Gnome Fighter Broken?

[Rycke]

My friend came up with a killer combo that you can accomplish at level 1. Gnome gets Gnome Flickmace which is a one handed reach weapon. At level 1, he takes the Combat Grab feat which makes something flat footed whether he hits or not. Can't he just wade into the combat and then grab 3 enemies per round and keep them flat-footed? With the Flickmace, you keep them from stepping away because they'd still be in your reach and flat-footed. If they stride away, you get your opportunity attack.

This seems like something that needs to be errata-ed.

[Blave]

Well, at the very least it's only 2 enemies, not 3 per round since Combat Grab is a Press attack and thus can't be used on your first attack for the round.

Other than that, the combo would work by RAW, from what I can tell. Doesn't even require being a gnome beecause the whip is also a one-handed reach weapon and only martial (even though the damage is lower).

The RAI is most likely that you can't grab more than one creatur per turn, using your free hand to harass them constantly to make them flat-footed.

Since it requires a free hand, the reach to keep the target flat-footed should probably be your natural reach, not that of your weapon.

[Long John]

Fighter and Broken in the same sentence. What a time to be alive.

But to actually add something, Combat Grab isn't a grapple. The Fighter is reaching out and manhandling them. Whether or not he actually hits them is irrelevant, he disrupted their center of balance. That's all the action is.

[Reticent]

They probably should rename Combat Grab, the name doesn't really reflect the effect.

That said, I don't think the combo is at all broken. Other builds are going to kill faster, or otherwise manhandle similar targets, so this seems pretty much in-line to me.

[Rycke]

Ok. Thanks for the input. I didn't realize Press meant it couldn't be your first action. I think a good solution is to either make it once per round, make it take 2 actions, or make it occupy your free hand until your next turn.

It seems like an easy way to power your friend's rogue. If he holds his action until after the fighter's turn, he will always have a flat-footed foe to attack.

[Mergy]

The flickmace combo doesn't seem broken to me: it requires either a gnome fighter (-1 to all attack rolls compared to an ancestry without a strength penalty) or feat investment (Adopted Ancestry + Gnome Weapon Familiarity) with any other ancestry. You could instead go for a human with Unconventional Weaponry, but you're still -1 to your attack rolls overall because you always treat it as an exotic weapon.

Other costs include not being able to wield a shield with this strategy, having fewer feats available for abilities like Sudden Charge, and only using a d8 weapon. You also only get one attack of opportunity for quite awhile.

It's a cool idea, and your rogue friend will appreciate it: the teamwork part is intentional.