|
So, I've played some Pathfinder Society games now and all three I played as a pregen character in a series of modules that gave me an Axe Beak as an animal companion or mount (I think, I don't have the sheet in front of me)
So I know the first time I play this character he'll be set in stone because once you play at 2nd level you can't dhange the character aside from standard retraining rules.
Is the Axe Beak worth building the character around? It seemed like a neat story thing, but I don't know if it's a good animal companion compared to a wolf or great cat or something.
If I do decide to build around the Axe Beak, what's a good way to do so? The pregen I played was the warpriest. Would a paladin be comparable to that and have a mount? What about a Hunter, that looks like an interesting class but I don't know enough about the system to know if I'm making awful choices.
What would you do for a level 2 PFS character with potential for an Axe Beak? Thanks for any help you can give.
|
|
The axe beak is an excellent companion, especially for anyone who wields a reach weapon since it also has reach. Magda Luckbender, a PFS player on here, highly recommends the axe beak and the feat paired opportunists, which allows both you and the critter to take lots of advantage of attacks of opportunity.
It would be great on a hunter, but hunters can take axebeaks already. It would definitely add to a ranger, a paladin or a cavalier. What size person would you be playing? Does the boon have any limitations on the character it can be applied to?
Hmm
|
|
There's very few limitations on the character. It's a twenty point buy using any race from the PHB or the kitsune, tengu, nagaji, or wayang.
And I'd like to limit how many different books it came from since I only have the core rulebook, apg, acg, uc, and will have to buy the bestiary III to use it.
The axe beak is described as the version out of the bestiary III, which is listed as a large creature. Does that give it any advantage over the axe beak the druid or hunter gets? I don't really care about it being better just wondering.
If you have a copy of ultimate campaign you can play a Samurai, Cavalier, or Paladin (classes which get mounts)take the feat to ride a medium sized mount, and then rebuild out of the feat later.
What I did was play a Samurai with a Naginata. I rode a horse until level seven, and the upgraded to an Axebeak.
Another thing you could do is just hoof it next to your axebeak until level seven. There is a lot of cool things you can do with reach weapons even without being mounted.
Personally I would recommend Paladin or Samurai, although there are some sick Cavalier options out there now too.
I'm unsure of rules on PFS can you not just get an Axe Beak normally?
Axe Beak looks like a really good mount for a lancer, er I mean Cavalier. I'm not a big fan of the whole mounted lancer idea, so I would suggest a Hunter to play around with this animal companion. Hunters have lots of ways to buff their animal companions.
The reach part is interesting, but it doesn't look like it comes into play until it's large (actually it's not listed for the animal companion stats at all). The charging trip could be a lot of fun. Once it has reach it can run in trip a guy and stand 10 feet away to get the Attack of Opportunity when they stand up.
|
The Axe Beak is normally allowed to Hunter, Druid, and any one with a full list of animal companions. The Axe Beak sheet is only needed if you want to get a Axe Beak for Ranger, Cavalier, Paladin, or class with a restricted list of animals. We have a local player with a Cavalier using the Axe Beak as a mount. Over all he is very effective. However it is a player that is good at making characters effective.
|
|
Damanta created a very useful google sheet for options for obtaining an expanded list of animal companions in PFS.
Basically, it lists classes that grant animal companions, and whether they draw from the full druid list or not. It can be useful if you love animal companions, and want to know what some of your options are.
Hmm
|
Damanta created a very useful google sheet for options for obtaining an expanded list of animal companions in PFS.
Basically, it lists classes that grant animal companions, and whether they draw from the full druid list or not. It can be useful if you love animal companions, and want to know what some of your options are.
Hmm
Is there a discussion thread for this list? I noticed an error. The Stonelord Earth Elemental doesn't follow the rules for animal companions, it's just a elemental from the bestiary that increases it's size at specific levels.
|
|
Oh, ok. I finally understand. Since I get the axe beak, I don't get it as it is in the stat block. I have to look back in the appendix to see the animal companion stats.
I've looked at the cavalier and the samurai. Samurai with a naginata sounds interesting, but I'm just not feeling a character come together. Maybe I'm just not strong enough on the rules. I like that the cavalier shares the teamwork feats but not much beyond that.
The Axe Beak seems interesting stat wise but thinking of riding or fighting alongside a glorified ostrich seems a bit ridiculous.
I dunno. God, trying to create a pathfinder character is so frustrating for me.
I was pretty well set on doing a Warpriest or sacred fist warpriest prior to getting the axebeak, maybe I'll try to stick with that, though people seem to think there errata makes them less viable. I give up. I was thinking of saving Ranger to do PFS Core, but maybe I'll do that. I liked the character well enough, even though I never got high enough level to get spells. Gah, can I just keep playing pregens?
|
|
That glorified ostrich is an undervalued companion. They've got good speed and reach. They are awesome paired with other reach fighters.
What I'd do if undecided is hang on to those three sheets for character 1, and start playing a different character (character 2) until you come up with something that might appeal to you.
What sort of characters do you like to play? Maybe we could throw together a few sample builds for you.
Did you initially play this three part series as core?
Hmm
|
|
I did not play the modules as Core. Kind of wish I had.
I've been playing since 2e with a good large portion of it being 3.0/3.5. I've played every class at least one or twice so I wanted to play something that was uniquely Pathfinder. Lately I've been playing a lot of big dumb fighters in 5e and other games. I don't want to do another one of those.
I like playing support characters and ranged characters mostly. I don't like managing huge spell lists, so I avoid Wizards, but like having a few spells to enhance my character or as back up. And I Hate only getting 2 skill points per level. So, like healing / buffing cleric, ranged ranger, or fighters with options (like those in 3.5 Book of nine swords, if you're familiar) are probably my favorites from D&D esque systems.
I think because I'm so varied is part of my issue, i came into pathfinder late so there's all these different options. Okay, thinking solely about a character...
Let's say he's a foppish, lesser noble forced to work with the sovereign court or he'll lose his place in line for the throne. He has book knowledge but little experience in the world (to play to my own naivete of the pathfinder setting). As to class, I don't know. Cavalier could actually work for for that. What else Alchemist maybe? Medium might be interesting, if his father is his spirit. Any thoughts?
Alchemist is a really fun character that, to my knowledge, is pretty unique to pathfinder.
It sounds like you really don't want to worry about the Axe Beak at all at this point. Also from explanations above, it doesn't sound like it would be all that difficult to play with one if you change you mind (just make a hunter/druid at that point).
I would suggest at this point playing the alchemist. It can fit your background story pretty well too.
|
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
***Performs thread necromancy on thread less than two months dead***.
The original poster asked how one would go about making effective use of an axe beak animal companion. In other words, what use is it?
I played through many levels mounted on an axe beak animal companion. With the right tactics it is an absurdly effective combination, to put it mildly. From level 5+ an axe beak animal companion mount can inflict massive HP damage and/or provide considerable battlefield control. It works by both optimizing action efficiency and by maximally exploiting reach to deny enemy movement. There are two basic approaches. The 'passive' approach does not require the PC's standard action and inflicts up to 120 HP per round 'on the side' while providing moderate battlefield control. The other approach goes all out, requires the PC's full attention, and inflicts up to 300 HP per round at 5th level while providing strong battlefield control.
After playing this oddball combination over many levels & through some very difficult Pathfinder scenarios I determined empirically that it utterly rocks! This PC/mount combination routinely inflicted over 100 HP per round even at low levels, while often casting a spell or two that same round. Even when foes did not provoke AoOs it was extraordinarily effective. Here's the link that describes mechanical details.
The extreme approach is for both rider and mount to Enlarge. There are several ways to do this, but one stands out. The Growth Domain gives Enlarge Person as a 1st level Domain Spell. An Animal Companion, such as is available via the Feather Domain, gains the low level ability to be affected by Enlarge Person. The mount is thus Huge, while the rider is merely Large. The combined team threatens at least a 55' diameter circle, effectively locking down any foes within. The Lawful Good deity Erastil happens to have both the Growth and Feather domains, as do several other deities.