Archer with a pet

[born_of_fire]

For PFS, I want to make an archery focused character with a pet but I'm having a hard time deciding between a Sacred Huntmaster Inquisitor and a straight up Hunter. It looks like the Hunter pet might end up more bad ass than the Inquisitor's pet will be. OTOH, the Inquisitor looks like it will end up being a better archer in the long run, much more combat capable. It's a tough call so I'm curious what you guys think.

Any helpful thoughts?

[Claxon]

Ranger.

For an archer, having a mount you can ride (to enable you to move and full attack) is incredibly good. And, they can still help to defend you and deal decent damage. Rangers also get much earlier and better access to all the needed archery feats. Also, boon companion will get you full level animal companion.

Also, Sacred Huntmaster doesn't get access to any bonus feats for archery, and gets teamwork feats with its AC (which aren't any good for archery for the most part). It's too focused on the animal companion, especially since you have to give up judgements and stuff.

[Chess Pwn]

biggest differences I see are, inquisitors get bane, different spell lists, hunters get a free feat, hunters will get two animal focus and raise animal companion.

so hunter's get a focus advantage till level 4. then inquisitors have bane till 8 then hunter's get two focus while inquisitors still have bane. then hunters get raise animal companion. So the biggest thing I can see is their different spell lists.

[Under A Bleeding Sun]

Claxon wrote:

Ranger.

For an archer, having a mount you can ride (to enable you to move and full attack) is incredibly good. And, they can still help to defend you and deal decent damage. Rangers also get much earlier and better access to all the needed archery feats. Also, boon companion will get you full level animal companion.

Also, Sacred Huntmaster doesn't get access to any bonus feats for archery, and gets teamwork feats with its AC (which aren't any good for archery for the most part). It's too focused on the animal companion, especially since you have to give up judgements and stuff.

I have to agree. Especially for PFS waiting until 11th to get improved precise shot seems awful.

You could also go Zen Archer monk with Nature's Soul - Animal Ally. You have more than enough feats in your class for free to burn a few.

[born_of_fire]

Ranger is not on the table as I am playing exactly that in my home game right now and want to change things up a bit. As well, I do not plan on riding the pet; it is to provide interference for me and my blockbuster wizard partner (husband's character). The pet will keep the mob over there while we blast the crap out of it, that sort of thing. I'm probably going to go with an elephant for flavour reasons even though there are slightly better options out there.

I will look into a ZAM with Nature's Soul. I had not considered it because I did not know such a thing was possible. Thanks!

[Renegadeshepherd]

Have you considered a cleric at all? I ask this because he has significant advantages or potential advantages over both of the choices you mentioned. If you want o e o the two you mentioned I'd take inquisitor. Never tried the version you mentioned but even a vanilla inquisitor does very well in this department.

[born_of_fire]

Hmmm, I don't really want to wait until 4th to get my pet and there is no elephant on the list of pets for Animal Ally. ZAM is attractive to me though, they have lots of goodies. Is there a way to finagle an elephant pet onto a ZAM starting at level 1 by chance? PFS legal, of course.

[Black Feather]

There are two ways to get an elephant pet as a ZAM, but neither one lets you do it at 1.
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Half-Orc feat progression:

1) Nature Soul
3) Deadly Aim
5) Animal Ally
7) Beast Rider

You now have a choice of Elephant, Triceratops, Pteranodon, etc at your character level -1. You can do it this way with another type of character as well, but it'll have to be something that gives you enough feats to do your job well...
_____

XXX feat progression

1) Nature Soul
3) Deadly Aim
5) Animal Ally
7, 9, 11) Boon Companion, Clustered Shots, etc.

You go into the Mammoth Rider PrC -- you get your choice of a limited number of animals including an elephant or mammoth, and it's also Huge. This has the advantage in PFS that you can do it with any race you like, and the disadvantage that you've taken at least one level that's not ZAM and a boatload of non-class skill points until you've taken the PrC and a pet that won't fit a lot of places...

[born_of_fire]

I fear that the levels I am waiting through to get the pet are the worst levels to not have the pet. The first few levels are when me and, particularly, my wizard partner will be the most fragile and therefore require the most protection/interference. By the time I get a pet at 5th, the wizard will be coming online in his own right. It also occurs to that a ZAM doesn't bring much to the table in terms of healing and I much prefer to ensure that one of our characters can heal. I do appreciate the response though, Black Feather.

I've got the Sacred Huntmaster built already. I will put a Hunter together and perhaps a Cleric as suggested by Renegadeshepherd, then post them for constructive criticism. Thanks again guys!

[Renegadeshepherd]

thought I would take a moment to offer possibilities that are open to you as a cleric and some that are open to inquisitors ive used in the past. some of these are mutually exclusive to each other and some cater to more specific playstyles than others but since im unsure of your desire ill just put em here.

the one attribute build: clerics can have two domains and thus can have both animal domain for your pet and take conversion inquisition AND infiltrator archetype for inquisitor gets the same without needing to use the inquisition. This allows you to be a mouth if you should ever desire that. Your primary focus of archery is also very much transferable to wisdom. If willing to take on the burden of channel smite/guided hand feats you will replace your dex with your wisdom. Though this is workable and good it will almost totally commit you to archery and that is all as it relates to feats. Human is definitely best for this concept

Deities: check this website for all the possibilities that have animal domain... http://pathfinderwiki.com/wiki

but here is the main point, there are TONS of options that allow an animal domain about half a dozen that have longbow as a favored weapon. Empyreal Lords have at least 3 in this combination. There are several good choices that allows for a lot of preference or personalization. one stood out above all others, Neith. This deity has war/tactics and animal/feather domains. With this combination you can get your animal and use wars "weapon master" ability to assist you in your feat starvation. My best recommendation for you despite the favored weapon being a shortbow.

General: 1)don't forget feats like boon companion If you take the animal domain with vanilla inquisitor or cleric. 2)"eye for talent" human alternate racial trait can be used if you think a +2 to attribute is worth the feat.

Channeling: your more or less stuck as positive channeling, thus healing. I wouldn't put much into charisma for you to get the out of battle healing it gives but don't dump it unless you with conversion inquisition.

Playstyle: I got no advice for you on this except to say one thing, figure out what you are going to do beyond shoot arrows. might seem ridiculous but you have enough abilities to do more than shoot. Rangers and inquisitors have skills, clerics have full spell list, all of em can help their allies in various ways, clerics have support, etc etc. in this you must decide a secondary role.

Finally, Race:

1) human is best for single attribute builds
2) half-orc is very strong for all your options, even ranger, but cleric is better for him because of war/tactics combination with his favored class bonus.
3) dwarf shines as inquisitor. arguably the best of all for that route because of favored class bonus.
4) elves/half elves: NEVER disregard these guys if you are half interested in cleric. They get or can get proficiency with any bow with minimal sacrifice, thus allowing more build options. For example, if you find a deity you like that has animal domain but not any bow as a favored weapon, your problem is solved without multiclass or other unpleasantness.

hope something in there helps. I know I ended up talking about cleric more than anything else and sorry for that.

[Jeff W]

Another Option: Human Cleric of Erastil with Feather Domain+Boon Companion, Guided Hand Feat if you want something more caster-focused.