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Playing with some of the new stuff in Weapon Master's Handbook and wondering what people thought of the current options for playing a mobile warrior.
It seems to me that a lot of it is specific either to a class or a subset of weapons.
For example, mounted lance charges seem to work pretty well, especially for cavaliers.
Unchained monks get Flying Kick and Ki Hurricane. Barbarians have had pounce for a while. There are bard and fighter archetypes like the Dervish or Mobile Fighter that seem pretty decent.
Pummeling Style and Panther Style work for unarmed strikes (or maybe other weapons for Panther style if combined with Feral Combat Training or Aescetic Style). Outslug Style, Weave, and Sprint work for close weapons - and are also easier for Brawlers to qualify for and use.
The Dimensional Assault line requires high-level spellcasting.
Rogues and Swashbucklers seem like they should be good at this, but with the exception of the Whirling Dervish swash archetype, their class features don't support seem to support mobility and I haven't seen any mobility feats geared towards them.
Vital Strike and Spring Attack should in theory be pretty generally useful, but since they can't be combined Spring Attack leaves you sacrificing a lot of damage, and Vital Strike only seems worth it for users of massive weapons - otherwise the weapon die doesn't make up a significant enough portion of your damage to make up for the loss of a full attack.
What are your favourite ways to build mobile warriors? Is there anything really cool I'm underestimating or that I've overlooked?
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Rogues and Swashbucklers seem like they should be good at this, but with the exception of the Whirling Dervish swash archetype, their class features don't support seem to support mobility and I haven't seen any mobility feats geared towards them.
Many of the weapons in the close group are simple light piercing weapons. Swashsbucklers and Rogues gain as much from outslug style as brawlers.
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Not quite. They have to use only one chosen weapon with the style, while Brawlers can use any close weapon, and they need Combat Expertise (and in the case of the rogue, Int 13) while the Brawler gets to skip that pre-req.
Close weapons are also overall not very strong weapons (compare the damage dice and crit ranges to a dagger), and unlike Brawlers, Rogues and Swashbucklers don't have any features that make them particularly good at using close weapons (again, compared to using a dagger).
So while Rogues and Swashbucklers can use Outslug Style, I don't think it's nearly as useful for them as a Brawler, and it's certainly not a mobility option that is particularly good for them compared to other classes.
I can maybe see Circling Mongoose as a good mobility feat for rogues because of the flanking benefit, but I'm not sure it would work all that well in practice between provoking AoO and losing "flanking" as soon as you miss.
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A cestus is identical to a dagger in damage and in crit range, has better damage types, and can't be disarmed. It can't be thrown either, but it's very good, and rogues and swashbucklers are proficient in it.
Using a style in all weapons in a group vs one single weapon usually isn't much of a benefit, because you only have weapon focus in the chosen weapon anyway, and you are only going to have one weapon enchanted.
Basic reach+lunge style.
Really, it has the same basic effect as outslug. Outlug lets you take an additional 5' of movement with a 5' step, while reach weapons just expand your reach out to 10'.
So yes, you can full attack anything in a circle 45' wide. Large enough that you can probably hit most of the area in either your party's starting area of the enemy's starting area. And with lunge, you can attack from far enough that you can still keep your AoOs.
And this is core material. A rater ncie advantage as well.
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I like reach! Though for my current character it's more about keeping the squishies from moving away from me than about keeping enemies at a distance. :)
I'd forgotten a cestus does piercing in addition to bludgeoning. So that does work all right, especially if you want Combat Expertise for other reasons. I'd still be super interested in something that would work well for a rogue or swash with a more classic light blade - especially a rogue since they're often dependent on the multiple attacks from TWF.
Applying the benefits to multiple types of weapons can be handy if your campaign relies heavily on found loot that might not exactly match your specialty, or for a shield bashing build that doesn't involve two shields. Cestus + heavy shield would be a neat combination for a shield champion brawler or fighter with the close weapon group.
I have had this idea, not sure if it would work but it would make for fun use with a mobile character. Take atleast 1 level in Arcanist[/url[ (you can take more after it). Make sure to get the [url=http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/hybrid-classes/arcanist/arcane-exploits/dimensional-slide-su]dimensional slide discovery. Next you need atleast 4 levels in shadowdancer and the spring attack feat.
Now as long as you start in shadow, or were you want to finally end up is in shadow you can use spring attack to teleport in then teleport out. Once by shadow jump, using your targets shadow for part of it, the next by dimensional slide.
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Sounds fun! Since you need Dodge and Mobility for Shadowdancer anyway, Spring Attack isn't hard to get. Any thoughts on what to do with your other levels? It feels very ninja-ish to me, though in a similar theme Slayer might be desirable to make up for the somewhat lower combat potential in the Arcanist & Shadowdancer levels.
Outslug Style Brawlers work well.
Fighters just keep a ranged weapon.
Sounds fun! Since you need Dodge and Mobility for Shadowdancer anyway, Spring Attack isn't hard to get. Any thoughts on what to do with your other levels? It feels very ninja-ish to me, though in a similar theme Slayer might be desirable to make up for the somewhat lower combat potential in the Arcanist & Shadowdancer levels.
Well one thing I think might be useful, is take the Consume Magic Items Arcane Exploit, then get the Inscribe Scroll or Brew Potion feat to have almost endless arcane pool, as long as you brew/scribe before hand.
Also I would suggest taking levels in a class with sneak attack, because in my opinion if they can't see you before or after the attack, then they are and stay flat footed!
Try checking out the bloodrager Fey bloodline, it's pretty much built for move everywhere!