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I am looking at the text of Slayer's studied ally talent and it seems to me this talent takes your swift or move action to increase the chance of succeeding at the aid another action for attack, ac, and skill checks. It mentions scaling like studied target but the bonus it provides is to the check not to the +2 provided by succeeding at the check. If I am not being clear, it seems like the only effect RAW is to make a DC 10 skill check or an attack against AC 10 easier while making the action economy of that action worse. That can't be RAI right?
Yah seems absolutely terrible. The only benefit I can see is gaining the Slayer bonus, which caps at +4, to a skill you don't really have a lot of ranks in. It is from an Advanced Class splat book so expectations shouldn't be set too high.
Studied Ally lets you take a Move Action to gain a bonus on Aid Another checks made to assist an Ally; this bonus is equal to your Studied Target bonus.
At 7th Level, you may choose to activate Studied Ally as either a Move or Swift Action.
Since they are "Studied", maintaining a Studied Ally is a Free Action, and a Studied Ally counts against your total number of Studied Targets.
So, if you need to Aid Another in either Attack or Skill Checks, you take a Move Action or Swift Action once, and simply maintain that Studied Target as you normally would vs an enemy.
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Basically, at level 2, to Aid Another on Attack, you get a +2 from BAB, and a +1 from Studied Ally, for a total of +3.
At level 5, you get a +5 from BAB and +2 from Studied Ally, and a +2 against the enemy via Studied Target, for +9.
From level 6 onward, you can't fail at Aid Another checks for either Attack or Skill Checks unless you are suffering penalties.
Needless to say, at level 20, there's next to no way you can fail at Aid Another for Attack or Skill Checks, since Aid Another is +20 BAB, +5 Studied Ally, +5 Studied Target, so a total +30 to Aid.
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It's not "useless" by any stretch, but it's usefulness wears out pretty quickly once you've advanced even a few levels.
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I would say your estimation of 8th level is a bit generous considering the AC and attack portion are assuming this character has no bonus in their melee attacking statistic. If you have even a 16 and a masterwork weapon you reduce this time by four levels. It is not uncommon for a second level PC to have an 18, weapon focus and a masterwork weapon so this potential slayer at 2nd level using the aid another action could automatically succeed other than rolling a 1 which is always a failure. (+4 Ability Modifier, +2 Base Attack, +1 MW, +1 WF for a total of 8)
Since they are "Studied", maintaining a Studied Ally is a Free Action, and a Studied Ally counts against your total number of Studied Targets.
It does not say you can maintain as a free action nor does it say that it otherwise functions as studied target. It does say "A slayer's studied ally counts against the number of studied targets he can have active at once.". This is a reasonable inference, but is an inference.
RAW this doesn't exactly work, but makes it decently good if you plan on using Aid Another for a few turns in a row.
I would say your estimation of 8th level is a bit generous considering the AC and attack portion are assuming this character has no bonus in their melee attacking statistic. If you have even a 16 and a masterwork weapon you reduce this time by four levels. It is not uncommon for a second level PC to have an 18, weapon focus and a masterwork weapon so this potential slayer at 2nd level using the aid another action could automatically succeed other than rolling a 1 which is always a failure. (+4 Ability Modifier, +2 Base Attack, +1 MW, +1 WF for a total of 8)
I did edit it a while ago to be level 6, since I realized how easy it would be to apply Studied Ally to your friend and Studied Target to the enemy, thus granting a total of +4 on top of your +6.
But, yeah, this is assuming that, for whatever reason, your character has 10 Strength, no Weapon Finesse, no Weapon Focus, and a crappy non-masterwork weapon.
Oh, and isn't flanking, either.
Still, it's not that it does "nothing," it's just basically obsolete upon obtainment.
You're probably better off simply taking a Ranger's Style instead.