Animal Lore
Animal Lore in Ultima Online
The Animal Lore skill in Ultima Online serves three main functions. It can be used actively to gather detailed information about pets or creatures. Passively, it contributes to healing and curing with Veterinary and influences control levels with Taming.
Active Use of Animal Lore
Using Animal Lore allows you to view detailed statistics of creatures:
- Attributes: Hit points, stamina, mana, strength, dexterity, intelligence.
- Combat and Magic Skills: Competency in skills like Wrestling, Tactics, Magery, Evaluate Intelligence, Meditation, and more.
- Regeneration Rates: Hit point, stamina, and mana regeneration.
- Resistances: Percentage of incoming damage blocked by type.
- Base Damage: Standard damage output.
- Barding Difficulty: Difficulty level for animal barding.
The skill requirements for viewing information vary:
- Less than 100.0: Tamed creatures.
- 100.0 to 109.9: Tameable creatures.
- 110.0 and above: Any creature.
Animal Lore with Animal Training
Animal Lore initiates Animal Training for pets, unlocking customization options such as:
- Special Abilities: Unique abilities pets can acquire.
- Special Moves: Specific combat moves.
- Area Effects: Effects that influence surrounding areas.
- Added Skills: Additional skills gained through training.
- Skill Advancements: Improvements via power scrolls.
Animal Lore with Veterinary Skill
Together with Veterinary, Animal Lore determines healing amounts:
- Min_Healed = (lore / 5) + (vet / 5) + 3
- Max_Healed = (lore / 5) + (vet / 2) + 10
- Amount Healed: Random value between Min_Healed and Max_Healed plus a percentage of the pet’s maximum HP.
Veterinary also allows:
- Poison Cure: Possible with over 60 skill points in both Veterinary and Animal Lore.
- Resurrection: Possible with over 80 skill points in both Veterinary and Animal Lore for bonded pets.
Animal Lore with Taming Skill
In conjunction with Taming, Animal Lore influences:
- Control Levels: Determines how well a tamer can control and command their pets.
- Loyalty Levels: Ranges from "Wonderfully happy" to "Confused," impacting pet behavior.
Tamer’s Chance to Control Pet
The tamer’s chance to control their pet is calculated based on the following formula:
- Taming Bonus: Difficulty modifier * (Taming skill – Pet difficulty)
- Lore Bonus: Difficulty modifier * (Animal Lore skill – Pet difficulty)
- Skill Bonus: Average of Taming Bonus and Lore Bonus.
Control Chance Calculation:
- Final Control Chance % = 70 + Skill Bonus
The difficulty modifier depends on the difference between the tamer's skill and the pet’s difficulty:
- Positive Difference: Taming and Lore modifiers are 6.
- Negative Difference (Taming): Taming modifier is 28.
- Negative Difference (Lore): Lore modifier is 14.
For example, a player with 93 Taming and 100 Animal Lore trying to control a dragon with a difficulty of 93.9:
- Taming Difference = 93 - 93.9 = -0.9 (Negative)
- Lore Difference = 100 - 93.9 = 6.1 (Positive)
Calculating the modifiers:
- Taming Bonus = 28 * -0.9 = -25.2
- Lore Bonus = 6 * 6.1 = 36.6
Average skill bonus:
- Skill Bonus = (-25.2 + 36.6) / 2 = 5.7
Control Chance:
- Final Control Chance = 70 + 5.7 = 75.7%
This formula emphasizes the importance of balancing Taming and Animal Lore skills close to the pet’s difficulty for effective control.
Preferred Food
Feeding pets the correct food types maintains loyalty. Examples include:
- Fish: Fish steaks, whole fish, and magic fish for aquatic pets.
- Fruit & Vegetables: All types for herbivorous pets.
- Hay & Grain: Sheaves of hay for livestock.
- Metal: Metal items for specific creatures.
- Eggs: Raw eggs for reptilian pets.
- Meat: Cooked or uncooked meat for carnivorous pets.
Training
- Active: Use the skill directly on creatures to gain skill points.
- Passive: Gain skill points through Veterinary on tamed pets.