I want to play Pathfinder 2E but I don’t know how to port my Ranger over.

[Cyouni]

One thing to consider is that Ranger's animal companion shares the Hunter's Edge, and precision is generally a really good edge to share with it. While Beastmaster does get you up the companion tiers faster, the edge benefit might offset that enough that it's worth the look.

[Dargath]

Cyouni wrote:

One thing to consider is that Ranger's animal companion shares the Hunter's Edge, and precision is generally a really good edge to share with it. While Beastmaster does get you up the companion tiers faster, the edge benefit might offset that enough that it's worth the look.

Yeah I noticed the Masterful Companion also gave it the Master’s Edge effect in addition to the hunter’s edge. I’m guessing Beastmaster companions do not get the edge effect at all?

Also I find it mildly frustrating that the Hunter’s Aim -> Targeting Shot thing doesn’t work with a Crossbow because I believe Targeting Shot has the Press ability which requires you to have already shot and being a precision build with a crossbow you’re typically taking 1 big shot... but it’s very thematic...

[Dargath]

Seems like the Edit button is broken or something..

To me the Action Economy the first 3 levels would be something like:

Turn 1: 1) Hunter’s Prey 2) Strike 3) Command Animal (stride, strike)
Turn 2: 1) reload 2) strike 3) Command Animal (support, strike)

And you’d continue some variation of 2 until your prey dies. There’s no room for Hunter’s Aim or Targeting Strike, especially because Targeting Strike has the Press trait which requires you to have already make a strike that turn.

It would appear there isn’t much synergy within the Ranger feats once you get into the minutiae beyond simply the words of the feats. Targeting Strike May have some synergy with perhaps a Flurry Bow user, especially if, on the second character in the image, I went ahead and took Archery Dedication over Beastmaster and instead followed the normal Ranger animal progression, however this doesn’t solve the issue of a lack of support for precision rangers and the “one big shot” playstyle.

I’m guessing my Tengu Ranger (Alistair Reginald Bartleby III, the first character in the image) is about as good as I can make it. I tried to select Skill Feats that emphasizes the vision of a sneaky sniper assassin hit man and to that effect I think I did well enough with enough support for tracking to trace down my intended target.

There doesn’t seem to be much synergy in reality between many of the Ranger feats and that’s a bit disappointing. Even should I choose to drop Beast Master dedication I’m not sure there’s any prestige path or anything that can help out a one or two shot sniper fantasy.

[N N 959]

Dargath wrote:

It would appear there isn’t much synergy within the Ranger feats once you get into the minutiae beyond simply the words of the feats.

Yes, you're not alone in wondering the same exact thing. As one proceeds through a build and tries to match the feats with nominal game play and the other feats, it does feel like a hot mess. It may result from some ignorance about how the higher levels play, but it may not.

Quote:

To me the Action Economy the first 3 levels would be something like:

Turn 1: 1) Hunter’s Prey 2) Strike 3) Command Animal (stride, strike)
Turn 2: 1) reload 2) strike 3) Command Animal (support, strike)
And you’d continue some variation of 2 until your prey dies. There’s no room for Hunter’s Aim or Targeting Strike, especially because Targeting Strike has the Press trait which requires you to have already make a strike that turn.

Yes...but, at least in my experience, If you're ranged, it rarely works out that way. Some reasons why:

1. Other combatants (both ally and enemy) will provide cover, so you're having to move(if you want to avoid a penalty).

2. GMs will naturally(and justifiably) try and disrupt your ability to stand there and snipe with impunity by having enemy combatants engage you, or simply moving your target around and compelling you to adjust.

3. Your target dies or becomes an invalid targetable.

4. If you're using a longbow, you have to move back.

5. Other random things that force you to move.

So if you find you're having a lot of Hunt-Move-Strike rounds, you're not having lots of time to Command.

Some players will insist that if you aren't pre-Init Hunt Prey every encounter, you're doing it wrong. As someone who consistently tries this approach, I'm seeing that save me actions about 10% of the time. There are a host of reasons why pre-Init HP doesn't pay off that I won't go into here. Its generally free, so you still do it as much as you can, but it's not the Action panacea some make it out to be.

The point is, if you take an animal, be prepared for having to find Actions to use it, or accept it may just sit there and do nothing for a decent number of your character's combat rounds. YMMV