David knott 242 |
Actually, you should look over the archetype to determine the earliest level at which the archetype has any effect at all. Without retraining, you can select an archetype at any point up to the time you reach that level. Thus, if an archetype does not modify or replace anything that your base class grants at 1st or 2nd level, you really do not have to commit yourself to the archetype until 3rd level.
In the case of the Mad Dog, you are just slightly too late unless your DM is in a good mood. The first core class feature lost is your 2nd level rage power. If you have played at 2nd level, you have presumably selected and started using a rage power, so technically retraining (or bribing your DM) would be required to replace it with an animal companion.