I have a player who's building a character for my upcoming S&S game. He wants to build a swimmy (APG alternate racial trait that I can't remember the name of) Elf Barbarian (Sea Reaver archetype) thing. I have no problem with this. The issue I'm running into is that he seems to want to dual wield a trident and net. I've looked over the net's rules and it seems to me that they're only even sort of viable up to a certain level, like 7th-ish. After that, if you throw it, chances are whatever you hit with it is going to either going to escape artist out with ease, or, much more likely, cut or burst its way out, leaving you with minus a net. I've looked into the Net feat chain in the UC, and it seems like it becomes usable only once you hit 7th level (6th for a fighter) once you gain the ability to trip and disarm with the net without having to throw it. Since the game starts at 1st level, does this concept even seem viable? And how can one make nets in general viable?
My main concern is that the player is one who seems to build ideas and concepts he seems passionate about, until he actually plays them and decides it was a stupid idea and wants to change the entire character to the oft repeated chorus of "I'm useless." I plan on talking to him about it, maybe suggest a fighter would be better?
Also, Net Adept gives the ability to use a net as a one-handed melee reach weapon, how does this work out when you have no other Net chain feets to back it up, when the net does no damage, and you can't throw it with one hand? (Since the Net and Trident feat gives you that ability.)
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The issues with Nets long-term can be solved by allowing magical nets or nets of special materials (adamantine wire net!). You'll probably need to fudge the rules a little...but not a whole lot.
And I'd presume Net Adept lets you use it as a melee weapon to entangle people. Just as it's used at range only, y'know, in melee. You can only use it as a melee weapon to do this (not a ranged one) sans Net and Trident, though.
And looking at it, this is a gimmicky, feat intensive, build. Exactly the kind that does much better as Fighter than Barbarian. And, from the description, perhaps a bad build idea for this player entirely.
the net mastery chain lets you eventually dual wield net and trident, and use the net in combat to entangle (on your touch attack) or to blind or trip or disarm
Nets are actually pretty sweet as-is. Entangling isn't the worst condition, but it isn't terrible either. While nets aren't hard to escape from, doing so will eat an opponent's actions. Being a touch attack makes it great for 3/4 BaB classes, and almost a given to work for a dedicated combatant. Honestly, a Fighter may not even need to bother with proficiency in the things to get plenty of use out of them.
The Net Adept chain, however, has some issues. First, Net and Trident is incorrect. Under the "Thrown Weapons" section of "Two-Weapon Fighting" in the CRB, the net is specifically stated to already be a one handed weapon. You do get the +2 vs entangled opponents, but the rest of the feat does nothing. Net Maneuvering and Net Trickery are kind of just making your net into a whip, which I wouldn't consider worth the extra feats. Net Adept itself might find use for some people, but I'd rather use fire-and-forget nets, myself. Also, I'm not certain that it allows you to use the net against adjacent opponents, which makes positioning problematic.
If I was making a Net and Trident character, I'd probably just ignore the chain. Toss a net, then switch to two-handing the trident. You won't be quite as good as someone wielding a dedicated two-handed weapon, but you will certainly be viable. Given how powerful two-handed weapons are for the entire course of the game, I don't think your player is going to be feeling useless doing something like this.