I think it would be a really nice addon to the game and it was used a lot for hunting at the time. Probably a little tricky to program it right but still…
Surely it was more common in higher classes, but mostly there was a distinction between nobles raptor birds (gyrfalcons, peregrines, and so on for men and lanner falcons for the women) and not nobles (goshawk, buzzards, …). So it would be hystorically correct i think.
What do you think?
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I was just thinking that I would prefer a falcon over a dog. I would be constantly afraid for the dog’s life, while the falcon I could just send away before the battle.
However I’m not sure what gameplay role could a falcon reallistically serve other than fetching a occasional rabbit or maybe carrying messages. Any ideas?
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Falcons are not really great for carrying messages but they could help a lot for the hunt (more than a rabbit i would say a pheasant), an eagle could also hunt foxes or bigger preys, yet realistically they clearly couldn’t help in combat unless you don’t want them to get killed or mutilated… Now that i think of it i don’t see a great function of a falcon other than hunting (indeed i would not replace the dog with the falcon: they work really well together if well trained).
Edit: it slipped my mind that a falcon due to the distinction i mentioned earlier had also a social impact on other people, just like clothing or jewelry.
Would be a nice addon =) Anyway I think that need a lot of work to do, maybe in next chapter or as addon? or maybe next stretch goal xD
Coding the hero to be a falconer may be a bit tough but it would definitely be cool. I agree, I’d prefer that as the mega-stretch goal. Having a falcon sidekick would definitely make you feel in-period.
Yes I know walking around with a falcon wouldn’t happen in reality but the presence of one conjures up the ambiance of that time.
Birds of prey for falconry where only really for the rich and wealth/titled members of society i had a book when i was a kid that listed what in england people could have legally by there ranking in society.
That does sound hard to do, but sounds awesome!
Why do you say it wouldn’t happen? 
@Potter i’m an apprentice falconer and my master is one of the most important italian falconer if not european so i can say falconry was not just for higher ranks of society.
Just quoting wikipedia: [quote]The Book of St Albans
The often-quoted Book of St Albans or Boke of St Albans, first printed in 1486, often attributed to Dame Julia Berners, provides this hierarchy of hawks and the social ranks for which each bird was supposedly appropriate. The line numbers are not in the original.
Emperor: The Golden Eagle, Vulture, and Merloun
King: The Gyr Falcon and the Tercel of the Gyr Falcon
Prince: The Falcon Gentle and the Tercel Gentle
Duke: The Falcon of the Loch
Earl: The Falcon Peregrine
Baron: The Bustard
Knight: The Sacre and the Sacret
Esquire: The Lanere and the Laneret
Lady: The Marlyon
Young Man: The Hobby
Yeoman: The Goshawk
Poor Man: The Tercel
Priest: The Sparrowhawk
Holy Water Clerk: The Musket
Knave or Servant: The Kestrel[/quote]
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A kestrel! I love those. Unfortunatelly they would be probably even more useless in the game. What would they bring you? A mouse? 
Well, as [the guy in wikipedia] said they were just “supposedly appropriate” for the ranks, so certainly you will not have a gyrfalcon but you could have a goshawk, instead of a kestrel, for example…
I meant more of the fact what some people may think is having a larger bird of prey, not that they couldn’t but it could have been rather expensive to get one
I’m going to bump this topic since the game have received more pledges since, and this may not be out of reach anymore.
Falconry as a learnable skill would be awesome! Next pledge goal? 
As said above, not having the biggest birds possible, but be able to enter the local falconry group for the local lord, or smtg like that.
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could be a nice idea for the new goal if it don’t dealy the release =)
Could just be a mini game.
Rather we encounter a character who does hunt with a falcon. Or well, most likely you see him doing “falcon stuff” in cut scenes, like when talking to the character while he’s tending to his bird, or even release it on some other bird in the sky.
My thought was not to give the art of falconry some recognition of some sort. I thought it could be a realistic and nice feature of the game itself.
I like the falconry idea but carrying a falcon around would not be something I would like to see. if you were wondering from a small town to the city and bandits jumped you it would be a bit hard to send the falcon flying while trying to pull out your sword and shield. You would need a squire or assistant of some sort to carry it while you move from place to place. It would be good as a home pet/hunting companion. In my view the dog or better yet a trained wolf would be more useful in hunting and battle. But I would like to see the use of Falconry in the game it would be a nice and historic touch.
I think the best solution to combat would be the falcon flying away when you pulled your weapons out. For the wolf though thats pretty hard to tame a wolf let alone capturing one alive. But we do get a dog companion which they said will help us for hunting.
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I have seen an ethologycal documentary about raising wolf puppies. They were in good terms with their caretakers (they looked happy to see them even in adulthood) and were not to harm (intentionally) people, but they behaved somewhat like cats: they did not care about commands, and had a really rough time interpreting human behaviour, such as pointing at things.
So, there is a reason why you don’t see pet wolves in the classic meaning of “pet”. There is a difference between domesticated and habituated, and domestic dogs have thousand years of advantage in this business. A wolf you raised might not harm you, but would be pretty independent for the most part the older he/she gets, and pretty sure wouldn’t care at all about what you command. Hell, if you try to take away the prey from him, he might as well become agressive. So, no. No “trained” wolfey. A hound is all you need. Or more.
I also started to think about the financial - or at least material - requirements of having a bird of prey (and I do not know anything about the laws of the time, but also pretty sure that even if owning a falcon for a commoner would have been allowed by law, he still couldn’t allow it financially. At least, not a blacksmith boy of a village.) so you might need a good leather cap for the falcon/hawk/eagle, some rattle, a glove for your hand, some stuff I do not know in english, and of course, some place to keep the bird, and also meat to feed, preferably fresh, even more preferably still alive.
…and at that point, it wasn’t you who trained the bird. You just bought a trained, “finished” bird, so it would be even more expensive.
Honestly, I do not have a clear opinion whether or not to include falconry, but now that I think about it, “just having” a bird and simply calling it like a horse, or K.I.T.T. himself with a whistle when you need it, would be somewhat weird.
I am also pretty sure that nicely animating the falcon would be a damn tough job.
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Yeah even if you train them all their life they are stil wild animals there are stories of people who own bears, tigers, wolves animals like that and have had them since they were born but then one day they just attack and kill their owner.