Feats for a Blink Dog Cohort?

[Gingernatar]

My Goblin bard had taken the Leadership feat awhile back, and we just realized that my cohort mount (a Blink Dog) should have leveled up along side me. My DM is letting me handle leveling him up, and I am having trouble picking out what feats my Blink Dog should take. Any suggestions?

[ExLibrisMortis]

How about Martial Study? It sets you up for Martial Stance, which gets you perma-flanking with Island of Blades, as long as your mount and an ally are adjacent to the same creature (hint: while mounted, you occupy the same space as your mount, so you're always adjacent to every creature your mount is adjacent to).

[Gingernatar]

How about Martial Study? It sets you up for Martial Stance, which gets you perma-flanking with Island of Blades, as long as your mount and an ally are adjacent to the same creature (hint: while mounted, you occupy the same space as your mount, so you're always adjacent to every creature your mount is adjacent to).

My character doesn't help too much by getting in the middle of combat. He mainly stays somewhere safe and sings. Would these feats still be useful?

[ExLibrisMortis]

My character doesn't help too much by getting in the middle of combat. He mainly stays somewhere safe and sings. Would these feats still be useful?
Well, yes, but for a different stance, probably. For example, Iron Guard's Glare is pretty useful defensively, Leading the Charge buffs charges for the entire party, and other stances could have you ignore difficult terrain or walk up walls. It depends on what you need, really, but blink dogs only have an initiator level of 1/2 HD, so you'd have to be level 10 before you could get a third-level stance (there are no second-level stances).

[Gingernatar]

Well, yes, but for a different stance, probably. For example, Iron Guard's Glare is pretty useful defensively, Leading the Charge buffs charges for the entire party, and other stances could have you ignore difficult terrain or walk up walls. It depends on what you need, really, but blink dogs only have an initiator level of 1/2 HD, so you'd have to be level 10 before you could get a third-level stance (there are no second-level stances).

Ah, I see. He is only level 9 right now...

[Gingernatar]

What about Skill Focus (Listen) and Keen-Eared Scout? That could be fun, and it works, considering he is a dog.

[ExLibrisMortis]

Ah, I see. He is only level 9 right now...
That means you're assigning level 6 and 9 feats, right? Either get a first-level stance (there are good ones in there), or pick a maneuver (with Martial Study) that sets you up for a stance at level 12, and use your other feat for something else cool, maybe Up the Walls, if you can hit DC 20 Concentration? Another cool feat is Shape Soulmeld, which can get you all sorts of funky effects (including, amusingly, the Worg Pelt, which would make it a blink dog channeling worg spirits). You probably want to invest at least two feats into meldshaping if you do decide to go that way.

[Hiro Quester]

Mage Slayer might be good.

A Blink Dog has enough intelligence to use it. Requires 2 ranks in Spellcraft, as I recall. gives +1 to will saves, which is good for a cohort to have.

But the main benefit is that it means magic users can't cast defensively in squares it threatens. And since a Blink dog can at-will dimension-door right up in a Magic user's face, that could be a good use of your cohort.

Train him to blink up to a magic user (free action) and ready an action to attack as soon as he sees the mage casting (that's why 2 ranks in spellcraft.)

Magic user can't cast defensively (so also generates an AOO), and has make a concentration check (DC 10 + points of damage taken + the level of the spell you’re casting) order to be able to cast that spell.

If blink dog takes you with him, then you also get that AOO.

[gorfnab]

What about Skill Focus (Listen) and Keen-Eared Scout? That could be fun, and it works, considering he is a dog.
Skill Focus is almost always a waste of a feat unless it is a prerequisite for something else. Keen Eared Scout is only marginally useful if you can't get that kind of information using knowledge checks or spells.

Shape Soulmeld (MoI) and Martial Study (ToB) can get you a decent amount of options. As stated earlier the Mage Slayer chain of feats and Combat Reflexes would allow you to harry spellcasters.