I don't think Ape is that king. Deinonychus (velociraptor) is much superior in my opinion. Roc and Cat can be good options too, depending on what your character and your DM wants. In my case, it synergizes well with the Saurian Shaman Druid I'm building off.
That's because he has 3 attacks at level 1, and at 7th level he has 5. Besides that, he is kinda tanky because of a high 17 CON and 17 DEX. His strength is kinda low at level 1 (11), but he gets a boost at level 7 making that level gold to him. You can count with an uncommon speed of 60ft, comboing with Pounce at lvl 7.
If you wanna go deeper, he has 14 CHA, what makes him able to Eldritch Heritage (feat) or intimidating feats. That opens a lot of options you can use. I'm thinking for example about making a Deinonychus with a Ghoul bloodline. So he could have paralysing attacks, bonus natural armour, and free haste!
By the way, I'm reading and studying ways to improve Deinonychus. But for now, I can say there are a lot of options to this little guy. Give him a chance!
Being medium size when full grown is usually a big advantage of the velociraptor. It means that he can easily go anywhere in a dungeon that your character can go.
I think it depends a lot on what class has the animal companion and tactics with it.
T-Rex can be very strong on a Hunter or Sacred Huntmaster. Focus everything on that one big bite attack, add in outflank, pack flanking, paired opportunists, combat reflexes. If the hunter has a high crit range weapon, the AOOs can get crazy with the 10 foot reach. It can also grab reliably with a huge strength, can use skirmisher tricks to trip on an attack. Get a fortuitous AoMF as well for even more AOOs. All this on top of 4 more natural armor than the raptor.
I am no expert, but isn't Spinosaurus a fine option. It has 3 attacks and a str of 18, that goes to 26[!] at level 7. It is too big for a lot of dungeons however.
I am no expert, but isn't Spinosaurus a fine option. It has 3 attacks and a str of 18, that goes to 26[!] at level 7. It is too big for a lot of dungeons however.
Yes, it is a great option, it is sadly no longer legal for PFS though which is what the OP asked for
If you wanna go deeper, he has 14 CHA, what makes him able to Eldritch Heritage (feat) or intimidating feats.
Does PFS consider "3 HD" to count as "character level 3rd," at least for feat prerequisites? AFAIK the equivalency isn't stated in the rules although most people play that way.
If you wanna go deeper, he has 14 CHA, what makes him able to Eldritch Heritage (feat) or intimidating feats.Does PFS consider "3 HD" to count as "character level 3rd," at least for feat prerequisites? AFAIK the equivalency isn't stated in the rules although most people play that way.
If there isnt a rule, maybe it is because we can do that way. Animal Companions goes from 1 to 20 too, so I think we can call it level too.
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I'm not sure if it's the strongest, but I'll make an argument for the Ape having used one in PFS. While they get large, Narrow Frame handles most of those issues, and you get reach with 3 powerful attacks. A hunter (even standard) will massively boost those abilities. But what makes them even better is their climb ability, making a lot of enemies suddenly much easier to reach. You can hop a ride, as the ape's strength is usually more than enough to haul your butt around, or a number of other heavy things for that matter. Between all the above, outlfanking, pack flanking, and power attack I've never had trouble wrecking the bajesus out of things in PFS. Finally, Extra Item Slot feat gives you the best options, as you can pick nearly any slot to grant to the Ape compared to most other pets, which are limited in some way.
Neat Trick with a Hunter: You also get access to skirmish tricks. There is one that lets you, after you learn the results of an attack against your AC, spend an immediate action to add +4 AC to your pet, and if it still hits, it cuts the damage in half. It goes a LONG way to make up for lower HP. Those skirmisher tricks are amazing.
