A few questions about Rules

[Talonblaze]

My concern with your Natural Bond question is one of great importance.
What in the world are you hoping to gain from the Natural Bond feat?

Lets assume that Wild Cohort is the same as Animal Companion (which it isn't) for the purpose of argument.

You're level 1, you take Wild Cohort.
As a human, you also take Natural Bond.

Your effective level is still 1, as Natural Bond only applies +3 up to your maximum character levels.

At level 20, without Natural Bond, your Wild Cohort would treat you as being level 20, no matter how you get to level 20.

With Natural Bond, you'd still only be treated as a level 20, so it would be waste of a feat.

Well, with the Wild Cohort as quoted in a post above kindly by Duke Arioch allows one to have advanced animals as if you were 3 levels lower than an actual Druid of your character level. The Natural Bond feat would eliminate this problem and allow more powerful companions to be chosen earlier. (Added to this, the character in question is also a Ranger, so the Feat is essentially hitting two birds with one stone if it works out correctly.)

 

[Duke Arioch]

Well, with the Wild Cohort as quoted in a post above kindly by Duke Arioch allows one to have advanced animals as if you were 3 levels lower than an actual Druid of your character level. The Natural Bond feat would eliminate this problem and allow more powerful companions to be chosen earlier. (Added to this, the character in question is also a Ranger, so the Feat is essentially hitting two birds with one stone if it works out correctly.)

Be that as it may, feats are very valuable to burn two just for that. If the character in question wants to have said cohort, fine. That is one feat. Burning another for those 3 lvls benefit isn't all that shiny. That feat can be used for other, more beneficial things out there.

 

[Sekhmet]

Ahhh, you're right. I had forgotten about the -3 level portion of Wild Cohort.

 

[Talonblaze]

Be that as it may, feats are very valuable to burn two just for that. If the character in question wants to have said cohort, fine. That is one feat. Burning another for those 3 lvls benefit isn't all that shiny. That feat can be used for other, more beneficial things out there.

We have an odd party I suppose in that regard. I play a Silverbrow Paladin Fighter, another is the Human Ranger, we got a Elf Sorcerer and the 'to be determined' Dragon PC was going Barbarian.

The ranger likes animals and prefer's ranged combat. We didn't really find much stuff that would benefit her ranged abilities from the few books we got and references from other players. The extra combatants in the field work as extra dps (or so we envisioned, we are pretty novice it seems). Any recommendations instead?

 

[Duke Arioch]

Ranger has many options opened to her. She already has an animal companion, although very weak (half druid level). Getting the wild cohort would net her another companion at druid-3 level. Taking the bond feat would make those two lvl 10 and lvl 20 respectively (at lvl 20, ofc), while without it, they would be lvl 10 and lvl 17.
There is an awesome feat called Swift Hunter (Complete Scoundrel) which combines Scout and ranger, while advancing both skirmish and favored enemy. So, a dip into scout for 3-5 levels would not loose much on a ranger, while netting the sweet skirmish damage (and AC) bonus if she moves at least 10ft before shooting.
Wildshaping ranger variant is fun, but since she declared she wanted to go shooting style, the point is moot.
There is also an interesting PrC in Exalted Deeds called Beloved of Valarian open for female characters who can stomach burning two feats on sacred vows (one being chastity - RP goldmine there XD) which would net you unicorn companion that in time (by lvl 6) evolves into celestial charger (unicorn on steroids), and ultimately mass baleful polymorph. Not the greatest choice, but fun for RP.
Oh, and never, NEVER forget that if the said ranger wants to revere Mystra, she can get SotAO feat + some tasty substitution levels to boost casting (using ranger slots to cast wizard spells XD). You can find that in Champions of Valor.
Point is, basically, almost every feat out there is better than negating those 3 levels lost on 2nd pet.

 

[Wyvernhand]

Try reading this. It explains a TON about monsters, how monsters work and differ from players (and are the same), and how to play monsters. VERY well written. Also contains a link to my and Dandu's guide to how to understand Natural Weapons.