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Devoted Guardian has requirements: "Your last action was to Raise a Shield."

Everstand Strike: "Your follow-up blow leaves you an opening to set your shield. Make a Strike with the wielded shield. If the Strike hits and deals damage, you also Raise your Shield."

So the shield is raised but my action wasn't Raise your Shield but Everstand Strike.

Assuming I'm in Everstand Stance from previous rounds can I:

1st action: Trip with my shield
2nd action: Everstand Strike (which Raises the Shield)
3rd action: Devoted Guardian

Yeah, it won't work also because Everstand Strike has Press trait - can't be the first attack.

So the whole idea is wrong.

Thanks for help guys.

@Baarogue right, Assurance does not use MAP but it counts as attacks still. Would it work if I just invert it?

Everstand Strike (for Strike + Raise Shield)
Lunge -> shield Shove with Assurance
Lunge -> shield Trip with Assurance

I'm deciding between this and DEX Liberator Champion (also with this shield but without lunge) for a tank. Champion is nice for Shield Ally but man Fighters have all the good feats and the armor mastery only makes a difference for a few levels.

EDIT: nevermind, Everstand Strike has Press trait - can't be used as the first attack.

Especially for the purpose of Lunge feat?

I'd like to have a fighter tank that holds the shield in 2-hands (Everstand Stance) for +2 Hardness and Lunges to Trip/Shove with it from distance. Is that possible?

The ideal combo would be Lunge->shield Trip with Assurance, Lunge-> shield Shove with Assurance, Everstand Strike (for Strike (no MAP) + Raise Shield).

Thanks, so it would be 1d6 + 7. Actually +8 because I get Greater Rage at level 11. And our wizard can buff me with Cat's Grace so +10. And if I buy Belt of Icredible Dexterity it would be 1d6+11.

I assume Elemental Rage and similar powers don't apply because it's not a melee attack. Still it's pretty good for unavoidable AOE.

I've re-read Fly description and it says "You cannot take this skill without a natural means of flight or gliding." I get flying at level 10 so I have to remove all the skill ranks I have in Fly. So I won't have 9 ranks in fly any time soon, so it's not as OP as I thought :)

But I could buy this
https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/wondrous-items/h-l/headband-of-vast-in telligence/

And get $LEVEL ranks in Fly straight away :)

So best case scenario at 11th level I will have 11 ranks in Fly and DEX +11 that's DC 22 check not to be knocked prone for the enemies.

At 20th level it would go up to DC 31.

Total cost 8000 gp (half if our wizard can do it) and lots of feats and rage powers - a lot of investment just for that one combo.

I still like it because I can keep lots of enemies busy and focused on me, the rest of our group is squishy so I have to tank and to tank I have to move 10ft every turn so I never have Full Round Action anyway to attack normally.

I'll talk with my GM. Seems it should work :)

I was also thinking of taking Storm of Blades feat with that.

Then I can fly up, knock people prone, land, set up Storm of Blades on all of them as a standard action.

On their turns they all take DEX bonus+"base weapon damage" damage (no attack roll no saving throw if I understand correctly) and then can stand up provoking AOP.

So if there are 8 enemies around me it's as if I had 15 attacks ;) Of course that won't happen usually.

As for ability focus it seems very good but it's a monster feat. Can I take it?

Damn, right, I forgot about the "by 10 or more" part. Thanks for that. 16 is easy to beat.

With greater rage it would be 17 and I can invest into fly skill each level to get it to 20 at level 14 and 27 at level 20.

I can still do 1 normal attack on my round o I think it's still worth it. Maybe there's some other cool flying feats later.

I play an Urban Barbarian with maxed dexterity and Combat Reflexes which give me 7 attacks of opportunity when raging.

I will also have Greater Elemental Blood at level 10 giving me 60 ft of flying speed.

I'm wondering if investing into Fly skill and taking Turbulent Takeoff at level 11 would be good - then I can aggro the enemies, fly 10 feet up with Turbulent Takeoff (knocking them prone if they fail Reflex save by 10 or more which they usually will because it's 10 + DEX + Fly skill = 26 :) ) and land back between them - they have to stand up provoking so I can attack each one of them while they try to stand up.

Rinse and repeat.

I want to use this instead of Full Round attack action because I have to move 10 feet each round to get AC bonuses (from various feats and +1 dancing scarves) to be able to tank for the party.

So my rules question is - can I turbulent takeoff, fly up 10 ft and land back in 60ft movement? I think it would be

Fly up at a greater than 45° angle - Fly DC 20 - 20 ft
Turn 180° by spending 10 feet of movement - Fly DC 20 - 20 ft
Fly down at a greater than 45° angle - Fly DC 20 - 20 ft

And I have +4 to each check from good maneuverability +7 DEX +~9 Fly ranks so I should autopass.

So it checks out?

Then I should probably take sth that does damage over time on everybody I hit :)

Dancing Scarves are light armor that provide 0 AC bonus when standing still and +2 AC when moved more than 10 ft in given round.

Can you use the feat Armor Focus and focus on these scarves for constant 1 AC bonus and additional conditional 2 AC (so if you're moving every round you get +3 AC).

Thanks everybody :) I'm used to 5e and Pathfinder is considerably more complex, I'm having a lot of fun just making the character :)

Regarding the ability score minmaxing I don't want too much skills, so INT stays at 7 I think. I'm increasing WIS but decreaseing STR (I won't really need it anyway except for the first 2 levels). Also I asked the DM and the Point Buy limit is 20 not 15. So it will be:
STR / DEX / CON / INT / WIS / CHA
8 /18+2 / 17 / 7 / 10 / 7

This means with Controlled Rage I have 24 DEX at first level and +7 to AC from that, later more. AC will be 18 with +1 cloak or sth.

At fourth level I will make CON 18 with the first ability increase so that vigor feats work better and I have more hitpoints. The next 4 ability increases go into DEX for final 24 DEX (+8 from best rage = 32) that should give me +11 to AC, attacks and damage.

Also I reconsidered the unarmed offhand fighting (I forgot TWF gives -2 tohit to the primary attack too, makes it not worth it).

Instead I will take lots of Elemental Powers (I'm a little paranoid playing melee character after dnd 5e session fighting enemies with damage immunities). I also found a fun mechanic - Vigor. It lets me heal 1d6 hitpoints 3 times a day in a few minutes after the battle (4 times on 4th level). I can also do it during a battle, but then it makes me Fatigued for 10 rounds (about that later).

So the build is:

Lvl1: Combat Vigor (3x 1d6 heal at the cost of 1 minute of fatigue each time), Weapon Finesse [Feats]
Lvl2: Elemental Blood, Lesser (3x 1d6 Lightning damage per day) [Rage Power]
Lvl3: Dervish Dance (DEX bonus to hit and damage on scimitar) [Feat]
Lvl4: Elemental Rage, Lesser (1x 1d6 energy damage per rage) [Rage Power]
Lvl5: Endurance (prerequisite) [Feat]
Lvl6: Elemental Blood (Lighting resistance 10) [Rage Power]
Lvl7: Vim And Vigor [Feat]

"Your vigor pool gains 1 vigor point. The fatigued condition that you gain from spending vigor points (as described by the Combat Vigor feat) lasts for 3 rounds instead of 1 minute. In addition, when you take this feat, you gain a +2 bonus on saving throws against effects that cause fatigue or exhaustion."

This would allow me to heal 5d6 hitpoints after the fight and in a pinch I could heal 2d6 in a fight and suffer 3 rounds of Fatigued (-2 isn't a big deal).

Also if I drink Desert Coffee before the fight I could ignore the Fatigued for 8h, so no penalties. Would it also allow me to use another 2d6 Vigor on consecutive round as if I wasn't Fatigued? I think not, but I'm not sure.

Also - would this feat add +2 to the Fortitude saving throws when taking drugs that cause Fatigued or Exhausted condition (like Desert Coffee or Opium)? I know these aren't that good mechanically, it's for flavor mostly. There's something about coffeinated barbarian :)

Then I'm going:

Lvl8: Elemental Rage (all melee attacks +1d6 energy damage) [Rage Power]
Lvl9: Improved Critical: Scimitar [Feat] (critical range 15-20 IIUC)
Lvl10: Elemental Blood, Greater (60ft flying speed) [Rage Power]
Lvl11: Restorative Vigor [Feat]

"Your vigor pool gains 1 vigor point. Whenever you spend vigor points, you can recover from 1d3 points of ability score damage from one physical ability score (Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution) instead of regaining 1d6 hit points. You can choose separately for each vigor point spent."

At this point I can be high all the time and that should get me another +2 DEX on average from Scour and/or Blood Sap ;)

Then I get

Lvl12: Come And Get Me (enemies get bonuses to hit me and I get infinite AoO) [Rage Power]

and tank with infinite opportunity attacks with lightning damage :)

Thanks, that's a character then :)

Now I just need to find him apropriate drugs to abuse for flavor :) Probably at the start of a fight Rage -> Blood Sap :)

Thank you, that clears everything up. So I'll probably go human and get Dervish at level 3, your build seems nice.

One last question - I've read somewhere that Unarmed Strike is considered a simple weapon. Does this mean that if I have Two-Weapon Fighting and Dervish Dance and I'm using a scimitar in my right hand and offhand Unarmed Strike - then Dervish Dance doesn't work for my scimitar because of the unarmed strike? That would be a boomer.

Hi, I'm making my first Pathfinder character, and I'm considering DEX Urban Barbarian with a scimitar. I'm thinking Hobgoblin, Goblin or Human, and one consideration is how fast can I get the Dervish Dance https://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/dervish-dance-combat/ .

In Particular I don't understand how the requirement for 2 ranks in Perform(Dance) works.

For example as a human with 15 point buy I can go:

STR/DEX/CON/INT/WIS/CHA
10/18+2/16/7/7/7
+2 DEX is from human racial ability

Then I have 4 skill points to distribute but Perform is at -2 initially. What does it mean in the requirements that I have to have 2 ranks in Perform(Dance)? Does it mean the total skill should be +2? Or just that I need to spend to skill points on Perform(Dance)?

Can I spend many skill points on Perform(Dance) at once (on the first level)? Or do I have to do it 1 by 1?

Ideally I would add 4 skill points to Perform(Dance) on the first level and get it to +2, and get Weapon Finesse and Dervish Dance as my feats. Can I do that?

If no, then it doesn't make sense to go Human, because there's no good feat that I need to get early, so I probably should go for Hobgoblin

STR/DEX/CON/INT/WIS/CHA
10/18+2/16+2/7/7/7

Or maybe even Goblin for +4 DEX (but then my damage dices are lower and that kinda sucks for a barbarian :) ).

Another consideration is taking Brawler as a Rage Power at level 2 - if I understand correctly I can then do 2 attacks each round - once with the Scimitar and one unarmed strike (which also benefits from Weapon Finesse). But I'm not sure if that's correct. Can Urban Barbarian even get Brawler as a Rage Power?

Any ideas how to optimize this?