Animal Empathy in NWN is based on Wild Empathy ability in D&D. The text of this ability is as follows, per the 3.5e SRD.
A ranger can improve the attitude of an animal. This ability functions just like a Diplomacy check to improve the attitude of a person. The ranger rolls 1d20 and adds his ranger level and his Charisma modifier to determine the wild empathy check result. The typical domestic animal has a starting attitude of indifferent, while wild animals are usually unfriendly.
To use wild empathy, the ranger and the animal must be able to study each other, which means that they must be within 30 feet of one another under normal visibility conditions. Generally, influencing an animal in this way takes 1 minute, but, as with influencing people, it might take more or less time.
The ranger can also use this ability to influence a magical beast with an Intelligence score of 1 or 2, but he takes a -4 penalty on the check.
Animal empathy is therefore a social skill aimed at animals, rather than a magical ability. You aren't magically mind-controlling the creature. You are convincing it that you are not hostile and that it should help you.
I bring this up because the current animal empathy implementation is really jarring.
If you are a ranger and walk up to a worg, the following happens:
Worg: I HATE THIS GUY, IM GONNA EAT HIM.
Ranger: Calm down, buddy. I'm a friend.
Worg: I LOVE THIS GUY, IM GONNA EAT MY FRIENDS FOR HIM.
Ranger: There you go. See. We're friends.
Three minutes laterWorg: NO WAIT A MINUTE, I HATE THIS GUY, I'M GONNA EAT HIM.
I get that you shouldn't have the animal as a
follower indefinitely. The time limit on that makes perfect sense for balance reasons, if nothing else. What
doesn't make any sense is why the creature would go hostile immediately thereafter. It doesn't fit the actual fluff of what animal empathy is. After the empathy wears off, they should at worst be neutral towards you unless actively provoked.
Not does the current setup not make sense in-character, it actually can be horribly out of character, as it means that your animal-whispering nature loving druid has to turn around and murder the creature it just made friends with.
Is there a way to make make creatures turn neutral after animal empathy wears off?