Help with feats. (Pathfinder)

[krackabbage]

I'm new to rpgs in general. I never made a character by myself until now. I've been reading as much information as I can but i'm very confused with feats. This campaign is starting at level 5. I read that I get 2 feats to start out. 1 normally and a added one because i'm human. But at level 2, I get a combat feat. Is that a new feat I can add at lvl 2 or does it just allow me to pick from the combat feats when I get my next feat at level 3. Also I'm looking at the leveling chart http://paizo.com/prd/classes/ranger.html
Do I have to spend my feat to unlock the specials or do I just get it when I hit that level? Also Under combat feats, do I get all the feats up to level level 6 feats or do I just get to pick one. Sorry but I'm just very confused.

[Pex]

A Combat feat is a type of feat, a description of a set of feats that deals with combat analogous to Metamagic feats being a description of a set of feats dealing with spellcasting. If your class says you get a Combat feat as a bonus feat at 2nd level, you get that feat at 2nd level. If a feat is a Combat feat, it will be printed with (Combat) next to its name. Only feats with (Combat) next to it are available to choose from for your bonus feat, provided you meet its prerequisites if any. Feats that you get by levels that every character gets can be any feat you want of any description if you meet the prerequisites. The feat might be (Combat) feat anyway or might not, but it doesn't matter for these feats you gain as you level.

[Firest Kathon]

The basic feat progression is based on levels, as detailed here (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/character-advancement). You get a feat for every odd-numbered level. As you will be starting at 5th level, you will get 3 feats from your levels (1st, 3rd, 5th). In addition, humans (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/core-races/human#TOC-Feat-and-Skill-Racial-Traits) get one bonus feat at 1st level. This means you have 4 feats which you can choose freely, provided you meet the prerequisites as listed in the feat description.

If a class grants you bonus feats, these are in addition to the normal feat progression. Some classes get bonus feats which have to be chosen from specific categories. Examples:

The fighter (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/fighter) may choose a combat feat (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats) at several levels.
The wizard (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/wizard) may choose a metamagic (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/metamagic-feats) or item creation (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/item-creation-feats) feat at levels 5, 10, 15 and 20.

If a feat belongs into one of these categories, as Pex wrote, it will be written as such in the feat description (e.g. "Weapon Focus (Combat)" or "Empower Spell (Metamagic)"). Also, in the books and on the SRD they are usually shown in seperate lists. If new books come out, they may contain new feats which also fall into these categories and which can then also be chosen as bonus feats.

The ranger is a special case, in that they get to choose not from a category but from a defined list. When you reach 2nd level (or when you create a higher-level character from scratch), you choose one combat style from the ones listed on the Ranger class description (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/ranger#TOC-Combat-Style-Feat-Ex-), e.g. Archery. At each level where the ranger gets a bonus feat (called here "Combat Style Feat", levels 2, 6, 10, 14, 18), you choose one of the feats listed for this combat style. As you increase in levels, more feats are available to you. Also, when you choose one of the feats through this class ability, you do not need to meet the prerequisites as given in the feat descriptions, you can just ignore those. If you choose one of those feats when you gain a feat normally through a new level (e.g. at 3rd level), you have to meet the prerequisites normally.
For example, let's say you chose the Archery combat style. For the bonus feat at 2nd level, you may only choose from Far Shot, Focused Shot, Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, and Rapid Shot. Once you reach 6th level, you get another bonus feat. This time you may choose from Crossbow Mastery, Improved Precise Shot, Parting Shot, Point Blank Master and Manyshot, in addition to the feats which were available to you before. At 10th level, you may also choose from Pinpoint Targeting and Shot on the Run.

I hope this clears up the matter somehow, if not, just keep asking :smallsmile:. Also, if this is your first self-build character, you may want to look at one of the class guides (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?233029-PF-Optimization-Guides-Compendium) that people have created. They give you many recommendations for the choices you have to make, and usually also explain why a given choice may be more or less advantageous (I'm avoiding the word "better" on purpose here).

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