Normally, a stance immediately ends if you stop meeting the requirements of the stance. For example, if a fighter has Point-Blank Shot active and is disarmed of their weapon, the stance will end because they no longer meet the requirement of "You are wielding a ranged weapon".
Nearly every monk stance has the requirement "You are unarmored". Monks generally do not don armor mid-combat, so there's not really any worry about the requirement.
Mountain Stance, however, has the trigger (not requirement) "You are unarmored and touching the ground". Since this is a trigger and not a requirement, that would mean that you only need to be on the ground when entering the stance, but it does not end if you leave the ground.
But the glossary in the back of the Core Rulebook defines a trigger as "A specified event when you can use a reaction or free action". Mountain Stance is not a reaction or free action, which suggests that the stance's use of trigger instead of requirement is a typo.
So, which is correct?
1. Mountain Stance's use of trigger instead of requirement is intentional. This is a specific exception to the rule that triggers are only for reactions and free actions. A monk in Mountain Stance can leave the ground without dropping the stance.
2. Mountain Stance's use of trigger instead of requirement is a typo. Triggers are only for reactions and free actions. A monk in Mountain Stance cannot leave the ground without dropping the stance.
It really makes no sense as a trigger, since for the trigger to occur you must either remove armor that you are wearing or go from not touching the ground to touching the ground. Or am I misinterpreting something here?
This was covered in the blog post where Mountain Stance was originally revealed, it's a trigger instead of a requirement specifically so that you don't lose your armor bonus if you have to jump.
But not it seems that you have to jump to activate the stance, right?
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I figure the "you are touching the ground" trigger triggers constantly (as long as you're standing on the ground), so you can spend an action to activate mountain stance whenever you want.
I figure the "you are touching the ground" trigger triggers constantly (as long as you're standing on the ground), so you can spend an action to activate mountain stance whenever you want.
That was my reading as well. Nothing states that a trigger has to be an instantaneous thing. Just most of them are.