I was reading the abilities of the Polearm Master variant of the Fighter, and under the ability "Sweeping Fend" it states:
a polearm master can use any spear or pole arm to make a bull rush or trip maneuver, though he takes a –4 penalty to his CMB when making such attempts
However, the description of the Trip maneuver makes no mention of needing a weapon with the trip quality to make a trip maneuver. Is this a typo, or am I missing some other errata or adjudication on the rules?
you do not need a weapon. however that ability would let you use a non trip pole arm at range to trip.