Animal Companion Feat - Questions!

[Krell44]

Are there any feats that my character can take that will boost his animal companion? I am building a Hunter that is focused on making his cat more effective.

Anything that he can take that would increase the stats/saves/armor class for his cat?

[JiaYou]

Human can take Eye for Talent as an alternate racial trait which lets you add +2 to any Stat of your AC. Half-Orc can do something similar, but only to the physical stats.

[Theconiel]

If your animal companion is large, you might have it take Narrow Frame, so it can fit into 5' wide hallways more easily.

[Heather 540]

The Evolved Companion feat lets you take any one point Eidolon evolution that's not pounce and reach. You can take it more than once to get more options.

[Dajur]

it's not really a feat, but don't forget to put the extra ability point at level 4 into Intelligence. Then your cat can understand common.

[Azothath]

search a gamesite feat listing with "animal" or "animal companion". Two sites immediately come to mind.

for magic items it depends on the campaign you are in. PFS limits animal slots to 2 + saddle and named animal items. Home games are likely to use the body slots as presented in AnmlArchv or UltWild. That will limit what magic items you can use on your critter. Mundane items aren't a problem.
If your home game GM doesn't limit slots - thank your lucky stars! Pick up a headband of Int and give your critter Know(Geography). Implant some ioun stones.

I think the important thing is to remember for an attack animal is that AnmlCmpn does not have armor proficiency. Needless to say they aren't going to use regular weapons. So light armor proficiency might be required for the AnmlCmpn to take (that's ONE of his precious feats).
With that in mind, Barkskin, Mage Armor, Shield, Ablative Barrier, Shield Companion, etc are ways around armor checks.
You can also use mithral armor to reduce the penalties.

I have to agree that the first ability boost should go into Int IF the AnmlCmpn Int is 2. It opens up all skills (not really very important as the animal get very few skill points) and it can understand basic concepts in a language(very important for verbal commands). The implications to your GM ARE the important part.
The animal will still mainly rely on its known tricks for what it can do, and your Handle Animal skill to take commands. The GM should give it a little leeway in its actions and choices due to its Int:3.

Lastly I'm going to say that 'efficient' use of your animal companion probably means he dies every few encounters. So buy equipment accordingly expecting that you will trade out your AnmlCmpn every other level or so.

[keerawa]

If you are an aasimar, the Celestial Servant feat can make your cat very formidable. If you are human and your companion is a small cat, Huntmaster will boost their level.

Totem Beast for an extra Animal Focus can be useful.

If you have 13 charisma, the Beastmaster Style feat lets you counter a hit made on your animal companion with a Handle Animal check, as long as you are adjacent. Beastmaster Salvation lets you make a save for your companion with a Handle Animal check. A bit like Mounted Combat and Indomitable Mount, for the un-mounted.

Since you are a Hunter, literally any Teamwork feat you take will also benefit your companion. I would recommend Combat Expertise and Pack Flanking with Outflank (you get it at level 2) and Paired Opportunists. Then you could pick up Precise Strike, Broken Wing Gambit, Improved Share Spells, Coordinated Maneuvers, Lookout, Shake It Off, Duck and Cover, etc.

[Heather 540]

By the way, what is the Hunter going to do? Going into melee as well, or standing back and focusing on ranged or casting? That will affect what teamwork feats you'll find useful.

[Krell44]

I am playing a Tiefling Divine Hunter who focuses more on buffing/aiding his animal companion than on being directly involved in combat himself. That said, he will most likely be a melee combatant and will eventually ride his Saber Cat once it grows large.

Question about mounted combat on a Large creature...do I need a reach weapon or can I engage the same enemy as my animal companion with a Longsword?

[Fuzzy-Wuzzy]

Krell44 wrote:

Question about mounted combat on a Large creature...do I need a reach weapon or can I engage the same enemy as my animal companion with a Longsword?

You are considered to occupy the same space as your mount---that is, the same four squares for a Large creature. So your longsword will be fine for hitting enemies adjacent to you / your mount. If you did have a reach weapon, you wouldn't be able to attack anything adjacent, but could attack things one square farther out than that.

[Heather 540]

Ok, if you're riding your companion, you will want Pack Flanking. That way you always get the benefits of Outflank. You'll need Combat Expertise for that. And you will definitely get the benefits of Shake It Off.

There are also the feats Mounted Combat and Indomitable Mount. The first allows you to make a Ride check to negate an attack on your mount once a round. The second allows you to do the same with a saving throw. You'll need Mounted Combat first if you go this route.

Decent buffing spells are Magic Fang, Cat's Grace, Barkskin, Strong Jaw, and Bloody Claws.

[Cavall]

You'll find the more you dip into teamwork feats, the more your team will too. When you can stand next to someone with shake it off and increase some of your poor saves by 50% thanks to your mount adding in too, it's a huge life saver.

[calagnar]

I can recomend the following.

Race: Human: Trait: Eye for Talent
Race: Half Orc: Trait: Shaman Enhancement

Feat's
Huntmaster (Human only)
Benefit: small cat is treated as one level higher.

Favored Animal Focus
Benefits: Choose one animal focus. When you apply that animal focus to your animal companion, the benefits increase by one step.

[Krell44]

Calagnar...are those Traits you listed available to a Tiefling? As stated a couple posts above that is what I am playing.

[calagnar]

The traits are based on race. They are not available to Tiefling.

The feat Favored Animal Focus can be taken multiple times one times one for each focus. I don't know when you get your second focus as a Inquisitor.

There are pros and con to reach weapons when mounted. Not the least of witch is when you charge. With a reach weapon only you attack. Because most animal companions do not have reach. The big cat dose not have the reach trait so it only threatens 5ft.

The thing to think about more then what feat's you are taking. What feat's is the animal companion taking. They will start out very strong and quickly taper off with out carful planning. I have found most animal companions are hurt more buy what feat's they have. By level 10 you will need a clear plan on how to increase there to hit bonus, and survivability if you expect them to stay combat effective.

Some good choices that my not be flashy but work.
Toughness, Weapon Focus, Armor Proficiency Light and Medium, Power Attack, Combat Reflexes.

Few tricks to know.
Head band of Int +2 gives them a Int of 4 granting them 6 tricks, and one skill with max skill ranks. If you plan on doing this so they can take any feat. Plan out what skill you will be putting on the head band so you don't over lap.

Creating barding is expensive. You should get any barding you plan on using before level 7. Then all you need to do is add the Fitting to it for a flat 2,000gp. That is much cheaper then if you make it for a large mount. Medium Mithral Breastplate Barding is 8,600gp, Large Mithral Breastplate Barding is 17,200gp.

[JiaYou]

Wow, Favored Animal Focus is REALLY good...and Huntmaster works for any one type of creature, so why just focus on small cat unless it's a low level game?

But still amazing that a 1st level Hunter animal companion could have a +6 to STR, DEX, or CON...

[Fuzzy-Wuzzy]

Krell44 wrote:

Calagnar...are those Traits you listed available to a Tiefling? As stated a couple posts above that is what I am playing.

You can get the human trait eye for talent if you take the alternate racial trait (different kind of trait!) Pass for Human. It not only makes you look human, it actually changes your type to be both outsider(native) and humanoid(human) for all purposes. This may well be worth it, depending on whether you were visualizing your tiefling as being obviously fiendish and how much you care about keeping them that way.

To get the half-orc trait shaman enhancement, I think you'd have to take Pass for Human and then take the feat Racial Heritage (orc) at first level. Probably not worth it.

[Dragonborn3]

JiaYou wrote:

Wow, Favored Animal Focus is REALLY good...and Huntmaster works for any one type of creature, so why just focus on small cat unless it's a low level game?

But still amazing that a 1st level Hunter animal companion could have a +6 to STR, DEX, or CON...

Only +4, looking at the Hunter.

Fuzzy-Wuzzy wrote:

You can get the human trait eye for talent if you take the alternate racial trait (different kind of trait!) Pass for Human.

How are you getting the Bonus Feat to trade out for Eye for Talent? It isn't a trait like Reactionary.

[Fuzzy-Wuzzy]

Dragonborn3 wrote:

Fuzzy-Wuzzy wrote:

You can get the human trait eye for talent if you take the alternate racial trait (different kind of trait!) Pass for Human.

How are you getting the Bonus Feat to trade out for Eye for Talent? It isn't a trait like Reactionary.

Oh, forgot about the bonus feat being traded in. I retract my suggestion.

[calagnar]

Because if you do the following. The small cat is over all better then the large cat.

1: Keep it small at level 4 gaining +2 Dex, Con
2: Give it Amulet of Mighty Fists (Agile) 4,000gp.
3: Bracers of Armor

Level 4 Hunter
Feat's: Weapon Finesses, Toughness.
Hunter with Favored Animal Focus Tiger
Starting Dex 21 animal HD +1 hunter level 3 +1 advancement +2 Animal Focus +4 = 29
To Hit +9 Damage bite 1D4+1(Trip) claws(2) 1D2+1
AC 23 (Edit: I forgot to add small size) HP 22 (Avg.)

Level 8 After you get the amulet, and bracers of Armor +2
Feat's: Weapon Finesses, Toughness, Dodge, Mobility
Hunter with Favored Animal Focus Tiger, and Bear
Dex 29 hunter level +1 Animal Focus +2 = 32
To Hit 16 Damage bite 1D4+11(Trip) claws(2) 1D2+11
AC 30 (Edit: I forgot to add small size) HP 59 (Avg.)

Granted this is just a quick summery of ability's. It's not a complete brake down of total effectiveness.