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This is how I see the Combat Maneuver Check being calculated when the combat maneuver is part of an attack action ie using a whip/flail to trip, shield bash/shield slam etc.

Combat Maneuver Check = Attack roll + 2 Improved Trip Feat

Roll your attack normally to hit your opponent. This attack will include all of your bonuses and negatives to attack. For example a 6th level fighter may look like this:

Two weapon fighting using a flail (one handed) a sickle (light) -2 to attack while dual wielding
weapon focus flail +1 attack
weapon training flails +1 attack
+2 enchantment bonus on the flail
+3 enchantment bonus on the sickle.

The attacks for each weapon would be as follows

Flail: +8/+3
Sickle: +7/+2

If the fighter is rolling his attacks against a group of Skum (This hunchbacked, green-skinned humanoid has a wide, frog-like head but a mouth more akin to that of a toothy fish.) from the Pathfinder Bestiary. Their AC is 13 and their Combat Maneuver Defense is 15.

Let's say his rolls are 15 and 9 for his flail and 12 and 11 for his sickle. His final attack rolls adding his attack bonuses are 23/12 for his flail, 19/13 for his sickle. Roll damage for your attacks.

Use the final attack rolls with the attack bonus applied for your Combat Maneuver Check (23/12 and 19/13) and add the +2 from your Improved Trip feat. The final numbers are 25 for the flail attack that hit and 21/15 for the sicle attacks. In this case all of the attacks that scored a hit also tripped the Skum. The attack that missed did not have a chance to trip.


Sniggevert wrote:
Hobgoblin's CMD would have their BAB added in as well. Other than that it's right from what I can remember of how the bull rushes get resolved.

Thanks for pointing out that I missed the Hobgoblin's base attack bonuse! If they had a BAB of 6 then they wouldn't have moved quite so far...


Please let me know if you see any issues with the following logic.

This feat combination grants an 11th level fighter, making a full round attack action (not moving more than a 5 foot step), 6 melee attacks and 3 bull rush combat maneuvers each round!

Two Weapon Fighting/Improved Two Weapon Fighting/Greater Two Weapon Fighting (effectively granting 3 attacks with off hand weapon)
Improved Shield Bash
Shield Slam (granting "Free" bull rush when they hit on a shield bash attack)
Power Attack
Improved Bull Rush
Greater Bull Rush

Example:
Tartann the 11th level dwarven fighter is surrounded by 3 hobgoblins.

The Hobgoblin's AC is 17 (+5 Armor, +2 Dex). Their Combat Maneuver Defense is 14 (10 +2 Dex +2 STR).

It is Tartann's turn to attack. He hits each one of them with his dwarven axe then hits each of them with his shield.

Here are his total rolls for his shield bash attacks: Hobgoblin 1 attack roll of 25, Hobgoblin 2 attack roll of 27, Hobgoblin 3 attack roll of 17. Tartann gets a FREE bull rush on each of these Shield Bash hits because of the feat Shield Slam. He uses his attack roll to calculate the combat maneuver check and adds +4 because of the feats Improved and Greater Bull Rush he has taken.

Hobgoblin 1 flies 5 feet for the combat maneuver succeeding plus an extra 5 feet for every 5 points over his combat maneuver defense (CMD). CMC 29 - CMD 14 = 15 points over his CMD. The total distance he is moved back is 20 feet.

Hobgoblin 2. CMC 31 - CMD 14 = 17. The total distance he is moved back is 20 feet. He hits a wall and falls prone.

Hobgoblin 3. CMC 21 - CMD 14 = 7. The total distance he is moved back is 10 feet.

Now it is the Hobgoblin's turn to act in the round

Hobgoblin 1 has 3 attacks per round, 2 with his long sword and one with a short sword, if he takes a full round attack action. The problem is that now he has to make a move action of 20 feet to get close enough to attack again. He can only make a single attack action in his turn!

Hobgoblin 2 has to use his move action on his turn to get up from prone. He can either use his 2nd move action to draw a ranged weapon or move the 20 feet to be close enough to engage melee combat again but he does not get to attack!

Hobgoblin 3 makes a move action and an attack action but loses his 2nd and 3 attacks as well.


The Grandfather wrote:
The action you describe can only be done as a full-round action (i.e. no move action can be made in conjunction with it)...

Right. The only movement that can be made during a full round action is a 5 foot step.

PPHB: "The only movement you can take during a full-round action is a 5-foot step before, during, or after the action. You can also perform free actions and swift actions..."

The Grandfather wrote:
Keep in mind that your free bull rush attacks might make you unable to reach your enemies with your melee reach.

The Shield Bash/Shield Slam attack would be used as a tool in the utility belt of a sword and board fighter. Here is an example of the shield bash in action!

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Sylvianna the thief/mage and Tartann the fighter finish off the last of the kobold zombies in a tough battle. Sylvianna has sustained a great deal of damage and takes a moment to bind her wounds.

After casting detect magic from a scroll, she is drawn to a cleverly hidden chest in a corner of the room housing items that radiate a strong alteration magic. Carefully looking it over she finds a powerful acid trap guarding from anyone foolish enough to open it.

Sylvianna bends down and starts to disable the tricky trap on the ornate chest. She is carefully working past the sensitive triggers that would spray acid all over anything in a 10 foot radius.

Tartann is looking nervously from her to the chest hoping she doesn't kill them both. He hears something from the hall and turns to look.

Just then Ruggle the goblin dressed in blood stained studded leather enters the room. He is supprised to see his kobold slaves scattered dead around the room and an elf and dwarf standing in the corner. There is rage on his face as he points to Sylvianna. He rushes toward Sylvianna and says in barely intelligible common, "Keep your hands off my stones (pun intended)."

In his rage Ruggle makes a mistake and tries to run past Tartann in an effort to stop Sylvianna from opening the chest. Doing this provokes and attack of opportunity (AO) so Tartann will get one hit on Ruggle as he charges past.

Tartann knows that Sylvianna shouldn't be interrupted, she has a low AC and very few hit points left from the previous battle. He cannot let Ruggle get to Sylvianna. He decides to shield bash Ruggle.

Ruggle's AC is 14 (+2 armor and +2 Dex bonus) his combat maneuver defense (CMD) is 12 (10 +2 Dex). Tartann makes an attack and the total is 21. He hits Ruggle with his shield bash doing 5 points of damage and he gets the free bull rush attempt from his shield slam feat. He uses the 21 from the attack and +4 from his improved and greater bull rush feats for a total of 25 on his combat maneuver check, 13 over Ruggle's CMD.

The combat maneuver succeeds throwing Ruggle 5 feet plus 5 feet for every 5 points over Ruggles CMD. The total is 15 feet. Normally Ruggle would fly 15 feet and be able to finish his movement but there is a wall 10 feet away so Ruggle hits the wall and falls flat on his face (Prone).

Ruggle uses the rest of his round standing up from prone.

Tartann has successfully stopped Ruggle in his tracks!
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This is one example of how the Shield Bash/Shield Slam can be used in combat but there are a lot of tasty battle scenarios where this can come in handy!


I have two questions about a "Pathfinder" 11th level fighter who has taken the following feats:

Two Weapon Fighting/Improved Two Weapon Fighting/Greater Two Weapon Fighting (effectively granting 3 attacks with off hand weapon)
Improved Shield Bash
Shield Slam (granting "Free" bull rush when they hit on a shield bash attack)
Power Attack
Improved Bull Rush
Greater Bull Rush

Question1: Bull rush is a standard action by itself meaning I can make a move action and a Bull Rush (standard action) in one round but nothing else. The feat Shield Slam says "Opponents hit by your shield bash are also hit with a free bull rush attack." Would an 11th level fighter with 3 off-hand attacks be able to bull rush three opponents as long as he hit each of them with one of his 3 off-hand attacks? This would grant the fighter 6 attacks and 3 bull rushes in a round!

My thoughts: According to my interpretation the fighter would be able to attack 3 times with their primary weapon and 3 times with their shield. Each time they hit with their shield they would also get a free bull rush against that opponent. Keep in mind that the fighter does not have to move with the opponent that they bull rush so they do not have to exceed the 5 foot step limit with a full attack action round.

Question2: To calculate the Combat Maneuver Check on a free bull rush granted by the shield slam feat the rules say "substituting your attack roll for the combat maneuver check." Would you get a +4 granted to your Bull Rush check because of the Improved and Greater Bull Rush feats?

My thoughts: You scored an attack on a monster based on your BAB+Str Bonus+Magical Attack Modifiers Etc... The sum of that role is based on being able to hit an opponent Armor Class to do damage. Using that to calculate a combat maneuver check seems in-congruent with the idea of Combat Maneuver Checks but that is the rule so I am fine with it. I do not see any reason not to apply the bonuses, granted by improved and greater bull rush feats, to the "Free" bull rush granted by the Shield Slam feat. Those 2 feats represent the the honing of the bull rush technique by the fighter who has "spent" 2 feat slots on them (3 including Power Attack). Whenever making a Combat Maneuver Check for Bull Rush I think they should be that much better at it than someone who has not taken the feats.