This thread is an extension of the previous discussion, on the prehensile tail feat and a little bit about its' application. Feel free to elaborate:
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2rbxl?Reloading-With-a-Tail
Anyhow,
I had once played a homebrew where a PC possessed a long thin tail, much like my own current tail. He used it to trip someone in a session. The DM called for a use rope check instead of your typical roll, against his touch. Upon success, the enemy rolls either a STR or a DEX like he typically would. At the time noone cared to analyze the semantics of the action, and we just let the house rule. Upon reflection, though, i felt that there must be a ruling on the "proper way" to handle this kind of character innovation. Firstly, this roll was too situational, in my opinion-- a tail gets half your STR and rolls with all the modifiers that implies when implemented. To trip someone with your tail ought to be the same roll as normal, but a failure wouldn't merit an attempt on the enemies part to trip YOU. But in this case, he was well off, having several ranks of use rope. The DM mentioned that using a tail of that nature required more of a "lasso and tug" than a "swing" and that made enough sense at the time. But... i would like to use this as apart of my combat strategy from time to time. It was pretty inventive.
Thusly, i was hoping someone could give me a ruling on this:
How the hell would i go about tripping someone with my prehensile tail?
Improved Trip
This would, of course, mean i have to ask you all a seperate set of questions. The improved trip feat is undoubtably quite handy. It very specifically states that upon making a successful trip, the PC can make a follow up attack as if the trip was not performed. It sounds relatively simple but that merits a bit of concern for us rogues. If you make a trip attempt against an adversary who is unaware of you, he is considered both flat footed AND at touch AC. However, a normal rogue who performs this action then will hit the man on the ground NEXT turn. When he does, the enemy will be considered flatfooted and his AC would therefore be reduced. However he'll be denied his sneak attack because the enemy just looked up from his heap to see who grounded him. In the case of improved trip, however, the followup attack would take place immediately after tripping the foe, and assumedly before he can even perceive the threat. The rogue would then make his damage roll with his extra sneak attack die, correct? The feat seems to state very clearly that the following attack would be made under the same situation as the trip before it.
AAAND finally, can that sneak attack roll, or any sneak attack roll from a range that close, be made with a ranged weapon? Particularly the hand crossbow listed in the aforementioned thread? I ask because if a sneak attack can be made it must be made in the most favorable conditions, and the threat range for a ranged weapon to sneak attack is 30 feet. is there a close range at which that becomes impractical. The AoO is remedied by the trip, of course. Thoughts?
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Ok, not entirely sure where this thread should be posted, since from the looks of it you're using 3.5 rules instead of Pathfinder (and this is the Pathfinder Rules Questions forums), but I will try to answer anyways, to a limited degree.
Using your tail to trip would count as tripping while unarmed--remember that an Unarmed Strike uses any part of your body, not just your hands. So sadly, while a very cool image, using your tail as a tripping tool really just comes down to fun flavor.
For your free attack after the trip, by the 3.5 description I would say yes, any conditional modifiers (such as the opponent being flatfooted) would still count for your attack after the trip, since it says as if you hadn't used your attack for the trip attempt.
And nothing says you can't use a ranged weapon for that free attack, assuming it's what's in your hands at the time. I don't remember 3.5 saying prone people can't make AoOs (if I'm understanding your last sentence correctly), but in this particular situation the target wouldn't be able to make that attack because they're flat-footed. Aside from that, you usually won't want to be making ranged weapon attacks in melee for the standard reasons.
Of course, if nobody realized Pathfinder does trips differently than in 3.5 (which, trust me, happens all the time for many things when people make the switch) let me know. Main differences are that you'd need Greater Trip for the free attack, which is technically an attack of opportunity now with all the normal rules that apply there.