I'm not sure if Blood Arcanist is allowed to take wildblooded Sorcerer bloodlines, but the GM has okayed it.
I'm helping a newer player make a build. She liked the idea of Druid with animal companion and spellcasting, but the Arcanist made more sense for her since the last short lived campaign was with Spheres of Power. We are going to be playing Zeitgeist with Core + Path of War/Psionics rather than Spheres this time. We are attempting to go to 20th and are starting at 1st with a 20pt and max 18 in any stat with racial adjustments.
The Arcanist has better buffs for the party and some good buffs for the animal companion with stuff like Mage Armor and Haste. I know a few good exploits and mainly sticking to the more defensive options first (Arcane Barrier, Dimensional Slide) before picking up Counterspell and the other spell based exploits. I know for animal companions, Evolved Companion is an amazing, and Boon Companion is needed due to the Sylvan's decreased animal companion level.
Besides that, I have no idea where to go and the player currently doesn't have any idea either. They only said they wanted to focus at least somewhat equally on their animal companion and spells.
Well, an arcanist is kind of like a wizard. There are a lot of directions you could go with it. So, really depends on what kind of spell caster they want to be. What do they want to be doing?
Probably the easiest way to determine this is for the player to go ahead and pick out their spells and see if there is any kind of theme. If they are taking lots of blasting type spells then they probably want a blockbuster type wizard. If it's a bunch of battlefield control then a god build is going to fit better.
If the player doesn't mind taking a one level dip I would recommend taking 1 level in sorcerer and then taking the bloodline development exploit; Instead of taking the blood arcanist archetype. You get all the same benefits but instead of giving up 4 exploits and magical supremacy. You delay your casting by one level and give up 1 exploit which is a better deal IMO. It also frees them up to take the school savant archetype which lets them be a full on specialist wizard (including bonus spells) for the cost of 3 exploits.
as for exploits, Quick Study is good and Fiendish Proboscis is better then it should be thanks to it being poorly written.
When it comes to animal companions I would suggest looking at the following feats. Totem Beast and Celestial Servant. There are ways around taking boon companion but are probably not worth pursuing unless you're planning on having more then one animal companion.
Do they have any thoughts for what they want their animal companion to be? Any of the following would be good choices depending on what sort of role the animal companion is filling.
Ankylosaurus, Mokele-Mbembe, Dragonfly, Deinonychus, Stegosaurus, Warcat, Giant Mantis, Roc, Gulper Plant
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Im confused on what you are asking here. Are you looking for build help? Thematic Spell selecection? Exploit selection? Animal companion and feat selection?
If they wish to focus on their animal companion and themselves easily, then i suggest the playstyle of battlefield control, funneling them to your animal companion to tank/easily get full attacks.
Build help. I've never made a core full caster and don't know anything other than Improved Initiative, crafting feats, and metamagic. The player doesn't know what they want at the moment but did enjoy aiding the team in non-damaging ways in the last campaign. I'd assume mainly battlefield control with some support buffs. The buffs won't be as important as we already have a Cleric, but anything they don't get like Haste, Mage Armor, and Enlarge Person.
Animal Companion choice doesn't matter, the player doesn't care at all what it is, but has made a wrong(?) assumption about the campaign and the lack of dragons, therefore lack of dinosaurs.
When I've made a Sylvan blooded Sorcerer in the past (Was going Sorcerer/Druid/Mystic Theurge), I focused on a small cat companion that served as a flanking assistant to the groups main melee character and sought to trip whenever possible.
Tips for this kind of cat:
Get INT to 3+, ASAP. There is a human alternate racial trait called 'Eye for Talent" that gives a free +2 to one stat.
Get the cat to take Dirty Fighting as their first feat, and that will set you up for access to improved trip, greater trip, etc. Perhaps you can also turn the cat into a grappler if you ever decide to get a larger cat. Prone and Grapple set up some serious penalties.
Make use of any personal spells to enhance the cat's defensive abilities (mirror image is GREAT, as is blur). Evolved Companion can net you the Sticky evolution (if allowed to pick from the normal list of evolutions, rather than the unchained) for a +4 to grapple/maintain checks.