BITE: A successful bite does1D6+ ½ DB damage.
CUTENESS: Making an impression on humans and other animals in various ways: whining, whimpering, head rubs, making large eyes, chasing one’s own tail, doing adorable tricks, etc. Directs the target’s attention onto the character, making the target feel kindly towards the dog. Note: small children are inclined to snatch cute puppies, take them home, and lock them up in their yards!
DREAM LORE: Knowledge of the Dreamlands and the things, places, and creatures in them. After surviving adventures in the Dreamlands or spending long stretches of time there, this can be increased at the Keeper’s discretion, perhaps as a reward (1D10 or so).
DREAMING: The ability to slip into the Dreamlands and “live” there while one sleeps. One’s body remains back in the real world.
ETIQUETTE (VARIOUS): All social castes or special groups have their own codes of conduct, defining what is or isn’t acceptable behavior. Use this skill whenever your character needs to behave appropriately. Proper modes of speech, specific behaviors, and even eye contact or trials by combat can all play a part in a group’s etiquette. Etiquette rolls might be required to gain an audience with an important non-player character, and should accompany any requests made of that character.
FOLKLORE (VARIOUS): Knowledge of the customs, stories, lyrics, tall tales, and legends of a particular people or region. Your character can use this skill to identify or remember elements of a story, which might come in handy when trying to impress rural folk or when dealing with the supernatural.
GROOM: Successfully cleaning oneself, particularly care of one’s paws, thereby restoring one’s appearance. (A dirty dog receives penalties to its Cuteness skill).
GROWL: Threatening display with ruff up, ears back, and teeth shown. Anyone seeing it, man or beast, must make a Luck roll in order to stay composed and not flee, back off, etc. Use this skill to intimidate other dogs, animals, and impressionable humans.
HEALING: With a successful roll, heals 1 Hit Point of damage by licking the wound; a critical success heals 1D3 Hit Points. A particularly clever dog with a skill over 75% may even be in the position to cover a comrade’s wound with a piece of cloth, or to press on the wound with paws to help stop the bleeding.
HERBOLOGY: The study and knowledge of which plants, mosses, and molds can be used for simple medicine and cures and how to apply such medicines.
HOWL: The dog’s power of persuasion and ability to communicate across great distances. Howling can serve as identification, intimidation, warning, or mating call. Howling is of vital importance when engaging in the “Barking Chain”.
HUMAN LORE: Covers Anthropology, Archeology, Biology, Chemistry, Geology, History, Law, Medicine, Natural History, Pharmacy, Physics, Psychoanalysis, etc. These skills are grouped together for simplicity. No matter how high the skill in Human Lore is, a dog will never know as much as a human with a similarly high value in one of these skills.
NAVIGATE: Orientation using smell, sun location, magnetic fields, and wind. This skill makes it possible for dogs to find their way home from thousands of miles away or to find their way in complete darkness.
PROWESS: Maneuvering especially quickly with skill and dignity. This skill also aids in not knocking over objects, falling over things, or getting tangled up in dangling objects such as strings, ropes, and of course, leashes.
SCENT: “Sniffing” and recognizing things, people, etc. Dogs mainly recognize each other via scent.
SCRATCH: A dog’s front paws do 1+DB damage.
SENSE DANGER: A “sixth sense” that warns of imminent danger with a “hairs on the back of your neck standing up” feeling.
SHAKE: Once a Dog has bitten a foe and made a successful grapple roll they then do 2d6+DB damage.
STATUS: Represents the character’s position in the dog society of a given area (neighborhood, city district, town, etc.).
STREETWISE: Intimate knowledge of the human built environment—the best dumpsters, the places to hide from Animal Control, and the whereabouts of attractive dogs of other sexes. The masters of Streetwise actually have homes — several of them at once, often. Use the Natural World skill when the cat is in a more ‘natural’ environment.
WEATHER SENSE: This is the study of the weather and the ability to use your senses and the behavior of other creatures to predict it.