Trippy Monk


Advice

Liberty's Edge

I had an idea for a human or halfelf tripping Maneuver Master Monk I thought I'd put out for advice:

1 racial) Martial Weapon: guisarme (or half elf and ancestral arms:fauchard)
1M) Improved trip
1) Toughness
2M)Combat Reflexes
3) power attack
5) Improved bull rush?
6M) Greater Trip
7) Greater bull rush?
9) Lunge
10M) Tripping Strike
11) improved critical (if halfelf)
13) improved critical (fauchard)

If I'm understanding maneuver master correctly, their attack progression looks like this (first column is attacks, second is bonus maneuvers):
1) 0 -1
2) 1 0
3) 2 1
4) 3 2
5) 3 3
6) 4 4
7) 5 5
8) 6/1 6/3
9) 6/1 7/4
10) 7/2 8/5
11) 8/3 9/6
12) 9/4 10/7
13) 9/4 11/8
14) 10/5 12/9
15) 11/6/1 13/10/3

Dark Archive

I'm pretty sure that the half-elf ancestral arms trait doesn't allow a +0 BAB class to have Exotic Weapon Proficiency at level 1. The trait doesn't say anything about them being able to ignore prerequisites.

If you want a fauchard, I would recommend starting off with three levels of lore warden, and then moving into manoeuvre master.


Vicious Stomp (Ultimate Combat) goes well with this type of build. Get an Attack of Opportunity anytime something goes prone next to you...

Liberty's Edge

Yeah, maybe you're right, I was so used to thinking about the good side of monks ignoring prerequisites that I incorrectly inferred it here.

Before I got on the Fauchard tangent, I had originally thought about this build as being a non-proficient AoO monk who carried a long tripping weapon and tripped/punched up close. The nonproficiency penalty is pretty small when you consider that it's a free attack and you get a +2 to trip with Improved Trip...

In that case, this I would giggle the feats around a bit:
1 human) ?
1M) Improved Trip
1) Combat Reflexes
2M) Improved Bull Rush
3) Exotic Weapon: Fauchard
5) Power Attack
6M) Greater Trip
7) Stand Still? Greater Bull Rush?
9) Lunge
10M) Tripping Strike
11) Improved Critical: Fauchard
13) Critical Focus: Fauchard

This leaves some options at first level, maybe not even needing human?

I think there's something here, even without a fighter dip. Oodles of AoO's, even if at a penalty to start and avoiding the usual problems of pole arm fighting builds because of unarmed strike.

Scarab Sages

Also look into the Overrun combat maneuver. You can make it as part of a normal move...if you beat the enemy CMD by more than 5, he falls prone...which works with the Vicious Stomp feat. Further, if you indeed have range, with proper positioning, once he (and other foes) are down, every time they try to stand up, you get your free AoO against them.

Of course, that is assuming you don/t read THIS THREAD and realize that the Monk is horribly broken and pointless to play, that unless you have a master's degree in Pathfinder combat-ology and a doctorate in character creation being a Monk is like shooting yourself in the face with a rocket.


You know what would really help? Potions of Polypurpose Panacea. Real trippy. ;)

Liberty's Edge

Yeah, this is kind of like my Master's Thesis in Combatology.

Vicious stomp sounds like a perfect first level feat for when the baddies get up close.

At first level, you have a monk who has a 10' threat radius that he uses for free AoOs, albeit at a penalty to hit. With a modest Str of 16, his CMB for hand to hand trips is +6 (1 for level, 3 for str, 2 for feat). He can either AoO for -1 to do damage or +2 to trip (basically a 50/50 shot at getting a free trip against most level 1 baddies). His fallback is to be a decent hand to hand tripper with a leg sweep/stomp attack and a single unarmed strike, slowly moving through the battlefield to threaten new things with his polearm.

At 3rd level, he gets proficiency with the Fauchard and can start doing damage and tripping with it for real.

At 6th level, he really comes into his own. He trips with every AoO and gets extra AoOs when he does trip. His base bonus to trip at this point is +4 str, +6 class, +4 feats, +1 weapon? for a non-buffed +15 vs. CMD 23 (CR6 Ettin/Babau) 25 (CR6 1/2 fiend minotaur) 31 (CR6 Anklyosaurus)

At 9th level, he can opt to threaten a 15' radius.

At 11th level, he frequently gets bonus trip attacks when he crits with his fauchard, which he should do fairly often.

He benefits from having a single big bad weapon to enchant (probably for the enhancement bonus rather than adding elemental or holy damage) rather than messing around with hand to hand as his primary attack. He benefits from a big threat radius so hopefully he isn't going toe to toe all the time and can usually full attack. He's a melee controller that doubles as a striker.

Sounds like fun to me.

Dark Archive

Vicious Stomp with a reach weapon doesn't work.

Liberty's Edge

No but when somebody comes adjacent and he trips hand to hand, it does. There'll be times when you don't want to step back for the Fauchard trip and this gives you a chance at a free attack from 1st level once the baddie is inside of reach.

Sczarni

I was wanting to do the same sort of concept for a PFS game - I ended up going with a Barbarian 1/Lore Warden 11.

I took the Shoanti trait 'Bred for War' which adds +1 to CMB. Rage effectively adds +2 on top of that. My character is only a level 1 barbarian at the moment and I use a Horse Chopper (martial reach weapon + cestus).

I get fewer trip opportunities but they are harder to resist. In my first session everything went prone - my compatriots appreciated the +4 to hit with melee weapons and the AoO's when they tried to stand up.

I will be using the fighter bonus feats from Lore Warden to gain proficiency/specialization in the Fauchard eventually. The Lore Warden class features will make all of my combat maneuvres difficult to resist.

You should check out the Lore Warden arcetype as it will offer great synergy with your monk build and grant you proficiency in a number of martial reach/trip weapons.

Scarab Sages

Please don't forget the Vicious Stomp for when you move, too. You can try an Overrun as part of a movement, and if your CMB check is 5 or more than the enemy CMD, he falls prone (provoking the AoO and the stomp).

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