I've seen a lot of people suggest combining the Improved/Greater feats into one, this makes a lot of sense but I've been thinking of something a bit different to give players more options.
1. Any character who takes Combat Expertise, Power Attack, or Improved Unarmed Strike automatically receives all the Improved [Maneuver] feats that list that feat as a prerequisite. So, yes, this means that taking CE nets you Improved Disarm, Trip, Reposition, Dirty Trick, and Steal (and any others that I'm forgetting).
2. Any character who takes the Greater Maneuver Feat gains an additional +2 bonus at BAB 12 and again at BAB 18.
3. Add both STR and DEX mods to CMB.
4. Remove size limits on what you can attempt a maneuver against. If you can make the check against something the size of a skyscraper you deserve to succeed.
What does everyone think?
For me, if I didn't want to play a maneuver-based character, this won't change my mind. But if I did, this would strike me as possibly overpowered.
Do the bad guys get all this? Will every other villain in the game be using all this stuff against the PCs? Even if they do, what about non-NPC monsters - how will this help a kraken grapple or a wolf trip? Do they at least get to add DEX to the CMB? (Although, not many big things also have good DEX, and not many quick things also have good STR, so only some monsters like demons, etc., will really get the use of both).
As I see it, any player can build a killer PC will be destroying monsters with this stuff on a regular basis but the PCs may very well be protected from the worst of it - in other words, this seems to heavily favor the PCs.
I would think carefully about the monsters. Give them the necessary Improved and Greater feats automatically for any maneuver they seem built for (regardless of whether they take CE, ,PA, or IUS. Any monster that has an improved maneuver feat should get the greater feat for free with those extra bonuses.
This way, the monsters can shine as well as the PCs.
And don't forget to build many villains around these maneuvers, make some who specialize in this kind of stuff, just to use this against PCs too (and to demonstrate the usefulness for those who missed the boat).
If you do that, then it's not OP at all since the playing field will be leveled with awesome maneuvers on both sides of the battles.
I should clarify, the intent is not to grant both the Improved and Greater version for free.
The characters get the Improved versions for free with the prerequisite feat, they'd still have to spend another feat to get the greater version.
These rules would apply to monsters/NPCs as well, yes.
If a monster/NPC had Combat Expertise and Improved Trip in their stat block (and a BAB of 6 or greater), then, yes, I would go ahead and give them greater trip to make up for the "lost" feat. If they already had Greater T, then I'd pick out another feat for them.
I wouldn't auto-grant Improved/Greater trip to a Kraken for example, as they don't have IUS or Improved Grapple. Keeping in mind that the Greater feats don't add a bonus to CMD as the Improved ones do, some characters getting an extra +2 from a free Improved Grapple isn't exactly going to make a Kraken's massive STR and extra +4 to grapple from Grab irrelevant.
Any other feedback would be appreciated.