I am attempting to build a front line fighter that focuses on tripping with a whip and range and bull rushing opponents if they get to close to whomever he is guarding. I am planning on using the Half-Giant race from psionics by Dreamscared Press. I will start with Soul Knife as well as eventually(level 6/7) becoming a pyrokinetisist. My main problem is that I have never played a shielded fighter before. I know shield bash is super nasty and is the basis for my close range control. However where I go feat wise after that is up in the air.
A secondary Question involves the interaction between greater cleave and trip combat maneuvers. I remember reading about but never saw a true answer. I would be so happy if a successful trip triggered greater cleave as I could do some serious controlling if I can trip all within 20 ft of me(Whip has more reach because it is technically a large weapon from half-giant powerful build).
My feats so far look like this
1:Power Attack (Soulknife bonus)
1:Cleave
3:Improved Shield Bash
5:Greater Cleave
7:Two-Weapon Fighting
7:Shield Slam (maybe fighter level for bonus feat)
After this i need some help I think.
|
I too am making a shield and whip fighter but I have gone a different direction since I am limited in the PFS rules.
If you want to focus on using a whip to trip, I am not sure you want to use Power Attack since that will affect your CMB and whip honestly is not the right weapon for damage since peeps with armor will not be hurt. You can use a scorpion whip to get around that but again, Power Attack might not be the right feat. If you are taking only to get access to Cleave, then make sure you can trip in a cleave but my gut feeling is no you cannot but I have been wrong in the past. :)
Instead, take a look at Serpent Lash. It is from the Osirion companion book. It requires Weapon Finesse but in a nutshell if you successfully trip someone, you get a 2nd attack where you can attempt another trip (only 1 additional attack per round). Since you are using STR you are not going to take the attack penalty using a shield to finessing your whipe because you are not using your DEX for attacks. Serpent Lash also gives you some other nifty attacks like pulling a target (like pulling a player from a swarm) or disarming an opponent and pulling the item into your square or your hand if you got a free hand and can beat their CMD by 10 (5 to pull the item into your square).
I know it sucks to put points into INT since that is a dump stat but getting it to 13 and adding Improved Trip is a good way to assist you to trip creatures. After looking at a handful of creatures in the Beastery and found many creatures have higher CMD against Trip due to being 4 legged. Your size will help as well as your increased STR but still, fighting a +4 CMD to trip is hard to beat compared to other CM.
I would like to hear from others to see their thoughts. As I said, I am planning a similar build myself.
Cheers,
Thanks for the suggestion of Serpent Lash. I had never heard of that. Great Cleave is going to be extremely impressive in this build because of thee pyrokinetisists flame whip. It uses a touch attack to hit so power attacking into great cleave is going to involve lots of rolling and damage. I have considered the trip line of feats. Combat expertise is even doable because of the touch attack i will eventually be using. However since most trips will be done at range I feel they are not necessary until my shield feats are set.
The existence of Serpent lash makes me think that trip and cleave don't work together, however there is no parallel to Great Cleave which is a major bummer.
Something that I remember being so great with whips was improved proficiency. It allowed you to actually threaten the area in which the whip reached. I doubt there is still anything like that, but if anyone has heared anything that would be great as well.
What does shield bash do for control?
What does shield bash do for control?
Allofthe free bullrush attempts?
What does shield bash do for control?Allofthe free bullrush attempts?
Oh, you mean shield slam? That makes sense now.