Advice for a Vicious Stomp Fighter

[PaganUnicorn]

I have an idea for a rather brutal fighter who specializes in tripping, and then proceeding to beat the stuffing out of foes as they hit the ground. The issue is as a medium character my foot damage is underwhelming. The only way I can think to increase her stomp damage is a bladed boot, but it's disadvantages make me reluctant to try it.

Anyone have any advice?

[Java Man]

Look at taking at least one level of Brawler for this build, will let you skip the int pq on the trip feat chain, free IUS, increased damage from your boot, and no loss of BAB.

[Protoman]

Blade boot is not an unarmed strike so wouldn't be able to use it with Vicious Stomp anyways. Pick options to improve unarmed strike damage.

If going fighter or vigilante or monk or anything other decent unarmed character class that's not brawler with the useful brawler's cunning class feature, Dirty Fighting feat would count as Combat Expertise for the maneuver feat prereqs and at same time lets one do other maneuvers without provoking.

[Saldiven]

Maybe look at Warpriest and take Weapon Focus: Unarmed Strike to get the scaling damage with your stomp. Through 20 levels, a Warpriest only gets one or two fewer feats than a Fighter, so isn't feat starved for that kind of build. Swift action casting Divine Favor/Power makes up for being 3/4 BAB on any fight where it matters.

[Diachronos]

I'd almost suggest going Brawler exclusively for that kind of build, since you'll be getting a regular increase to your unarmed strike damage and you get a free boost to your Trip CMB when you get Maneuver Training at level 3.

One Brawler build I'd recommend is pretty feat-intensive, but it's surprisingly effective. You'll need to take the Martial Focus feat so you can take Weapon Style Mastery, which will allow you to take the Outslug Style and Brute Style chains. With this combination, you can use Lunge constantly without penalty (thanks to Outslug Weave) and make AoO trip attempts whenever someone tries to approach your or move past you, then attack them (twice if you have Greater Trip!).

[Protoman]

Diachronos wrote:

I'd almost suggest going Brawler exclusively for that kind of build, since you'll be getting a regular increase to your unarmed strike damage and you get a free boost to your Trip CMB when you get Maneuver Training at level 3.

One Brawler build I'd recommend is pretty feat-intensive, but it's surprisingly effective. You'll need to take the Martial Focus feat so you can take Weapon Style Mastery, which will allow you to take the Outslug Style and Brute Style chains. With this combination, you can use Lunge constantly without penalty (thanks to Outslug Weave) and make AoO trip attempts whenever someone tries to approach your or move past you, then attack them (twice if you have Greater Trip!).

For that many feats (brute style requires a lot), probably better off going with fighter for bonus feats.

However, brute style says "you can use your Vicious Stomp feat against any opponent within 10 feet of you, as long as it is within your natural reach."
Lunge increases the "reach of your melee attacks by 5 feet" but I don't think that counts as natural reach.

Also enemies wouldn't provoke simply by approaching someone with the lunge feat because the increased reach only lasts til end of your turn.

[PaganUnicorn]

I'm looking at brawler in the SRD and I quite like it. What book is it from I can't find it anywhere else.

[Darksol the Painbringer]

Axmandan wrote:

I'm looking at brawler in the SRD and I quite like it. What book is it from I can't find it anywhere else.

Advanced Class Guide.

Here's the Paizo PRD Entry.

[Tyrant Lizard King]

A dip into Martial Artist(Monk) would make your unarmed strike damage 1d6, add WIS to AC and CMD while wearing no armor, Flurry of Blows and allow you to make unarmed strikes with any part of your body, allowing you to make them while your hands are full. Monastic Legacy feat will increase your unarmed strike damage down the road as well.

Get Greater Trip and Outflank for yourself and your Wolf as well to decimate those tripped by either of you.

FAQ/Errata

The Greater Trip feat allows you to take an attack of opportunity against a foe that you trip. The Vicious Stomp feat allows you to take an attack of opportunity against a foe that falls prone adjacent to you. If you have both these feats and trip a foe, do you get to make two attacks of opportunity (assuming that you can)?

Yes, the two triggering acts are similar here but they are different. One occurs when you trip a foe. The other occurs when a foe falls prone. It requires a large number of feats to accomplish, but you can really pile on the attacks with this combination.

[Imbicatus]

I have an unchained monk that uses this tactic to great effect. The leg sweep style strike grants a free trip during a flurry of blows. Combined with greater trip and vicious stomp, you gain two aoes if the trip is successful.

[Greg.Everham]

Just keep in mind that this also requires high Dexterity to have more AoOs to keep hitting and tripping things. It might seem a bit off at first, but the best race to do this with is... Halfling.

"Halfling, Greg, you're nuts! They're *small!* You're making it worse."

Well, often I do... but not this time! Hilariously, Halflings can take a racial archetype for Monk, the Underfoot Adept, which may count as one size larger for every 4 levels in the class. They also get Improved Trip for free at 1st (but would have to wait until the normal channels to get Improved Trip. If you combine this with things like Titan Armor, you could be small sized, but counting as Huge most of the time... and have an Enlarge Person effect 1/day (this nets you Gargantuan Size and you may trip any size category monster). This should be considered the "best" build for the hilarity of watching dragons, giants, titans, and other massive creatures get thrown about and stomped by a wee Halfling.