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Any ideas on the best way to start this character? All I can think of are Amateur Gunslinger and Exotic Weap Prof (but I'd have to pick one at first) with the Crossbow Combat style.
Or taking 1 level of Gunslinger (which I'd prefer not to do.)
I saw Trophy Hunter but you lose the Bond.
Any other ideas?
Problem, is without levels in gunslinger or trenchfighter the damage is actually pretty bad. You need a way to add something to damage besides just weapon damage.
Personally I'd do 5 levels of gunslinger (to get dex to damage) and then start taking levels in druid, similar feel, and you get animal companion at level 1 druid, instead of 4. Take the feat boon companion and you'll be in pretty good shape.
Or you could take all levels in gunslinger and take Nature Soul, Animal Ally, and Boon Companions feats. You would then be a gunslinger with all the benefits that entails, and have an animal companion at full level.
This isn't WoW, so the Dwarf Ranger wielding a gun isn't really a thing.
If being a druid doesn't fit with your character concept, try muticlassing into a beastrider cavalier. You can select a wide variety of animals, and you aren't forced to sit on them.
i was gonna make the same suggestion as claxon's 2nd one- those three feats get you a full progression companion (though it is from a shortened list) and you'll be much more effective in combat as a gunslinger, plus they still get 4+ int skills/level and most of the good ranger skills.
Really, the falvor of "ranger" is the animal companion, knowledge(nature), survival, and handle animal. Ride if you want.
Outside of that favored terrain or enemies just doesn't sell "nature guy" to me. It sells obsessive compulsive, but not "nature guy".
You could be a Gunslinger with the Animal Ally feat from the Faiths & Philosophies book.
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You could be a Gunslinger with the Animal Ally feat from the Faiths & Philosophies book.
Add in Boon Companion and this is a solid plan. Gunslingers actually do the 'wandering hunter' thing pretty well as is (especially as a Musket Master) then all you need is the Animal Companion.
The Feat can be found here.
Feat progression something like this:
1: Point Blank Shot
3: Nature Soul
4: Precise Shot
5: Animal Ally
7: Boon Companion
8: Rapid Reload
9: Rapid Shot
You get an Animal Companion a little after a Ranger would, but not much, and are sans spells and Favored Enemy...but those are mostly mechanical not thematic.
Honestly, guns are a bad call mechanically for just about anyone who isn't a Gunslinger, and should be avoided as such.
I was playing around with this a bit last year and went Human Druid (Feral Child Archetype) with the Amateur Gunslinger feat. With the area-of-effect damage of a blunderbuss, the -4 to hit (from not taking EWP: Firearms/Blunderbuss) isn't really as much of an issue.
This is not optimized, but I got my "grouse hunter" concept with his shotgun and bird dog at 1st level.