Ey folks. I've recently been able to step outside of my GM chair and have managed to land myself a spot in a Skulls and Shackles campaign. As I was reading through both the player's guide and Pirates of the Inner Sea, I realized that dinosaurs were actually present in the area, thus leading me to create Cristoph Pratt and Lil' Blue, a human and raptor pair from Ilizmagorti that decided to go to the Shackles in order to throw in their lot with people who weren't as close to the Red Mantis.
But I'm quickly finding that my utter lack of experience of working with animal companions myself is limiting the ideas I have for later builds for my dinosaur friend, and so I have turned to you guys for help. Cristoph has the Eye for Talent alternate racial feature, which I decided to put to use by placing that +2 into Lil' Blue's Intelligence. I also gave Lil' Blue Weapon Finesse to boost up his to hit, and he currently has his skill points in Swim and Stealth. Like I said, I'm mostly looking for ideas for the later stages. Any help would be appreciated!
Bumping up.
Well, as the DM has prevented the party from communicating about their characters with one another, so I'm not 100% certain what roles I may have to cover yet. I looked over the companion archetypes, and none of them in particular stand out to me because the major benefits of the archetypes seems to be the extra feats they allow, which is somewhat of a moot point thanks to the raptor's intelligence.
I mainly want to get as much mileage out of the eventual Pounce that Blue is going to get, and I have never really focused that hard on things like that myself.
|
If you want your pet to be a damage machine, I'd look into a one level dip into a Goliath Druid which will let you cast enlarge person on your raptor which will help his pouncing.
Also don't forget you need at least an 11 to not have to worry about handling your animal companion for any of the the tricks it already knows. A training harness is pretty much essential for any lvl 1 class with an animal companion (and is cheap).
Unless you are sure you can retrain it, I wouldn't go with weapon finesse, since once he hits large size, those two scores would be the same. Additionally, you are likely to be buffing his strength anyway, which will reduce the utility of weapon finesse.
I'd also probably not use eye for talent for Int, although you might throw the first ability score increase there to open up feats. Mechanically there isn't really any difference between an int 3 raptor and an int 4 raptor, so you are 'wasting' a point, while a 2 point bump to STR or CON would be a much more significant advantage.
I don't think there are a whole lot of complex tricks to getting the most out of a raptor. Pounce bite-claw-claw-talon-talon is really all you need. Toughness is a good call for any AC, since their hitpoints are low for their role. Beyond that, you will probably get the most mileage out of basic combat feats like power attack.
Thank you guys for the input. The Goliath Druid would definitely help out Blue's overall damage, but it doesn't entirely fit my concept, and I'm somewhat hesitant to slow down my Inquisitor progression (even by such a small amount). But I really appreciate the reminder about Handle Animal. Guess that's what I get for my first foray into this territory.
Unless you are sure you can retrain it, I wouldn't go with weapon finesse, since once he hits large size, those two scores would be the same. Additionally, you are likely to be buffing his strength anyway, which will reduce the utility of weapon finesse.
Retraining may be possible, but I would like to note that the deinonychus only goes up to Medium and starts off with a 11 Strength and 17 Dexterity. Even if I put in the bonus from Eye for Talent into strength, his Dexterity is going to remain superior until level 7. And even then, without Eye for Talent, they remain equal.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
One interesting thing to note about an Animal Companion is that they naturally stack when multiclassing between classes with access to them; also, the Boon Companion feat allows you to take up to four levels in another class without losing Animal Companion levels. Since the Sacred Huntmaster doesn't get judgements, it's less painful to multiclass a little; with Magical Knack you can avoid losing caster level.
For example, two levels of Scarred Rager Barbarian can get you Reckless Abandon rage cycling at will (Rage with Reckless Abandon when attacking and then turn rage off - fatigue ends when your next turn begins). Or, two levels in some other Barbarian type can get you the Ferocious Beast power, which can be used to make your dinosaur rage(!). Extra Rage is a pretty generous feat, so it's possible to do quite a bit of raging even if you're only Barbarian 2 as long as you're willing to spend some feats. And since you can cast Greater Magic Weapon on yourself, a Furious, Courageous weapon eventually makes you a wrecking ball.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Retraining may be possible, but I would like to note that the deinonychus only goes up to Medium and starts off with a 11 Strength and 17 Dexterity. Even if I put in the bonus from Eye for Talent into strength, his Dexterity is going to remain superior until level 7. And even then, without Eye for Talent, they remain equal.
My mistake on the size, but the point doesn't change. As soon as you hit level seven, which I think happens in book 2 of the adventure path or very early in book 3, the feat is at best wasted.
And even without eye for talent, it seems likely you will be looking at ways to increase its STR for damage if nothing else. With Eye for talent and weapon focus you would be one worse to hit at level one, and +2 to hit at level seven compared to the finesse route.
And since you can cast Greater Magic Weapon on yourself, a Furious, Courageous weapon eventually makes you a wrecking ball.
Actually, Courageous weapons only apply to saves against fear, as specified by this FAQ here. Only reason I know that is because I casually read it a while back. However, the rest of the advice is solid, and Barbarian would be the way to go as far as I'm concerned as it still meshes with my overall concept better than a Goliath Druid would.
With Eye for talent and weapon focus you would be one worse to hit at level one, and +2 to hit at level seven compared to the finesse route.
Your math has won me over, good sir. Weapon Focus it is!
Loads of helpful things
The sheer fun look and effectiveness of options two and three is now forcing me to figure out where to juggle my stats so I can get the 13 intelligence that is now entirely mandatory for my build. Damn you 15 point buy!!!!
Actually, Courageous weapons only apply to saves against fear, as specified by this FAQ here.
Yikes that's a downgrade... well on the upside Furious Weapon crossed with GMW is still an amazingly cheap way to have a +4.
Being able to work in the water and on land is huge.
I know this is not really helpfull but i would go with the spinosaurus companion. You loose pounce but you so much in return(amazing str and swim speed) On a 15 point but versatile human is great and since you have skills enough. But even with eye for talent stats like str 15(+2), dex 12, con 12, int 13, wis 14 and cha 7, Is good. If you take conversion inquisition you Can even be party face.
In a low point buy the AC Can be the strongest melee guy in the group.
I know this is not really helpfull but i would go with the spinosaurus companion. You loose pounce but you so much in return(amazing str and swim speed) On a 15 point but versatile human is great and since you have skills enough. But even with eye for talent stats like str 15(+2), dex 12, con 12, int 13, wis 14 and cha 7, Is good. If you take conversion inquisition you Can even be party face.
In a low point buy the AC Can be the strongest melee guy in the group.
so true