TL;DR: See title.
I'm currently playing a Dwarven Ranger (Ancient Blooded, Farmhand) in a Homebrew Campaign and we just hit level 5. I'm on the fence as to which Ancestry feat to choose.
Stats at level 5 are 19, 10, 18, 14, 16, 8. He's using a guisarme with Precision Edge and wearing full plate (Sentinel Dedication).
His current feats are
1- Gravity Weapon, Unburdened Iron, Assurance Athletics (backgrond)
2- Setinel Dedication, Quick Jump
3- Fleet
4- Disrupt Prey, Steel Skin
Feats I consider:
Dwarven Doughtiness - My decent wisdom will hopefull protect me from being Frightened 2 all that often. I also have Call on Ancient Blood form my heritage to help against magical fear effects.
Dwarven Lore - Trained in two more skills is always nice. The lore is probably useless, though.
Stonecunning - Good perception should allow me to spot stuff automatically even with the -2 penalty.
Surface Culture - GM would allow me to get Lore Andoran, where the Dwarf is from and where the campaign takes place (so far). Could be useful, also for earning income thanks to the auto scaling.
Sheltering Slab - Using a reach weapon probably means I can choose my position a bit more freely so being adjacent to a wall shouldn't be that hard to pull off in a lot of situations. We do have a fighter tank, thogh, so I'm not sure how often enemies will even try to flank me.
Which of those would you recommend? Any outstanding ancestry feats I didn't list and might be oblivious of?
Unless the party's already doubled up on those skills, Dwarven Lore is worthwhile (not for the Lore itself as noted).
If in an undead, aberration, dragon, or otherwise fear-themed game, Doughtiness might come up enough (and despite his Wisdom, Ranger Will saves are low.) Might.
Stonecunning is a fine fallback feat if in standard adventuring settings, even cities. So many secret doors & mechanical floor traps are made of stone. Might avoid in village/forest-based campaigns.
As for unlisted, I like Rock Runner because I find rubble a common difficult terrain (and one the party might create itself), though that's if you're in ruins or caves often and Reach does alleviate that somewhat. Also depends on party composition, and whether you aim to fly eventually (which you might need to in higher levels, given your poor Dex).
Also Defy the Darkness, if available and depending on the counterattacking power of your party when casting Light. As in are there two max-stat spellcasters who can take Light to prep for entering dark-themed villain lairs or the Plane of Shadow?
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I took Dwarven Lore in a similar situation (and had Rock Runner already). The actual Dwarven Lore skill has come up once or twice, but it's really going to depend on your campaign. Religion was a nice pickup for my character, and I already had Crafting, so it was a free skill choice. I think maybe I took Survival. I can't remember.
Defy the Darkness is good if allowed. My character is in PFS, and that feat is currently limited access.
Dwargen Lore is one of the better Lores to have. Dwarven ruins are pretty common IME and Dwarven Settlements are usually where you get some of the best magic items. The skill training is still the real interest, of course.
Thanks for all the input!
Defy the Darkness is realy not good enough to spend a feat on, in my opinion. Magical darkness no longer blinds completely if if you have darkvision. I'd much rather bring a Cat's Eye Elixir or two instead of spending a feat to counter a rare annoyance.
Rock Runner will often not be needed, I think. I can jump 20 feet with a single action next level so I hope to be able to ignore difficult terrain more often than not. Doesn't help for Steps but I think I can live with that if I wield a reach weapon.
Avenge in Glory doesn't seem all that useful. The only one dropping frequently was my witch who is currently gone due to story reasons.
I'm not sure which skill to take to Expert at level 5 yet, either. Was going to increase Medicine, but my skill feats are tied for the next few levels and without Continual Recovery, my Treat Wounds would mean our dedicated Medic can't heal the target anymore. So I kind of dropped out of Medicine for now.
I might get Dwarven Lore and get Crafting to expert. Maybe even Eye for Treasure instead so we have one more person to identify magical items. It's mostly done by the rogue right now.