Normally, I'd want to take Iron Will and dip a level in Living Monolith so I cold Enlarge Person as a Swift Action
Living Monolith has a lot of backstory baggage if you're not playing in PFS, which did away with it because most characters aren't going to be able to roleplay a gravekeeper to ancient Osirion tombs and be out adventuring. Another option would be to dip one level into Swarm Shifter which would give you four uses of swift-action enlarge person per day. Your reach won't increase, but your damage does and you can occupy the same space as allies and enemies.
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Broken Wing Gambit is a controversial Feat.
I'd also like to add the Combat Stamina trick of Broken Wing Gambit to further clarify the position held by the majority.
"When an opponent with the +2 bonus on attack rolls granted by this feat attacks you, you can spend 5 stamina points to have that attack provoke an attack of opportunity from you also."
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I like to use BWG to get an Attack of Opportunity (almost) whenever I'm attacked.
Remember that you need to activate BWG first, which requires a successful attack and a free action. Free actions can't be taken outside of your turn (with some exceptions) so it's not possible to chain BWG on a full-attacking opponent. It's a great feat on mounted builds but I feel you'll be a bit disappointed if you try to use it without a dedicated ally who sticks close to you.
Ironbound Sword Samurai / Fighter
The Ironbound Sword has a really weird 3rd level ability called Merciful Combatant. It allows you to deal nonlethal damage without penalty and grants a small CMB bonus. Then at the end of its description it has this sentence, which is in no way relevant to the actual ability:
Her samurai levels count as fighter levels and stack with fighter levels for the purposes of fighter and samurai prerequisites and class features.'
Right. So a Samurai 10 / Fighter 5 has the Bravery, Armor Training, Weapon Training, and actually even Fighter Bonus Feats of a level 15 Fighter. Since the levels stack for both fighter and samurai class features, the same multiclass also has the Challenge, Mount, Order, Resolve, and Subduing Knockout of a 15th level Ironbound Sword.
They would however not have class features they haven't unlocked yet, such as Demanding Challenge (Samurai 12) or Mutagen Discovery (Mutation Warrior 7), but would get them at full progression the moment they unlock them.It's basically pseudo-gestalting two martial classes by delaying access to high-level class features.
I wonder in what order you should take the levels for such a build? And it looks like the Order of the Hammer will suit him.
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Another option would be to dip one level into Swarm ShifterThat's an exciting option. Do you think a Swarm Shifter can still use weapons, armor, and other gear while in Swarm form? I don't see any reason why not in the rules.
Yup! It's not a polymorph effect so you keep your weapons and gear equipped.
It's a great feat on mounted buildsReally? Why Mounted builds?
Mostly because Paired Opportunists is much easier to trigger when you share the same space as your ally, in addition to bringing said ally with you wherever.
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I wonder in what order you should take the levels for such a build? And it looks like the Order of the Hammer will suit him.
3 levels of samurai, followed by all fighter levels you want, then finish with samurai.
Vanilla Fighter stops getting new class features after level 5, where there is a gap until Armor Mastery at level 19. So any more than 5 levels is a waste unless you've taken an archetype with features you want to unlobk.
What would you recommend from advanced weapon training for such a build?
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What would you recommend from advanced weapon training for such a build?
If you're not in PFS and you're not multiclassing into some spellcaster then you get warrior spirit. Beyond that it depends what you want; it's not a build as described yet, just the class & level part. Would you like versatile training for a couple more skills? Fighter's tactics to do as the inquisitor does with teamwork feats? Dazzling intimidation is good for an intimidation build, abundant tactics if you have some cunning plan with limited use feats, trained grace if you're waving a couple of wakizashis around, etc.
What would you recommend from advanced weapon training for such a build?If you're not in PFS and you're not multiclassing into some spellcaster then you get warrior spirit. Beyond that it depends what you want; it's not a build as described yet, just the class & level part. Would you like versatile training for a couple more skills? Fighter's tactics to do as the inquisitor does with teamwork feats? Dazzling intimidation is good for an intimidation build, abundant tactics if you have some cunning plan with limited use feats, trained grace if you're waving a couple of wakizashis around, etc.
I was thinking about assembling using katana and Order of Hammer. Equally interesting is the use of abundant tactics. What would you highlight?
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I was thinking about assembling using katana and Order of Hammer. Equally interesting is the use of abundant tactics. What would you highlight?
Order of the Hammer seems to place a big focus on unarmed strikes and grappling, so a katana might not be a good fit.
Barroom Brawler is a well known Abundant Tactics feat as it is usually used in Iron Caster builds to flex into the Advanced Weapon Training feat. It's mostly used at the levels when you can afford Gloves of Dueling, though.
Some other feats I can see potential in would be the weird once/4 levels fist feats, such as Dazing Fist and Joyless Toil. You could use Barroom Brawler to flex into one of them at the start of combat, and use it up completely before it runs out.
If you have Ascetic Form then you could make a pretty weird build that spams all of those Stunning Fist-adjacent feats as part of your weapon attacks, and ends up with more uses per day than a monk.