7 branched sword and greater trip

[Petrus222]

Context: I'm trying to up the damage potential of my Maneuver Master monk and am considering Medusa's Wrath which would proc off the flat-footedness and a successful UA strike.

From the sword description:
To snag armor or clothing, the attacker makes a trip attempt. If successful, the victim doesn't fall prone, but instead is snagged and stumbles forward, leaving the victim flat-footed for the remainder of the round.

From greater trip:
Whenever you successfully trip an opponent, that opponent provokes attacks of opportunity.

So does using the sword in conjunction with greater trip get you an AoO against a flat footed opponent?

RAW I'd say yes. (After all it was a successful trip attempt)
RAI not so sure.

Any thoughts?

[ArmouredMonk13]

Petrus222 wrote:

Context: I'm trying to up the damage potential of my Maneuver Master monk and am considering Medusa's Wrath which would proc off the flat-footedness and a successful UA strike.

From the sword description:
To snag armor or clothing, the attacker makes a trip attempt. If successful, the victim doesn't fall prone, but instead is snagged and stumbles forward, leaving the victim flat-footed for the remainder of the round.

From greater trip:
Whenever you successfully trip an opponent, that opponent provokes attacks of opportunity.

So does using the sword in conjunction with greater trip get you an AoO against a flat footed opponent?

RAW I'd say yes. (After all it was a successful trip attempt)
RAI not so sure.

Any thoughts?

I am pretty sure this doesn't work.

Reasoning:Greater Trip says whenever you successfully trip an opponent, not whenever you make a successful trip attempt. Though usually there is no difference, in this case there is.

[Mucronis]

"Determine Success: If your attack roll equals or exceeds the CMD of the target, your maneuver is a success and has the listed effect. Some maneuvers, such as bull rush, have varying levels of success depending on how much your attack roll exceeds the target's CMD. Rolling a natural 20 while attempting a combat maneuver is always a success (except when attempting to escape from bonds), while rolling a natural 1 is always a failure." from the PRD(core rulebook/combat).

success is beating the CMD, the 7 branched sword simply changes the listed effect.(flat footed instead of prone)

HOWEVER, you would not get an AoO against a flat footed target, for the same reason you do not get an AoO against a prone target, the AoO happens (as it is from greater trip) after the success, but before the listed effect.

"An attack of opportunity “interrupts” the normal flow of actions in the round. If an attack of opportunity is provoked, immediately resolve the attack of opportunity, then continue with the next character's turn (or complete the current turn, if the attack of opportunity was provoked in the midst of a character's turn)." from the PRD(core rulebook/combat).

[Kazaan]

I think I agree with the idea that it's still a Trip, just substituting the effect for something else; that something else being Flat-Footed instead of Prone. So you'd still get the AoO, though as mentioned your AoO is still not vs flat-footed any more than it would be vs Prone for a normal trip, but you'd miss out on Vicious Stomp since it is triggered by falling prone.

[Kazumetsa Raijin]

Petrus222 wrote:

Context: I'm trying to up the damage potential of my Maneuver Master monk and am considering Medusa's Wrath which would proc off the flat-footedness and a successful UA strike.

From the sword description:
To snag armor or clothing, the attacker makes a trip attempt. If successful, the victim doesn't fall prone, but instead is snagged and stumbles forward, leaving the victim flat-footed for the remainder of the round.

From greater trip:
Whenever you successfully trip an opponent, that opponent provokes attacks of opportunity.

So does using the sword in conjunction with greater trip get you an AoO against a flat footed opponent?

RAW I'd say yes. (After all it was a successful trip attempt)
RAI not so sure.

Any thoughts?

Well, you made a trip attempt, and you've successfully "tripped" them. It's just converted them into being Snagged rather than Prone is the only difference I see.

RAW seems like a go.
RAI seems like you would have to convince your DM a smidgen.

Btw, Medusa's Wrath works on anyone dazed, flat-footed, paralyzed, staggered, stunned, or unconscious. Stunning Fist(if you have it) is a great thing to start with as you can use it to Stun, Stagger, Paralyze, and Daze at a certain Monk level. I prefer to start with that(since it also delivers damage), then follow with a trip, and continue pummeling the opponent with whatever attacks I may have left.

[Petrus222]

"Stunning Fist(if you have it) is a great thing to start with as you can use it to Stun, Stagger, Paralyze, and Daze at a certain Monk level."

Unfortunately my character doesn't have stunning fist (MM/MoT4W/QiGong) and even if he did his wisdom is too low to make the fort saves worthwhile at 10th level.

That said the other advantage of this approach is that I can blow a ki point to true strike my trip attempt which pretty much guarantee's the opponent is getting tripped or in this case flatfooted, use the AoO that generates to trip and send him prone which in turn invokes another 2 AoO's from greater trip and vicious stomp... which then procs Medusa's wrath and the rest of my full attack.

To add insult to injury I'll probably finish with a dirty trick to leave him blinded with the remaining flurry of maneuver attacks.