Adventures with bird

[Morrison]

Have a fairly specific character idea but not sure what the best way to build it is. I want to make a martial character who fights in tandem with a bird friend. Could be familiar or animal companion. The obvious ways to do this are the Huntsmaster Cavalier, the Sacred Huntsmaster Inquisitor, and the Falconer Ranger. Which of these is the best? Or is there some other option I'm forgetting?

[stack]

Have a fairly specific character idea but not sure what the best way to build it is. I want to make a martial character who fights in tandem with a bird friend. Could be familiar or animal companion. The obvious ways to do this are the Huntsmaster Cavalier, the Sacred Huntsmaster Inquisitor, and the Falconer Ranger. Which of these is the best? Or is there some other option I'm forgetting?


3PP suggestion - Ravenlord Harbinger does the job really well. The PoW ranger archetype could do it too. Both are in PoWe.

The obvious first party option is hunter of course.

[Morrison]

I don't know the 3pp stuff very well. What's the name of the book?

As for the Hunter, any specific archetype that would be well-suited to a bird buddy? I'd probably want to count it as a falcon, I suppose.

[Geddy2112]

If you want a counts as falcon, the "bird" animal companion fits the bill. You could also get a roc or large vulture if you want something more oomph. A familiar won't have the punch a companion will.

Is there a reason you are against the druid? A 3/4th BAB is not terrible, and with buff spells and beast shaping you will be a fine frontliner.

The sea singer or duettist bard can get a familiar, getting you a raven. Likewise, an alchemist can get a tumor familiar.

I think ranger will fit the best if you want a full BAB martial, otherwise hunter is solid.

[Azoth]

Do remember Nature's Soul + Animal Ally + Boon Companion = Full scaling Animal Companion on any class.

So, how do you envision them fighting together? That may help narrow things down.

[TheIronGolem]

I don't know the 3pp stuff very well. What's the name of the book?

Path of War and Path of War Expanded. The former has the rules for the martial initiation system, and the latter contains the Harbinger class.

Also, a Magus can take a familiar as an Arcana, assuming that isn't too magical for your concept.

[Coidzor]

What do you want other than to have a birb friend?

Just hit things? Combat maneuvers? Intimidate? Skills? Know how to talk to people? Have some buffing magic?

What do you want birb to do?

Just scout and flank enemies for you? Bodyguard stuff? Something more involved?

[the_david]

There's another option that makes familiars a lot more suited for combat.

In the Familiar Folio you can find the Eldritch Guardian archetype for the fighter. You lose our first 2 bonus feats, but you gain a familiar. You can also share your combat feats with your familiar.
Now you could give that familiar de Mauler archetype so that it gains strength instead of intelligence, and it can increase in size at level 3. At level 11 it will get damage reduction instead of spell resistance.
Then your fighter can take the Mauler's Endurance feat so your familiar gains 2 hit points per level.

[Yanisa]

There's another option that makes familiars a lot more suited for combat.

In the Familiar Folio you can find the Eldritch Guardian archetype for the fighter. You lose our first 2 bonus feats, but you gain a familiar. You can also share your combat feats with your familiar.
Now you could give that familiar de Mauler archetype so that it gains strength instead of intelligence, and it can increase in size at level 3. At level 11 it will get damage reduction instead of spell resistance.
Then your fighter can take the Mauler's Endurance feat so your familiar gains 2 hit points per level.

You can also take Martial Master archetype to gain swappable bonus feats, which you can share with your familiar thanks to Eldritch Guardian.
And you can pick up Mutation Warrior archetype gain Feral Mutagen to gain 2 claws and a bite attack, allowing you and a familiar to share benefits from weapon feats. Sadly birds fight with with talons (and not claws...), so it doesn't really work here...

Another interesting idea is that the Mauler archetype makes your familiar medium sized. If you yourself are a small sized race you can fly on your familiar.

[khadgar567]

after reading opening I think he wants to play quinn from league of legends and he wants to play as martial initator

[Morrison]

I don't know League of Legends so I can't say if that's true, but what I'm after is a bird I can use for scouting, flanking, combat maneuvers, and Teamwork stuff, while I do the majority of the damage in melee. My original idea was Two-Weapon Fighting because that looks cool, but I'm flexible on that point. I was not planning on going Druid; I realize they're incredible but the flavour I was after here was more hack-and-slash.
Basically I saw the Falconer archetype for Ranger and thought it sounded neat, but then I saw several other archetypes with a very similiar premise so now I'm wondering which one is the best.

[Prime32]

If 3.5 material is okay, then the Knight of the Raven PrC from Expedition to Castle Ravenloft. It grants a celestial raven familiar (well, not technically a familiar but it works almost the same) which never provokes AoOs from movement, and which can be commanded to distract enemies as a swift action (inflicting an AC penalty, causing them to provoke AoOs and preventing them from making AoOs of their own).

It's also a fairly solid class in general, granting full BAB, 9/10 divine spellcasting advancement and a few other abilities. And a ranger or paladin can meet the prereqs at lv4 rather than lv5 like most prestige classes.

[Starbuck_II]

Don't forget Magical Girl archetype for Vigilante.

[Morrison]

Don't forget Magical Girl archetype for Vigilante.

You mean Magical Child? That's really not the flavour I was looking for.

[Psyren]

I'd probably go with the Falconer as it gives up very little (a single bonus feat, and Wild Empathy.) Boon Companion will get it to full AC progression, and because it's an animal companion rather than a familiar, it gains HD and feats. I'd probably spec it for something annoying like Dirty Trick or Disarm.

You can then add on other archetypes to taste. For example, if you want to go for a spell-less ranger, you could drop in Skirmisher, gaining several swift, free and immediate-action tricks in exchange for your magic. If you want a Ranger that can operate in a variety of locations, Infiltrator will let you drop Favored Terrain in exchange for some aspect abilities. Or you could go for Wild Hunter and trade Favored Enemy for the Hunter Focuses. You can even combine multiple of these.