Can you make a grapple check with every strike and apply wisdom damage?
Assuming it works and you can throw grapple/wisdom damage checks on every strike, is it cheese?
Hello! Might I suggest posting the relevant rules or at least posting the links? Some of us post on our phones and that's a lot of work for us to do. [/lazyexcuse]
Hello! Might I suggest posting the relevant rules or at least posting the links? Some of us post on our phones and that's a lot of work for us to do. [/lazyexcuse]
Not a bad idea, but I'm not unlazy myself you know. Have some compassion.
No, it's not cheese, and yes, it works.
It only comes online at level 7+, which means you'll have been sitting on Kraken Style, Improved Unarmed Strike, and Improved Grapple for quite a while. Unless you've been pumping your WIS, it's not going to provide significantly better damage than Weapon Specialization, and you would have to succeed at grapple checks to do so. Additionally, you take -2 to hit and -4 to damage with your weapon (-2 from being grappled, -4 from the feat), which is basically inverse Weapon Focus, Greater Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization, and Greater Weapon Specialization all in one. So if your Kraken Style gives you +4 damage, you've basically spent 4 feats and 7 levels to debuff them and take -2 to hit. It's not cheese.
Well, the idea would be not to use actual grapple attack mechanics but simply to make every single melee attack a free grapple check, followed by a free-action release of the grapple. Potentially on a build that has other good reasons to pack on wisdom, like a battle cleric with a level of Unarmed Fighter - maybe even with Guided Hand. Ultimately it could end up adding a considerable amount of damage to every strike, with the bonus option of keeping enemies on-hand when you end your turn.
Hamatula Strike is awesome. Kraken Style, the entire chain, not so much.
Including Guided Hand will make the feat-hungriest build of the Battle Cleric look well-fed. That's another two feats you need to cram in sometime before the campaign ends. And unless your strength is really just that good, you'll only be poorly replicating the Guided weapon enhancement.
Guided Weapon isn't PFS legal and I doubt any GM I know would allow it, considering what a ridiculous 3rd-party-paizo 3.5 relic it is.
It's true it's probably not 'worth it' overall, but it could be interesting on a split-stat battle Cleric(/Unarmed Fighter1?) at higher level who has high strength and wisdom, where it's basically adding another Power Attack bonus on every hit if a grapple check succeeds. The weirdness is part of the fun - doing extra wisdom damage with a scythe through some kind of twising-impalement-grapple is a pretty flavorful fighting concept.