Hunter advice for Rise of the Runelords

[Joey Virtue]

I have a newer player who is liking his Human Hunter character and I'm trying to help him with his character here is what he has so far any ideas for needs.

He seems to me to be all about attacks of opportunity. He currently fights with a lead bladed reach weapon with his pet wolf. What am i missing?
Currently 5th almost 6th level.

Stats
Str 19
Dex 14
Con 14
Int 13
Wis 16
Cha 10

Feats for the levels
1st Combat Reflexes
1st Combat Expertise
2nd Outflank
3rd Teamwork Pack Flanking
3rd Power Attack
5th Paired Opportunist
6th Teamwork Broken Wing Gambit
7th
9th Teamwork
9th
11th Improved Critical
12th Teamwork Seize the Moment
13th
15th Team work Coordinated Charge
15th
17th
18th Team work

Possible feats
Intercept Charge
Improved Spell Sharing
Precise Strike
Escape Route
Ferocious Loyalty
Swarm Strike
Circling Offense
Shake It Off
Spirit Gift

Weapon Enchantment Fortuitous

For The Wolf
It currently has Iron Will and Combat Reflexes
Improved Natural Attack
Narrow Frame
Spell Sponge
Dodge
Power Attack

What skirmisher tricks are good? I don't remember what two he already has.

[The Steel Refrain]

Is the Combat Expertise feat a prerequisite for something already in there? I'm not seeing it immediately, if so.

Seems like it might have been intended to qualify for things like Improved Trip and then Greater Trip (the latter of which generates more AOOs). I think he could take those in the 7th and 9th slots, respectively, if he wanted.

[Joey Virtue]

It's needed for pack flanking.
The problem with the trip chain is that his pet doesn't get those feats and it's for Rise of the Runelords so giants are hard to trip.

[Java Man]

Tandem trip will help getting giants prone, also note that the permenent flank bonus is adding to cmb.

Possilby too late, but a dip in wild child brawler would let him bypass the int requirement for combat expertise and keep Fido at full power.

For skirmisher tricks, rattling strike, vengeance strike, aiding attack and distracting attack are my faves.

[Saldiven]

For your wolf, since he only has a single natural attack, the Vital Strike chain isn't terrible.

Since the wolf goes Large at 7th lvl, Improved Natural attack would take his bite from 1d8 to 2d6. Vital strike takes it from 1d8 to 2d8 (combining both should get you a 4d6 attack). Since companions don't get iterative attacks with their natural attacks, you might as well Vital Strike since full attacks don't really net the wolf much of anything.

A bunch (but not all) of the latter parts of RotRL is indoor, so Narrow Frame will serve the wolf pretty well.

Power attack is ok as long as you're buffing him pretty good. The to-hit penalty is harder to absorb for a 3/4 BAB critter. As long as he's hitting, PA gives a bigger average damage boost than either Vital Strike or INA, but not as much as having both of them would.

Dodge is only 1 point of AC, so I probably wouldn't bother with a Feat for it (unless it's a pre-req for something else you want). You'd be better off getting the wolf Light Armor Proficiency and then buying appropriate armor for him. It's a little more expensive since he'll soon be large and have an exotic frame, but at this level shouldn't be a significant outlay of cash until you want to enchant it.

[Markov Spiked Chain]

Is he riding the wolf or fighting alongside?
In general, and mount with reach (Axebeak or various Dinos, particularly T-Rex) is going to work better, so you can get Paired Opportunists, Pack Flanking and Outflank on reach attacks.

By my reading, Seize the Moment and Outflank AoOs don't stack, so I wouldn't bother with Seize the Moment.

Snapping Flank is great at 12th. If you allow it, Spirit Gift is awesome. I lean towards Life for Fast Healing, but DR 5 or even 5' flight (+10 from Greater Longstrider) are still worth a feat. Planar Focus is another great feat to consider.

The Bodyguard archetype works nicely with a mount, as it basically gets Diehard and extra HP before dying, in exchange for Evasion, which you can pick up from Animal Focus as needed. Bodyguard and In Harm's Way are also fine choices for AC feat, particularly if the AC has DR or FH.

Improved Spell Sharing is nice, but you'll often want to cast long term buffs, then swap it to something useful in combat using the ability to switch teamwork feats.

Vengeance Strike and Surprise Shift are good for Skirmisher tricks. Surprise Shift is particularly good for reach, as it allows you to move up, make attacks from 10' then shift back to 15' so they still have to provoke.

[The Steel Refrain]

Joey Virtue wrote:

It's needed for pack flanking.

The problem with the trip chain is that his pet doesn't get those feats and it's for Rise of the Runelords so giants are hard to trip.

Fair points. The AOO from Greater Trip should work for the wolf, I thought (it just says it provokes an AOO in general, not solely from the tripper), but I take your point about tripping giants, especially with a 3/4 BAB character. Tandem Trip is definitely a great boost in this case, though, and worth considering as a strategy.

Lots of other really solid advice in here, too, so I don't think I can add much more. Spirit Gift is obviously a great feat to boost the wolf, and I like Planar Focus too, if it suits the character flavour.

Actually, because this character seems pretty well set up already, I think the character could probably handle making a few flavour-over-optimization choices if he wanted.

[Blueskier]

Some suggestions, some of which have already been mentioned:

The feat Planar Focus gives you aditional foci to choose. Fire adds a nice amount of damage to every attack and earth gets you a nice burrow speed.

Remember you can change the last TW feat you've taken, so Coordinated charge is available at lvl 14 using the lvl 12 slot.

Improved spell share is a nice TW feat that lets you cast buffs on your AC and yourself as a single action. During combat, it is useful for spells like Energy resistance/protection, Vine Strike, Bristle, Delay/neutralize poison, and probably some other ones I'm forgetting.

Sincé you are going to basically bend over backwards to ensure flanking every round, the Menacing weapon property is useful.

[Joey Virtue]

Markov Spiked Chain wrote:

By my reading, Seize the Moment and Outflank AoOs don't stack, so I wouldn't bother with Seize the Moment.

Why do you believe they don't stack?

[Markov Spiked Chain]

This FAQ says "scoring a critical hit" and "confirming a critical hit" are the same thing. So they fall under the "same event can't trigger two AoOs rule." But there's some disagreement.

[Joey Virtue]

Is it worth it to take feats that are not either teamwork feats so you both get them or pre reqs for the team work feats?

I see Planar Focus being worth the while but Im not sure on Spirit Gift is it worth it for one combat a day compared to all the other things that can be taken to help both the Hunter and the Wolf

[Java Man]

I look at spirit gift like adding a free once a day buff spell for Fido. Think about the buff spells you already have, how many you will use how often, and comsider how the value of another one combat effect fits in.

[Joey Virtue]

Yeah that's how I see it to; wands, potions, Hunter spells and magic items I see as ways to get a once a day pump. I rather use feats on permanent effects.

[ShroudedInLight]

As someone who has looked a lot into Hunter, you've got a good idea of what's what for your first few levels.

However, I'd suggest taking a different teamwork feat at 6th level. Instead of Broken Wing Gambit I would take Improved Spell Sharing. ISS is another Hunter/Hunter based Archtype only teamwork feat like Pack Flanking. Using this feat, you can split the duration of spells between yourself and your animal companion effectively doubling your Action Economy for buff spells. Sure the duration is halved, but for longer lasting buff spells this is very powerful. Especially for Barkskin. Its ludicrously powerful.

Another thing to remember, is that you can freely swap around your latest teamwork feat gained from every 3rd level. Even if you discount powerful situational buffs like Back to Back or Duck and Cover you can spend an action to swap away from Improved Spell Sharing when you no longer need it. This can let you get Broken Wing gambit going if you have an action to spare...though I'd be more interested in the feat Wild Flanking because that is a much better source of damage.

The next time your animal companion has an attribute bonus I would stick it into Intelligence if you have not already improved the Wolf's intelligence to 3. This will allow him/her to learn feats beyond what are listed on the Animal Companion acceptable feat list. From there I would invest in the Body Guard feat and then grab Harrying Partner's at level 9 for the stupid amounts of AC that gets you every round. Since you have high dex and combat reflexes there is no reason not to grab this extra bit of functionality.

As for Skirmisher tricks, you need to ask your GM how he reads the rules since it is VERY unclear how they work >_> My personal interpretation would be that the Hunter uses Link in order to use a free action to order the animal companion to preform the trick with the animal companion functioning as "The Ranger" referenced in the abilities (allowing the Animal Companion to thus learn any trick on the list). However, some GMs might only allow the animal companion to learn the Bolster Companion, Heel, and Sic 'Em tricks because those are the only skirmisher tricks that directly reference an animal companion.

[Markov Spiked Chain]

I missed the nerf to Spirit's Gift (and un-banning in PFS.) It still seems like a reasonable option for a 1/day full heal (10 HP/level in fast healing.) But the other options are a harder sell.

[Joey Virtue]

ShroudedInLight wrote:

Improved spell sharing

I love this feat but you need 10 ranks in spell craft to take it so that doesn't work at 6th level.

[Markov Spiked Chain]

Joey, that's Improved Share Spells, not Improved Spell Sharing. Improved Spell Sharing is a teamwork feat.