Beast Forms (sage ability)

Beast Forms is an amateur-status sage ability in the study of Beasts, which enables the character to recognise and identify beasts — creatures that possess unnatural, often magical, animal forms. This ability grants the character knowledge of the beast's name, its visual threats and its general behaviour and motivations.

"Visual threats" includes understanding the physical capabilities of the beast, such as the number of attacks it can make per round, its armour class, any obvious attacks like a breath weapon or charging attack, its weight and its number of hit dice. The character doesn't need to rely on abstract or theoretical knowledge but instead on real, practical information gained by observing the beast in motion, time spent studying it and learning from the legends and lore passed down from others.

While the character gains valuable insights into the beast's observable traits, the ability does not provide knowledge of the creature's intrinsic, hidden qualities. These include things such as magic resistance, natural immunities or any spells the beast might have at its disposal. The DM should carefully judge what information the character can reasonably know and ensure a balance between the character's confidence in their knowledge and maintaining a sense of mystery and danger about the creature.

The primary benefit of Beast Forms is that it gives the character foreknowledge about the creature, providing them with key information to help plan a strategic approach to dealing with it. Whether it is avoiding certain attacks, identifying vulnerable spots or preparing specific tactics based on its known behaviours, this ability helps the character take a more calculated and informed stance when facing dangerous beasts.

See also,
Legends & Folklore (sage field)
Reverence (sage field)