What a bard is in the tavern, the animal trainer (sometimes, just "trainer") is in the city square.  Perhaps not as loud as the bard in the use of performances, but the trainer is more than capable in creating suspense in acts of daring-do.  A crack of the whip and he is able to quickly gain the attention of a crowd, a short explanation of the dangers that his animal companion wields, and he literally puts his own neck on the line.  The world is a stage (though not one for the bards to sing on), and the trainer will gladly stand tall on that stage with his head in the maw of a tiger.

Alignment: Any

Hit Die: d8

Class Skills

Acrobatics (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Fly (Dex), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (all) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Perception (Wis), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Stealth (Dex), Swim (Str)

Skill Ranks Per Level: 6 + Int modifier

Level	Base Attack	Fort	Ref	Will	Special Abilities
1st	+0	+0	+2	+2	Bardic Lor, Cantrips, Animal Companion, Improvised Shield, Animal Actor
2nd	+1	+0	+3	+3	Evasion, Bravery +1
3rd	+2	+1	+3	+3	Uncanny Dodge
4th	+3	+1	+4	+4
5th	+3	+1	+4	+4	Lore Master 1/day
6th	+4	+2	+5	+5	Props 1
7th	+5	+2	+5	+5	Bravery +2
8th	+6/+1	+2	+6	+6	Improved Uncanny Dodge
9th	+6/+1	+3	+6	+6
10th	+7/+2	+3	+7	+7
11th	+8/+3	+3	+7	+7	Lore Master 2/day
12th	+9/+4	+4	+8	+8	Bravery +3
13th	+9/+4	+4	+8	+8	Props 2
14th	+10/+5	+4	+9	+9
15th	+11/+6/+1	+5	+9	+9
16th	+12/+7/+2	+5	+10	+10
17th	+12/+7/+2	+5	+10	+10	Lore Master 3/day, Bravery +4
18th	+13/+8/+3	+6	+11	+11
19th	+14/+9/+4	+6	+11	+11	Props 3
20th	+15/+10/+5	+6	+12	+12

Class Features

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: An animal trainer is proficient with all simple weapons, plus the longsword, rapier, short sword, shortbow, and whip. Trainers are also proficient with light armor and shields (except tower shields). A trainer can cast bard spells while wearing light armor and using a shield without incurring the normal arcane spell failure chance. Like any other arcane spellcaster, an animal trainer wearing medium or heavy armor incurs a chance of arcane spell failure if the spell in question has a somatic component. A multiclass trainer still incurs the normal arcane spell failure chance for arcane spells received from other classes.

Bardic Knowledge (Ex): An animal trainer adds half his class level (minimum 1) to all Knowledge skill checks and may make all Knowledge skill checks untrained.

Spells: A animal trainer casts arcane spells drawn from the bard spell list presented in Spell Lists. He can cast any spell he knows without preparing it ahead of time. Every animal trainer spell has a verbal component (song, recitation, or music). To learn or cast a spell, a animal trainer must have a Charisma  score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a animal trainer's spell is 10 + the spell level + the animal trainer's Charisma  modifier.

Like other spellcasters, a animal trainer can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. His base daily spell allotment is given on the table below.. In addition, he receives bonus spells per day if he has a high Charisma score (see Table: Ability Modifiers and Bonus Spells).

The animal trainer's selection of spells is extremely limited. A animal trainer begins play knowing four 0-level spells and two 1st-level spells of the animal trainer's choice. At each new animal trainer level, he gains one or more new spells, as indicated on the table below. (Unlike spells per day, the number of spells a animal trainer knows is not affected by his Charisma score. The numbers on the table below are fixed.)

Upon reaching 5th level, and at every third animal trainer level after that (8th, 11th, and so on), a animal trainer can choose to learn a new spell in place of one he already knows. In effect, the animal trainer “loses” the old spell in exchange for the new one. The new spell's level must be the same as that of the spell being exchanged, and it must be at least one level lower than the highest-level animal trainer spell the animal trainer can cast. A animal trainer may swap only a single spell at any given level and must choose whether or not to swap the spell at the same time that he gains new spells known for the level.

A animal trainer need not prepare his spells in advance. He can cast any spell he knows at any time, assuming he has not yet used up his allotment of spells per day for the spell's level.

Cantrips (Sp): Animal trainers learn a number of cantrips, or 0-level spells. These spells are cast like any other spell, but they do not consume any slots and may be used again.

	Spells Per Day						Spells Known
Level	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	0	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
1st	1	-	-	-	-	-	4	2	-	-	-	-	-
2nd	2	-	-	-	-	-	5	3	-	-	-	-	-
3rd	2	-	-	-	-	-	5	4	-	-	-	-	-
4th	3	1	-	-	-	-	6	4	2	-	-	-	-
5th	3	2	-	-	-	-	6	4	3	-	-	-	-
6th	3	2	-	-	-	-	6	4	4	-	-	-	-
7th	4	3	1	-	-	-	6	5	4	2	-	-	-
8th	4	3	2	-	-	-	6	5	4	3	-	-	-
9th	4	3	2	-	-	-	6	5	4	4	-	-	-
10th	4	4	3	1	-	-	6	5	5	4	2	-	-
11th	5	4	3	2	-	-	6	6	5	4	3	-	-
12th	5	4	3	3	-	-	6	6	5	4	4	-	-
13th	5	4	4	3	1	-	6	6	5	5	4	2	-
14th	5	5	4	3	2	-	6	6	6	5	4	3	-
15th	5	5	4	4	3	-	6	6	6	5	4	4	-
16th	5	5	4	4	3	1	6	6	6	5	5	4	2
17th	5	5	5	4	3	2	6	6	6	6	5	4	3
18th	5	5	5	5	4	3	6	6	6	6	5	4	4
19th	5	5	5	5	5	4	6	6	6	6	5	5	4
20th	5	5	5	5	5	5	6	6	6	6	6	5	5

Animal Companion (Ex): Traditionally, an animal trainer travels with a cat (large or small), elephant or bear, but occasionally, more exotic animals are found (examples include aurochs/bulls, sharks, snakes or birds). This ability functions like the druid animal companion ability (which is part of the Nature Bond class feature). An animal trainer's effective druid level is equal to his animal trainer level.

Improvised Shield (Ex): An animal trainer rarely is allowed to take a shield into the ring, so he has learned to use improvised shields. An improvised shield could be a chair, a serving platter or a cape. Regardless, these tools provide a +1 shield bonus to AC.

Animal Actor (Ex): Animal trainers know how to work a crowd, even a hostile one. When making Perform checks with an animal companion nearby (or involved in the act itself), the trainer gains a bonus to the check equal to the HD of the animal companion.

Props (Ex): At 6th level and every six levels beyond, the trainer may add the bonus of any one weapon or shield to his performance checks. This bonus stacks with the bonus granted by animal actor.

Evasion (Ex): At 2nd level and higher, a trainer can avoid even magical and unusual attacks with great agility. If he makes a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, she instead takes no damage. Evasion can be used only if the animal trainer is wearing light armor or no armor. A helpless trainer does not gain the benefit of evasion.

Bravery (Ex): Starting at 2nd level, an animal trainer gains a +1 bonus on Will saves against fear. This bonus increases by +1 for every five levels beyond 2nd.

Uncanny Dodge (Ex): Starting at 3rd level, an animal trainer can react to danger before his senses would normally allow him to do so. He cannot be caught flat-footed, even if the attacker is invisible. He still loses his Dexterity bonus to AC if immobilized. An animal trainer with this ability can still lose his Dexterity bonus to AC if an opponent successfully uses the feint action against him. If a trainer already has uncanny dodge from a different class, he automatically gains improved uncanny dodge instead.

Lore Master (Ex): At 5th level, the trainer becomes a master of lore and can take 10 on any Knowledge skill check that he has ranks in. An animal trainer can choose not to take 10 and can instead roll normally. In addition, once per day, the trainer can take 20 on any Knowledge skill check as a standard action. He can use this ability one additional time per day for every six levels he possesses beyond 5th, to a maximum of three times per day at 17th level.

Improved Uncanny Dodge (Ex): An animal trainer of 8th level or higher can no longer be flanked. This defense denies a rogue the ability to sneak attack the character by flanking him, unless the attacker has at least four more levels of rogue than the target does. If a character already has Uncanny Dodge from another class, the levels from the classes that grant Uncanny Dodge stack to determine the minimum rogue level required to flank the character.

Author's Note: I don't know exactly how to close out the class, it's top heavy like none other. Ideally, the trainer should become reknown for his skill, but how might this translate?  Multiple animal companions (though I'm sure this breaks some rule of sorts)?  Any ideas?

Additional Ratings
Balance:	1 2 3 4 5 ( 3 Votes )
Utility:	1 2 3 4 5 ( 4 Votes )
Clarity:	1 2 3 4 5 ( 3 Votes )