I'm working on a bard character who's just earned her way out of slavery through gladiatorial fighting. I want her to fight with a net and some kind of weapon, as flavor-wise it's awesome and I like nets. (Is bard optimal for this setup? Probably not, but the idea appeals to me.)
But here's what I'm seeing:
- I take Exotic Weapon Proficiency (net) through the human racial trait (along with one other weapon, TBD) and Two Weapon Fighting as my first level feat.
- Third level, I take Net Adept:
You can treat a net as a one-handed melee reach weapon with a 10-foot reach. Further, you take no penalty on melee attack rolls for using an unfolded net, and you can use one full-round action or two move actions to fold a net.
- The next feat in the line is Net and Trident, whose prerequisite is Net Adept:
You can treat a net as a one-handed ranged weapon, allowing you to wield a light or one-handed melee weapon and still make ranged attacks with your net. When you use your light or one-handed melee weapon to attack an entangled opponent, you gain a +2 bonus on damage rolls and on attack rolls to confirm a critical hit.
My question is...does Net and Trident actually do anything (beyond the bonus to damage and crit confirmations)?
- Net Adept makes a net a one-handed melee weapon with a range of 10 feet; being a one-handed melee weapon, I can then wield another weapon and TWF with the pair, with a light or one-handed weapon depending on whether I want -2/-2 or -4/-4 for penalties.
- Net and Trident means I can make one-handed ranged attacks with the net...with a maximum range of 10 feet, same as using it as a melee reach weapon...that would provoke attacks of opportunity, since it's a ranged attack...that I couldn't threaten with, since it's a ranged attack...
The way I see it, I can do net-and-weapon fighting just as well or better without the feat that supposedly enables it as I can with the feat...is there something I'm missing? (Again, without the consideration of the damage bonus and crit confirmation; it's nice and possibly worth it, but I'm thinking about what the feat mechanically changes in terms of net function.)
EDIT: And besides Net Maneuvering and Net Trickery, are there any other fun abilities I can pick up to use with my net? Just looking for ideas. :)
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Basically, no. I have made a similar character and the way that I do things is; I hold the snag net in one hand and a one-handed weapon in the other. I never use both at once. Then, I take Combat Reflexes.
With this progression, you can gain the benefits of threatening opponents at a distance and you can still use a second weapon up close. Keep in mind that, if you threaten opponents, but they don't threaten you, any combat maneuvers that you use against them don't grant them Attacks of Opportunity.
What is important is that you take a snag net. Snag nets, unlike normal nets, have the trip quality, meaning that you can use them to trip opponents instead of entangling them. That opens up a lot more possibilities for your character.
There's a problem with nets, however; if you ever choose to entangle with them, they can be broken fairly easily (on a DC 25). "Burst" is not the same as destroyed, per Damaging Items, but your net has only 5 hit points. Ask your GM if you can have a net of Living Steel if you'd like to use it to entangle on a daily basis. It only has to regain 1 hp to be un-broken, so a Living Steel net is restored within a single day.
If you want to make a character purely for the sake of using nets and you have the luxury of 6 levels; a Sohei monk can use nets, bolas and all thrown weapons as part of her flurry of blows if she chooses the "thrown" fighter group. A Maneuver Master Monk replaces the flurry of blows with a Full-Round Action in addition to one or more combat maneuvers, meaning that you don't have to take the Two-Weapon Fighting feat either. That also grants the benefit of qualifying for Improved Trip without Combat Expertise. You can't take both Sohei and Maneuver Master archetypes.
Alchemists don't gain any special benefits from nets, but mutagens increase your Dex by 4, and they have access to extracts like Enlarge Person and Long Arms. If an alchemist wanted to, that could mean using Combat Reflexes up to 7 times and getting a +14 to their trip combat maneuvers if they stack Agile Maneuvers and Fury's Fall.
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With Equipment Trick (net) and Improved Grapple, you can get a +4 to grapple someone you have entangled with your net and with Equipment Trick (net) and Improved Dirty Trick anyone you have entangled that you use Dirty Trick against can't remove the condition Dirty Trick inflicts as long as they are entangled.
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I am intending to be primarily a support bard; building toward nets is more an extension of the support role than the focus of the build (reliably entangling is a hell of a way to help your allies out). So six levels of Sohei is probably a bit much - Magical Knack only goes so far. :) I'm wondering if three levels of Lore Warden fighter would prove useful, though - that's two bonus combat feats of my choice plus Combat Expertise, a bump to my Fortitude save, and +2 to CMB, plus martial weapon proficiency and some extra hit points. Still a big trade, but possibly worth it.
I am liking the look of the snag net; the normal trip quality doesn't mean that much (just that you can drop it to avoid going prone if things go badly - you can trip with any melee weapon). But being able to trip someone after they're entangled is neat, and I like that it's more difficult to get out of or cast inside of. More expensive, naturally, but that is what it is.
Being a bard, I will be able to take mending as a cantrip, which can help with the busting-them-up problem. The spell's not clear, though - you can repair destroyed magical items, but not destroyed mundane items? Or will it fix anything so long as you have all the bits? The spell seems to imply one thing, but the "Damaging Objects" section another. Regardless...mending seems like a good thing to have on hand.