Anne Archer's page

I was wondering if you could put a Wayfinder on a collar around the AC's throat.

What sorts of items are available for Animals Companions? Are these items approved for PFS?

Gakgung looks like a straight upgrade to the shortbow.

Still a tradeoff in thought on that vs longbow, but I feel like the volley trait on the longbow basically always convinces me not to use it.

I agree with you. I mostly play PFS, which means I seldom have to shoot past the shortbow's short range. And often fire as a creature is closing to melee.

The best background magical item is a Wig of Holding. It let's you keep four different bulk L items in four separate one L 'pockets'. I tend to keep a light weapon, 10 arrows, a healing potion and a misc potion in mine.

Perhaps one day, when I have retired, my brown bear animal companion Yogi Bera will awaken.

He could go adventuring, and tell tales over a campfire. "There was the time me Mum took me to..."

Just out of curiosity, Deriven Firelion, what is your opinion of an Animal Companion for PFS? In theory you top out at level 11, but in practice leveling up really slows down in the 9+ range. Or in the 6+ range if you play multiple characters.

Once again, I would like to see Blunt Arrows!

1) The cost of a composite bow is identical to that of a non-composite bow starting at level 2 (+1 weapons). Yes, this is silly, but it's RAW. The gold difference is trivial.
2) Applies to all ranged attacks basically equally
3) Stealing an action without a save is a decent critical effect. Compare to the various stunned/slowed ones that do give saves.

1) The cost of a composite bow is _not_ identical to the cost of a regular bow, not at any level. I refer you to the weapons section of the CRB. Nor is the gold difference trivial to a first or even second level character, as it is the same as two or three healing potions (minor).

2) This comment is non-sensical. Saying that other ranged types share this weakness doesn't change the fact that it's a weakness.

3) I have managed plenty of crits with a bow, and can't recall an enemy _ever_ being hindered by the pin crit. Half the time the target isn't near something it can be pinned to. And the other half it doesn't care, it's next to a melee type and just attacks (or casts it's spell then casts Shield. Or somesuch.)
Also note, concerning the anemic nature of Pin - a cut and paste from the CRB, "The creature doesn’t become stuck if it is incorporeal, is liquid (like a water elemental or some oozes), or could otherwise escape without effort." Such creatures can still be shoved, made flat-footed, etc... if they are subject to crits at all. I don't know about oozes, but water elementals are subject to crits

If you want to ask Society GMs to run certain modules, I recommend that you go thumb through the blurbs of Season 4 adventures, and find the ones that sound fun. Maybe this plot deals with your home neighborhood/country. Maybe that plot deals with something (one of) your character hates...

Oh, and stay away from Fall of Plaguestone. There's a whole, looong thread about what's wrong with it.

This harkens back to 1e. If you choose not to grow your animal companion, it stays the same size... but then the benefits of reaching 4th/7th level are different and, IIRC, weaker.

I'd certainly look at such an option for 2e seriously.

I mean, realistically an arrowhead that is blunted enough that it does not pierce (even the decidedly not-sharp points you use for practice shooting still pierce) should reduce the die size.

This is a ridiculous assertion. Just look at 'hollow point' bullets. There's a perfect example of what happens when you go from piercing to bludgeoning. Instead of expending energy penetrating (& making a deeper wound), much of the energy is expended on impact, shocking the target. There's no reason to change the die size.

Archery is allowed to have some weaknesses.

Archery already has weaknesses:

Sometimes they give you access to uncommon things you'd otherwise have no way of accessing otherwise (this is kinda rare).

As a sidebar to this, sometimes (in PFS chronicles) they give access to items that you normally only find in an AP.

Also, sometimes the items are unique to an adventure. The only way to get a Fiery Leopard animal companion is the chronicle sheet for the Fall of Plaguestone.

Blunt arrows! You have all sorts of magical munitions, is that really to much to ask for?

I, for one, am very disappointed that after all this time we still don't have blunt arrows.

It is possible to archetype druid for Wild Shape. This coudl work either as a summoner or as a monk, though in both cases you're stills eeing a drop-off in effectiveness if the campaign goes on too long...

Why not a Flurry Ranger who archtypes into Druid for Wild Shape? Not having played a Druid yet, I am uncertain of the mechanics. Fist/bear claw is unarmed, so it's agile. I suppose Handwraps will let you get +1 Striking and utilize Twin Takedown (which requires one weapon in each hand).

I don't see what's different from pouring a Potion of Healing down the throat of a downed party member and the throat of a downed animal companion...

Personally, I would be surprised if a judge questioned the use of a potion on an AC.

Potions of Healing and Spider Climb are both very usefull to an Animal Companion.

There is a lot of talk about using a shield, or the difficulty of drawing two weapons to switch from ranged to melee.

Just get yourself a gauntlet for your off hand. Then you draw your rapier / short-sword and take two swings. If you are serious about switching to melee a lot, then grab Twin Takedown as well.

My experience (strictly PFS) is:
1. use a short bow. You almost always start at 60' or less. Upgrade to composite short bow when you can, as it let's you use 1/2 of your strength modifier to add to damage. (Started at 16 str 18 dex, and bumped str at level 5.)
2. I have purchased a cold iron gauntlet as it became available and monetarily practical.
3. I almost never actually switch to melee anyway... this is an emergency protocol (Taja the Barbarian makes a number of good points in this regard). Like the time we ran into some sort of Fiend and it had weakness to cold iron and DR piercing...
4. I have started out in melee mode, but it is rare. The only instance that comes rapidly to mind is going to a party where bows/spears/pole arms where not allowed. But a dagger and a gauntlet?

You might want to look at one or two levels of Rogue. This would give you a 1d6 Sneak Attack bonus if you have achieved Ranged Flanking.

A second die of Sneak Attack would be available via a feat.

The second level of Rogue would give you Evasion, if: your Mithral breastplate counts as light armor. A Mithral armor counts as one lower armor type for most purposes, but I don't remember if this applies to Evasion requirements (I believe it does, but I'm not sure).

I am going to necro this thread to ask a question... the Warden spell Heal Companion is a 1st level feat but it requires you to already have an Animal Companion which is also a 1st level feat.

Since I know of no way to get two Ranger 1st level feats (please correct me if I am wrong), that means you take Animal Companion at 1st level and Heal Companion at 2nd. Why is Healing Companion a 1st level feat/focus spell if you can never take it at 1st level?

Also note that a Ranger normally takes the Hunted Shot or Twin Takedown feat at 1st/2nd level. This pushes Heal Companion back to 4th level...

For your relatively low-valued third attack, most of the time you will either move, or target a new victim with Hunt Prey.

Optional! it takes one action to command your Animal Companion. Your AC can either Attack twice & provide flanking for melee types, or Support (varies by animal type).

Captain Morgan wrote:

Though the Hunt Prey bonus applies to initiative and can indeed take it higher Survival higher if maxed.

I have never seen a GM allow me to use the +2 Hunt Prey Survival bonus on Init.

I have. It's come up all of once, as my group doesn't seem to do a lot of Tracking... so the judge allowed it. With the extreme infrequency, it's not like it's going to warp the game.

I'm glad you are enjoying your Archer Ranger. Please remember that on top of saving you an action to Hunt Prey, if you are tracking an enemy then you get to use your Tracking skill for Initiative, instead of your Perception, which is usually better.

BTW, Anne has an animal companion: Yogi Berra, a small brown bear!

Back to the OP and his question: being an archer is not a trap. While there are multiple agruments in this thread about what is most effective in a fight, or in situation X... the differing playstyles of different groups & GMs make a lot of this moot.

I play both a Greatsword Fighter and an Archer Ranger in Pathfinder Society, and both are enjoyable. Which is most enjoyable? The Thief racket Rogue! :D

The best advice I can give you is to try out an Archer and see for yourself... as long as you are not in a situation where you will be locked into that choice if you end up not liking it. If you are going to get locked in, then choose something you _know_ you will enjoy long-term.

Not only is barding ridiculously expensive for an animal Companion (AC), costing many times more than yours (leather is 5x for an AC!), but barding/armor has Srength requirements that a bird won't meet. It's movement will be slowed, and depending on the type of bird raw weight will also be a concern.

As a bow-wielding ranger, I like to see a couple of melee types in the party. You know, the ones that keep _me_ out of melee.

Absolutely. If you are trying for a Sniper build, Precision is the way to go.

As to Outwit... I was just about to ask if anyone has actually used this. I conceptually see it as something a melee Ranger might do if the setting is going to be urban with lots of intrigue. Then possibly MC to Rogue Scoundrel.

Of course an Animal Companion works. You can either 1) have it attack twice for one Ranger Action, at 0 & -5, or 2) have it Support. While the differing animals have differing support effects, a bear adds 1d8 to every arrow. Precision only adds 1d8 to the first attack.

In general, with all three actions + Hunted Shot:
1- the Precision Bow Ranger makes attacks for 0/bow damage + 1d8, -5/bow damage, -10/bow damage, -10/bow damage.
2- the Flurry Bow Ranger makes attacks for 0/bow damage, -3/bow damage, -6/bow damage, -6/bow damage.

So the Precision guy gets a front loaded 1d8, but the Flurry guy is going to hit (and crit) more often. The less actions available due to movement, etc the less effect the Flurry advantage has.

In the end, which does better is going to vary from fight to fight (and the 1d8 is going to be less of an advantage as Striking Runes come on board).

Anne sends Yogi Berra (brown bear animal companion) in to Support, which costs an action. She marks her quarry (action), then shoots twice with Hunted Shot (action) at 0 & -3 (thanks to Hunter's Edge/Flurry). This yields bow damage + 1d8 support damage per shot, which is respectable. While it's nice if Anne gets in a shot at -6, it's not a great loss if she doesn't as these are the shots that rarely hit.

With the amount of books that came out during PF1, I'm sure 2e will have many books as well. They will probably put out a 2e Adventurer's Armory soon. Waiting is the hard part.

First, there has to be an Armory. _Then_ it has to be sanctioned...

My group dealt with it as a serious challenge, with one character going down. But the boar concentrated on him, and left the rest of us mostly unscathed. We had a lot more trouble with the alchemist & his little pet... that was almost a TPK!

I wish to note that you can expend one action to have your companion:
1. move up to enemy & strike once, or
2. move up to enemy & support

The animal companion continues to support your attack without being commanded to do so every round. That is, as long as the enemy doesn't move away from the animal. This is quite effective for an archer ranger.

Note: an animal companion that is attacking provides flank for other melee types. If supporting, it does not provide flank.

They are also trained in barding so you can equipment them with the barding on page 295. Barding can give +1 or +3 ac.

EDIT - Although it should be noted that barding is rather expensive for starting characters.

Light barding for a small or medium companion is 10 gp... for +1 to the AC! that's 5x what it costs to get leather (2 gp) for your ranger/druid.

Heavy Barding requires a +5 Str... that's two advances on the companion's Str minimum. Level 8 for a druid and 10 for a ranger.

Animal companions (CRB page 214) are specifically mentioned as Trained in unarmed attack, unarmed defense and barding.

You can also specifically command them to attack an enemy, or support your own attack.

That's about as much combat training as anyone can ask for.

... but it adds 1d8, not 1d8 + 3.

The support feature says that the bear gets 1d8 slashing, as you say. But why would the bear not add it's +3 Str to this? It normal attacks are listed as 1d8 P bite, 2x claws at 1d6 S. No mention of Str modifiers there, either. Are you telling me that the bear gets no Str to damage at all? Or any animal companion?

I can't help feeling that the value of an animal companion is being under-rated. Companions can go into attack mode, adding to the value of having a ranger in the party, as well as support mode. While this is variable depending on the companion chosen, the bear companion supports by adding 1d8+3 slashing every time the ranger hits, in melee or at range.

Of course, not every ranger has to have an animal companion.

Similarly, if I understand the 8 day block correctly... if a Ranger loses his animal companion during a module, it takes 7 days to find a replacement. So out of the 8 day block, the ranger then spends 7 days finding the new companion, and the one remaining day Earning Income.