As I am soon to try out my first use of the hunter class, I have a question.
Animal focus lasts 1 minute per level, and can only be used in minute increments, this I know.
My question is, while you are using a one minute increment, can you change what focus you are using or do you need to wait until the end of that minute increment to change what focus you have on you?
Say you use animal focus and you choose bull to get the bonus to strength in order to get out of a tight squeeze when you need a bonus to a strength check, and then you want to switch to say falcon so you can then get a look at your surrounding after solving the previous situation, would you be able to change to it immediately on your next turn and then keep on the animal focus, or do you have to wait out the bull effect and use a minute of the focus to then use falcon?
Some of the wording and understanding that's setting me off a bit.
one swift = minutes of that animal. If you want a different animal, use the ability again to end the first and start up the new one.
It's a swift action. So, yes, you can change which animal focus you want on your next turn. Of course, you normally can't have more than one active, so it's assumed the previous effect ends. You are wasting whatever time was left in the last minute's duration.
I don't have a rule in front of me to suggest that's how all activated time increments work, but I'm sure you'd be hard pressed to find a GM that rules it otherwise.
I believe his question was "if I activate once, can I switch my focus within that minute without needing to use another activation?"
Chess is right about what I am asking.
I'm asking is if I activate animal focus, can i change my focus on my next turn but still have to have a focus active for a minute, or have to wait a minute to change my focus.
Oh...Then I would think that would be a clear 'no'. There's nothing in the ability's description to suggest the hunter is capable of changing the aspect on himself without sacrificing the duration; You're selecting a new animal focus as a swift action.
The only time that wording is used is for the animal companion, which has a permanent duration, or when your animal companion is dead, in which case yours is permanent. I'd suggest that the word "Change" in the following quote...
The hunter can select or change the animal aspects on both herself and her animal companion as part of the same swift action.
... Refers to those instances.
You can change your focus whenever you want by using another activation of animal focus.
if you're lv2 you have 2 minutes.
if you spend a swift to get str boost and then next round you want dex boost you need to use your focus ability again and you'll have dex boost for 1 minute and you'll be out of minutes. Your first minute was just 1 round as it was ended early. Your second minute lasted a full minute.
Alright, thanks for helping me learn how to actually use the class how it's supposed to be used.