I've decided to take a level of Monk with my Dirty Fighter so that he can qualify for Vicious Stomp more easily. Upon reviewing my options it looks like the Flowing Monk archetype would give me some nice chances to trip and debuff my foes. I have two questions though:
#1 - If you use Reposition and succeed on the CMB check to trip the opponent does the opponent actually fall prone, or is he just sickened?
#2 - Making the saving throw against the sickened effect halves the duration. What happens if the opponent makes the saving throw when the duration is only 1 round?
After some searching I've seen questions similar to the first one answered "Yes" numerous times in other threads, but I want to check and make sure there haven't been any official updates (especially to the contrary). The second question seems trickier. It would be weird if the duration were half a round, so I figure it probably either drops to 0 rounds or stays at 1 round.
#1:
Core Rulebook
Trip
You can attempt to trip your opponent in place of a melee
attack. You can only trip an opponent who is no more than one
size category larger than you. If you do not have the Improved
Trip feat, or a similar ability, initiating a trip provokes an
attack of opportunity from the target of your maneuver.If your attack exceeds the target’s CMD, the target is
knocked prone. If your attack fails by 10 or more, you are
knocked prone instead. If the target has more than two legs,
add +2 to the DC of the combat maneuver attack roll for each
additional leg it has. Some creatures—such as oozes, creatures
without legs, and f lying creatures—cannot be tripped.
Yes, the opponent would fall prone.
#2:
Core Rulebook
Whenever a roll is required, the roll is noted as “d#,”
with the “#” representing the number of sides on the
die. If you need to roll multiple dice of the same type,
there will be a number before the “d.” For example, if you
are required to roll 4d6, you should roll four six-sided
dice and add the results together. Sometimes there will
be a + or – after the notation, meaning that you add that
number to, or subtract it from, the total results of the dice
(not to each individual die rolled). Most die rolls in the
game use a d20 with a number of modifiers based on the
character’s skills, his or her abilities, and the situation.
Generally speaking, rolling high is better than rolling
low. Percentile rolls are a special case, indicated as rolling
d%. You can generate a random number in this range by
rolling two differently colored ten-sided dice (2d10). Pick
one color to represent the tens digit, then roll both dice.
If the die chosen to be the tens digit rolls a “4” and the
other d10 rolls a “2,” then you’ve generated a 42. A zero
on the tens digit die indicates a result from 1 to 9, or 100
if both dice result in a zero. Some d10s are printed with
“10,” “20,” “30,” and so on in order to make reading d%
rolls easier. Unless otherwise noted, whenever you must
round a number, always round down.
Since it is not otherwise noted, you would round down to 0 rounds.
I'm aware of the rules for Trip. I just wanted to make sure that the CMB check I'm making here is actually to Trip the opponent, not just to give them the sickened condition. There's nothing in the description of the ability which says the CMB check isn't to perform an actual maneuver, but it seems like the sort of thing which might get pointed out in a FAQ, errata, dev post, etc. I'm also checking to make sure this archetype isn't controversial (like the Sound Striker Bard) so that I don't take another archetype which ends up being profoundly lackluster.
I'm also aware of the general rule for rounding down. It seems like sometimes there's a lower limit of 1 though. For instance, damage which ends up being less than 1 ends up as 1 non-lethal damage, but I guess that's a "special case".
Does anybody besides a "n00b" have thoughts on this stuff?
#1 That is some strange wording. Very ambiguous, so if this is for PFS or something I would expect table variation. Personally, I see no reason why they wouldn't be sickened, AND tripped/repositioned, mostly because of flavor of what's going on. Nothing in the RAW suggests either way to me. It is sadly lacking both "In addition to" or "Instead" or anything similar. I would discuss it with your GM, although I don't see any reason not to allow it to do both. The DC will end up pretty low after all.
#2 I do believe damage has special rules in it for never being less than 1. Thus forming an exception to the rule. So you would have to get to 4 levels of that monk archetype in order to always get at least 1 round of sickened.
That's about the best I can do for you, since I'm not frequent enough on her to know the FAQs. Good luck!
#1 - It does not need additional language. Without some specific exception being called out, the general rules for trip and reposition combat maneuver still take place. The sickened condition is just an add-on that happens with a successful combat maneuver.
#2 - A successful saving throw against redirection from a 1st-level flowing monk would halve the duration down to 0 rounds. It's also only usable 1/day without devoting more levels to the class, so not the most useful dip.
In the meantime I've noticed that you can only use Redirection once per day per Monk level, so Flowing Monk probably isn't a great archetype unless I plan on investing several Monk levels.
@WRoy - Yeah, I'd just noticed the 1/day limitation. Taking a second level to make it 2/day and get Evasion might be amusing though.