Catfolk Pouncing Pin?

[Cookie03]

Character i'm running with at the moment is a catfolk and i really wanted to embrace his lion heritage, I had an idea for a combat style but wasn't quite sure how it would work, I've had a look at Trip, Bull rush and Overrun and none of these seem to give the desired affect. So here's BASICALLY what I'm trying to do:

Charge or move, doesn't really matter too much, and be able to 'pounce' on a target knocking to them to ground and then basically wail on them while they are under me, much in the same way being pounced on by an actual lion would knock you down and leave you pretty much defenseless.

This is basically the idea of what I am trying to achieve and I'm open to ideas, suggestions etc...

[Aziraya Zhwan]

My first question is whether this is for PFS or if this is for a home game. Overall, the things you want are Pounce, Grab, and Rake. Grab and Rake are difficult to come by without wild-shaping or taking a 2-level dip as a Synthesist Summoner (not advised since many people have an adversion to this archetype and for good reason), but Pounce can be gained through a number of ways.

If not for PFS, I would consider going Skinwalker instead of Catfolk since that gives you easy access to both a bite attack as well as claws if you don't want to take levels in a class that gives you them (such as Ranger or Barbarian). Catfolk can gain psuedo-pounce but only with their claws with racial feats or you could do the Barbarian route. Either way, unless you go even further (level 3) into Synthesist summoner, Pounce is off-limits until level 10 so either way gets you to the same destination in the same amount of time.

If your GM is a bit more on the restrictive side, you could always just go Barbarian which gives you a bite attack at level 2 and gives you the pounce while you focus on ways to increase your grapple check.

After that though it's just bumping that Grapple CMB to simulate the Pounce->Grab (if you can find a way to get it. If not, just do a regular grapple check)->Rake (basic claw attack while grappling if nothing else) that Tigers are famous for in Pathfinder. This should also probably be moved into the "Advice" section of the forum.

[TGMaxMaxer]

There is the Nimble Guardian Monk archetype, which actually lets you use Beast Shape 2 at level 7 and Beast Shape 3 at level 9. You can be an actual Lion for 1 hour for 2 ki points.

That lets you pounce, full attack(claw/claw/bite/rake), and get a free grapple if you hit with your bite.

Then take Imp Grapple, Gr Grapple(BAB 6+, soretrain an earlier feat at level 8), and Rapid Grappler(monk 9).

Now, you get to pounce, full attack, and start a grapple. Then, you get to make 3 grapple checks a round (which can be used to pin and/or do damage).

[lemeres]

As a note, pummeling style basically does a lot of what is being asked here. Pummeling charge does pounce, and pummeling bully does trip.

Since you hardly HAVE to go with claws. There are plenty of unarmed builds that work fine.

[Hmm]

If he's doing something with catfolk, it's most likely for a home game. There are only 2 extant catfolk boons in society play, and both were given for charity auctions. Skinwalker boons are easier to come by in PFS, since they were a Gencon GM boon.

Hmm

[Cookie03]

Thanks for all the ideas, this is for a carrion crown campaign, but it is a home game. Is there anyway at all that I can go about this without being a monk, I have a tendency to play a lot of monk characters, so I've been asked by the GM to avoid playing one :P

And yes doesn't have to be with claws happy to use anything, so still open to suggestions, I'll have to look up boons

[Aziraya Zhwan]

If your GM is poking you to not play a monk, go Barbarian (maybe Brutal Pugilist archetype) with maybe a dip in Mutagenic Mauler Brawler for that sweet Mutagen boost and a free Improved Unarmed Strike needed to qualify for a lot of feats. Alternatively, you can just take Dirty Fighting to bypass the Improved Unarmed Strike prerequisite. Rage + Mutagen with natural weapons means the enemy will be hurting big time (especially at lower levels) since assuming a 16 in Strength at character creation you would have 24 Strength while raging with Mutagen, meaning 2(1d4+7) both at a +9 to hit at level 2. The reasons for Barbarian is that there are Rage Powers that let you do what you're looking to do and raging and/or mutagen can give a good bonus to your grapple. I would maybe bypass style feats since you already have your hands mostly tied with the grapple chain of feats. You're also probably going to do the Natural Attack route from the sounds of it, which Barbarian helps you with. The rage powers you're looking for are:

1. Lesser Beast Totem: Gain Claws. It technically doesn't give you anything if you started with the Cat's Claws trait (just do a quick search about claws going on feet and you'll see a lot of threads explaining why), but see if your GM will allow you to gain a Rake attack to go with your flavor or some other bonus like an increased crit range on your claws (with the bonus only active while raging) for taking this rage power with the racial trait.

2. Greater Beast Totem: Gain Pounce. Kind of obvious why you would want this and the Nimble Striker racial feat synergizes well with trying to charge/pounce everything.

3. Animal Fury: Gain a Bite Attack. Kind of sucks that it's basically classified as a secondary natural attack but it's still a natural attack and it dovetails nicely into...

4. Savage Jaw: Your bite gets the Grab ability. As written it only works once a rage and I'm assuming you have to call out using it before the attack roll. This makes it pretty easy to whiff and waste since you're making it at a -5 if you're full-attacking. Ask your GM if you can Free Action activate after the bite connects or have it last longer than just a single round so you don't waste it, or just use the Bite and nothing else on the round you're trying to use it with.

5. Strength Surge: Give yourself a bonus equal to your Barbarian level to a CMB check. Great to land that grapple check.

There are a couple other Rage Powers that are overall useful as well but don't directly improve the "Natural Attack + Grapple" playstyle you're going for.

[TGMaxMaxer]

Ok... how about the Wild Child Brawler Archetype? It uses some feats, but having the pet that also gets to help with grappling/pinning would be pretty awesome.

Take the Tandem trip/maneuver feats and roll up on something that way.

Or even a pure hunter, who focuses on fighting alongside the companion.

Although, I have to warn you, in Carrion Crown you will have a lot of enemies that you don't want to grapple at all, since undead have notoriously bad touch attacks in many cases.

Maybe make a Sacred Fist Warpriest... get some good mileage out of minor spells and go that route.

Also, Snapping Turtle Clutch (BAB+3 or Monk 3) lets you grapple as an immediate action when you are missed, so that would let you run up, hit, if they miss you, grapple, then start the round grappled to pin.

In addition, if you grapple on your turn, and they chose to attack instead of breaking the grapple and fail, you can immediately attempt to pin them as your check. That is funny as hell