I'm playing a ranger in a campaign and I'd like to be able to do well in melee and ranged, while utilizing my animal companion.
My preference for an animal would be a roc, using reduce animal or some sort of polymorph on it to get it into dungeons. Under this scenario I have air superiority outdoors for ranged combat and hopefully a decent melee partner in dungeons.
My character thus far:
Human Ranger 3
Str 18
Dex 18 (16+2 Racial)
Con 14
Int 12
Wis 14
Cha 12
Feats
(H)Quick Draw
(1)Power Attack
(2)Rapid Shot
(3)?
Now that I've said all of this, would I be able to get a significant boost in combat ability by investing in a few teamwork feats? Maybe combat reflexes with paired opportunists and/or outflank? Is there something better I can do with those feat slots (teamwork or otherwise) that would be better for me?
Just a note, your animal companion won't be able to get any teamwork feats until you are level 7 unless you either take Eye for Talent Racial Trait or you take Boon Companion at level 5.
Greetings, fellow travellers.
Outflank would mean lvl 9 for you (due to BAB +4 needed). Paired opportunist I don't see, why it shouldn't work befor lvl 7.
Although the AC should pick the feats from the list presented and every other feat needs GM approval, I wouldn't deny this feat to the player - the teamwork feats fit fluff-wise really well to ranger+AC. I'd suggest talk to your GM.
I plan to do exactly that with my ranger.
Reducing your roc for any amount of time that makes dungeon crawl feasible would mean you've to have WIS 16 and be lvl 10 or WIS<16 and be lvl 11 - that's when reduce animal becomes available (or you've a druid in your group who prepares the spell for you).
The roc has a speed of 20ft when not flying and couldn't use his talon attacks while hopping around - I don't see that as the way to go. *shrugs*
Ruyan.
The teamwork feats are a solid way to go. You will have to take Boon companion to get the guy up to a level where he can take the feats. I strongly recommend against the Roc and go with something that has a trip attack like the wolf. That way you can take combat reflexes and take advantage of his trips. Outflank and paired opportunist would be the two techniques to have your eye towards. The whole Roc/ shape change deal is too much and two cumbersome. Switch hitting comes highly recomended on the boards and I have been looking at it alot for my next character as well, but the thing to remember is, the bow is just a little of what you can do. Dont over invest in it, its mostly just for use those two or three rounds until the enemy is close enough for melee. Other than your feats from combat style like rapid shot, the only feat you probably will take is deadly aim, and devoting a large portion of what your companion can do to the ranged style is really going way to far.
I had planned on taking boon companion at level 7 since that's when a lot of the ranger's animals change size anyway.
You guys may be right about trying to do too much with an animal companion. I'd like to find some clever way to have a flying mount outside and a flanking partner in dungeons, but it would take too many resources.
As for the stats, it was a funny thing. I tried to get the DM to let me do a 20 point buy because I didn't want to leave it up to the dice and that's what the rolling method would have averaged out to. He wouldn't let me for reasons I forget and I wound up rolling those stats.
Is your DM houseruling that you're allowed a roc companion as a ranger? The class description says you can choose a badger, bird (Eagle/Hawk/Owl), camel, cat (small), dire rat, dog, horse, pony, shark, snake (viper or constrictor), or wolf.
I don't see Eagle/Hawk/Owl in parenthesis. It could just be a very generous interpretation of "bird."
"Bird (Eagle/Hawk/Owl)" is what is referred to. So nope, no roc.
Animal Companions lists bird as that.
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I think you need to be at level 10 before your animal companion can take Outflank anyways since you are a ranger, not a druid, so it's your ranger level -3 to determine the level of the companion.
There's a ranger archetype that ignores this, but the class feature doesn't kick in until level 7 as I recall.
If you're going to use Teamwork feats for you and your companion, you're not going to be much of a switch hitter. Most of those feats are melee.
"Bird (Eagle/Hawk/Owl)" is what is referred to. So nope, no roc.
Animal Companions lists bird as that.
So, I'm going to admit that I have never looked at the Druid at all. When I suggested a generous interpretation of "bird" I was going by the list under the ranger feature, which, in fact, does not have "eagle/hawk/owl" mentioned in it. And you know, honestly, I would never have thought that the animal companions would be different than like animals in the beastiary. Like, if I made a Ranger, I would honestly never think to look at the Druid list, I would have just looked for, say a wolf in the beastiary. Good to know.
Also, damn! Animal companions are so much better than they were in 3.5.
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"Bird (Eagle/Hawk/Owl)" is what is referred to. So nope, no roc.
Animal Companions lists bird as that.
So, I'm going to admit that I have never looked at the Druid at all. When I suggested a generous interpretation of "bird" I was going by the list under the ranger feature, which, in fact, does not have "eagle/hawk/owl" mentioned in it. And you know, honestly, I would never have thought that the animal companions would be different than like animals in the beastiary. Like, if I made a Ranger, I would honestly never think to look at the Druid list, I would have just looked for, say a wolf in the beastiary. Good to know.
Also, damn! Animal companions are so much better than they were in 3.5.
I never played rangers or druids in 3.5, so I don't know exactly if they are better or not, but shared spells class feature got nerfed hard, so relatively speaking, companions got nerfed overall. The ability to cast on your familiar and on yourself with 1 action was huge in 3.5, and now that's gone. Now it's you can cast a spell of Personal on your familiar/companion instead of both of you getting simultaneously.
Suggestion: Ranger (Beastmaster)
Put a INT item on the pet. That open up all the feat you want for 4K.
If you are melee: Teamwork Outflank, Teamwork Presise Strike, Combat Reflexs, Teamwork Seize the Moment.
If you are range: Hover, Endurence, Die Hard, Dodge, Mobilty, Spring Attack, Teamwork Duck and Cover, Teamwork Lookout, Stealth Synergy, Team work Enfilading Fire.
Is your DM houseruling that you're allowed a roc companion as a ranger? The class description says you can choose a badger, bird (Eagle/Hawk/Owl), camel, cat (small), dire rat, dog, horse, pony, shark, snake (viper or constrictor), or wolf.
The listing for roc animal companions says druids or rangers, so we're taking that as a specific expansion of the ranger animal companion list.
"Rocs taken as animal companions by druids or rangers are typically newly hatched birds..."
Outflank would be 10 for a ranger without boon companion, but I had planned on taking it, so I would be looking at level 7 for outflank.
If you're going to use Teamwork feats for you and your companion, you're not going to be much of a switch hitter. Most of those feats are melee.
I already get enough archery feats to be able to put the hurt on enemies while mounted on the roc, so the only feats I need to pick should be melee feats. Now, whether I would be better served in melee combat by picking other feats is one of the main questions I had posting this thread.
Now, another question that I didn't ask before. Once the roc is large and gets a grapple as a free action with every talon attack, would a successful grapple that moves the target adjacent to the roc allow an opportunity attack when said enemy is moved toward the roc and away from my ranger? Would my favored enemy bonus be enough for the roc to reliably pull this off? If not, the teamwork feats probably won't be worth it due to the lack of opportunity attacks.