So as the title says which would be a better build? I wanna make a faloner type character for the upcoming Ironfang Invasion AP. Thoughts?
Ranger is a more capable fighter on his own, the hunter will have a much stronger bird and be most effective when working as a team with the bird. Which are you after?
Or, the ranger's bird is a scout and small combat aid, the hunter's bird is a full combatant.
The Hunter is pretty much based around their Animal Companion, so when their Animal Companion can't pull their own in a fight, in extension the Hunter can't pull her own in a fight.
Honestly, a bird companion compared to a tiger just doesn't have any real impact on your fights at all, so I'd go with the least intrusive option of the two. Namely Ranger.
Still, the loss of the 6th level combat style feat from taking the Falconer archetype really hurts. I'd retrain my Falconer levels into normal Ranger (or another archetype) when I hit level 4, just so that I could keep the style feat.
Thanks guys! Appreciate the tip!
As an aside. Using Herolab I found that the Giant Weasel has different stats to the Giant Weasel companion in the Reign of Winter book 1 AP as an animal companion. :( Cos that woulda been cool.