trip / grapple / dirty trick fighter viable?

[Sub_Zero]

I'll be starting up a character for Jade Regent in a few weeks. The basic concept is that I'm a mma style fighter. Is this a viable character in Jade Regent, or (without too many spoilers) am I going to be locked out of half my abilities in most encounters? Keeping in mind that I do realize that I won't get to perform my maneuvers every battle.

[Kanexiane]

I am currently Playing a Human Fighter in Jade Regent who specializes in combat maneuvers. So far she has been fine in most encounters, but we are only at the beginning of the third book so I can't be certain how she'll fair in the higher levels. I will say having some sort of ranged backup weapon is a good idea, there were a few fights with flying stuff that proved rather difficult. Also because I was a fighter I was able to invest in a tower shield which helped greatly against archers. She would creep up on their position and then drop the shield before grabbing them.

[Askren]

Look into the Brawler from the Advanced Class Guide.

[Sub_Zero]

@ Askren Unfortunately, my GM has said no to the brawler class, due to them not having it yet (which is fair).

@ Kanexiane I'm glad to hear that I'll be relevant at least through the first 2 books. My character will never be without his sling for ranged. I like your idea about the tower shield though. That's clever.

[downerbeautiful]

I'm currently running a JR campaign, and I don't think you should have much issue with your build. Currently I have someone in my party who isn't going to specialize in CMs, but got a free improved trip, so he's using it anyway. At their low levels, a prone character equates a dead character, so it's rather effective when it goes off. It's especially useful for attacks of opp.

Both as someone who plays a CM character and as a GM, I suggest you get a better ranged weapon. Unless you're using a sling for flavor, move-action reload is a heavy price to pay.

[Matthew Downie]

Compared to the other campaigns I've seen, Jade Regent has a fairly high proportion of humanoid-style enemies who are likely to be vulnerable to combat maneuvers.

[Lamontius]

If your GM said no to Brawler, take a look at the Lore Warden archetype for Fighter. In addition to adding some Knowledge skills to your fighter, you'll be able to generate some pretty good CMB/CMD numbers.

[Sub_Zero]

Lamontius wrote:

If your GM said no to Brawler, take a look at the Lore Warden archetype for Fighter. In addition to adding some Knowledge skills to your fighter, you'll be able to generate some pretty good CMB/CMD numbers.

that is the plan :D

I'm going Maneuver Monk 2/ Lore Warden Fighter X

Ideally, I could full attack a target with two weapon fighting, use my free maneuver to then trip them, provoking an attack off greater trip, use that to use greater dirty trick in conjunction with quick dirty trick, then when they land use vicious stomp, and throw them into flanking position via ki throw, and grapple them with binding throw.

That way I have a prone, blinded, grappled, and flanked enemy who can't remove all those conditions in one turn. On my next turn I release my grapple and start it all over again.

Heck I can ideally do the blinded, prone, grappled, and flanked maneuver even on the charge, and still get a free punch in there.

[Askren]

Sub_Zero wrote:

I'm going Maneuver Monk 2/ Lore Warden Fighter X

I'm playing this right now, except that it's more like Lore Warden 6, MM Monk 1. Since it's a build based on reach AOs and Trip, the Monk dip is just for the saves and the Flurry of Maneuvers. The rest of the build is using Greater Trip/Felling Smash. Flurry lets me toss in a Dirty Trick or Sunder or other such move on top of all of it.

[Sub_Zero]

between all of the feats I needed to make the build work (twf feat line, maneuver feat line, random feats like ki/binding throw), I took the extra level of maneuver monk to help squeeze in an extra feat. (basically I'm getting a feat from my class every level for the 1st four levels, in addition to the normally granted feats).

Even still, my character will be vulnerable to multiple opponents since the status effects that I inflict on others will be 1/2 my defense.

@Askren, how are you liking the character so far? Has it felt like useful and fun to play?

[Askren]

Yeah, I like it a lot. He has no AC to speak of, but since our caravan is just getting profitable and we're trying to rake in cash, I'm working on smoothing that out. Once he grabs a +1 Buckler and an Amulet of Natural Armor, he'll be sitting at 20AC, which is about the best I can do. The rest is just standing behind the plate-wearers (though he tends to be targeted a lot).

The playstyle is fine, the Skills help him stay fresh and relevant outside of combat, and the polearm AOs and trips really help control the battlefield, and prone enemies make everyone happy. I'm running a +1 Keen Fauchard for 15-20 Crit range.

Personally, I love Lore Wardern, and think it's the most fresh Fighter build I've played in a while.