Ok, I'm venturing into PFS for the first time this weekend and wanted to pick some brains on my character build. I've got a few questions but I don't want to inundate people with a Wall of Text, so I'll spoiler a lot of it.
What I know is that I'm playing an Oni-Spawn Tiefling Urban Ranger with Natural Weapon as my combat style.
Stats are as follows (racial bonuses in parentheses):
Str - 18 (16+2)
Dex - 14
Con - 14
Int - 10
Wis - 14 (12+2)
Cha - 6 (8-2)
I've taken mostly alternate racial abilities since I have no desire to do anything with sorcery. Took Maw (1d6 bite attack) instead of the SLA (Alter Self), Scaled Skin (+1 Nat. Armor) instead of Resistances, Fiendish Sprinter (+10' on run/charge/withdraw) instead of Skilled (+2 to Disguise & Intimidate), and Prehensile Tail instead of Sorcery (which would be useless for me).
So, my questions are as follows:
What are good mid-level feats (I haven't played a ton of melee-oriented characters, so I'm not familiar with the actual utility of some of this stuff)?
I'm considering a dip into Barbarian, so when and how many levels?
Hunter's Bond v. Animal Companion
I'm going Urban Ranger right now, but I'm not married to that idea if something else fits the flavor. First Favored Enemy is Human.
FEATS
But I'm not entirely sure how I want to go, so I'm hoping for some thoughts on what else I can do. Things I'm considering: Step Up and the related feats; Improved/Greater Drag/Bull Rush; Intimidating Prowess (if I do, I'll drop the Sprinter Feature and keep the bonus to Intimidate).
I don't think Rend would make much sense (it's only 1d6) unless there's feats down the road that build on it that make it worthwhile. I've thought about Vital Strike if I do Imp. Natural Attack on Bite at 6th level. But meh. Is the Fiendish Sight stuff worth much?
I'm pretty sure I want to take Lunge when that's available, but other than that I'm not really sure. So really I'm looking for some potential build ideas that work with the flavor I've got going.
BARBARIAN DIP
I also have to admit I'm not particularly well-versed in Barbarian, so if there are other good thematic rage powers or archetypes that would work, I'm all ears.
I don't want to go with the Wild Stalker Ranger archetype. I do know that.
ANIMAL COMPANION
I suppose my question is would I rather have an Animal Companion and Handle Animal as a class skill (action economy is great, but it's the Ranger version not Druid, so it's underpowered) or the other Hunter's Bond and UMD? With a bad charisma, I can't see either of these being particularly useful without being a class skill. So Animal Companion or UMD?
So that's it. I appreciate any feedback on this. Really I guess I'm asking how you might design this character if you were playing it (based on the flavor I'm going for here). Any quality feats I'm ignoring? Any archetypes I should check out? All that stuff.
I would not go for scent if you take levels in barbarian. It only comes up while raging, and that has rather limited rounds. Sure, it might help if you are facing something invisible, but so would a dog which wouldn't be restricted by rounds per day. Let it attack the invisble opponent and you just follow its lead.
That brings us to another important issue: hunter's bond. Well, power wise, they can be good once you get boon companion to cover up the difference in your effective druid level. Some good choices include small cats (leopards, cheetahs) and wolves since both can trip opponents, which hampers their action economy. Wolves in particular get to large size immediately after taking boon companion, which allows them to trip bigger enemies....and you can ride it. The single bite on the wolf can be somewhat nice since it gets 1.5 STR on its natural attack (which gets a lot larger once it turns large; higher than your with a 21) and it can do well with only a standard attack.
Horses are also surprisingly good way to go. They have good strength, three natural attacks, and they even get a scent that is apparently as good as a bloodhounds(yeah...no distinctions made...) Also, they are a wee bit easier to take through town than a giant wolf.
I do have one question though: why urban ranger? I am fairly certain you can't benefit much from its favored community feature (which is the basis of almost everything else it does) Was it for trapfinding? Well, I do have a question myself: how does PFS handle the training of animals with handle animal when you are between adventures? I know that there is the whole "indeterminate amount of time" thing, and the check only needs a week per try to train your animal. Even with only two months, that gives you 8 tries. Could you 'take 20' with that? I know handle animal doesn't normally do so, but this situation does fit under "you have plenty of time, you are faced with no threats or distractions, and the skill being attempted carries no penalties for failure" definition of take 20.
Arcane Strike is an option.
Didn't think of that. I'd have to do that with the SLA though, right? If I did that I'd have to drop the bite attack. Is there some other way for me to qualify?
A level in an arcane casting class? Although your stats are hardly suited, you could benefit from some cantrips with your INT score at least. Detect magic, message, and maybe ghost sound or mage hand can be valuable resources when you can use them all day pretty much at will.
Plus, you could get a familiar if you took wizard or witch. That means you can get all the little animals. You can still keep your animal companion competitive since boon companion can cover up to 4 level difference between your character level and your effective druid level, and a ranger's effective druid level is his level -3. Room for a 1 level dip. It might do you more good damage wise than a level in barbarian since is a comparison between +2 damage a few rounds a day or +2 damage all day for only a swift action.
Take wizard at 3rd or 4th level, and then you can take boon companion immediately at 5th level right when you get hunter's bond and not have to ever deal with a weak animal companion. Does this seem to work out well? Plus, you could put your 4th level ability score increase into INT so you could actually cast a first level spell. It would actually do you more good than putting it into other scores since they are all even numbers, and thus would not really change.
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Arcane Strike is an option.Didn't think of that. I'd have to do that with the SLA though, right? If I did that I'd have to drop the bite attack. Is there some other way for me to qualify?
Adopted Trait to take the Firebug Kobold Trait. You get spark as a SLA with your character level as the caster level.
EDIT: That won't work in PFS yet, as Adopted is from UC and Firebug from Kobolds of Golarion.
Didn't even think of Boon Companion. That's a really good idea. That might be a really good option at 5th, regardless of what I do with other classes.
Would Rending Fury, Improved Rending Fury, and Greater Rending Fury be worth the feat tax? I'd have to take Rending Claws, so it'd basically be 4 feats to do an extra 2d6 + 1d6 bleed damage once per round when I hit with a claw attack.
Rending Claws and Rending Fury both require BAB +6, so I'd have to wait until 7, 9, and 11 to get the first three. 7th level would be +1d6 when hitting with both claws. 9th would be +1d6 when hitting with one claw (once per round). 11th would be +2d6 when hitting with one claw (once per round). Greater wouldn't be available until 13th level.
Meh. Wouldn't be able to take Lunge then, either. Probably not worth it, right?
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First things first, as an Oni-spawn Tiefling you have no reason at all to ever go Natural weapon Ranger. You can get everything the combat style gives you for free at first level.
Take Claws instead of maw to give you the 2 1D4 claw attacks then take Adopted (Orc) to get Tusked for the bite attack. There you now have 3 primary natural attacks at first level and can save your feats and class benefits for something else.
I'd recommend taking the archery or mounted combat style instead since you'll spend most of your time on your mount and these two options will let you maximize your full attack actions.
As for animal Companions there really is only one choice, the Wolf. It's fast, hits hard, amazingly simple to use and optimizes cheaply and well. All other choices are usually second best unless you have a theme or don't mind spending twice as much to equip them.
Finally you don't qualify for any of the rending fury line.
No, the rending claws feat doesn't count, it gives you an attack that does damage but it does NOT give you the rend special ability.
@Imbicatus, that won't work period. Adopted will not allow you to take a race trait, period. It will only let you take a racial trait. There is a difference between the two.
If you did decide to take a level in an arcane caster class, witch might actually be the best choice.
Besides the fact that it uses INT, gives a familiar, and has about the same number of spells as a wizard with one level, you can get a hex, which can be a major boon. Now, since this is a dip, most of the nice debuffs that witches are known for will be to weak or short lived to use really. But there are a few keepers in there. It also helps that none of these care whether you are in armor or not.
Now then, I do not have the list of PFS legal material in front of me, so take any suggestions with a grain of salt:
-Feral speech looks like an ideal hex for a single dip for a ranger. It basically gives you the effect of Speak with Animals, with no duration limit (it appears; could be a misprint or semi-implied), and the only negative side effect is that you can only talk to one species at a time and it takes a standard action to switch. This still means that you could send a small familiar or an animal companion out for scouting, and get accurate information. Or heck, just interrogate the local squirrels and bribe them with some nuts.
-Fortune hex looks like a nice ability too, since you basically give your allies 1 free reroll a day, which could be useful.
-Evil eye is also a great choice, and one of the only debuffs you can still really take advantage of. Sure, the debuff only lasts 3 rounds at best, and the target gets a will save against your weak hex Dc, but that only reduces the effect to 2 rounds. Still enough time for another caster to get off a Save or Suck spell.
I do have one question though: why urban ranger? I am fairly certain you can't benefit much from its favored community feature (which is the basis of almost everything else it does) Was it for trapfinding?
Sorry, missed this earlier. Pretty much. Trying to be somewhat more versatile. Disable Device and Trapfinding. Plus, I'm envisioning the character as more of a product of the seedy underbelly of civilization, rather than a defender of the Wilds.
Like I said though, not necessarily married to it. Terrain is definitely more likely to be useful than Community (especially in PFS, I imagine).
Yes, witch would be good - either take the prehensile hair hex (10' reach, secondary natural attack, 1d3 damage, relying on INT for attack and damage bonus) or the white haired witch archetype (5' reach, primary natural attack, attempt to grapple on a hit, 1d4 damage, relying on INT for attack and damage bonus).
No, unfortunately that would not be a very good trade. The prehensile hair hex is minutes per level, so he could only use it once per day.
Both types of hair also face a similar problem: as you said, they rely on INT for damage. Please note that every mention I have of his INT references cantrips. That is because he has 10 in that stat. Raising it would make him even more MAD since he also has wisdom for his ranger spells and survival skills. Overall, those two natural attacks usually do not mix well with other natural attacks since they have such a different priority.
Also, if I remember correctly, the white haired witch does make mention of doing INT to attack, just damage and grappling strength. It seems odd, but that is RAW last time I checked. This is both good and bad, since that means that you could do weapon finesse with it, and that means it could work with a dex natural attack build, but that mostly works with rogues. This is a strength based ranger. While I might suggest taking a bit of an arcane caster class, that was mostly for arcane strike and the benefits of a few cantrips and maybe a hex.