Sacred Huntsmaster/Mad Dog Build Advice

[DakotaThrice]

I have prior experience with D&D 3.5 but Kingmaker will be my first foray into the world of Pathfinder so I'm familiar with the core system but not anything of the changes made to it.

I'm looking at building a SHM/MD which I've seen mentioned in a few places but can't actually find much in the way of guides for so I'm looking for any tips or suggestions anyone has to share.

I know I want at least three levels in the former for access to Hunter Tactics and I'm assuming I take all three levels before switching over to Mad Dog. Should I also be adding in Fighter (or some other class) for Heavy Armour Proficiency and if so when would I do this?

Human seems to be the most common suggestion though I'm leaning more to Half-Orc. This costs me the extra feat but still gives me the stat placement and extra skills. If I go that route do the racial and class intimation bonuses stack?

I don't specifically want to minimax my character but I do like to have a good idea where I'm going with it before I start.

Thanks in advance for anything you have to add.

[Orange]

Yes the bonuses would stack, do remember however that you will lose pet levels for each level taken in a class that does progress it ( such as a fighter)

I do have to question why are you treating the inquisitor as a dip rather than the base, since spellcasting is worthless without caster levels and the bonus to intimidation progresses based on inquisitor level

[Mork]

What kind of weapon you want to use? two weapon, two handed, reach, sword and shield?

I did build one recently and he was amazing. Need some micro management for him and his pet to attack the same target but except for that, he was strong in all aspects from level 1 to 20.

That was the end result
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1986092737
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2008588177
Ranger 14, Sacred huntsmaster 3, mad dog 2, traditional monk 1
Neutral good >>> lawful good

[DakotaThrice]

You seem to be mixing multiple points there. I'm aware of the loss of pet levels for non-pet classes but the stacking I was referring to was the Half-Orc's Intimidation and the Inquisitor's Stern Gaze where there's only 1 class involved.

Going back to taking levels in Fighter, or any other class for potential utility of have the Boon Companion feat available to keep my pet on track.

***

If I went Half-Orc I'd probably go two handed, anything else would probably be sword and shield. Though I'm not set on any specific weapon, my deities weapon would likely influence this decision and deities is one of the things I have absolutely no knowledge of as yet.

[Mork]

For the level of fighter it depend on how much you want to invest in Mad dog to be honest. 3 sacred huntsmaster is very powerful with a pet but for Mad dog it's like level 0, 2, 5, 16. So a greataxe user Mad dog 16, sacred huntsmaster 3(at BAB 4+) will be quite strong for sure. 1 level of fighter is not needed in that case... since you want to get to MD16 before end game.

For deity, it depend on how much levels in inquisitor you have but Erastil community is probably #1 and the level 1 ability is very useful to remove fatigue or a few others debuffs. The level 8 ability is the strongest buff in the game if you have a descent wisdom.

[Singrave]

You know you can play any race and any class on Normal\challenge.
No doubt that @Mork's unbuffed character can just disintegrate almost any foe even solo (on normal) :)

[DakotaThrice]

Thanks for the input. I'm going to stick with a "straight" SHM/MD for this first run after which I should have an idea what adjustments I'll need to make for future runs.

[jsaving]

This is a fairly common and effective theme for Kingmaker barbarians. You would splash 3 levels of SHM and 0-3 levels of fighter with an example found here[www.gog.com].