Trip Combat Maneuver


Rules Questions

The Exchange

2 people marked this as FAQ candidate.

On page 201 of the PF core book under Trip, the second paragraph says, "If your attack exceeds the target's CMB, the target is knocked prone."

On page 199 of the PF core book under Determine Success at the bottom of the first column is says, "If your attack roll equals or exceeds the CMB of the target, your maneuver is a success..."

There maybe a contradiction, typo or the trip attack is actually handled differently.

My question is: When using the trip combat maneuver, does the attacker need to EXCEED or EQUAL the defender's DC?

Thank you.

Scarab Sages

Without looking at the rules, my guess is equaling the CMB is a success, much like equaling the armor class is a success.


I'd agree on the "equals or exceeds" ruling. Usually if you base it on the aggressor's/initiating check equaling the DC. So, for example if I was initiating a grapple/trip/disarm, my roll would need to equal or exceed the CMD.


EQUAL or EXCEED


Diego Winterborg wrote:
EQUAL or EXCEED

Interestingly, there are several occurances of this in the book and the further i read, the more unsure i became about EXCEED or MEET OR BEAT. Perhaps with so many occurances it was intentional after all?

Nevertheless, I decided to ignore all EXCEED-ocurrances and go with MEET OR BEAT. I don't want to punish "active" character by denying them a +5% success chance and the rules were ALWAYS MEET OR BEAT.

Sovereign Court

The CMD is the DC of the check. In any case Saving Throws, Skill Checks, etc. you must equal or exceed the DC.


:: Thread Necromancy ::

Was there ever any clarification on this? The PRD still has the conflicting wording. Seems like if it was wrong it would have been corrected by now.

Grand Lodge RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32, RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

Probably just a typo and should be "equals or exceeds".

Dark Archive

It's 2014 and still this exceed language appears in the prd, and I cannot find any indication of an official ruling. I would assume the specific text of trip supersedes the general text regarding combat maneuvers. However, I've been running it so long as equal or exceed, and so has everyone else I know, that I expect there will be great resistance to enforcing the rules as written.


Consider this your every two year bump to again ask for clarification on this rule and the contradiction here.

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder First Edition / Rules Questions / Trip Combat Maneuver All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.