I'm trying to build a ranged hunter (plant master) with a sniping cactus companion. However, running into several problems:
1) cactus has Int 1, therefore, he can't get Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, etc. Yes, I could burn a feat from my hunter to add 2 to his Int but I'm saving both feats (she's a human) for PBS and Precise Shot for the hunter so she can fire into melee from level 1.
2) I don't see a lot of synergy with shared teamwork feats for ranged attacks. Everything expects your companion to be in melee.
Additional challenge, I'm trying to add one level of Zen Archer monk for the ranged flurry and WIS to AC at 2nd level as I'd prefer not to wear armor. However, both Hunter and Monk have BAB 0 at level one so can't even take Weapon Focus at level 2. I could put off Monk until level 3 but prefer to get it earlier to ditch the armor.
Ranged combat takes a lot of feats. Am I going to be feat-starved at higher levels playing a hunter instead of a ranger?
I've already played a standard Ranger with a cat (ranged and melee) and a standard Hunter with a wolverine (melee and melee), so looking to do the remaining option of ranged and ranged but just doesn't seem to be possible.
Playing Plant Master just because a plant companion is different than the same large cat companion you see over and over again. BTW, prefer this to be PFS legal, if possible.
Instead of hunter you could go Ranger (or a different Hunter archetype) for the feats but take the Curious Companion feat (PFS legal) to give you a plant companion instead of the typical ranger companions. The alternate racial trait Eye for Talent which replaces your human bonus feat is the only way I can think of to boost your pets INT at low levels without a magic item. Also Hunters can get Precise shot at second level with the Precise Companion class feature so taking it at first level would be redundant.
Another option could be to take the Courtly Hunter archetype which gives you a pet with the INT of a familiar. They become Magical Beasts so to some degree bypass some of the inherent restrictions of the animal type. An Ape or better yet a chimpanzee companion could use a bow so u wouldn’t need to go with the sniper cactus. Unfortunately Courtly Hunter trades out teamwork feats and most other combat related Hunter abilities so u will feel a bit of a feat starvation. Dipping 4 levels into ranger or fighter and taking the Boon Companion feat to keep your pets levels up is one way to make up some of the feat problems. I did this in PFS once but went with a melee pet build focused on Improvised weapons for my pet while I went with a ranged build for my character. Worked out ok. You could do something similar by taking throw anything for your pet instead of catch off-guard. Using a thrown weapon build would work well with the Ape to benefit from its high strength and the ape has a decent dex as well. If u don’t go with throw anything u will need to take a weapon proficiency feat for ur pet of course.
I went with an improvised weapon build because PFS won’t let ur pet use manufactured weapons. This bypassed that issue.
Thanks Trokarr. I will look into Ranger with Curious Companion feat as I really want the flavor of a plant companion. However, the more I research this, the more I think having a ranged companion is a no-go if I want them to do more than 1d8 in battle.
The sniper cactus isn’t going to be able to do too much damage without any bonus damage from strength or dex and with a max BAB of 12 deadly aim won’t get you too much extra damage either.
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hunter (possibly courtly hunter) with a devil monkey companion.
you can just use its level up ability score at 4th to raise int to 3
devil monkey has the rock throwing ability.
its extra hilarious because you can shrink it to tiny (if courtly hunter), but it STILL has a good str to chuck pebbles for a decent amount of damage
I'm making a similar build. I would suggest waiting to take Monk until after at least 2 levels of Hunter. Precise Shot is super important to a ranged build and Hunters get that as a bonus at level 2. You CAN take it at level one with the human bonus feat, but most people don't stay at level one for very long so you can take Rapid Shot or something instead. You can afford to wait until character level 3 for the monk's wis to AC. If you do go with Ranger, I'd still wait until level 3 for monk to grab a combat style feat. Though in that case you can take Point-Blank Shot and Precise Shot at level one and grab Rapid Shot as your bonus feat.
Now if you really want to do a plant companion with a ranged attack, you're going to have to bite the bullet and wait on those feats until you can buy an ioun stone for an Int boost. Another problem would be the fact that the ranged thorn attack from the cactus is going to be a secondary attack. Which means it's going to be taking -5 on the attack roll. It does go up to 2d6 damage at level 4, which can be increased to 2d8 with Improved Natural Attack. But again, that little cactus is taking a lot of penalties on ranged attacks so........ you basically have 4 options. Take the cactus and the penalties because Courtly Hunter doesn't stack with Plant Master. Take Courtly Hunter and a non-plant companion that can do some kind of ranged attack. Take Courtly Hunter and the Curious Companion feat to grab the cactus so it can take the feats quicker. Or go with a melee plant.
The Sapling Treant pet found with Treesinger Druid archetype is a valid choice for Plant Master. It has a mostly humanoid form and high strength and should be able to throw stuff. The improvised weapon build I suggested earlier for ape will work with the Sapling Treant but you will need to burn a feat to get it if ur going Courtly Hunter. It has INT 2 so could be boosted to 3 at 4th level. Unfortunately it has a garbage DEX so you could hit hard but not very often.
Thanks Heather 540 and Trokarr. Some things to think about. I will probably switch to a melee plant instead. One question for Heather 540, why is the cactus' thorn attack a secondary? Why wouldn't it be primary?
Because it would be under "Other" in terms of a natural weapon, which are secondary attacks. If it was the only attack, it would be considered primary, but that's not the case for the cactus. It has the gore attack. Both are made with the thorns, but are considered different weapons for being primary or secondary since they're being used differently.
If u do go with a melee plant the Sapling Treant is a decent choice especially if u go with a Sunder build as it deals double damage vs objects. The crawling vine from Treesinger and the flytrap are also solid choices.