Feats for a Deinonychus?

[Extra Anchovies]

Exactly what the title says. Building a ranged Hunter at the moment, with a Deinonychus companion, and have no idea what to give it beyond Improved Initiative and Improved Natural Attack for each of its natural weapons. What else?

For the record, the Hunter is human and will put the favored class bonus towards skill points for the companion (so it can max out both Stealth and Perception), and the Hunter will be focused on ranged combat.

[Spore]

Toughness is a staple for all of my companions. When you increased its intelligence to 3 light armor proficiency becomes a smart choice. You could also go for Rend but I prefer defensive options.

[Extra Anchovies]

Toughness is a staple for all of my companions. When you increased its intelligence to 3 light armor proficiency becomes a smart choice. You could also go for Rend but I prefer defensive options.

The companion will already have about 20 more HP than me at 20th level, but I suppose Toughness would still help since it'll be the one in melee :smalltongue:

I didn't know that creatures needed Int 3 for light armor proficiency; does that mean if you put more than leather barding on a horse it takes the penalty to attack?

I also do not know how to acquire Rend via feat. If I could, though, that would be excellent with the companion's five attacks :smallbiggrin:

[lytokk]

Iron will. I was playing a paladin with a clawfoot mount and it only had to fail its willsave once before I decided it needed to be shored up. I'll look for the character sheet when I get home from work and see if there's anything of more benefit on there. I do know I had the mount take imp natural attack, I think Multiattack as well, to get those penalties on secondary attacks down.

[Milo v3]

Animal companions can select from the following feats: Acrobatic, Agile Maneuvers, Armor Proficiency (light, medium, and heavy), Athletic, Blind-Fight, Combat Reflexes, Diehard, Dodge, Endurance, Great Fortitude, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Initiative, Improved Natural Armor, Improved Natural Attack, Improved Overrun, Intimidating Prowess, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Mobility, Power Attack, Run, Skill Focus, Spring Attack, Stealthy, Toughness, Weapon Finesse, and Weapon Focus.
So yeah, pretty restrictive. Though you can take Armour Proficiency regardless of intelligence and these restrictions go if your companions intelligence is 3+.

[Extra Anchovies]

Animal companions can select from the following feats: Acrobatic, Agile Maneuvers, Armor Proficiency (light, medium, and heavy), Athletic, Blind-Fight, Combat Reflexes, Diehard, Dodge, Endurance, Great Fortitude, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Initiative, Improved Natural Armor, Improved Natural Attack, Improved Overrun, Intimidating Prowess, Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Mobility, Power Attack, Run, Skill Focus, Spring Attack, Stealthy, Toughness, Weapon Finesse, and Weapon Focus.So yeah, pretty restrictive. Though you can take Armour Proficiency regardless of intelligence and these restrictions go if your companions intelligence is 3+.

Hm. Thanks for posting the list, I wasn't able to find that for some reason.

I don't know if I'd actually need to give it Armor Proficiency (Light); at low levels, leather will be enough, and I can upgrade to masterwork studded leather, and eventually mithral chain barding, all of which have no ACP.

[deuxhero]

I'm of the light armor prof being pointless camp.

As a Deinonychus has pounce, consider Rhino's Charge. Being able to charge as a standard action is notable if you can pounce.

[Extra Anchovies]

I'm of the light armor prof being pointless camp.

As a Deinonychus has pounce, consider Rhino's Charge. Being able to charge as a standard action is notable if you can pounce.

Hm. Interesting, however:

1. It's the end of a three-feat chain (Power Attack + Improved Bull Rush isn't exactly a bad feat chain, but it's still three feats).
2. It only allows you to ready a charge action. So you still use up all of your actions in a round, it just lets you charge in response to external triggering conditions.

[deuxhero]

You can set the conditions to ANYTHING though (enemy blinks), essentially just making it so you have to use your move/swift before charging.

Another option for animal companions is Improved Unarmed Strike. This gives you an extra attack (or 2/3 at higher levels) that improves with an amulet of mighty fists, but turns every natural weapon into a secondary. Deinonychus has 5 primary attacks though and isn't as good at using that trick as one with attacks that are ALREADY secondaries.

[animewatcha]

Is there a way for hunter to give animal companion benefits of teamwork feat? What about 'charging' with ranged attacks since you wanna be ranged?

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/coordinated-charge-combat-teamwork

[grarrrg]

Is there a way for hunter to give animal companion benefits of teamwork feat? What about 'charging' with ranged attacks since you wanna be ranged?

That's, like, one of the main things about the Hunter (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/hybrid-classes/hunter) class:
"Hunter Tactics (Ex)
At 3rd level, the hunter automatically grants her teamwork feats to her animal companion. The companion doesn't need to meet the prerequisites of these teamwork feats."

But you cannot make a 'Ranged Charge', as a Charge is explicitly a Melee attack.

[Extra Anchovies]

You can set the conditions to ANYTHING though (enemy blinks), essentially just making it so you have to use your move/swift before charging.

Another option for animal companions is Improved Unarmed Strike. This gives you an extra attack (or 2/3 at higher levels) that improves with an amulet of mighty fists, but turns every natural weapon into a secondary. Deinonychus has 5 primary attacks though and isn't as good at using that trick as one with attacks that are ALREADY secondaries.

Still, since it gains multiattack then Improved Unarmed Strike essentially gives it a flurry of blows, but better (eight attacks at level 20 vs. the monk's seven). (ETA: better ignoring BAB, that is) Unarmed strikes wouldn't do much damage, but they could potentially be combat maneuvers... Improved Trip is out of reach by quite a bit thanks to Combat Expertise's Intelligence requirement, but Improved Grapple remains an option. What do you think about turning him into a pouncing grappler?

[deuxhero]

You also get only half your strength bonus for damage doing it.

If you can find a rider effect it's fantastic, but the only obvious one (Dazing Assault) won't come up till 16 (Aasimar Oracle can get it on their AC at 11 ECL).

[Extra Anchovies]

You also get only half your strength bonus for damage doing it.

Oooh, that's a very good point. I may be skipping it, then. At the moment I have:



Hunter Level
Animal Companion Feat


1
Improved Initiative


2
Toughness


5
Iron Will


8
Improved Natural Attack (Claws)


10
Improved Natural Attack (Talons)


13
Improved Natural Attack (Bite)


16
Combat Reflexes


18
[not at all sure what to put here]


ETA: What should I make the 18th level feat be? Maybe Extra Item Slot so I can give it more magic items?

[Novawurmson]

Power Attack is pretty vital for dealing damage in melee. Just sayin'.

Edit: Just for comparison: Improved Natural Attack (Talons) will push a 1d8 to a 2d6, or an average of 4.5 damage to an average of 7 (a 2.5 increase in damage). At level 4, Power Attack would give you a +4 increase in damage per hit and also applies to your bite (and later, your claws). Especially if you're going to be buffing it as a hunter, go Power Attack.

[Extra Anchovies]

Power Attack is pretty vital for dealing damage in melee. Just sayin'.

Edit: Just for comparison: Improved Natural Attack (Talons) will push a 1d8 to a 2d6, or an average of 4.5 damage to an average of 7 (a 2.5 increase in damage). At level 4, Power Attack would give you a +4 increase in damage per hit and also applies to your bite (and later, your claws). Especially if you're going to be buffing it as a hunter, go Power Attack.

Hm. Maybe move Iron Will, INA (Claws), and INA (Talons) down one slot each, move INA (Bite) down two slots, and add in Power Attack at level 5?

[Diachronos]

Does your DM have animal companions go on their own initiative instead of their master's, or does he have them take their turns together? If it's the latter, then you're probably not going to want Imp. Initiative, since it'll be using your roll anyway.