Optimizing the Pathfinder Hunter class with 3.5

[GuestEleven]

I'm working on a character build for a campaign I'm joining Sunday. It is a 3.5/Pathfinder 1e mix campaign and I'm wanting to try out this Hunter class. I'm not familiar at all with making an animal companion class so I hope you guys can steer me in the right direction. This is a power-gamer type of campaign, very strong PCs and incredibly dangerous encounters.

I get a free 3.5 regional feat, two flaws and a feat at every odd level. That isn't including the free teamwork feats baked into the Hunter class. Also I get leadership for free (wow). I am starting at level 8. All official 3.5 and Pathfinder 1e material is available except for the ToB.

The hunter class is a PF 1e core class, it is ultimately a child of the ranger and druid. Its main gimmicks are an animal companion, teamwork feats which you share with said companion and 1st-6th level spell casting. The cool thing about the spell casting is that you draw all your spells off the Druid AND Ranger spell lists. If a spell appears on both spell lists, you treat the spell as the lower of the two levels. That means you have access to 1st level ranger spells at level 1, how cool! The hunter also casts spontaneously. The only real downside is that they don't know all of the spells on their respective lists, they have a spells known chart.

I'm not really sure if I want to take any PrCs. I'd like to have more than one animal companion, I was thinking a Fleshraker for sure and maybe a giant constrictor snake. Plus a Tyrannosaurus or something obnoxious if I take wild cohort. Aberrations and undead are going to be commonplace this campaign, most of the party has undead covered so I was thinking Gatekeeper Mystagogue could be very cool.

One thing I've been debating with myself is if I want to have my secondary focus be archery with a composite great bow or if I want to do a TWF AOO/crit build with kukris. Initially I was sold on archery, but then I noticed a teamwork feat called Outflank. Not only does it double your flank bonus, but it also allows your ally to make a free AOO when you score a crit.

Thanks in advance for any feedback.

[Kurald Galain]

A powerful combo for hunters is to use the Paired Opportunists feat (whenever either of you get an OA, both of you do) and Broken Wing Gambit (after hitting an enemy, free OA if he attacks you back).
Then, add Outflank (free OA on a crit), a keen weapon, and a keen AOMF for the animal. The result is lots of extra attacks.

Aside from that, every hunter should take Planar Focus, in particular for its fire ability.

[Maat Mons]

Personally, I lack any substantial familiarity with Teamwork feats. If you also lack familiarity with Teamwork feats, and don’t want to bother becoming familiar, you could use the Divine Hunter archetype. This sacrifices your bonus Teamwork feats (except Outflank) and your ability to share Teamwork feats with your Animal Companion (except Outflank) to instead give your Animal Companion the Celestial Creature template. That gives it DR 5/evil and resistance 5 to acid, cold, and electricity.

Then again, if you’re taken with Outflank, you might like Pack Flanking and Precise Strike.

If you’re not terribly impressed with the various Animal Focuses (many of them overlap with common items), you might consider the Primal Companion archetype. This lets you pick a suite of perks from a list, which you can then grant to your Animal Companion for 1 min/day/level, in one-minute intervals, as a swift action. So basically, they can be active in every combat. A nice suite, in my view is +5 ft. reach on bite attacks, the ability to pull a target 5 ft. closer to itself on a successful bite attack, and the ability to trip a target on a successful bite attack.

[glass]

Point of information: Hunter (https://www.aonprd.com/ClassDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Hunter) is not a core class; it is in the ACG.

That aside, I have seen it suggested that the Hunter is stronger if you eschew the animal companion and apply the all-day Animal Focus to themselves instead. I am not sure I buy it (it pretty much wastes the bonus Teamwork feats, apart from anything else), but in any case based on the OP I am guessing you want the AC anyway so I am going to ignore that.

In which case, you might want to consider a Wayang (https://www.aonprd.com/ClassDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Hunter). They are small creatures, which means you can ride a medium companion and go pretty much anywhere a medium PC could go, and have no strength penalty unlike most small creatures so you're not suffering in melee (there may be others but they are the only one I know OTTOMH).

If you are small with a medium companion (or vice versa) consider the Blades Above and Below (https://aonprd.com/FeatDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Blades%20Above%20and%20B elow) Teamwork feat. The last line about the target having to be the same size as one of you is annoying, which is why I am saying "consider", rather than "definitely take" but you probably want one of the non-standard flanking options given how many good Teamwork feats care about flanking. Improved Outflank (https://aonprd.com/FeatDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Improved%20Outflank) is worth a look for the same reason. Pack Flanking (https://aonprd.com/FeatDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Pack%20Flanking) is the best option in play, if you can stomach the prerequisites.

[quetzalcoatl5]

I wonder how feat like Exalted Companion would interact with Pathfinder Animal Companion rules.

You can also look into Touch of Golden Ice for the pet to cripple its target.