Let's say I take 1 level in Cavalier and 1 level in hunter. I chose an animal companion that is available to both classes. So the two classes effective druid level stacks for statistics and abilities of the companion.
But:
Cavalier's companion gets light armor proficiency instead of Share spell.
Hunter's normally has the share spell.
Does that mean that my companion will have both share spell and light armor proficiency ?
I don't think it would break anything if the animal companion got both the share spell ability and the bonus light armor proficiency feat. A real stickler might rule that the armor proficiency is a trade-off for the other and you'd have to pick one choice (probably depending on which class you got the companion in first). In a situation like that in which you get a choice, choose share spell and then devote the companion's next feat to light armor proficiency the normal way.
If you take cavalier first, you'd get light armor then the Hunter would just progress your animal companion, with it forever losing share spells.
Thank you for you responses so far, I would like to push my exemple a bit further.
What about the ability of the hunter companion to use skirmisher tricks ? Unlike the previous exemple, it is just added on top of all the other things without specifically replacing something else.
The description of Animal Companion under Hunter specifically states that the effective druid level stacks. So there is no question about that.
Looking at the description of the cavalier it does not state that light armor proficiency replaces share spell. What it does state is that a cavalier’s mount gets light armor proficiency as a bonus feat, the next line sentence states that a cavalier’s mount does not get share spell. Since share spell only works with spells you cast, and the cavalier is not a spell caster that makes sense. Why grant a class ability that you can never use?
The hunter on the other hand is a spell casting class and its description does not state his companion loses this ability. A Hunter’s ability to boost his animal companion is core to the class. Depriving a multiclass character of this ability is unfair.
Multiclassing should never take away and class ability. The ability may not advance when the character does not take levels in the original class, but they should not lose the ability. If the character started as a hunter and then latter added a level of cavalier why is he no longer able to use an ability he was able to use yesterday? Adding addition abilities is fine. So when he takes a level in cavalier his mount gains the light armor proficiency as a bonus feat.
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If you take cavalier first, you'd get light armor then the Hunter would just progress your animal companion, with it forever losing share spells.
This is incorrect, as far as I know. I've never seen any rule that indicates that the order in which you take a class when multi-classing has any effect at all.
I think Mysterious Stranger has it correct for the answer to your original question.
Regarding your additional question about Skirmisher Tricks, yes, they should work just fine. If there are any of them that scale off of your Hunter level (I can't recall) then that would be relevant (if, for example, you dipped one level of Hunter and then went 19 levels of Cavalier).
Put it another way: if you multiclass you are still a Hunter X and Cavalier Y, with all the respective abilities of those classes (e.g. your save bonuses are the sum of what you get from each class). Your animal companion calculates its level (and the abilities it gains) based on the total of the AnC-giving classes you have. If you are a Hunter 1 Cavalier 4, you have a Level 5 AnC. If you are a Hunter 1 Cavalier 4 Fighter 4 with the Boon Companion feat, you have a Level 9 AnC. Crucially, this all is true ONLY as long as your AnC is one that is allowed for each of the classes; you can't take a single level dip in Hunter, take a Bear AnC, and then take levels in Cavalier and decide to have your Bear be your mount, because (barring some special ability), Bears aren't valid mounts for Cavaliers.
If you take cavalier first, you'd get light armor then the Hunter would just progress your animal companion, with it forever losing share spells.This is incorrect, as far as I know. I've never seen any rule that indicates that the order in which you take a class when multi-classing has any effect at all.
I think Mysterious Stranger has it correct for the answer to your original question.
Regarding your additional question about Skirmisher Tricks, yes, they should work just fine. If there are any of them that scale off of your Hunter level (I can't recall) then that would be relevant (if, for example, you dipped one level of Hunter and then went 19 levels of Cavalier).
Put it another way: if you multiclass you are still a Hunter X and Cavalier Y, with all the respective abilities of those classes (e.g. your save bonuses are the sum of what you get from each class). Your animal companion calculates its level (and the abilities it gains) based on the total of the AnC-giving classes you have. If you are a Hunter 1 Cavalier 4, you have a Level 5 AnC. If you are a Hunter 1 Cavalier 4 Fighter 4 with the Boon Companion feat, you have a Level 9 AnC. Crucially, this all is true ONLY as long as your AnC is one that is allowed for each of the classes; you can't take a single level dip in Hunter, take a Bear AnC, and then take levels in Cavalier and decide to have your Bear be your mount, because (barring some special ability), Bears aren't valid mounts for Cavaliers.
i would also add that since this is all based on druid companion and such which unlike familiars, it can be dismissed and a new one called. so what does it matter what class pet was first?!