I've been mulling over this build for days now, and I think I've finally got it pretty solid. However, I would like to see if there's anything I could do to streamline it a little more. Note: I realize that because I'm providing my familiar with a weapon, this isn't a PFS compliant build; I'm fine with this, since it's something I'd likely use for a more casual game. The intent was to have him and the familiar be charge buddies who hide away in the brush before suddenly dashing in to overwhelm the enemy. It went through a few phases, from a natural attack focus to a witch level dip, finally developing into this.
Str 17 (-4, mod 1)
Dex 17 (+2, mod 4)
Con 15 (-2, mod 2)
Int 13 (mod 1)
Wis 12 (mod 1)
Cha 8 (mod -1)
Gliding Wings
Armor
Darkvision
Light Sensitivity
Trait: Enduring Mutagen [Magic]
Trait: Adopted [Social] (Hot Headed [Racial])
Trait: Highlander [Region]
Drawback: Nervous
While I could keep the crafty racial feature and have stealth be a class skill that way, I kind of prefer gliding wings. The original intent was to use it to allow him the powerful wings feat without taking the draconic aspect line of feats, Other than that I keep the defaults. One of the biggest problems with this build was that it would not work without at least 17 strength, or else I wouldn't be able to pick up dragon style, and while its benefits could be replaced with magic items, I'd rather go for something I can guarantee myself.
Regarding the traits, enduring mutagen means more time affected by mutagen (and less need to refresh it), hot headed increases damage while charging, and highlander returns stealth to him as a class skill while providing a bonus to it.
--1st--
Fighter (Eldritch Guardian/Mutation Warrior) 1
BAB: +1
F/R/W: +2/+0/+0
Familiar: Wallaby (Mauler)
Feat: Weapon Finesse
I kinda have to take weapon finesse for him. He's a kobold, and kobolds' strength is garbage. Thankfully I don't need to apply it if I don't want to, and the same extends to my wallaby, who will be utilizing her battle form when she gets access to it to be more of a strength-based combatant, which works well with her mauler archetype. I have her skill focus (acrobatics) feat retraining as stealthy to beef up her stealth a little; I could go with skill focus instead, but meh, it's only a one or two point difference.
--2nd--
Fighter 2
BAB: +2
F/R/W: +3/+0/+0
Share Training
Steel Will 1
Share training is at the core of this build; since familiars cannot take feats outside of retraining, my wallaby is going to rely on being able to use my kobold's. Steel will is alright... not the best thing ever, but it's literally bravery with the added benefit of working on mind-affecting effects.
--3rd--
Fighter 3
BAB: +3
F/R/W: +3/+1/+1
Mutagen
Feat: Tail Terror
Here's where we gain our ability to use weapons and mutagen. I could easily swap between strength mutagen for better damage or dexterity mutagen for better accuracy; either is a viable choice. Tail terror grants the kobold and his familiar the ability to perform tail swipes, but more importantly, grants them access to tail attachments. Nearly any weapon can be deadly in a fighter's hands (or on his tail as the case may be) and tail attachments are no exception. I'm shooting for razored tails for the both of them.
--4th--
Fighter 4
Ability Score Bonus: Str
BAB: +4
F/R/W: +4/+1/+1
Bonus Feat: Kobold Ambusher
Unfortunately I need to waste some of my ability score increases on strength to meet dragon style's prerequisite. However, kobold ambusher is wonderful, letting us halve the stealth check to stay hidden while charging, and is the feat that gave me this idea to begin with.
--5th--
Fighter 5
BAB: +5
F/R/W: +4/+1/+1
Weapon Training: Kobold Tail Attachment
Feat: Filthy Weapons
What's nice about kobold tail attachments is that they are counted as their own weapon group, and since I'm focusing on them, I pretty much only need weapon training for them. Filthy weapons is something that's more of a neat bonus than anything else; with it I could dirty up the blades at the start of a day for a chance to inflict filth fever, possibly even causing it to have a 1-round onset on a critical (which is what lead me to want to focus on crits later on).
--6th--
Fighter 6
BAB: +6/+1
F/R/W: +5/+2/+2
Steel Will 2
Bonus Feat: Improved Unarmed Strike
IUS is purely feat tax. I did entertain the idea that the wallaby's kick could count as an unarmed strike, but I'd err on it not.
--7th--
Fighter 7
BAB: +7/+2
F/R/W: +5/+2/+2
Mutagen Discovery: Wings
Feat: Evolved Familiar (Pounce)
Originally, when this was going to be a natural attack build, I'd planned to use feral mutagen, but there's really not much reason to when my kobold will only be using them with a full attack action. Adding a pounce to my wallaby will let her use that tail for a full attack when she charges (although I'd need to bank on her being considered quadrupedal; otherwise I'd need to pick a goat or pig instead, which is fine).
--8th--
Fighter 8
Ability Score Bonus: Str
BAB: +8/+3
F/R/W: +6/+2/+2
Bonus Feat: Dragon Style
Finally, with the kobold's strength score being increased to 15, he's able to use dragon style, ignoring difficult terrain and allies in his path when charging as well as getting a tidy buff to saves against sleep, paralysis, and stuns. I'd originally considered charging stag style, but trading the ability to use the familiar's pounce as well as having to take an extra two tax feats just to be able to turn mid-charge seems a steep cost if I'm not just going fully into the style.
--9th--
Fighter 9
BAB: +9/+4
F/R/W: +6/+3/+3
Weapon Training: Fighter's Tactics
Feat: Distracting Charge
The fighter's tactics advanced weapon training is going to make for some very interesting synergies coming up. At this point I need some teamwork feats, but unlike IUS before, I can hardly call distracting charge a feat tax. Any ally could charge at an enemy, and if I go in for an attack, it'll have an improved attack roll. Since the familiar gains use of the kobold's combat feats, she can trigger this for herself when the kobold charges in and vice versa.
--10th--
Fighter 10
BAB: +10/+5
F/R/W: +7/+3/+3
Steel Will 3
Bonus Feat: Precise Strike
Where the previous feat added attack rolls, this one adds extra damage. It relies on flanking, but since I've got two characters cooperating, getting that flanking bonus shouldn't be too difficult.
--11th--
Fighter 11
BAB: +11/+6/+1
F/R/W: +7/+3/+3
Mutagen Discovery: Infuse Mutagen
Feat: Coordinated Charge
Coordinated charge is the star of the build. With it, any time anyone in the group charges, the kobold and wallaby each get to charge as an immediate action. This essentially allows the wallaby two full attacks in one round, while the kobold gets an extra move and standard attack himself. Infuse mutagen also will let me keep a supply of mutagens of both strength and dexterity varieties to switch stats on the fly. This gives the kobold some incentive to trigger charge chains when another ally doesn't do so; his familiar can benefit more from both of the other teamwork feats, since her attacks and damage rolls don't benefit from the kobold's weapon training.
--12th--
Fighter 12
Ability Score Bonus: Dex
BAB: +12/+7/+2
F/R/W: +8/+4/+4
Bonus Feat: Weapon Focus (Kobold Tail Attachment)
While technically a tax feat, at least this is useful, and will actually increase the familiar's attack rolls as well. Also, we can finally increase the right stat for our kobold.
--13th--
Fighter 13
BAB: +13/+8/+3
F/R/W: +8/+4/+4
Weapon Training: Trained Grace
Feat: Advanced Weapon Training (Focused Weapon (Kobold Tail Attachment))
This actually showcases a neat little exploit I ran into. Since the advanced weapon training feat is a combat feat, it allows me to take an advanced weapon training ability and allow my familiar to use it as well. As such, I'm able to grab focused weapon for kobold tail attachments, and both my familiar and kobold will get some much higher damage per hit. There could be an issue, however, of exactly how this affects the familiar: it'll either duplicate the effect it has on the kobold, or it'll just flat-out give the familiar the advanced weapon training ability (in which case it'd be useless, since she has no fighter levels). Trained grace will beef up the kobold's damage even further, since he'll be using weapon finesse on his attachment. At this point, I've nabbed all the "essential" feats, so the rest will be used to define his late-game play.
--14th--
Fighter 14
BAB: +14/+9/+4
F/R/W: +9/+4/+4
Steel Will 4
Bonus Feat: Critical Focus
Yay, more tax feats! :|
--15th--
Fighter 15
BAB: +15/+10/+5
F/R/W: +9/+5/+5
Mutagen Discovery: Greater Mutagen
Feat: Stealthy
It's pretty late to be grabbing extra bonuses to stealth, and quite honestly this could be swapped out if I find myself with high enough stealth to pass most of the checks I'm taking. Greater mutagen, however, is the main thing gained this level, increasing my overall stat gain from the mutagen.
--16th--
Fighter 16
Ability Score Bonus: Dex
BAB: +16/+11/+6/+1
F/R/W: +10/+5/+5
Bonus Feat: Blades Above and Below
This feat should make it easier for me to flank targets, so long as my familiar is in battle mode (making her a medium creature while the kobold is small).
--17th--
Fighter 17
BAB: +17/+12/+7/+2
F/R/W: +10/+5/+5
Weapon Training: Weapon Mastery (Devastating Assault)
Feat: Tiring Critical
Now we're beginning to really exploit that higher crit range on the razored tail attachment (which, at this point, should be very simple to get with the keen quality, and hopefully thundering as well). This is still a feat tax, but it'll serve on the way to the next one. Devastating assault is going to help with this even more, allowing my kobold to not only get critical hits a little more easily, but to tack on an extra condition on top of the regular ones added to his criticals.
--18th--
Fighter 18
BAB: +18/+13/+8/+3
F/R/W: +11/+6/+6
Steel Will 5
Bonus Feat: Exhausting Critical
And this is why we took tiring critical.
--19th--
Fighter 19
BAB: +19/+14/+9/+4
F/R/W: +11/+6/+6
Mutagen Discovery: Grand Mutagen
Feat: Blinding Critical
Although devastating assault could already cause blindness, it's a nice option if I've already applied some conditions to the same enemy via devastating assault. Blindness and exhaustion stack pretty well for the purpose of lowering the chances of an enemy being able to hit, thanks to exhaustion lowering both strength and dexterity.
--20th--
Fighter 19
Ability Score Bonus: Dex
BAB: +10/+15/+10/+5
F/R/W: +12/+6/+6
Weapon Mastery (Kobold Tail Attachments)
Bonus Feat: Critical Mastery
It's not like we have many options for weapon mastery here. While it makes critical focus redundant, it does mean we're guaranteed to crit hard against anything within threat range, and critical mastery will allow those crits to both blind and exhaust those hit (along with any effect chosen for devastating assault if that's used, instant filth fever if my weapon's still dirtied up, plus anything my weapon normally would do via weapon qualities).
Str 12 (mod 1)
Dex 14 (mod 2)
Con 11 (mod 0)
Int 6 (mod -2)
Wis 9 (mod -1)
Cha 4 (mod -3)
Low-light Vision
Scent
Kick +2
Master: +3 Acrobatics
BAB: Same as master (default: +0)
F/R/W: Same as master (default: +2/+4/-1)
--1st/2nd--
Mauler 1/2
Natural Armor +1
Str 12
Alertness
Improved Evasion
Share Spells
Empathetic Link
Feat: Stealthy (retrained from Skill Focus (Acrobatics))
--3rd/4th--
Mauler 3/4
Natural Armor +2
Str 13
Battle Form
--5th/6th--
Mauler 5/6
Natural Armor +3
Str 14
Bond Forged in Blood
--7th/8th--
Mauler 7/8
Natural Armor +4
Str 15
--9th/10th--
Mauler 9/10
Natural Armor +5
Str 16
--11th/12th--
Mauler 11/12
Natural Armor +6
Str 17
Damage Reduction
--13th/14th--
Mauler 13/14
Natural Armor +7
Str 18
Scry on Familiar
--15th/16th--
Mauler 15/16
Natural Armor +8
Str 19
--17th/18th--
Mauler 17/18
Natural Armor +9
Str 20
--19th/20th--
Mauler 19/20
Natural Armor +10
Str 21
Not really a lot of variety to be had here; the only things I actually choose are her species and her feat, should retraining be allowed. As mentioned above, I may end up needing to replace her with a goat or pig if she's deemed bipedal rather than quadrupedal. I just ended up going with stealthy for the feat to match her master's focus on stealth, although it's not really necessary.
Aside from advice on refining the build, I could use a little help on equipment too. I have a few rough ideas (I already know I want both kobold and wallaby with a keen thundering adamantine razored kobold tail attachment, and I'd like to shoot for rhino hide barding for the wallaby if at all possible), but nothing definite.