Hello everyone.
I'm creating a small archery ranger, who will utilize a flying mount to achieve tactical superiority and ensure his survival. At the moment i'm planning my character ahead and i'm not sure there is a point in some of the feats that multiple guides see as "a must" feats. To clarify things i'll be a small character riding a large mount with Narrow Frame feat and boosted by Boon Companion. The campaign is Rise of the Runelords.
Feats i beleve are rather useless:
Point Blank Master - my animal companion has a 10 ft reach. And fly speed. I can move and still do Full Round actions. Is it useful? Its a requirement if i'll ask my mount to grapple, but other than than that?
Snap Shot/Improved Snap Shot - while they have their merits, i'll try to be further away from combat and avoid melee at all costs. I'm not sure that using 2 feats like that is smart. Their removal allows me to remove Combat Reflexes also. So 3 feats.
Also i thought about non-class skills i want traits for to make them class skills. So far i aim for either Acrobatics or Escape Artist or both. Acrobatics to evade threatened squares. Escape artist to avoid grapples. Are they any good if maximized if compared to monsters CMD and without any additional items?
You can safely skip the Snap Shot stuff. You've chosen a pretty strong style of combat, so I wouldn't worry about having to choose exactly the right feats.
You would almost have to try to screw up in order to make a mounted archer weak.
I gimped myself a little by picking a small race. So i wont be able to mount up as a swift action :) I think about picking Additional traits and adding Escape Artist and Acrobatics to the list of class skills. In the last module i played our GM almost onlierated our party using grapple monsters. Twice. And all monsters with int >= 10 always go for the guy doing damage (aka me) so i always end up in threatened squares....
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I gimped myself a little by picking a small race. So i wont be able to mount up as a swift action :) I think about picking Additional traits and adding Escape Artist and Acrobatics to the list of class skills. In the last module i played our GM almost onlierated our party using grapple monsters. Twice. And all monsters with int >= 10 always go for the guy doing damage (aka me) so i always end up in threatened squares....
Why are you ever out of the saddle? If you can fly why would you ever be on the ground?
Well yes. In RotR one of the recommended fav terrains is underground. I'm prepared to use Reduce Animal on my companion to make him medium sized, but his mobility is so-so at best (20 move speed) and his threat range will suffer. He has narrow frame, but it does not eliminate all of the problems.
Also i believe that having my companion deal damage is much more effecient (in last campaign i gave my big cat AoMF +0 flaming and permanented Magic Fang: he was MVP in several battles due to sheer number of attacks) so i'm letting him go from time to time to help with flanking etc.
On a side note - if my companion grabs a target at 10 ft distance and pulls it to close range as by grapple rules - do i get attack of opportunity if i have Snap Shot?
Something to consider on point blank master. Anything that threatens your mount threatens you, and giants have reach. I would point out other reasons, but a mount with narrow frame does make it easier to stay mounted. Just make sure to buy a few scrolls of spider climb in case you reach a ladder or cliff. (That's how I plan to solve it when that comes up in my rotrl campaign. Also, this is not too meta since one of the AP section titles includes Giants in the name.)
As for snap shot, consider what happens when your mount overruns someone. They either dive out of the way or risk being knocked prone. If they dive and you have snap shot, you can shoot them as they do so. If they are prone, you may be able to threaten when they stand back up, and can shoot them again.
As for skills, since you are small, go for escape artist. If you grab PBM, threatened squares won't matter, but grapple will end you, and your cmb will be TERRIBLE!!
On the grapple question, the answer is almost certainly no. Forced movement from most combat maneuvers does not provoke unless you have a feat that says otherwise.
Thanks for ideas. I thought about using one of the Aspect spells which grants climb speed to deal with such stuff. Escape Artist is noted.
Regarding overrun - to use it in need to get Trample and Mounted combat. And Improved Overrun for mount. Also the BAB progression of mount is so-so and even high str wont be able to bring its CMB to really high levels. I believe it will be better to go for aasimar wings, which is 2 feats and will allow me to dismount midair and let my mount charge, for example. Solves the Snap Shot dilemma also.