Build advice

[Siri Silk]

Hello, dear patfinder 2e community.
I'n new to the system and want to advice to make and build a character with feats, skillfeats, skill increases and dedications. Last but not least stat suggestion would also be helpfull :)
My whish is to include the following criteria:

1. My idea is to make fighter with ranged bow as main weapon.
2. Have a riding drake as familiar or companion
3. Would be great if i could use a 2-handed weapon as backup to utilise AOO to some degree when enemy gets to close.
4. Provide some support to using spells to round out utility.

So really a allround character but 1,2 3 is most imporant.

i was thinkin Fighter then dedication beastmaster and later Archer dedication to get crit specialisation on 2 weapons one on bows and one one melee weapon. I don't know if druid suits better then beastmaster or if i'm better of with something else :)

[gesalt]

Something like this is painful without free archetype and alternative bonus progression but it can be done. Not in a timely manner, but doable.

Skills and skill feats barely matter. Just make sure one of your skills match whatever casting dedication you're picking and that you aren't overlapping much with the rest of your party. Do not try to cover more than 3 skills which you'll push to legendary.

For general feats, toughness, fleet and canny acumen are required. You can also get good use out of ancestral paragon. Pick these in any order you want.

Fighter base:

Ancestry: Human base
12/18/16/8/14/8
01. Point blank shot
02. Beastmaster dedication
04. Mature companion
06. Free
08. Incredible companion (Nimble)
09. Multitalented (human ancestry feat)
10. Debilitating shot
12. Archetype casting or mauler
14. See 12 or specialized companion
16. See 14
18. See 16
20. Free

Without free archetype you can't really get everything you want without serious issues in overall progression. Companions require feats to have any hope of scaling enough to not explode when looked at funny so those feats are mostly locked in where they are. Multitalented at 9 gives you a multiclass archetype feat which enables casting progression. Debilitating shot at 10 is ranged fighter's best ability and should not be skipped or delayed. 12-18 are your casting progression feats. You can also choose to get that melee option or make your companion more survivable (dex options > con options).

Magus base:

Alternatively we use magus as a base. They come with some spells and no barrier to switch-hitting.

Human
8/18/14/16/12/8

01. Force fang -> familiar
02. Beastmaster dedication
04. Mature companion
06. Attack of Opportunity
08. Incredible companion (Nimble)
09. Multitalented (psychic [tangible dream])
10. Psi development
12. Archetype casting or conflux focus
14. See 12 or specialized companion
16. See 14
18. See 16
20. Supreme spellstrike

Starlit span magus can spellstrike at range and in melee. Level 1 doesn't really matter, but we make it a familiar after level 10 to get some extra focus recharge. Basic companion feats plus AoO for levels 2-8. Psychic dedication at 9 lets us get some extra slots from archetype casting and imaginary weapon for big focus spellstrikes. Everything's up to you after that.

[breithauptclan]

By 'fighter' do you mean specifically the Fighter class, or will any martial class with good bow support fit the character concept?

My first choice for this character concept would be Precision Ranger. Good with both bow and 2-hand weapons. You can also get Animal Companion in-class as well as a couple focus spells. Ranger doesn't have AoO, but you can instead pick up Disrupt Prey, which is pretty comparable. So you would only need to go for an archetype to get the better utility spellcasting.

If you do want to go specifically with Fighter as your base class it comes with AoO, Bow skills, and 2-hand weapon skills right out of the gate. If I am reading things right, Beastmaster will get a better companion at higher levels than Druid archetype will. But Druid archetype comes with the spellcasting also. So it depends on how high of level this game is going to play to in order to know which is going to be the better choice.

And if you are wanting help organizing which feats and skill boosts your character has, you could try one of the many free character creation tools such as Wanderer's Guide or Pathbuilder2e.