Animal Companion (Ex): At 1st level, a hunter forms a bond with an animal companion. A hunter begins play with any one of the animals available to a druid. This animal is a loyal companion that accompanies the hunter on her adventures. This ability functions like the druid animal companion ability (which is part of the nature bond class feature). The hunter's effective druid level is equal to her hunter level. If a character receives an animal companion from more than one source, her effective druid levels stack for the purpose of determining the companion's statistics and abilities. A hunter may teach her companion hunter's tricks from the skirmisher ranger archetype instead of standard tricks. The animal companion can use skirmisher tricks when commanded, a number of times per day equal to 1/2 its hit dice + its Wisdom modifier.
If a hunter releases her companion from service or her animal companion perishes, she may gain a new one by performing a ceremony requiring 24 uninterrupted hours of prayer in the environment where the new companion typically lives. While the hunter's animal companion is dead, any animal she summons with a summon nature's ally spell remains for 1 minute per level instead of 1 round per level. A hunter cannot have more than one summon nature's ally spell active in this way at one time. If this ability is used again, any existing summon nature's ally effect immediately ends.
Animal Focus (Su): At 1st level, a hunter can apply the aspect of an animal to herself as a swift action. She must select one type of animal to emulate, gaining a bonus or a special ability based on the type of animal emulated and her hunter level. The hunter can use this ability for a number of minutes per day equal to her level. This duration does not need to be consecutive, but it must be spent in 1-minute increments. Normally, the hunter can emulate only one animal at a time.
The hunter can also apply one of these aspects to her animal companion. Unlike with the hunter herself, there is no duration on the animal aspect applied to her animal companion. An aspect applied in this way does not count against the hunter's minutes of duration per day—it remains in effect until the hunter changes it. The companion's aspect can be the same aspect the ranger has taken on, or a different one. The hunter can select or change the animal aspects on both herself and her animal companion as part of the same swift action.
If the hunter's animal companion is dead, the hunter can apply her companion's animal aspect to herself instead of her animal companion. This is in addition to the normal animal aspect she can choose, and (as with a companion's focus) remains in effect until the hunter changes it instead of counting against her minutes per day.
Familiar (Ex): At 1st level, an eldritch guardian gains a familiar, treating his fighter level as his effective wizard level for the purpose of this ability.
This ability replaces the bonus feat gained at 1st level.
Wild Empathy (Ex): A hunter can improve the initial attitude of an animal. This ability functions as a Diplomacy check to improve the attitude of a person (see Chapter 4 of the Core Rulebook). The hunter rolls 1d20 and adds her hunter level and her Charisma modifier to determine the wild empathy check result. The typical domestic animal has a starting attitude of indifferent, while wild animals are usually unfriendly.
To use wild empathy, the hunter and the animal must be within 30 feet of one another under normal conditions. Generally, influencing an animal in this way takes 1 minute but, as with influencing people, it might take more or less time.
The hunter can also use this ability to influence a magical beast with an Intelligence score of 1 or 2, but she takes a –4 penalty on the check.