For a basic guide on understanding how to use expertise points, click here to read the guide, "Introduction to Profession Expertise".

At a glance:

• What is the Expertise System?
• Beast Master Overview
• Leveling and Training Your Beast
• Kepping Your Beast Loyal and Happy

What is the Expertise System?

The overall goal of the system is to offer new and exciting choices for players to make about the development of their characters. These choices offer players the chance to further customize their character creating more diversity between characters of the same profession and give the player an additional goal when leveling.

Beast Master Overview

The Beast Master expertise system is an exciting feature added to Star Wars Galaxies in Chapter 6: Masters of the Wild. These are creature-centric abilities available to all players, regardless of profession or level, through a third expertise tree. 

Beast Masters can choose to focus on growing and incubating custom creatures, training their creature and using them to aid in combat, or both. No matter which path the beginning Beast Master chooses, the first step is always the same: the Incubation expertise.

Walk on the Wild Side

Any player who wishes to have a new beast pet must spend a point to learn the Incubation expertise. The Beast Master can't hatch an egg or call a beast without knowing this basic skill. Open the Expertise window by pressing U on the keyboard, select the Beast Mastery tab, and choose the Incubation expertise at the top to begin wrangling wild beasts.

Next, the fledgling Beast Master can use the Extract DNA skill to harvest DNA cores from creatures. This DNA, combined with enzymes, is grown in an incubator to create an egg.

This is the only time a beast can be given to a new master, so keep the baby creature safe in its egg until it reaches its new owner! The creature inside the egg can be developed into a mount, or hatched to begin its life at the Beast Master's side.

Once the beast has hatched, the datapad shows information about the beast that can be used to monitor its happiness, skills, bonuses, and more. The datapad also shows the amount of available skill points for training new skills, how many points can be used per skill, and how many have already been spent.

Let's take a look at the different ways to explore the Beast Master expertise system to develop the incubation process as well as your newly hatched creature.

Beast Raising and Engineering Skills

The right side of the Beast Mastery Expertise tree focuses on raising and engineering new beasts.

These skills allow the Beast Master to keep their pet happy, teach the beast tricks, create a mount, and also affect the incubation period.

	Incubation: This is your first step in starting your journey as a Beast Master! This ability allows you to use an Incubator to bio-engineer new beasts. You will also receive the "Extract DNA" and "Revive Beast" commands when you learn this skill.
	Beast Empathy: Learn this skill to improve your ability to keep your beasts happy. Your creature's happiness can range from furious to ecstatic and has a direct impact on its loyalty and how quickly it gains levels. This ability is important to any Beast Master, regardless of the ways they put their creatures to work.
		Incubation Quality: Beast Masters who enjoy making the best creatures during the incubation process will want to spend points in this skill, which can provide up to a 20% bonus to your enzyme qualities. Increasing the quality of enzymes can affect the points available for stats during incubation. You must spend three points in Beast Empathy to learn this ability.
			Genetic Engineering: Grants a bonus to Genetic Engineering. Learning this skill gives the Beast Master a bonus toward the effect of hydrolase enzymes during the refining process of incubation. Train in Incubation Quality three times in order to take advantage of this bonus.
	Stupid Pet Tricks: You can teach an old beast new tricks – two, to be exact! Beasts under your control will do tricks at your command when you spend a point on the Stupid Pet Tricks ability. Pet tricks aren't just for show. Some pets enjoy performing tricks for their master so much that it can improve their happiness.
		DNA Harvesting: Once your beast has learned some new tricks, you're ready to use this skill to receive a bonus to DNA harvesting. Learning this ability increases your chance to obtain higher quality DNA from a creature in the wild. Every 10 points will give you a 5% bonus to the minimum quality of the DNA you are extracting.
	Create Mount: Experienced Beast Masters who have taught their pet a trick or two can then use their skills to teach a beast to become a mount. The Create Mount ability allows you to make an incubated egg into a mount. Use the radial menu on the unhatched egg and select "Convert Egg into Mount" to create the mount. Beasts such as the Bantha, Bol, Bolotaur, Brackaset, Carrion Spat, Cu Pa , Dewback, Eopie, Falumpaset, Graul, Kaadu, Kashyyyk Bantha, Rancor, Tulrus, Varactyl, and more can become mounts. (Some of these beasts are only obtainable through mutations.) Remember, creature mounts must be sold to another player as an egg. You must spend one point in Stupid Pet Tricks to gain access to this ability.
		Incubation Processing Time: Train this skill to reduce the time required to incubate and hatch a beast. If you spend three points in this expertise, combined with a high quality incubator, the time between incubation sessions can be decreased by as many as 12 hours. You must learn the ability Create Mount before you can spend points in this skill.

Beast Combat Skills

The left side of the Beast Mastery Expertise tree focuses on beast combat. With these skills, your beast can open new slots for additional skills, increase their attack skills or defensive skills, and more.

Beast Masters focusing on combat will also find it useful to train in Beast Empathy on the right side of the tree to keep their beast happy.

	Attack!: You can command a beast under your control to attack anything you are able to attack yourself. Choosing this skill automatically adds the Attack button to the Pet Toolbar.
	Creature Knowledge: Lean this ability to gather detailed knowledge about a creature. This skill allows you to study creatures in the wild for chance to discover special abilities that can then be taught to your beast. Beasts can only learn from creatures of a similar type; for example, a narglatch can't learn abilities from a rancor. You must have the Attack ability in order to spend a point in Creature Knowledge .
	Enhanced Skill Acquisition: This skill improves your chance to learn abilities that you may use to train your pet while you are studying another creature. You must learn Creature Knowledge before you can gain this expertise.
	Soothing Comfort: Learn this skill to soothe your savage beast. The Soothing Comfort ability removes a harmful effect, state, or damage over time effect from your creature. You must spend four points in Enhanced Skill Acquisition before using this ability.
		Swift Recovery: Choose this skill to reduce the amount of time it takes to revive your beast from incapacitation. You must learn Soothing Comfort before you can train this ability.
		Mending: After learning Swift Recovery, train this expertise to use the ability Heal Beast to restore health to your injured creature.
			Additional Combat Command:You may teach your beasts an additional combat command once you have chosen this expertise. This skill unlocks a slot on the Pet Toolbar. If your pet has enough ability points, and you have learned a new ability by studying a creature in the wild, your beast can fill that slot with a new combat ability.
	Exceptional Nutrition: Select this ability to increase the Health of all beasts under your control by up to 100%. You must have acquired Soothing Comfort in order to add this expertise.
		Improved Pet Recovery: Once your pet has benefited from two ranks of Exceptional Nutrition , learn this expertise to increases the amount of Health your beast receives when you revive it from incapacitation.
			Additional Combat Command: You may teach your beasts an additional combat command once you have chosen this expertise. You must learn Improved Pet Recovery to unlock this slot on the Pet Toolbar.
	Dexterity Training: Learn this skill to increases the attack speed of beasts under your control by up to 100%. You must spend two points in Exceptional Nutrition to add this boost.
		Specialized Supplements: This ability increases the Health and Action regeneration rate of your beast by up to 100%. Put two points in Dexterity Training in order to obtain this bonus.
			Additional Combat Command: You may teach your beasts an additional combat command once you have chosen this expertise. You must learn Specialized Supplements to unlock this slot on the Pet Toolbar.
	Fortitude: Choose this skill to boost your pet's defense and increase the armor of beasts under your control by 100%. Spend two points in the Dexterity Training expertise to add this increase.
		Savagery: Increase the damage caused by beasts under your control by 100% by adding this expertise. Place three points in Fortitude to unlock this bonus.
			Harmonious Understanding: Beast Masters who are ready to explore their beast's full potential will benefit greatly from this skill. By learning this ability, you and your beast are able to anticipate each other's needs. This ability reduces your damage reduction penalty when controlling a beast. Spend three points in Savagery to begin creating this bond with your beast.

Leveling and Training Your Beast

The newly hatched beast starts at level 1. If the Beast Master is interested in having this new companion join in battles across the galaxy, the creature must engage in combat and do some damage in order to gain experience. The enemy NPC must also con green or higher in order for the beast to learn from the battle.

Several factors determine how quickly the beast gains levels, including the master's current level and the beast's happiness. The beast cannot be a higher level than the master, making the creature an evenly matched hunting partner that will stay by the Beast Master's side even through the toughest battles. Use the radial menu on the beast in the datapad to view the creature's level progress.

The Attack! expertise must be trained in order for the beast to gain combat abilities. Once the Beast Master has learned this ability, the Attack button automatically appears in the Beast Toolbar.

Beast Toolbar

Unlike the character's toolbar, the player cannot add skills to the Beast Toolbar. Each beast ability is automatically added to the toolbar once it is learned. When the Beast Master learns the Attack! expertise, five buttons can be seen in the Beast Toolbar.

The first button in the toolbar is the Attack button. Target the enemy and click this button to send the beast into the fray.

The second and third buttons on the toolbar will instruct your creature to stay and wait for you in a specific area, or to begin following your footsteps again.

The last two buttons in the Beast Toolbar gives the creature orders on how to react when battle commences. The Defensive Stance button puts your beast on high alert, commanding the beast to attack anything that attacks you.

The last button on the toolbar, Passive Stance, tells your beast to wait before wading into a fight, and the creature will not attack until you use the Attack button. A highlight will appear on either stance to let you know which tactic the beast is following.

The fourth through seventh buttons on the Beast Toolbar are reserved for special beast abilities. The Beast Master spends expertise points to unlock each slot and fill them with abilities learned from creatures in the wild.  

Learning Beast Abilities

A Beast Master who studies animals in their native habitat through the Creature Knowledge expertise can pass on abilities to the beast. While the animal is in combat, click Study Creature to watch its actions. If the animal uses a special ability while the skill is active, the beast has a chance to learn it. The wild animal and the tamed beast must be a similar creature type for the lesson to be learned; for example, a narglatch can't learn abilities from a rancor.

Once the Beast Master has gleaned knowledge from these studies, click the Train Pet skill to open a window that shows learnable skills. Skills that the pet can learn are shown in white.

Click the Train button and the skill is automatically added to the Beast Toolbar. The abilities can be toggled on to be used automatically (as action and refresh time permit) by right-clicking the skill in the toolbar.

If the skills in the Train Pet window are listed as "Max Abilities Trained," the creature can learn the skill but the Beast Master must add the Additional Combat Command expertise to open a slot for it on the toolbar.

Up to three additional slots on the Beast Toolbar can be unlocked to add new skills for the beast.

If the Train Pet window displays "Ability Level Too High," the beast does not have enough training points to spend on the skill. Each ability costs training points. View the beast's stats in the datapad to determine how many training points are left to spend for all skills.

The amount of training points at the beast's disposal is determined by the creature's level and loyalty. Always keep your beast happy and healthy!

Keeping Your Beast Loyal and Happy

Beast Masters who study creatures in the wild can pass on the abilities that wild animals use to their beast. Beasts can spend a certain amount of training points on abilities in order to learn them. The maximum points allotted to the beast are determined by the beast's level and the beast's loyalty.

The beast's loyalty can be seen in the Personal Companion Device in the datapad.

Loyalty is earned as the beast gains experience through hunting. When the creature first sets out with its master, no trust has been earned and it begins as a Wild creature. As time passes and the bond is formed with its master, the beast becomes Disobedient, Trained, and then Loyal. A beast that is completely loyal to its master becomes a Best Friend Forever, sticking with the master through thick and thin.

The happier the beast is, the more loyalty it gains, so keeping a creature content is one of the most important aspects of Beast Mastery.

Happiness

The beast's happiness is monitored by the buff icon under the beast's name and the Beast Control Device in the datapad.

Like loyalty, there are different levels of happiness that can influence your beast. The creature's happiness can range from unsatisfied states (furious, angry, miserable, unhappy, and annoyed), to satisfied ones (content, joyous, happy, very happy, and ecstatic.)

Happiness can be affected by factors such as food, activities, and locations. The beast has a predilection for particular foods, activities, and planets, as well as a specific aversion to others. The beast's tastes are determined randomly when it is hatched. A message will let you know when the creature approves or disapproves of a certain food, activity, or location.

As the Beast Master explores the galaxy, the creature will let its master know how it feels about the planet they are visiting. Beasts can lose five points of happiness if brought to a planet they dislike, or can gain five points upon arriving at their favorite planet.

Beasts also enjoy certain activities more than others. Activities can include performing tricks, joining other players in a group, and more. The creature loses ten points of happiness for an activity it doesn't enjoy and gains five points for its preferred pastime.

Pet food is created by domestic traders and it also has a direct effect on the beast's happiness. When the Beast Master feeds the creature, it will let the master know if it has a taste for the meal. Its favorite food will give it ten points of happiness but if it dislikes the food, 5 points of happiness will be taken away. A beast will also lose ten points when it is hungry and unfed, so remember to keep regular mealtimes!

Always keep your beast's tastes in mind and use them to your advantage. For example, if you have to spend time on a planet your creature dislikes, ask it to do a trick if that's a favorite activity! Skilled Beast Masters are experts at finding the right balance of happiness and loyalty to make their creature a companion for life.