Feats for a "Smart" Pteranodon Companion (Pathfinder)

[Zach J.]

A friend of mine is going to run a Pathfinder game set in a somewhat primitive setting, using the movie Fire and Ice as a reference. She's told me that there are dinosaurs in the setting and in particular there are certain groups who train Pteranodons and ride them. I thought this sounded cool so I decided to make a human druid using the Saurian Shaman archetype. Looking through the alternate racial traits I saw something that caught my eye: Eye for Talent. Using that I could raise my pteranodon's intelligence to 4 and allow him to take any feat or skill he qualifies for. Having a somewhat intelligent companion appeals to me so what I'm asking if if there are any good feats or skills for a flying companion that don't appear on the normal list of feats and skills for animal companions.

[Rapidghoul]

There's always teamwork feats. Figure out something you can do with your companion regularly, have both of you take them, and suddenly teamwork feats are decent. If you have a way to abuse flat-footedness, the Shatter Defenses (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/shatter-defenses-combat---final) chain can be really nice on a companion, since it frees up your feats and actions to actually take advantage of flat-footedness.


However, instead of pumping Int by 2, you could pump its Cha by 2 instead for a bit of fun. Just bear with me; it's worth it, albeit ridiculous.

Level 1, take anything you want. I like armor proficiency as it's an easy way to severely improve a companion's AC (and give it armor abilities to go even further). Level 3, take Skill Focus; the exact one depends on what you do later. Level 4, pump its Int to 3 so you can take whatever feats you want and grab Eldritch Heritage. At level 9 you can bump its Cha again so it can get Improved by level 13.

My favorite options are Protean (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/sorcerer/bloodlines/bloodlines-from-paizo/protean-bloodline) and Verdant (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/sorcerer/bloodlines/bloodlines-from-paizo/verdant-bloodline). Protean gives a free tanglefoot bag with light acid damage and a nice combat ability in reality wrinkle. Verdant is a little situational, but still pretty cool. Shadow (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/sorcerer/bloodlines/bloodlines-from-paizo/shadow-bloodline) bloodline's Shadow Well ability is great to have, especially since it doesn't take up your action if your companion is doing it. The rest of it is a little less worth while.

There's a bunch more to choose from, but these are just my personal suggestions. Like I said, it's ridiculous, but RAW it's perfectly legal. And even RAI, Eldritch Heritage is about a weaker form of a sorcerer's connection to a bloodline, so whose to say a pteradon couldn't do this too?

[Zach J.]

Thanks for the suggestions. I doubt my DM would let me get away with giving Eldritch Heritage to the pteranodon, but the teamwork feats sound pretty cool.

Edit: After looking through the Pathfinder SRD's section on feats I saw one that caught my eye, Lookout. Thanks again for the suggestions.