| 3 people marked this as FAQ candidate. |
There's a very interesting difference in language between Tripping Twirl (Ultimate Combat) and Whirlwind Attack.
Both abilities allow you to essentially attack all foes within your reach. Tripping Twirl just demands that your attack be a trip attempt with a quarterstaff attack while Whirlwind Attack allows you to do as you wish.
Whirlwind Attack specifically replaces your normal action during a full attack. Tripping Twirl, however, requires a full-round action to use. Because it isn't a full attack, that means Tripping Twirl doesn't work with abilities that modify the full attack action (like fighting defensively or Combat Expertise, which is a prerequisite for this feat). This also means that a Magus (who gets a heads-up on qualifying for this feat) can't use Tripping Twirl during his spell combat ability.
My question is less of an FAQ because its very clear how this ability functions. My question is: should this ability function as such? Although its prerequisites are overall better than Whirlwind Attack's, Tripping Twirl itself is a much more specialized version of Whirlwind Attack and not being a modifier to a full attack action hurts this feat's viability more than it helps it.