Commanding Whistle

School evocation [animal, sonic]; Level bard 3, druid 3, invoker 2, ranger 2, shaman 3

CASTING

Casting Time 1 standard action
Components V, S, F (a reed whistle worth at least 1 sp)

EFFECT

Range long (400 ft. + 40 ft./level) Target see text
Duration 1 min./level, see text
Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance no

DESCRIPTION

You blow upon the reed used as a focus for the spell, but no audible sound emerges. Nearby animals, however, perk up and await your instruction.

Upon casting commanding whistle and as a standard action at any point during the spell’s duration, you can blow upon the reed to emit a silent command. This allows you to make Handle Animal checks to handle an animal or push one from a distance using the normal DC. You do not need line of sight to an animal to affect it, but the sound of the whistle must reach it: a deaf animal is unaffected, and the spell does not pierce through an area of silence or similar spells.

You can choose to command only a subset of animals, such as only canines or only equines, but your whistle (and Handle Animal check) affects all creatures of that type that can hear it within the spell’s range.

While the spell’s effects are typically only audible to creatures of the animal type, dragons and creatures with echolocation and other sound-based detection can also pick up on the sound, though they are not affected unless they are also animals themselves.