Feats for a Tetori

[Neo2151]

Given the way my current group dynamic is going, I doubt my paladin is going to last much longer, so I'm getting a Tetori preped for play, and I'm kind of at a loss for feats.
I threw together a list but I'd love any advice from the experienced grapplers out there. :D

Here's what I've got as of now:
1- Combat Reflexes (Human feat)
1- Snapping Turtle Style
1- Improved Grapple (Tetori Bonus)
2- Stunning Pin (Tetori Bonus)
3- Snapping Turtle Clutch
5- Snapping Turtle Shell
6- Greater Grapple (Tetori Bonus)
7- Body Shield
9- Rapid Grappler
10- Pinning Knockout (Tetori Bonus)
11- Blind Fight
13- Mantis Style
14- Chokehold (Tetori Bonus)
15- Combat Style Master
17- Ability Focus (Stunning Fist)
18- Neckbreaker (Tetori Bonus)
19- Deflect Arrows

I'm pretty happy with everything up to level 9 (though I'm not really sure how useful Combat Reflexes will be... any help here?) but I'm not totally sold on Blind Fight, Ability Focus, or Deflect Arrows; I just kinda ran out of good options*.

*-I would have taken Pinning Rend but I was turned off by the fact that it always applies, and there might be sometimes I don't want my victim bleeding to death, lol.

Any advice is appreciated!
Cheers!

[bigkilla]

Here are the feats I would pick in no particular order.

Feats Body Shield, Bonebreaker, Chokehold, Combat Reflexes, Greater Grapple, Improved Critical: Unarmed Strike, Improved Grapple, Improved Initiative, Improved Unarmed Strike, Jawbreaker, Monk Weapon Proficiencies, Neckbreaker, Pinning Knockout, Pinning Rend, Rapid Grappler, Snapping Turtle Clutch, Snapping Turtle Shell, Snapping Turtle Style, Stunning Fist, Stunning Pin, Suffocating Strangulation, Toughness, Weapon Focus: Unarmed Strike

[truesidekick]

combat reflexes can help you as a tetori because you can AOO while in a grapple. now how often will you use it? not very.

i personally would push bodyshield to 11, and take jawbreaker as my 7th level feat. the reason why is because jawbreaker removes the mouth from the equation. that means animals aberations undead anything that could bite you is now lacking a mouth. i used it, and i loved it.

instead of combat reflexes i may use dodge, weapon finesse, agile maneuvers, but i dont know your build or what stats you have rolled/purchased.

i found my tetori so here is my monkey man grappler

str 10
dex 16 +2
con 12
int 12
wis 16 +2
cha 5

feats:
(1)agile manuvers (m)improved grapple (m)stunning pin(3)weapon finesse(5)choke hold(m)greater grapple(7)jaw breaker(9)bonebreaker(m)pinning knockout(11)rapid grapple(13)neck breaker

i found out that chokehold is a grabage feat, the rules for holding your breath means that a wizzard with a 10 con can hold there breath for up to 30 round if they roll well. after 3 rounds your just wasting time.

similar build, but i decided not to go with the turtle feats. i like to be more agressive and not wait for them to miss me for a free grapple.

one thing i must suggest to you that can make your life easier at later levels...

Qinggong Monk swap out one of your abilities for true strike, then take quicken spell like ability true strike ASAP!! you will not be able to grapple things easily at 12-20. it just gets herder and harder. seeing as though they dont have awesome grapple enchants and what not to add to your grapple checks you only have true strike.

[Neo2151]

Well, Agile Maneuvers/Weapon Finesse/Etc is pretty unnecessary because of the stats I rolled up. At level 4 as a human I'm looking at:

Str- 17 (18 lvl 4)
Dex- 16 (18 from Human racial +2)
Con- 16
Int- 14
Wis- 18
Cha- 12
(DM isn't a huge fan of giving out a lot of money and/or gear, so we're usually under WBL but have amazing starting stats to balance it a bit.)

I suppose I could dump Str a little and go for a higher dex:
Str- 16
Dex- 20 (Human/lvl4)
Con- 16
Int- 16
Wis- 18
Cha- 12
Not sure an extra +1 AC/Ref/Atk is worth -1 Dmg and 2 feats though (not to mention when I get Iron Body at level 19 it'll make choosing Dex over Str a mistake as my CMB will suffer).

Also, I could've sworn there was a feat that let you add Str and Dex to CMB. Am I just imagining that?

[Malfus]

truesidekick wrote:

combat reflexes can help you as a tetori because you can AOO while in a grapple. now how often will you use it? not very.

IIRC, a tetori can AoO any attempt to grapple with him. And if I am not mistaken, trying to escape a grapple with a grapple check counts as grappling. Combat Reflexes means you get that one for free, and are still open to hit other fools as well.

[donato]

Neo2151 wrote:

*-I would have taken Pinning Rend but I was turned off by the fact that it always applies, and there might be sometimes I don't want my victim bleeding to death, lol.

Actually, all feats are optional. Even if there's no way to "turn off" a feat in the description, all feats in general have an "off" switch.

PRD wrote:

Benefit: What the feat enables the character (“you” in the feat description) to do. If a character has the same feat more than once, its benefits do not stack unless indicated otherwise in the description.

A feat enables a character to do something. They do not force a character to take their benefit. Feel free to take Pinning Rend if you like!