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So, hopefully I've not misunderstood the Agile Tongue feat. But I see that it gives you range 10 for a number of options, including Disarm, which you can sub in for AoOs.
Since you plan to be doing your disarming at range, no need to get Improved Disarm to avoid AoOs (at least, not immediately. It'll be a good idea when you encounter more enemies with reach and this gimmick breaks down).
This Grippli will be a Cad fighter. This gives us a nice scaling bonus to things you can do with your tongue (disarm, steal) as well as with Dirty Trick. Dirty Trick is an excellent maneuver, but limited for most because if you want to try it, it takes away your chance to do damage that turn.
The Cad has a self-contained engine to get immediate action dirty tricks though, as long as you hit an enemy that's denied Dexterity. And they get Catch Off-Guard for free, which makes unarmed enemies flat-footed against your improvised weapon attacks.
Great! So let's say some schmuck charges you. You'll AoO disarm him before he gets next to you, and flails with his puny fist. Then you smash him in the face with your favorite improvised weapon (bottle, frying pan, the bard's lute) and take your free dirty trick (probably to blind him).
So what feats do you want?
Agile Tongue (centerpiece)
Combat Reflexes (AoO even if you haven't acted yet, more AoOs)
Greater Dirty Trick: Great, since it'll cost them a Standard action to remove blindness now, and if they don't, it'll last longer. Greater Disarm is funny, but not necessary. This will require Combat Expertise (not too bad for patching up your defense when you can't disarm/blind) and Improved Dirty Trick.
Crane Wing: You can 2-hand that lute, sure. But Crane Wing is my #1 favorite in personal defense, and this archetype sure could use it. It'll cost you a bunch of feats to get it (3 prereqs), but you're a fighter so you'll live. Or you could dip into MoMS Monk, as is quite popular.
Further optimization (both mechanically and for maximum creepiness):
Cheat into Agile Tongue as a Human with Racial Heritage. Squick.
Caveat: All disclaimers against using Combat Maneuvers apply here (if facing monsters rather than mostly leveled humanoids, you're out of luck).
Let me know if I've messed up, if you like the idea, and if you have ideas for improving on it.
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Cheat into Agile Tongue as a Human with Racial Heritage. Squick.
Make him a bard and suddenly, you've got Gene Simmons
I foresee one problem:
The tongue is not a natural weapon.
While it allows you to make touch attacks, as well as disarm and steal combat maneuvers at range, it is not a weapon with reach. As such it does not threaten, so you'll need a weapon with reach to make the planned disarms.
But going with a reach weapon isn't really an option for the build, since it depend on making enemies flatfooted using an improvised weapon.
That said, it might be decent enough to disarm them on their first attack, and take the Dirty Trick afterwards.
For the Cad, I'd generally suggest the Quick Dirty Trick feat, so you can blind enemies on your first attack, and make a second Dirty Trick as a immediate action.
Sadly the tongue isn't especially important here.
I think I see the point you are making:
You threaten all squares into which you can make a melee attack, even when it is not your turn. Generally, that means everything in all squares adjacent to your space (including diagonally). An enemy that takes certain actions while in a threatened square provokes an attack of opportunity from you. If you're unarmed, you don't normally threaten any squares and thus can't make attacks of opportunity.
So though you can make a melee (touch) attack into those squares, you are considered unarmed and thus cannot AoO, assuming this is a normal situation (it probably is).
That's kind of a shame, but oh well.
You could still use an improvised reach weapon like a 10-ft pole perhaps, but it's not quite the same as the tongue.
Quick Dirty Trick is a neat feat, but iterative dirty tricks on the same turn quickly diminish in value as you'll rarely want to inflict a status besides Blind. Decent option in some situations though.
But it could be really sweet for a Magus or Bad Touch Sorcerer.
Though without the tongue, you could perhaps do this with a reach weapon anyway.
Disarm AoO, On your turn hit them with the non-sharp part of the polearm for your improvised weapon attack to trigger the Dirty Trick, then lay into them as normal.
Be a hairless human, and suddenly you're lickitung...
Interesting, I was not aware of the Net feats.
This ranks above the ranseur in cool for sure, a little below the tongue, but you can't win 'em all.
I've got the idea for a net and shield ranger now, using shield bash to bullrush and net reach in tandem. Thanks for bringing it up.
