This thread is an extension of the previous discussion, on the prehensile tail feat and a little bit about its' application. Feel free to elaborate:
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2rbxl?Reloading-With-a-Tail
Anyhow,
I had once played a homebrew where a PC possessed a long thin tail, much like my own current tail. He used it to trip someone in a session. The DM called for a use rope check instead of your typical roll, against his touch. Upon success, the enemy rolls either a STR or a DEX like he typically would. At the time noone cared to analyze the semantics of the action, and we just let the house rule. Upon reflection, though, i felt that there must be a ruling on the "proper way" to handle this kind of character innovation. Firstly, this roll was too situational, in my opinion-- a tail gets half your STR and rolls with all the modifiers that implies when implemented. To trip someone with your tail ought to be the same roll as normal, but a failure wouldn't merit an attempt on the enemies part to trip YOU. But in this case, he was well off, having several ranks of use rope. The DM mentioned that using a tail of that nature required more of a "lasso and tug" than a "swing" and that made enough sense at the time. But... i would like to use this as apart of my combat strategy from time to time. It was pretty inventive.
Thusly, i was hoping someone could give me a ruling on this:
How the hell would i go about tripping someone with my prehensile tail?
Improved Trip
This would, of course, mean i have to ask you all a seperate set of questions. The improved trip feat is undoubtably quite handy. It very specifically states that upon making a successful trip, the PC can make a follow up attack as if the trip was not performed. It sounds relatively simple but that merits a bit of concern for us rogues. If you make a trip attempt against an adversary who is unaware of you, he is considered both flat footed AND at touch AC. However, a normal rogue who performs this action then will hit the man on the ground NEXT turn. When he does, the enemy will be considered flatfooted and his AC would therefore be reduced. However he'll be denied his sneak attack because the enemy just looked up from his heap to see who grounded him. In the case of improved trip, however, the followup attack would take place immediately after tripping the foe, and assumedly before he can even perceive the threat. The rogue would then make his damage roll with his extra sneak attack die, correct? The feat seems to state very clearly that the following attack would be made under the same situation as the trip before it.
AAAND finally, can that sneak attack roll, or any sneak attack roll from a range that close, be made with a ranged weapon? Particularly the hand crossbow listed in the aforementioned thread? I ask because if a sneak attack can be made it must be made in the most favorable conditions, and the threat range for a ranged weapon to sneak attack is 30 feet. is there a close range at which that becomes impractical. The AoO is remedied by the trip, of course. Thoughts?