How viable is this grapple strategy?

[Anger Nogar]

Hi there, new to the system.
In my first pf2 game I am playing a monk character and want to make sure that I am not messing it up from the start.

I intend to play a sylph fetchling monk with the tinker background, utilising lesser smoke balls in conjunction with the smokesoul and cloudgazer feats to be able to separate single enemies and fight them under the protection of concealment.

Obviously the smoke area from the lesser smoke balls is rather small, so unless some measures are being taken - the enemy can simply step up and away from the concealment zone.

Grapple comes to mind, so this is the plan:

My combat feats (lvl 8 character) are Reigns of Embers Stance, Wrestler Dedication, Stand Still, Blazing Talon Surge, Whirling Throw.

Wrestler dedication is mostly there to pick Strangle with my next feat, because spellcasters seems to be the perfect enemies to this playstyle (lower Fort, acrobatics and athletics supposedly).

Ideally the combat routine should go like this:
Round 1: Enter stance and Blazing Talon Surge (hopefully establishing a grapple)
Round 2: Sustain grapple, Flurry of Blows attacks, drop a smoke ball
Round 3: Sustain grapple, Flurry of Blows attacks, raise a buckler.
Round 4: Repeat

If a target manages to get outside of the concealment area (or the initial target dies) they it goes to:
Round X: Blazing Talon Surge (and establish a grapple), raise a buckler
Round X+1: Whirling throw into the concealment area, Blazing Talon Surge to establish a grapple.

Does that sound viable?

[Dr. Frank Funkelstein]

One thing you should clear up with your DM is the stance, it is rare and from an adventure path, it may not fly with everybody.
Why limit yourself to a buckler? Monks can use regular shields well.

It sounds like a fun idea. Make sure not to be too one-dimensional though.

[Anger Nogar]

Dr. Frank Funkelstein wrote:

Why limit yourself to a buckler? Monks can use regular shields well.

Mostly because I need a free hand to be able to use the smoke ball (with the shield hand) while I have someone grappled (with the other hand). I don't think that you can do this with normal shield, but I might be wrong.

[Finoan]

It is a cool idea for a combat strategy. It also looks like it should work from a rules perspective.

One thing I will warn about is that it is one combat strategy. It won't work all the time or against all enemies or combat scenarios. Be sure to come up with backup ideas. Especially ones that synergize with your ally party members. Monk is usually pretty easy to come up with things like that though. Grapple/Trip/Shove/Reposition, Stand Still, and Whirling Throw are already a bunch of really good tools to improvise tactics on the fly with. Just be aware that no matter how cool your main trick is, it won't always be the best trick to use.

[Ravingdork]

Yeah, if you don't become over-reliant on your strategy, you should do just fine.

The only thing that concerns me about the build is that it doesn't seem to account for your allies, which is a big rookie mistake in PF2e. They might not like being unable to see your target enemy in the cloud, so consider getting Goz masks or similar items for your allies. Or reorganize your strategy to incorporate their characters better. For example, if someone else drops the smoke bomb, this strategy not only rolls out faster, it frees up an action and a hand from you so that you can do things like carry a larger shield.