What are you favourite companion builds ?

[LostStorm]

Looking for some inspiration for a new run.

[hexentwerk]

I started a Core playthrough and Wenduag Fighter 4 and Rogue Rowdy up is causing bloody mayhem.
If you have Lord of Nothing or what it was, 1 in Ghost Rider Camellia looks badass and works so far. If only 1, Gendarme would be better for minmaxing tho (combat feat at level 1)
Woljif 4 eldritch scoundrel and Alchemist Vivisectionist up also made him not fall over and die constantly. If you can somehow make it work (I mean he's got the INT for it) Woljif Wizard Shadowcaster begs to be a thing for fluff

I forgot to mention another fun companion, hellknight reggie on a triceratops/Bismuth :) no class with animal companion feat required that way

[Trolleur_Durden]

Lann as a Zen archer 3 / Cleric 17 is pretty fun, WIS being used for both spellcasting and bow attacks is pretty straightforward. His spell acquisition is a bit delayed, but eventually he can reach 9th tier spells. Considering there's not that many busted mythic abilities for archers anyway, getting greater enduring spells is a no-brainer, allowing him to buff like crazy forever and remain more than relevant in combat afterwards as an archer.

There's a crazy build for Seelah which I've seen on Reddit and refined a bit for myself. Here's the recipe : Paladin 3 / Monk Scaled fist 1 / Dragon disciple 4 / Bloodrager Primalist (draconic bloodlinee) 12. The general idea is to combine various offensive and defensive abilities of all those melee classes. Paladin 3 provides various nice immunities, Scaled fist allows you to add CHA to AC and use flurry of blows with staffs, Bloodrager provides you natural AC bonus, Rage defensive powers as a primalist and Mage armor which can be upgraded with a mythic ability. I don't like to rest and refresh 40 buffs too often, so Limitless rage is a no-brainer for me. Dragon disciple adds some more natural AC and STR. It's a bit counterintuitive to play her without armor and shield, but thanks to the paradoxical way Pathfinder rules work, she's actually much tankier this way, while being much more relevant on offense too.

[FunkyMonkey]

My favorites that I use almost everytime are:

Seelah as Paladin 2 / Oracle 18 (Battle mystery)
I respec her stats slightly but that is not required for this in any way. Very straight forward build, you can take secon mystery with mythic levels to get an animal companion if you like or what I do, which is take Life mystery for Channel energy. Battle has some good revelations, like Weapon mastery (I like Longsword so she can use Radiance) or War sight. I also take Power attack and Cornugon smash and later Dazzzling display and Shatter defenses. Outflank is a must, too. For spells just take buffs and heals.

Second one I really like is Nenio as Loremaster. I usually respec her to be Exploiter wizard instead of Scroll savant, but Scroll savant works too. I like Loremaster so I can get my pick from other class spell lists. Things like Barkskin as a buff, Creeping doom or even a second source of Heal is really good.

[mbradtke]

selaah could make a good skald, esp. the new skard archetype is very good...
but then you miss out on mark of justice....

[Janthis]

I play on normal and do builds for fun, so these will probably be useless on higher difficulty levels. But my usual lineup is:

Seelah - Paladin with longsword/shield spec, as I give her Radiance. She's the main tank.

Sosiel - Cleric, main healer, secondary tank, pretty standard.

Lann - Usually go zen archer until level 6 or so, then demon slayer ranger. Main ranged attacker/DPS

Ember - I never liked the witch class, so I usually make her a firedancer bard. It still fits her theme, plus the fire resist aura comes in useful during the early game.

Nenio - Rowdy rogue for sneak attack and vital strike, then arcane trickster. Basically spec her into a heavy crossbow sniper plus buffing and utility spells.

And when I get Arueshalae, I sometimes replace Lann with her, filling the same role. Last playthrough I used Toybox to make her a kineticist, that was fun. She works as a bard as well.

I didn't really use the other companions much.

[revan1229]

I typically travel with small parties, so I don't use that many companions anymore. But of the companions that I still use, tried and true builds are:

-Seelah: Either Pal 11/Demonslayer 1/Court Poet 8 or Pal 3/Demonslayer 1/Court Poet 16

-Nenio: SS 3/Incense Synthesizer 17

-Sosiel: Cleric 18/Loremaster 1/Crossblooded Sorc 1 or Cleric 16/Loremaster 3/Crossblooded Sorc 1

-Camellia: Spirit Hunter X/Loremaster 1 (generally replaced in Act 3 by Wildlands Shaman merc)

[Foca]

My favourite party so far in my unfair runs, works well with a melee main charater
nenio is the CC with mass icy prison and can hit with hellfire ray also a party buffer
sosiel is main buffer and the main hitter with hellfire ray
daeran gives the pets a bonus to ac and to ST and in the end can hit with hellfire ray
lann buffs attacks rolls and ac and give the pounce ability after the charge also a group buffer
seelah on the horse charge like a truck
everibody except nenio with max in use magic device so they can use frightfull aspect or ice body or fiery body

just to give some Ideas a copy paste of my clipboard

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daeran 1-14 oracle, 15 sorcerer crossblooded, 16-20 loremaster


04: +CON (then all CHA); Spell - Bulls Strength
05: Weapon Finesse; Spells – Divine Favour, Aid
06: Spell – Prayer

Mythic Progression 1 before gaining level 7

07: Outflank; Revelation – Animal Comp. Wolf Spells –------ Unbreakable Heart, Protection from Alignment Communal, Archons Aura
08: Spells – Crusaders Edge
09: lunge; Spells – Effortless Armor, ------ Animate Dead, Death Ward
10: Spells –---- Burst of Glory
11: Improved Critical rapier; Revelation – Friend to Animals ----- Spells – any, Remove Curse, Freedom of Movement, Spell Resistance
12: Spells –----- Dispel Magic Greater
13: spell penetration – Rapier; Spells –----- Divine Power, Raise Dead, Inspiring Recovery
14: Spells –---- Resurrection
15: SORCERER crossbloded gold/arcane skill focus world, metamagic extended
16: loremaster ROGUE TRICK improved evasion
17: loremaster boon companion
18: loremaster wizard feat greater spell penetration
19: loremaster point blank shot
20: loremaster wizard spell foresight

Mythic:
01: Second Mystery - Nature
02: Extra Mythic Ability – Abundant Casting
03: Mythic Ability – Improved Abundant Casting
04: Mythical Beast
05: Mythic Ability – Greater Abundant Casting
06: last stand
07: master shapeshifter
08: spell penetration mithyc
09: ascendant element fire
10: extra feat precise shot

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lann 1 monk zen archer, 2-19 skald, 20 demonslayer

1
2 Metamagic (Extend Spell)
3 lingering performance / power attack
4 Spells lethal stance
5 Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Fauchard
6
7 Outflank // beast totem lesser
8 cleave
9 focused strike
10 Spells // Beast Totem
11 Improved Critical: Fauchard
12
13 lunge ,Beast Totem Greater // Improved Initiative
14 Spells
15 weapon focus fauchard
16 Deadly Accuracy
17 cleaving finish
18 Blind Fight
19 Lethal Acuracy improved blind fight
20 demonslayer

1: last stand
2: Extra Mythic Ability: Mythic Inspiration
3: Ever Ready
4: Improved Critical (Mythic): Fauchard
5: inspirational leader
6: Mythic Power Attack
7: Master Shapeshifter
8: Improved Initiative Mythic
9: rapture restrain
10: weapon focus mithyc fauchard

-------

nenio 1-9 wizard scroll savant, 10 sorcerer crossbloded, 11-19 loremaster, 20 wizzard scroll savant

1 wizard
2 wizard
3 wizard
4 Wizard
5 Wizard - Selective Spell
6 Wizard
7 Wizard - Greater Spell Penetration
8 Wizard
9 Wizard - Skill Focus: Arcana/World
10 Sorcerer- crossblooded gold/arcane metamagic extended spell
11 *Loremaster - Spell Focus: evocation // Combat Feat: Precise Shot
12 loremaster
13 loremaster Greater Spell Focus: evocation// cleric spell divine power
14 *Loremaster //
15 loremaster Ambuscading Spell Rogue Secret: Combat Trick > improved evasion
16 *Loremaster -
17 Loremaster improved initiative /// druid spell firestorm
18 *Loremaster -
19 Loremaster element focus ice wizard Feat: great element Focus: ice
20 wizard



1 ascendant element fire
2 Abundant Casting
3 Improved Abundant Casting
4 Spell Penetration (Mythic)
5 Greater Abundant Casting
6 Spell Focus (Mythic): evocation
7 favourite metamagic selective
8 improved initiative (Mythic)
9 last stand
10 master shapeshifter

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seelah 1 paladin, 2 monk sohei, 3-5 mutation warrior, 6-15 paladin, 16-17 mutation warrior, 18 monk sohei, 19-20 paladin

1 Paladin
2 Monk - spirited charge // Horse daredevil
3 Fighter - Boon Companion // Power Attack
4 Fighter - EXOTIC WEAPON PROFICENCY FAUCHARD
5 Fighter - Focused Strike
6 Paladin -
7 Paladin - Outflank,
8 Paladin -
9 Paladin - IMPROVED CRITICAL FAUCHARD
10 Paladin -
11 Paladin - combat reflexes,
12 Paladin
13 Paladin - lunge
14 Paladin
15 Paladin - metamagic extended spell
16 Fighter - blind fight
17 Fighter - Weapon Focus fauchard/ weapon traininig polearms (fauchard)
18 Monk - Improved initiative
19 Paladin - Weapon specialization fauchard
20 Paladin


1 last stand
2 Power Attack (mythic)
3 ever ready
4 Improved Critical (Mythic): fauchard
5 Abundant Smite
6 rapture restrain
7 master shapeshifter
8 Improved Initiative (Mythic)
9 Mythical Beast
10 Weapon specialization (mithyc)

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sosiel 1-11 cleric, 12 sorcer crossbloded , 13 cleric, 14-16 loremaster, 17 cleric, 18-19 loremaster, 20 cleric

07: cleric Boon Companion
08: +WIS cleric
09: cleric spell penetration
10: cleric
11: cleric greater spell penetration
12: +WIS sorcerer crossbloded bolster spell // Water // Silver
13: cleric skill focus arcana world
14: Loremaster - combat feat precise shot
15: loremaster improved critical ray
16: +WIS loremaster rogue trick improved evasion
17: cleric piercing spell
18: loremaster
19: loremaster extended spell // wizard spell mind blank communal
20: +WIS cleric

Mythic:

01: Impossible Domain > Animal dog
02: Extra Mythic Ability > Impossible Domain > Community
03: Impossible Domain > Nobility
04: Extra Mythic Ability > Domain Zealot
05: abundant casting
06: improved abundant casting
07: greater abundant casting
08: Last Stand
09: ascendant element cold
10: master shapeshifter

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threshold action

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs5-ykEHjxg

[jonnin]

I usually take at least 1 mercenary very early on to fill in whatever I don't have enough of based off my main character's class. One staple here is a sohei tank, which I build as sylvan trickster rogue for 3 levels (to get iceplant hex and finesse training unarmed) then sohei out to get a horse (also helps tank) and transforms into a true unarmed monk. Finesse training lets you use natural armor, or swarm smashing, or other necklaces instead of being cornered into agile fists, while the iceplant ring adds even more AC and extra hex is always open for a feat.
Other staples for a merc are summoners (inquisitor with animal domain or the bard) or a better 'cleric role' (typically animal domain), and in some groups, another good melee character. Having one character you are in full control of (if your settings allow respec, you can redo from char creation up on mercs) is really useful esp if new to the game.

of all the companions, Lann feels like the most configurable. He has triple 17s that support any wis caster and any dex or str build as well. He can excel at everything from cleric to rogue to shifter to fighter or warpriest, slayer, and so on. He is a great wild card if you don't want a merc at all.

camillia's dex begs some kind of rogue or archery build. She may be the one, but all my parties have a vital strike / cleaving shot archer of some sort, with a strategy of "shoot the lowest health guy when he is next to his hard to hit friends" turning the bow shots into fireball like aoe bombs. I won't keep her as shaman... I don't like her subclass nor her stats for the role.

Arue, like lann, can be any of many things and is another wildcard except you get her kind of late, so any radical changes in direction from her stock levels is a big hit, eg restarting as sorcerer with 21 cha or even wiz at 18 int are fine but its gonna be a WHILE before she can contribute much that way. Your best bet is to keep her on some archer track, but you could move to many classes to do that if ranger isn't working for you. Its too bad she wasn't available at level 1 to spec as you like. If you ever wanted a magus arcane archer, this is your gurl.


After those, most of the rest either join you too late or lack the stats to go too far afield from their starting designs, assuming you can't respec them from level 1 with some mod or whatever.... none of the others will excel with drastic changes in class due to either spellbook reset or lack of options.

seelah only has one good stat, strength. I probably lack imagination but she almost always evolves into a 2h reach cleave / crit themed damage dealer. I tend to either mount her up or lose the heavy armor to get there, and she may or may not remain a paladin -- sometimes she ends up as a slayer, usually arcanist flavor for teleport & acid element ranged touches with sneak attack tacked onto it. Changing from paladin to other high BAB class has no real impact on her ability to whop demons.

ember can be any cha based thing but why change her? It just puts her behind to change directions.

woljif can turn into a full wizard and/or head for prestige class caster. Makes a great vivisectionist or other alchemy

Daeran can be any cha thing but like others, the late start drags him behind for too long to run him as like a sorcerer.

sosiel has OK str and could morph into a warpriest, paladin, or inquisitor for sure. But should he? This is mostly redundant and his str isn't good enough to excel, only to be half decent, as a martial heavy/caster light alternate.

reggie could be turned into anything dex based. But messing with this guy ... just no. He is deadly out of the box and tampering with it will work if you are say desperate for a rogue (or yet another ranger/bow user?!) but anything you do will be worse than just running him as designed.

nenio ... like others, any changes just put her behind, eg you could do an arcanist instead, but the spell level reset is brutal.

graybor... high str could turn into something else, but slayer is one of the best high str classes. A few levels of fighter for extra feats maybe? Limited choices, but like seelah none of the high BAB 'other fighter' classes will hurt him too much if you want to mix it up. I don't like him and haven't experimented, but he is basically seelah 2.0 for stats and options.

[revan1229]

Originally posted by jonnin:

seelah only has one good stat, strength. I probably lack imagination but she almost always evolves into a 2h reach cleave / crit themed damage dealer. I tend to either mount her up or lose the heavy armor to get there, and she may or may not remain a paladin -- sometimes she ends up as a slayer, usually arcanist flavor for teleport & acid element ranged touches with sneak attack tacked onto it. Changing from paladin to other high BAB class has no real impact on her ability to whop demons.

ember can be any cha based thing but why change her? It just puts her behind to change directions.

woljif can turn into a full wizard and/or head for prestige class caster. Makes a great vivisectionist or other alchemy

Daeran can be any cha thing but like others, the late start drags him behind for too long to run him as like a sorcerer.

sosiel has OK str and could morph into a warpriest, paladin, or inquisitor for sure. But should he? This is mostly redundant and his str isn't good enough to excel, only to be half decent, as a martial heavy/caster light alternate.

reggie could be turned into anything dex based. But messing with this guy ... just no. He is deadly out of the box and tampering with it will work if you are say desperate for a rogue (or yet another ranger/bow user?!) but anything you do will be worse than just running him as designed.

nenio ... like others, any changes just put her behind, eg you could do an arcanist instead, but the spell level reset is brutal.

graybor... high str could turn into something else, but slayer is one of the best high str classes. A few levels of fighter for extra feats maybe? Limited choices, but like seelah none of the high BAB 'other fighter' classes will hurt him too much if you want to mix it up. I don't like him and haven't experimented, but he is basically seelah 2.0 for stats and options.

Seelah is very configurable. Paladin 2 is a great dip for pretty much any martial build because of Smite and Divine Grace. She makes a fantastic frontline Oracle, Skald, Bard, Sohei, Inquisitor (since her spells will be used for buffing exclusively), Demonslayer, Hunter, etc.

Nenio can be a great Alchemist, just like Woljif. I've used her as an Incense Synthesizer, since I play casters. Very useful.

Daeran and Ember can both make fine Bards/Skalds. Seelah is better, but if you're using her for something else, they will do.

Sosiel's best option outside of just Cleric is Theurge, imo.

The others are kind of meh. You could go a different route, but you'd be able to do the same thing with one of the characters you get much earlier to better effect. The one possible exception is Arueshalae because of her PB.

[Fistimus Maximus]

Wenduag as cult leader/warrior duel axe throwing. Cult leader gives you some nice buffs and sneak attack and the build seemed to fit her quite well. She was a beast. Ember turn into ray build with 1 lv dip into crossblooded and loremaster for pure flame. Lann 3monk 17 sacred huntsmaster(dog) domain hog.

[mbradtke]

if u play with TTT mod, something nice for wenduag is also flesheater barbarian,
sneak attacks dont work with ranged attacks in TTT, so the usual sneak attack dips in dex classes dont work, flesheater fits her very well and if you go for throwing weapons, you can also get some use out of the rage, also adds some interesting options here in my opinion, i like her being able to smash stuff in melee too ( : and there are not many 2-handers for companions

[leyasu888]

My go to build for Seelah is 11 Paladin 8 Tandem Executioner 1 Demonslayer.

I get 4 levels of Paladin first then go 3 levels of Tandem Executioner to get the Dog pet and ouflank+shake it off for Seelah and her pet before continuing Paladin to 11. Then continuing Tandem, weaving in a level of demonslayer for the buff vs demons as a 1 level dip. Tandem is really good because you get a Dog pet instead of the paladin horse and some very good unique buffs when fighting with your pet which you are doing all the time anyway.

Camelia i generally go a 17 Shaman 3 loremaster. You need to be level 17 for a shaman to get a Wolf pet from the nature 2nd spirit mythic feat.

Wenduag i go 1 fighter 19 demonslayer. Simple machine gun style throwing axe build, demonslayer lets wenduag have a Dog pet and has lots of class bonuses vs demons plus you can get alot of the dual wield feats from the slayer bonus feats.

Ember i go 13 witch 7 lore master. Blaster caster build built around scorching rays and hellfire rays with some CC support

Nenio I have been building her as an eldritch knight. 5 Wizard 10 Eldritch Knight 5 Loremaster. I get her to use the Death's Consonant bardiche and build her to spam Phantasmal killer and wierd

Regill 5 Armiger 1 Hellknight 1 Divine Hound 13 Gendarme, Getting Divine Hound gets Regill a Dog pet then 13 Gendarme gives him enough feats to be a competent melee character with an almost full level pet

Greybor 12 slayer 7 Mutation warrior 1 Demonslayer, Going 7 mutation warrior after getting Greybor will give you enough feats to salvage Greybor's melee capabilities.

Daeran i just go 20 Oracle since i quite like the oracle capstone

Sosiel I also usually go 20 Cleric and build around having lots of Domain powers from getting lots of extra domains from impossible domain mythic feats.

Ulbrig i also go full 20 shifter.

[Ignis Imperia]

Wenduag Child of Manticore Shifter
Wenduag Fighter Dual Axe with Thug and Demonslayer dips
Nenio with Crossblooded dip for Undead Bloodline
Arue as 10 ranger - 4 thug - 6 inciter
Ember with Crossblooded dip for fire dragon bloodline + fire elemental bloodline (to convert damage)
Seelah - 1 stigmatized witch (sickly - paladins are immune to diseases so, free nausea immunity) - 1 beast rider (dog) - 1 demonslayer - rest into paladin
Greybor - 20 unpaid incompetent beggar left at inn
Ulbrig pure
Lann - mangled corpse 11 - then bench him

[Jean-Maurice Nya]

I enjoy using their origin build, pretty much for any game.
Otherwise, my favorite compositions when available is a full druid party. Over 30 years, with these kind of fantasy settings, it's by far my favorite class.

[TamTroll]

i did this on Wenduaug twice before doing it for my Demon PC.

Focus on Strength and Charisma ability scores

2 levels in Hagbound Witch for Claws and extra strenth, Claws will be your main weapon.

2 levels in Rogue for sneak attack and Evasion

At least 1 level in Sorcerer for a Draconic bloodline of your choice. i went Crossblooded sorcerer and took a matching Elemental bloodline, i'm not sure if they're all the same, but the Earth one made me immune to sneak attacks.

Make sure you've got ranks in knowledge (Arcana) during all this

Fully level up Dragon Disciple. This will net you a bite attack, better claws, and drastically increased ability scores. You can also turn into a dragon for a bit of a damage buff.

Finish up with whatever you like. in one run i went with levels in Barbarian for Rage, in my current one i'm just going Sorcerer for more spells and bloodline stuff.


I also recommend the Artifact you repair from the Storyteller that makes your weapons count as good and cold iron for bypassing DR.


Works really well for a Demon PC. If you go Motherless Teifling then you also get a bite attack (Dragon Deciple grants you a better one later) and Demon path later gives you even better claws and a horn attack early on.