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So I Finally decided what I need to play for PFS. Most the people I group with play casters or simi-casters that no one can really take a front line stance. I asked the main GMs and they all say it seems to be a common thing where I play that no one really plays a solid martial type.
I am not a melee character player - generally
go ahead and tank charisma (you get +2 so at worst a 9)- if you are not going to have a mid-high charisma to get to pushing faster, the -1 penalty can be countered by a training harness for +2 (I think 15-20 gp) and you get +4 extra with your companion - you need to get to get DC 12 on a 1 to be safe. and train in a social skill - when you have a lousy stat is when you need training the most.
I am not sure why gecko and not chameleon - the latter has a climb speed and you can ride him when you get him sooner. (though I don't know what expert climber quality means with no climb speed).
I don't think you can take boon companion feat until you have a companion and consider that if you get ride by attack without the mounted combat requirement, you might consider not taking mounted combat.
The traditional favored enemy progression is first humans, then evil outsiders, and then undead - but sometimes they last two are swapped. So be different - or not.
I'd try to limit myself to only one double digit odd-number stat. And consider the -2 strength of a halfling - if you want to take advantage of that spirited charge you need to put 10 points in strenght for a 14.
I'm not sure why magical knack, but I am sure there is a good reason. Build the traits from your backstory or if you build the back story from the character, then things like classically trained (spellcraft is good for fighters too), focused mind (for when you need a concentration check to cast on a fast moving mount), adopted (get a different race trait - I like child of two peoples, a lot), sacred touch (instantly stabilize your companion (and others), chillblight emissary (DR is nice), helpful (when you are stuck behind others in underground at least you can assist with your lance).
be careful of initiative feats and traits because some GMs will put your animal companion and you on different intitiatives.
my suggestion when it comes to playing a martial/melee character is that you don't start with some of the higher end stuff, like mounted combat or monks. I'd recommend that you start with a sword and board fighter. It gives you the grounding of knowing how a tank plays (mounted combat characters tend to be damage dealing skirmishers rather than tanks, mainly cause they're always moving about the battlefield in order to maximize their combat focus). While there are certainly some builds of sword and board fighter (by which I mean someone who uses a weapon and a shield) that can be boring, a fighter with the right interplay of feats can be downright entertaining to play.
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Mounts, explicitly move on the players turn. (It is part of the special rules for riding a mount.)
Pets move on their own initiative. But since they have to wait for orders they often delay to their owner's initiative. This rule is commonly ignored.
Make sure that your gecko has all the tricks called out under combat trained mount. Otherwise the DC to use him as a mount in combat is obscene.
You will also need to get an exotic military saddle so that you stay strapped in while your mount is upside down on the ceiling.
Mounted Combat isn't very useful unless you are getting the other feats in the tree and are putting all your skill ranks into ride. Otherwise if your gecko has a high enough AC to survive combat, the mounted combat roll will have a high enough DC that you will usually fail.
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Frank, I like your character concept. I suggest that you read the following pages/guides before you finish your character. I found them all to be very helpful (starting a Saurian Shaman Druid myself).
Read all of the Druid and Ranger guides here:
Guide to the Guides
Flutter's recent thread offers tons of useful advice and explains the Animal Companion rules concisely and accurately. I highly recommend reading it in its entirety:
Druid's Log-Animal Companions
This Paizo Blog entry is relevant and useful:
Animals and Their Tricks
Read the Additional Resources document (or simply search anything related to animal companions) to be sure that you are legal.
PFS Additional Resources
I also recommend buying the .pdf of the Animal Archive. It has a lot of good info and you will need to have a copy of some pages out of it in order to use the rules at any PFS table. Boon Companion immediately comes to mind.
Those guides will give you a more thorough knowledge of the (somewhat complex) Animal Companion rules, as they apply to PFS.
Some thoughts about what you have posted so far:
You will not be able to ride your gecko until 4th level. I don't think that this is the end of the world, but it's something to keep in mind.
Geckos are not amazing melee combatants, but riding one has definite advantages.
Consider a War Saddle if you're going to be climbing walls. Harder to fall out.
I suggest Archery over Charging as a combat style. Your mount is never going to be very tough (he's no rhinoceros) and you are a Halfling. Full attack with a Longbow while riding your gecko up walls, on ceilings, etc. will be awesome.
Your stat array looks pretty good but I would suggest swapping your 15 con for the 14 Dex. Then 4th level bonus goes to Dex, 8th level bonus goes to Str.
Feats look like they need some work, but the guides will help with that.
I recommend 1st Favored Enemy: Humanoid(Human). You will face Humans A LOT in PFS.
Definitely take Magical Knack. If you can't think of another good trait, just fall back on Reactionary (+2 Initiative).
Boon Companion is also a must.
Also, I suggest renaming your mount. Stickfoot is a rather famous War Gecko in Golarion. That's kind of like naming a Barbarian "Conan"
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Frank, I don't think you are quite reading the beast master correctly. You still don't receive the animal companion until level 4, like any other ranger. The "animal companion" beast master ability replaces the standard hunter's bond at level 4. So your boon companion feat would need to be at level 5.
The beast master may have more than one animal companion, but he must divide up his effective druid level between his companions to determine the abilities of each companion. For example, a beast master with an effective druid level of 4 can have one 4th-level companion, two 2nd-level companions, or one 1st-level and one 3rd-level companion. Each time a beast master's effective druid level increases, he must decide how to allocate the increase among his animal companions (including the option of adding a new 1st-level companion). Once an effective druid level is allocated to a particular companion, it cannot be redistributed while that companion is in the ranger's service (he must release a companion or wait until a companion dies to allocate its levels to another companion). The share spells animal companion ability does not give the ranger the ability to cast a single spell so that it affects all of his animal companions. This ability replaces hunter's bond.
I typically make cavs, (and would recommend a halfling gendarme cav with riding dog if you want to be a lancer) but if you are wanting a ranger, I would probably buy a riding dog at level 1 (you might have to buy and bury several dogs) and then get rid of it at level 4, when your animal companion arrives. Animal Companions are nice because they get a +4 on your handle animal checks and they do them as free actions, which won't be the case with your purchased riding dogs (it's a move action).
If you have the Animal Archive (which if you are using Boon Companion you must), you might want to have your companion take the Charger or Racer archtype. Charger so you don't have to pay for the more expensive armor with no armor check penalty and Racer because you should always be in motion, ride by attacking with the triple damage on your lance. However, lancers are not very good for protecting the magic users, if that is a concern...as you ride by and attack, the enemy can just charge your wizard. They aren't really "front line" which you said in your OP...that would be infantry. Cavalry are more about flanking from the side and mobility.
Suggested feats of
1. Mounted Combat
bonus - Ride by Attack
3. Spirited Charge
5. Boon Companion
bonus - Trick Riding
7. whatever, power attack, vital strike, improved crit, etc.
9. whatever
bonus -
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Frank, I don't think you are quite reading the beast master correctly. You still don't receive the animal companion until level 4, like any other ranger. The "animal companion" beast master ability replaces the standard hunter's bond at level 4. So your boon companion feat would need to be at level 5.
Good catch Sintax. I totally agree.
A War Dog isn't fantastic, but it will serve its purpose until you get your Gecko.Suggestion: You could retrain your 3rd level feat into Boon Companion when you get to 4th level with the Retraining rules from Ultimate Campaign.
It's a bit cheeky, but I think that there's an argument for it in this instance. It's not abusive, it won't make you substantially more powerful, and it helps you get your character to work the way you want it to asap.
If you own a copy of the Ultimate Campaign .pdf, it would cost you 200gp and 5PA. Totally worth it IMO.
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Alternately, if you own animal archive, buy a combat trained Giant gecko at level one. It's only 150 gp, so by your second adventure you can get one. It is basically the 1st level druid gecko, but size medium.
Honestly, it will do you just fine for the first 3 levels, when there isn't a lot of AoE damage coming your way.
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Alternately, if you own animal archive, buy a combat trained Giant gecko at level one. It's only 150 gp, so by your second adventure you can get one. It is basically the 1st level druid gecko, but size medium.
Honestly, it will do you just fine for the first 3 levels, when there isn't a lot of AoE damage coming your way.
That's actually a better idea FLite.
You will not get a Medium Gecko until 4th level, regardless of what you do within the Animal Companion class ability.This one starts out Medium, and is therefore something that you can ride.
You won't get the +4 bonus to Handle Animal, you won't be able to give it commands (Link) and it won't get the bonuses that normal Animal Companions get (Stats, feats, skills, saves, etc.), but I think that's probably not a big deal for levels 2 and 3.
My husband and play Halfling Cavaliers, and we've had good luck with the wolf from levels 1-4. A free trip attempt on each attack is really nice at lower levels. Whatever mount you choose, a small character on a medium mount is much more useful in PFS scenarios. (Large and huge mounts do stupid amounts of damage and threaten the entire map, but it's hard to get them down a winding 5-foot hallway, and they aren't much help on a boat.)
You can either build to hold a line a defend or charge and do damage. Both is tricky.
A lance-wielding rider with a shield bash (or unarmed strike) can hold the front line fairly well, because you can use you reach, your close attacks and your animal's close attacks as AoOs to keep people from getting by. If you want to go that route, check out Combat Reflexes (for you or your mount), Stand Still, and potentially Bodyguard.
If you want to do damage, you will definitely want high movement and charge lanes. Overrun and Charge Through open your charge lanes, and Ride By Attack lets you set up a charge each round by going past your opponents. Later on, Wheeling Charge lets you take 90 degree turns while charging. Get a wand of Feather Step so your mount can ignore difficult terrain.
Definitely read up on the mounted combat rules, and make a cheat sheet of the rules and the Ride DCs. Bring an extra copy to hand to the GM. Since there aren't all that many mounted characters (outside of our area, apparently!), a lot of GMs will have to stop and look up the rules, and you don't want to slow down the game.
Have fun!
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If you are going to buy combat trained animals, consider the dire bat - you don't have to climb you fly, and there are far more charge lanes open 10 feet off the ground in many circumstances.
I know of mounted characters that go entirely with bought mounts.
Also, while making sure you have the combat trained tricks, don't forget the exclusive trick, unless you want bad guys giving your animal companion instructions (not so common now, - the last thing you need is for you to become dazed or stunned and others ordering your companion to do things - handle animal can be used untrained to order animals around, the trained part is for training animals - the dc is not hard for charisma based folks)
I think you are better off not bumping con at 4th (stick with 14) and always bump strength - I don't know when rangers get 3rd level spells but they get 2nds late enough that you can have a wisdom headband by then. Get Toughness. hey if you were adopted by humans and were a child of two peoples (get their languages and +2 vs charms and compulsions) you could maybe even contort to take Tribal Scars.
Chillblight Emissary is from People of the North - you would have to be one of those rare Irrisen Halflings - or perhaps adopted by humans from Irrisen.
"You have spent considerable time at Chillblight, but have escaped this unearthly fey outpost. You gain DR 1/cold iron but become sickened for 1 round if damaged by a cold iron weapon."
Mithril chain shirt barding would not stunt his attacks with 0 armor check proficiency, but know that there are [at least] two ways to calculate the cost for such barding - masterwork studded leather is one less AC but a lot cheaper - it will be a while before mitril chain shirt barding (some GMs expect one to multiply the mithril cost).
Find a way to make your animal small and take it with you (though the dire bat takes care of that too).
Be able to fight without your mount - there are a lot of mods where all or part of it you might not have your mount with you. The nice thing about a training harness is that it makes it obvious that an dangerous beast is not a wild animal.
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Good choices all around. Glad to hear you are actually naming your gecko after Stickfoot and not just stumbling onto that one! Stickfoot is a badass.
I recommend looking into Teamwork Feats. You will be on your mount all of the time, so the constant bonuses might be worth it.
If you assign your Animal Companion's first stat bump to Int, you can both take the same feat.
Coordinated Defense, Lookout, Paired Opportunists, and Shake It Off all work well this way (all in APG).
Spells:
Carry Companion is a great spell (Ranger 2) from Knights of the Inner Sea. It lets you turn your companion into a tiny figurine that you can put in your pocket when necessary. It's in Knights of the Inner Sea.
Also, you might try Instant Enemy (Ranger 3, APG). Very handy on a scroll. Buy a few and you won't need to worry about your 2nd and 3rd Favored Enemy choices.
It looks like people caught that Beastmaster Ranger's Companion DOESN'T say it is gained at 1st Level and there's no reason to think it isn't gained at 4th level like the ability it replaces. Even if you gained it at 1st level, AND took Boon Companion, your effective Druid Level would still be ZERO, which there simply isn't any stats for.
Somebody mentioned the +4 bonus you get to Handle Animal (and Wild Empathy) for your own Companion, from the Companion ability ("Link" is the exact source of that). You do get that, but you also get a FURTHER +2 (untyped) as a Beastmaster Ranger, for +6 total.
Magical Knack will be nice primarily for activating scrolls without UMD checks. Also note that most Ranger spells are also Druid spells, and they will default to being crafted by Druids in PFS. That means they will be lower Caster Level than a Ranger crafted scroll (so you will be able to use them sooner), but possibly higher Spell Level (which can help bypass Globe of Invulnerability spells).
I would echo that Ranged has major advantages, but if you want to go with Melee that can work too... You do get some more offensive usage out of your Mount that way, rather than just a taxi that you choose Feats for.
Mounted Combat is a good Feat, especially if you choose to focus on melee. If you can get Cities of Golarion, and can commit to a regional affinity with Lastwall (you can only have one), you might also like the Indominable Mount Feat: It lets you use your Ride check (including bonuses from saddle, etc) in place of a Saving Throw for your Mount. There is another Lastwall affinity Feat that lets your mount turn up to 90* during a Charge AND move thru allies' squares, which makes Charging much more reliable.
You probably want to look forward to Mounted Skirmisher Feat which lets you do iterative Full Attacks while your Mount takes a single Move. That normally is only available at 14th/15th level, but if you take the Mounted Combat Ranger Style you can get it at 10th level.
I don't know if you stated what melee weapon you planned to use. I guess Lance is an obvious one if you want to Charge, but you can't always Charge (even with Wheeling Charge), and a good Full Attack can be just as good. I think a Reach Weapon IS a good idea if you GO melee specialist (drawing AoOs and letting you Full Attack more), and probably the best all-around Martial Reach Weapon is a Bardiche with 1d8small/1d10medium and 19-20/x3 Crit stats, which really comes into it's own when you can get Improved Crit or Keen. You might like to have both a Lance and a Bardiche.
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If you want non-animal feats, then the fist stat bump for the animal companion needs to be int.
Combat Expertise is unlikely though, as I believe it has an int 13 requirement.
If you are sticking with light armor you don't need the proficiency feats - but if you get stuck with what feats to get putting your mount in full plate or even steel lammallar barding gives it extra AC.
Toughness is a good choice
However I recommend Combat Reflexes highly and then either Stand Still or Bodyguard (the latter not useful for a charger - but should you have to stand in place your mount can give you AC) - but I don't know if a gecko's dex is worth it.
Step Up might be a good one as well, when someone takes a 5 foot step away from your mount as his immediate action he can advance 5 feet. If you think your mount is going to be attacked a lot - Side Step is very nice, but mount attacks in my experience is not so common.
If you want extra protection for your mount consider Wind Stance (if your gecko is ever going to have Dex 15) - 20% concealment when it moves is nice.
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Seriously consider taking Escape Route (teamwork) feat for you and your mount.
If you pass through or are adjacent to each other, neither of you provoke attacks of opportunity for moving through threatened squares.
That means you can charge right past minions and hit the big bad, or do ride by strikes and still not take attacks of opportunity.
Light armor proficiency is a trap. You can just wear masterwork studded leather or mithril chain.
So I Finally decided what I need to play for PFS. Most the people I group with play casters or simi-casters that no one can really take a front line stance. I asked the main GMs and they all say it seems to be a common thing where I play that no one really plays a solid martial type....
Would you happen to be in south western ohio?