Help making a decent War Bull animal companion? (And some tips on building a angry farmer character)

[NihilsticBanana]

Hi I'm a pathfinder player who's played a couple games but still hasn't really mastered the game quite yet but is still trying to learn as much as I can, I'm preparing for an upcoming campaign with some friends of mine and I decided I wanted to have my next character be an angry cattle farmer on the hunt for some cow thieves, The campaign is gestalt so what I came up with to try and suit that idea is a scythe-wielding Urban barbarian/ Beastmaster Ranger. I think I can take the boon companion feat to get around the lowered levels for my animal companion but I'm not too sure how effective it can be based on its stats

Bull, War

Size Medium; Speed 40 ft.; AC +4 natural armor; Attack gore (1d8); Ability Scores Str 15, Dex 14, Con 13, Int 2, Wis 11, Cha 4; SQ low-light vision.

4TH-LEVEL ADVANCEMENT

Size Large; AC +3 natural armor; Attack gore (2d6); Ability Scores Str +8, Dex –2, Con +4; Special Attacks trample.

I really want my animal companion to be some sort of farm animal but I'm worried it might not be all that good or useful to the group due to its single attack and what not, Can someone help me figure out a way to make this animal companion as useful as possible? Oh! and just to make things clear we would be starting out as level 4 but a road map for future levels would be extremely helpful. Thanks!

[Lelomenia]

I’ve seen Skald builds that used mauler familiars with Amplified Rage. Pig familiar can threaten even without changing size, and has decent strength to start. Can’t remember a lot of things; with Eldritch guardian two levels your familiar gets all your combat feats, which is kind of ridiculous.

[Arachnofiend]

Your war bull can take tusk blades to give itself a slight edge over the usual claw/claw/bite routine the optimal animal companions do.

Your pet's damage will actually be pretty respectable at the level you're starting - any creature with only a single attack gets 1.5x STR to it like a 2-handed weapon, so your bull will be hitting for 2d6+13 before any modifiers other than Power Attack. That's quite good for an extra character, and as a Barb/Ranger you'll be hitting pretty hard yourself.

The Barbarian offers quite a bit of animal companion synergy too with the Ferocious Beast rage powers so you can be a quite nasty pair together.

[Ray-gun]

The war bulll seems like a fine companion p Even from a Dpr point of view. Not sure how locked into your classes you are but Hunter might be a sub for Ranger. Feats like evolved companion and improved natural attack can boost the damage the bull can do. I think totem beast (feat) can be used by any class with an animal companion. Using the mentioned tusk blades helps keep the cost of enchanting your companions attacks down and helps its crit range. Lots of nice spells to help too. If you consider Hunter sense vitals would apply to both you and your companion I think. Let us know your thoughts and we can provide further options.

[NihilsticBanana]

Ray-gun wrote:

The war bulll seems like a fine companion p Even from a Dpr point of view. Not sure how locked into your classes you are but Hunter might be a sub for Ranger. Feats like evolved companion and improved natural attack can boost the damage the bull can do. I think totem beast (feat) can be used by any class with an animal companion. Using the mentioned tusk blades helps keep the cost of enchanting your companions attacks down and helps its crit range. Lots of nice spells to help too. If you consider Hunter sense vitals would apply to both you and your companion I think. Let us know your thoughts and we can provide further options.

Ray-gun wrote:

The war bulll seems like a fine companion p Even from a Dpr point of view. Not sure how locked into your classes you are but Hunter might be a sub for Ranger. Feats like evolved companion and improved natural attack can boost the damage the bull can do. I think totem beast (feat) can be used by any class with an animal companion. Using the mentioned tusk blades helps keep the cost of enchanting your companions attacks down and helps its crit range. Lots of nice spells to help too. If you consider Hunter sense vitals would apply to both you and your companion I think. Let us know your thoughts and we can provide further options.

Oh wow! I didn't expect people to respond to this so quickly! Already I'm getting into a headspace where I'm starting to see I was pretty off in thinking this would be a weak animal companion.

Now forgive me for this but I don't fully understand things like hybrid classes just yet. I've never really ventured out or experienced them first hand so I'm not 100% sure how to really get into them or like... do one? Especially when gestalt comes into play... So I would need a little help figuring that one out if I were gonna try for something like a Hunter though it does seem very interesting from what I can tell. Honestly I've always just stuck to a single class (Two when we do gestalt) so the whole spreading out my level/classes is a little confusing for me and even more so when hybrids come into play (This is me assuming I need to venture out into druid to become one)

But beyond that a little more info when it comes to rules regarding the campaign by my GM Summoners, Monks, Paladins and Gunslingers aren't allowed (Don't quote me on this but from what I remember they're either not really fitting with the world he made or broken in their opinion or something like that) so something like evolved companion has me worried because I'm not completely sure if I'd be allowed to do something like that but it definitely seems like it would be useful if I can get him to let me get something like that

Also when it comes to what @Arachnofiend was saying about the x1.5 strength bonus thanks to the single attack would that mean when my animal companion gets up to something like level 9's multiattack feat where it says something like "If the creature does not have the requisite three or more natural attacks, the animal companion instead gains a second attack with its primary natural weapon, albeit at a –5 penalty" would gaining that second attack mean that the 1.5 str bonus would be lost?

Also I know I'm asking a lot of questions now but I'm also curious as to how AC should be handled on my Bull would I be wanting to try and get armor for them at some point? focus on trying to get the ability points they gain be dex? Also finally if my bull gains a rage from Ferocious beast rage powers would they gain a normal rage or the urban barbarian rage (Which is different in the sense that there's no AC loss and the ability point gain can be spread out and put into different things)

Sorry for making you read all of that ^^'

[Ryan Freire]

Hybrid classes are honestly just classes. They aren't really that different than normal classes.

Also if your animal companion has one big attack for the most part (like this bull)

It should pick feats like improved natural attack (gore) and the vital strike chain.

[Arachnofiend]

As Ryan said, the Hybrid classes are essentially just classes; it's a misnomer held over from an early iteration on the concept when they really were supposed to be a form of gestalt. Think of the Hunter as a mid-point between a Druid and Ranger that focuses on the animal companion in particular. Though I'd be wary about using the Hunter over the Ranger if you want the other side to be a Barbarian, as the Urban Barbarian does nothing to remove the "may not use anything that requires concentration" piece of Rage and therefore won't be able to cast Hunter spells without some other investment.

Multiattack does not turn off the 1.5x STR bonus; that's a bonus you get from having only one natural attack, you keep it no matter how many of those natural attacks you make.

It'd be good to get your bull medium armor proficiency and barding. Animal Companions can be rather squishy if you don't take care of them.

Your last question... I think by a purely RAW reading the animal companion receives rage as a standard barbarian though I can see an interpretation in which the animal companion is supposed to rage in the same way you do.

[Ryan Freire]

Eh weird as it sounds the spells on hunter are like tertiary aspects of the class. Sharing teamwork feats is

[Scott Wilhelm]

I would have you take levels in Mammoth Rider when you can and make your Bull an Arsinotherium. They're not bulls, but in game terms, they are Bull-like with their Gore Attacks. Wikipedia describes them as rhinocerouses with 2 horns, but in reality, they're extinct megafauna, and this is a fantasy game, so make it whatever you imagine.

NihilsticBanana wrote:

I really want my animal companion to be some sort of farm animal

Well, why not? Maybe arsinohtheria could have been domesticated.

If it just has to be a Bull, you can still keep your Bull with Mammoth Rider and just make your Bull Huge.

NihilsticBanana wrote:

I really want my animal companion to be some sort of farm animal but I'm worried it might not be all that good or useful to the group due to its single attack

So, from the days that civilization began, farming and soldiering went hand-in-hand: The first farms came with walled cities. The core retirement package from a Roman legion was a parcel of land to farm. When William the Conquorer called for knights to come with him to invade England, it was for the promise of English lands or an English Grave. Even today, soldiers that die are said to have "bought the farm." The point is Farmer-Soldiers are a thing.

Most medieval weapons are farm weapons, peasant weapons, or adapted from them. You take your cleaver and a stick to the town blacksmith. He pouts a hook and a point on it, and boom, you got a Halberd. Take your pruning hook and your sythe to him, and now you have a Bill Hook. Flails are farming tools already, or actually threshing/milling tools, but still. Longbows aren't farming weapons, but they're peasant weapons, and the dominant weapon of Western Europe through the 14th and in to the 15th centuries. It used to be the law to practice the Longbow on Sundays.

So, you got yourself a huge horned beast to ride on, it seems obvious that you should use a Lance and take Ride. Take Merciless Rush and Greater Bull Rush. Maybe some Overrun Feats, maybe Wheeling Charge. You are going both--you and your steed--going to need Combat Reflexes. So, be a Hunter? That gives you an Animal Companion and gives you bonus Teamwork Feats to share. I like Paired Opportunist. I like Broken Wing Gambit.

Different Polearms have different uses. Halberds do 1d10 Slashing or Piercing Weapons. They are Brace and Tripping Weapons. Leucerne Hammers do 1d12 Blunt or Piercing, and they are both Reach and Brace. The Horssechopper does 1d10 Slashing, and it is Reach and Tripping. The Fauchard is an Exotic Weapon. It is a Reach, Tripping Weapon that does 1d10 Slashing, but it has a Threat Range of 18-20.

Crit Fishing is a sensible strategy for a character like this. Take Seize the Moment or Outflank, and you and your Steed give each other Attacks of Opportunity built on top of your Crits. I've seen builds where the DPR gets ridiculous.

Anyway, I outlined a few ways to go on this where you and your Companion can get lots of high-damage attacks.