Feral hunter and feral focus

[Charlesfire]

I was thinking about making a feral hunter for one of my games and I was wondering if there was any official ruling about whenever a level 1 feral hunter got one or two animal aspects.

[Andy Brown]

There have been a few threads on how the Feral Hunter's aspect works, without an official answer.
For a home game, ask your GM; for PFS, expect table variation.

For me (and I've got a Feral Hunter in PFS), I go with one because the class feature is written in the singular

[blahpers]

Since it alters the animal focus class feature, I would hazard that the intended interpretation is "one".

[Chess Pwn]

Which is lame if true because then you're penalized for it compared to the hunter that just kills their companion.

[toastedamphibian]

Chess Pwn wrote:

Which is lame if true because then you're penalized for it compared to the hunter that just kills their companion.

Even odds of the animal companion coming out on top of that fight at level 1...

[Andy Brown]

Chess Pwn wrote:

Which is lame if true because then you're penalized for it compared to the hunter that just kills their companion.

Comparing it to somebody bending the rules purely for extra power is a little unfair.

It has always struck me that anybody playing a class with an animal companion and then killing the companion is rather missing the point. I might even argue that it's an evil act.

I'd also argue that a Hunter with a dead companion can only change the companion's aspect when they change their own (and is therefore limited in number of times per day), while the Feral Hunter can switch around as often as they like. I wouldn't argue that very hard though; and in a home game I wouldn't be allowing a permanently dead AC anyway.

[Charlesfire]

There is no need for bending the rules : Just take the forester archetype and voilà! You have two animal aspect at level 1...

Edit : The forester archetype is one of the reasons that makes me think the Feral Hunter should have two animal aspect at level 1. It's just odd that an archetype centered on shapeshifting is worst than another archetype at using the animals aspects.

Edit2 : I have marked my post for FAQ.

[Andy Brown]

Charlesfire wrote:

There is no need for bending the rules : Just take the forester archetype and voilà! You have two animal aspect at level 1...

Where's that from?

[David knott 242]

Andy Brown wrote:

Charlesfire wrote:

There is no need for bending the rules : Just take the forester archetype and voilà! You have two animal aspect at level 1...

Where's that from?

Ultimate Wilderness.

[Andy Brown]

Finally tracked that down on d20pfsrd.

I still think there's a difference in that the Feral hunter has unlimited duration and unlimited changes, while the Forester (and a standard hunter with a dead companion) are limited in how long one aspect lasts, and limited in the number of times they can change aspect.

I seem to also recall some question of whether or not a standard hunter with a dead companion could change the companion aspect at all, though I think that the wording of the Forester archetype indicates that they can.

The rules could probably do with a bit of clarification because it does look like the Feral Hunter is missing out a bit, unless you consider the later shape shifting to make up for it.

[Charlesfire]

I don't see where it's written that the Feral Hunter can change animal aspect at-will. It's only written that it has an unlimited duration.

Edit : The Feral Hunter is losing a lot for Wild Shape. In fact, past level 8, the Feral Hunter only receive new feature at level 15, 17 and 20 if we exclude the number of use of wild shape. The Feral Hunter is one of the worst archetype at high level.

[Andy Brown]

Charlesfire wrote:

I don't see where it's written that the Feral Hunter can change animal aspect at-will. It's only written that it has an unlimited duration.

Standard Hunter Animal Focus wrote:

The hunter can use this ability for a number of minutes per day equal to her level. This duration does not need to be consecutive, but must be spent in 1-minute increments.

Feral Hunter Animal Focus wrote:

there is no limit to this ability’s duration

So the standard hunter can only be in an aspect for a number of minutes equal to their level, and the feral hunter can be in an aspect for an unlimited time.

In both cases it's a swift action to enter/change the aspect, and each change of aspect uses a minute of the total maximum duration.

Because the Feral Hunter isn't limited to how many minutes a day they can be in an aspect, they must (by my interpretation, obviously) be able to switch as often as they want, taking a swift action each time they change.