upho
2015-10-31, 04:33 AM
Ok, so I've had three martial combos on my mind a lot lately, and would very much like to hear your learned comments/suggestions/praise/critique/whatever. These take a bit of explaining, but bear with me please.
This tank-/defender-centric combo demands a lot of resources, is highly dependent on access to specific items, and is also useless against the many enemies immune to trip. But at least as far as I can tell from my play testing, once it starts to get going I think it's just hilariously effective in many combat scenarios, beyond comparison to that of any other martial control combo limited to Paizo sources I've ever seen in play.
It's key component is Wolf Trip (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/wolf-trip-wolf-style). Or more specifically, the following line in the feat's benefit description:
While using Wolf Style, whenever you successfully trip a creature, as a free action you may choose an available square adjacent to you for the tripped creature to land prone in.By itself and at first glance, this isn't anything spectacular. When added to a rather classic melee trip combo with Combat Reflexes, Greater Trip, Vicious Stomp and a boosted melee reach, it allows for the Vicious Stomp AoO to be triggered if the target was tripped in a non-adjacent space using a reach weapon, and it can also make it harder for a tripped monster to get away and chew on squishy allies. Useful if the goal is to ramp up damage through AoOs, and it can be very good for locking down a target when combined with other melee control and debuff abilities. But it's not exactly enabling anything revolutionary, and it's typically not as vital as many other feats are for dedicated trip or control builds.
However, as Wolf Trip has no range limit whatsoever, imagine if we could trip an enemy from, say, up to more than 300 feet away? And imagine if we could do that with every attack in a full attack, on top of dealing normal damage?
Well I say: Yes we can!
And here are the best options I've found to make it happen:
A. The 7th level benefit of the Throw Shield feature of the Shield Champion brawler archetype:
At 7th level, a shield champion can use a thrown shield to perform a bull rush, dirty trick, disarm, reposition, or trip combat maneuver as if she were making a melee shield bash attack.
B. The Maelstrom Shield specific magic shield (14,170 gp) benefit:
When used to make a shield bash attack, the shield's wielder can make a trip attack as a free action against the same target without provoking an attack of opportunity from the creature being tripped.
C. The distance magic weapon ability, and preferably some basic ranged feats and the Shield Master feat.
D. A blinkback belt and Quick Draw feat. Though neither are strictly needed for dealing with a single target, being able to cover enormous areas means having several ranged attacks per round allows for impressive mass-control capacity, one of the unique major potential strengths of the combo.
When combined with the previously mentioned standard trip combo, the end result is a highly versatile shield bash attack packed with control mechanics that can be repeated several times per round, requiring no or very few additional actions. The following details the events triggered by a single such "Black Hole" shield bash, though whether all or just a few are included and the exact order in which they're triggered may depend on other related components and, as far as I can tell, can be modified for each attack:
1. Shield bash attack, melee or thrown with a 60 ft range, made as a part of any action including one or more attacks, rolled as normal and dealing damage as normal.
2. Free trip attempt regardless of whether the initial attack hits or misses. A few important details:
RAW, nothing specifies whether the trip attempt must be resolved before or after any bull rush attempt, or even before or after determining whether the initial attack hits. I assume this means the first roll made in the entire attack can actually be the trip check.
As far as I can tell, a free action attack (such as this trip attempt) that is not replacing a normal attack is rolled at full BAB unless otherwise noted, even if the event the free attack accompanies happens to be an iterative attack using a lower BAB.
In accordance with the FAQ regarding free action combat maneuver checks triggered by attacks, the trip attempt granted by the Maelstrom Shield can be made even if the triggering shield bash is made outside the attacker's turn, such as when making an AoO.
3. Free bull rush attempt if the initial attack hits, using the die roll of the initial shield bash attack for the bull rush check.
4. Target moved as free action and falls prone in a free adjacent space of the attacker's choice if the trip attempt succeeds.
5. The shield returns to the blinkback belt and can be immediately drawn again as a free action. This may happen more than once, for example after making a free action ranged combat maneuver check such as the trip attempt described above. (Though it probably has no impact on the mechanics in this case, the belt's description can be interpreted to say an associated weapon always returns after each separate attack has been resolved, which in this case could result in the shield being thrown and teleporting back more than 15 times during the course of an entire full attack.)
5. The first combat maneuver triggers AoOs as appropriate on success - from allies only on a bull rush maneuver with Greater Bull Rush, or from the attacker as well as allies on a trip maneuver with Greater Trip.
6. The second combat maneuver triggers AoOs as described above.
8. Vicious Stomp AoO triggered.
Note that no AoOs has to be made for the basic control mechanic to work since both the trip attempt and the moving of a tripped target to adjacent are free actions. And as mentioned, it seems the attacker can change the order of the above significantly, for example by throwing the shield and:
make the free trip attempt granted by the maelstrom shield
resolve the ranged shield bash attack
move the target to adjacent using Wolf Trip
resolve any AoOs granted by Greater Trip
make the Vicious Stomp AoO triggered by the target falling prone
make the free bull rush attempt granted by Shield Slam
resolve any AoOs triggered by Greater Bull Rush
During a single full attack, a build affected by haste or similar with two maelstrom shields along with the full Two-Weapon Fighting feat chain, Combat Reflexes and a Dex of 40 could make all of the above combo up to eight times against as many enemies, each target risking being hit by a total of three damage-dealing attacks on top of being bull rushed, tripped, moved into a poor position and hit by several additional AoOs from the attacker's allies. But even without a high Dex score or using a single AoO, the combo still allows a defender to attack several distant enemies and gathering them up flat on their bellies well within melee threat range.
I guess it's obvious why I call it the "Black Hole Control Combo". :smalltongue:
This debuff combo relies on content from DSP's "Path of War: Expanded", as the only Paizo option I know of which grants something even remotely similar is a feature of the Antipaladin, which is, out of all PF classes ever published, probably the one most rarely allowed and least often viable for a PC. (Besides, DSP is famous for making mechanically well-balanced and high quality PC options, and I think the freely available Path of War series is a great addition to any PF game.)
As you might have guessed, this is all about frightening enemies as far into uselessness as possible, radically improving the effectiveness and applicability of using Intimidation to demoralize enemies in combat. While the usefulness of combat demoralization is typically severely limited by frequently immune enemies and the limited effect, it does have the distinct advantage of having a check that can be made as a free action (with the right options) and which is based on an easily boosted skill. This means it can easily be combined with other effects and actions and also be effective even against a BBEG of a CR way above level, whereas most martial debuffs are stuck with a largely unimprovable DC far too low (10 + ½ level + not main stat) to be of much use, often in addition to being limited by poor action economy, lucky rolls and/or usages per day. This combo aims to capitalize on those strengths by removing the limitations of demoralization, turning it into a very reliable and powerful debuff/control ability. It includes:
1. The rather common combo of the Cornugon Smash and Intimidating Prowess feats plus the cruel magic weapon ability (and "enough" ranks in Intimidate). This grants a free demoralize attempt when dealing damage with Power Attack, adding Str to the Intimidate check on top of Cha, and a target already shaken (or worse) is also sickened (no save). The downside is that Cornugon Smash requires Power Attack, which is not only completely at odds with the goal of focusing on something other than damage, but also imparts penalties to attack and bonuses to damage when the opposite would've been ideal. But as far as I know, there are no better options available, as the reduced hit chance is typically still a small price to pay in comparison to the lost actions and/or additional feat slots required by the alternatives.
2. Soulless Gaze plus one other Damnation feat (Fiendskin is usually the best option) gives: "When you demoralize a creature more than once using Intimidate, you can create stronger fear conditions rather than increasing the duration of the shaken condition." And suddenly Cornugon Smash-ing a target more than once goes from "meh" to "awesome". But great power usually only comes at great cost: a character with Damnation Feats has been exposed to the corrupting influences of an evil outsider patron or ally, causing an alignment shift one step closer to that of the fiend and making it difficult to bring back the character from death.
3. The Black Seraph Style, Black Seraph’s Malevolence and Black Seraph Annihilation style feats, the mentioned options from Path of War: Expanded. Although the first two aren't useless, the most crucial and, as far as I know, highly unique benefit is provided by Black Seraph Annihilation:
Creatures within 30 feet of you lose immunity to fear. Creatures that are immune to mind-affecting effects can still be affected by fear, but gain a +5 resistance bonus to any saving throw granted.Hey all you undead, constructs and high CR monsters, you hear that? LOSE IMMUNITY TO FEAR! So who's laughin' now? *laughs maniacally* ...
Sorry, got a bit carried away there... Anyhow, the prerequisites worth noting is 11 ranks in Intimidate and knowing a stance in the Black Seraph martial discipline, which is usually only accessible via the Unorthodox Method trait or, for LN, LE or NE characters, the Black Thorn Knights martial tradition. But I still think this is a low price to pay for removing demoralization's greatest limitation, especially since the Black Seraph discipline is great for most Intimidate-focused characters anyways, and the potential alignment requirements might fit perfectly with the alignment shift caused by the Damnation Feats...
Once all components are in place, any enemy within 30 feet that is damaged by Power Attacks three times or more in a round can be demoralized into becoming panicked, regardless of whether it's a mindless skeleton or a legendary evil such as the great Cthulu. And an enemy without total immunity is also sickened. In conclusion, the enemy:
A. takes a –4 penalty on all saving throws, skill checks and ability checks (and a –2 penalty on all weapon damage rolls)
B. drops anything it holds
C. must only take actions to flee at top speed from the source of its fear and any other dangers along a random path, using any special abilities needed
This is often more than enough to permanently remove the enemy from combat, even if it manages to flee. But in some more cases this combo can cause problems, allowing an enemy that must be caught or killed, and that otherwise would've been so, to successfully flee instead. So it's of course preferable to also restrict a panicked target's movement and shut down any of its other abilities allowing it to escape, especially if it's immune to fear/mind-affecting once outside Black Seraph Annihilation's 30 feet range. And that is the goal the "Instant Imprisonment Combo" described below.
This combo is mostly complementing the above two combos by restricting movement of hit enemies, stopping them from getting away from the "black hole" and ensuring the "soulless seraph smash" intimidation makes a target cowering and unable to act:
1. Wolf Style: "While using this style, whenever you deal at least 10 points of damage to a foe with an attack of opportunity, that foe's base speed decreases by 5 feet for 1 round. The foe's base speed decreases by an additional 5 feet for every 5 points of damage your attack deals beyond 10." As the Black Hole control combo can trigger plenty of AoOs (and requires Wolf Style anyways), this is a decent ability with which to stop enemies that use movement speed (rather than magic) to escape the black hole. The only part I find a little annoying is that it rewards a focus on damage, exactly the thing I'd like to be able to ignore. A soulless seraph smasher can also use it with for example the standard melee reach trip combo, the Come and Get Me rage power and/or anything else able to trigger plenty of AoOs.
2. The phase locking magic weapon ability applies an dimensional anchor effect, stopping the target from using any teleportation shenanigans to escape.
While dependent on dealing damage with AoOs, I believe this combo is the most effective available to martials, being relatively cheap and having rider effects (rather than requiring additional actions) that covers a large majority of the many ways in which a creature can change its physical position.
Of course I've put these three combos together in a test build. I call him "Newton" because, yeah...
Archon-Blooded Aasimar Shield Champion Brawler 8, Warder 6, Lore Warden Fighter 4, Master of Many Styles Monk of the Iron Mountain 2
LN Huge outsider (native)
Initiative +9; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +33
Aegis 20 ft., allies gain +2 morale to AC and Will
Black Seraph Annihilation 30 ft., enemies lose immunity to fear (enemies immune to mind-affecting gain +5 to saves vs. fear)
DEFENSE
AC 46, touch 17, flat-footed 42 +14 armor, +7 natural, +7 shield, +2 dex, +2 dodge, +5 deflection, +1 luck, -2 size
HP 247 10+11d10 brawler and fighter, +6d12 warden, +2d8 monk, +100 con, +20 toughness, +8 favored class
Fort 30 +5 con, +6 brawler, +4 fighter, +4 monk, +5 warder, +5 resistance, +1 competence
Ref 26 +6 int, +6 brawler, +1 fighter, +4 monk, +2 warder, +5 resistance, +1 competence, +1 haste dodge
Will 23 +5 wis, +2 brawler, +1 fighter, +4 monk, +5 warder, +5 resistance, +1 competence
Resist acid 5, cold 5, electricity 5, fire 10
Defensive Abilities Black Seraph Style (+5 profane to AC and saves vs. shaken, frightened, panicked or cowering creatures), Black Thorn Knight (+2 profane to saves vs. chaotic creatures and vs. mind-affecting), constant freedom of movement, Harlequin of the Cirque de la Fumée (ranged attacks with thrown weapons do not provoke)
OFFENSE
Speed 60 ft.
Melee Power Attack Black Hole +34/+34/+29/+24/+19 (6d8+30/x2 plus bull rush, demoralize, phase locking, trip) and Cruel Crush +34/+29 (6d8+30/x2 plus bull rush, cruel, demoralize, trip); or Unarmed Strike +33/+33/+33/+28/+28/+23/+18 (3d8+29/x2 plus cruel, demoralize)
Ranged Black Hole 60 ft. range +39/+39/+34/+29/+24 (6d8+20/x2 plus bull rush, phase locking, trip) and Cruel Crush 30 ft. range +39/+34 (6d8+20/x2 plus bull rush, cruel, trip)
Space 15 ft., Reach 15 ft.
Special Attacks Armiger's Mark (-4 atk, 6 rounds, 9/day), Combat Reflexes (7 AoOs/round), Cornugon Smash (Intimidate +51), Greater Bull Rush, Greater Trip, Knockout (DC 27, 1/day), Stunning Fist (DC 25, 11/day), Vicious Stomp, Wolf Style, Wolf Trip
Maneuvers Readied IL 6
Boosts Finishing Kick (6th)
Counters Burnished Shell (3rd), Devastating Riposte (7th), False wind (5th), Snapping Riposte (4th)
Stances
Broken Blade Stance (3rd), Walk in the Dark (4th), Winds of Vengeance Stance (6th)
STATISTICS
Str 36, Dex 14, Con 20, Int 22, Wis 20, Cha 7
Base Atk +19; CMB* +45 (bull rush +59**, trip +64); CMD* +63 (+66 vs. bull rush, trip)
*Treated as gargantuan size. **Newton rolls bull rush combat maneuver checks twice and uses the highest result.
Feats Black Seraph Annihilation, Black Seraph Style, Black Seraph’s Malevolence, Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Cornugon Smash, Far Shot, Fiendskin, Greater Bull Rush, Greater Trip, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Precise Shot, Improved Shield Bash, Improved Trip, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Improved Unarmed Strike, Intimidating Prowess, Point-Blank Shot, Power Attack, Precise Shot, Quick Draw, Shield Master, Shield Slam, Soulless Gaze, Stunning Fist, Two-Weapon Fighting, Vicious Stomp, Wolf Style, Wolf Trip
Skills Acrobatics +4, Bluff +21, Fly +23, Intimidate +50, Linguistics +10, Perception +33, Sense Motive +32, Stealth +19, Use Magic Device +19, and any Knowledge skills and whatever else preferred...
Languages Abyssal, Common, Celestial, Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, Halfling, Infernal
Traits Bruising Intellect, Reactionary
Alternate Racial Traits +2 Str (no spell-like ability)
Martial Traditions Black Thorn Knights (Golden Lion exchanged for Black Seraph), Cirque de la Fumée (Primal Fury exchanged for Tempest Gale, Sleight of Hand as class skill)
GEAR
Black Hole (+5 distance dueling phase locking maelstrom spiked heavy throwing shield), Cruel Crush (+5 cruel impact maelstrom spiked heavy throwing shield), +5 Titanic brawling celestial mithral full plate, Headband of mental prowess +6 (Int, Wis), Belt of physical hurling blinkback perfection +6, Eyes of the Eagle, Jingasa of the fortunate soldier, Amulet of natural armor +5, Pauldrons of the resisting bull +5, War-Kilt of the Dervish, +2 Cruel body wrap of mighty strikes, Ring of protection +5, Ring of freedom of movement, Boots of speed, Cracked dusty rose prism in Wayfinder, Cracked opalescent white pyramid (throwing shield), Cracked pale green prism (x2), Thorny brown ioun, Thorny crimson ioun, Skin of Proteus (huge size, Improved Trip), Manual of gainful exercise +4, Various wands
Class and Feat Progression Note: retraining required!
1 shieldchamp 1 Power Attack, Bonus Feats Far Shot, Improved Unarmed Strike, Martial Flex Feat Improved Bull Rush
2 shieldchamp 2 Bonus Feat Two-Weapon Fighting, Bonus Combat Feat Improved Shield Bash
3 shieldchamp 3 Point-Blank Shot
4 shieldchamp 4 -
5 lorewarden 1 Precise Shot, Bonus Combat Feat Quick Draw
6 lorewarden 2 Bonus Feat Combat Expertise, Bonus Combat Feat Shield Slam
7 shieldchamp 5 Greater Trip, Bonus Combat Feat Intimidating Prowess
8 shieldchamp 6 Martial Flex Feat Greater Bull Rush
9 shieldchamp 7 Cornugon Smash
10 shieldchamp 8 Bonus Feat Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Bonus Combat Feat Black Seraph Style
11 momsmotim 1 Shield Master, Bonus Feat Stunning Fist, Bonus Style Feat Wolf Style
12 momsmotim 2 Bonus Feat Toughness, Bonus Style Feat Wolf Trip
13 warder 1 Vicious Stomp, Bonus Feat Combat Reflexes
14 warder 2 -
15 warder 3 Black Seraph’s Malevolence, Bonus Combat Feat Black Seraph Annihilation
16 warder 4 -
17 warder 5 Soulless Gaze
18 lorewarden 3 -
19 lorewarden 4 Fiendskin, Bonus Combat Feat Improved Precise Shot
20 warder 6 -
Items Skin of Proteus Improved Trip, Cracked Opalescent White Pyramid Weapon Familiarity (throwing shield)
Ability Scores 20-point buy
Str 36 - 16 base, +2 racial, +4 level, +6 belt, +4 manual, +4 size
Dex 14 - 12 base, +6 belt, -4 size
Con 20 - 12 base, +2 racial, +6 belt
Int 22 - 15 base, +1 level, +6 headband
Wis 20 - 12 base, +2 racial, +6 headband
Cha 7 - 7 base
Melee Shield Bash Attack: +34 19 bab, +13 str, +5 enhancement, +2 master of many styles, +1 competence, -2 size, -5 power attack, +1 haste
Unarmed Strike Attack: +33 19 bab, +13 str, +2 enhancement, +2 brawling, +2 master of many styles, +1 competence, -2 size, -5 power attack, +1 haste
Ranged Shield Bash Attack: +39 +34 as above, +5 no power attack
Melee Shield Bash Damage Bonus: +30 +13 str, +5 enhancement, +2 master of many styles, +10 power attack
Unarmed Strike Damage Bonus: +29 +13 str, +2 enhancement, +2 brawling, +2 master of many styles, +10 power attack
Ranged Shield Bash Damage Bonus: +20 +30 as above, -10 no power attack
Unarmed Strike Damage Die: 3d8 2d8 large size 8th level brawler -> 3d8 huge size
Shield Bash Damage Die: 6d8 3d8 huge size 8th level brawler -> 6d8 bashing
Shield Bash Bull Rush: best of two rolls +59 +19 bab, +13 str, +2 maneuver mastery, +2 master of many styles, +4 feats, +5 enhancement, +5 impact, +2 insight ioun, +2 competence ioun, +4 size, +1 haste, pauldrons of the bull
Shield Bash Trip Black Hole +64 +19 bab, +13 str, +2 maneuver mastery, +2 master of many styles, +4 feats, +5 enhancement, +10 dueling, +2 insight ioun, +2 competence ioun, +4 size, +1 haste
Shield Bash Trip Cruel Crush +54 +64 as above, -10 no dueling magic weapon ability
Intimidate +51 +20 ranks, +3 class skill, +13 str, +6 int, +5 competence, +2 racial, +2 feat
Black Hole (96,230 gp)
Base Shield Properties (230 gp): heavy steel shield (20 gp), spiked (10 gp), throwing (50 gp), masterwork (150 gp)
Magic Shield Properties (46,000 gp): maelstrom (10,000 gp*), +5 enhancement (25,000 gp), bashing (+1 cost)
Magic Weapon Properties (50,000 gp): +1 enhancement (1,000 gp), dueling (+1 cost), distance (+1 cost), phase locking (+2 cost)
Cruel Crush (78,230 gp)
Base Shield Properties (230 gp): heavy steel shield (20 gp), spiked (10 gp), throwing (50 gp), masterwork (150 gp)
Magic Shield Properties (46,000 gp): maelstrom (10,000 gp*), +5 enhancement (25,000 gp), bashing (+1 cost)
Magic Weapon Properties (32,000 gp): +1 enhancement (1,000 gp), cruel (+1 cost), impact (+2 cost)
*This excludes the 4,170 gp of a +1 bashing masterwork heavy steel shield included in the market price listed for the Maelstrom Shield.
Armor (106,000 gp)
Base Armor Properties (10,500 gp): full plate (1500 gp), mithral 9000 gp
Magic Armor Properties (95,500 gp): celestial plate (14,500 gp*), +5 enhancement (25,000 gp), titanic (+3 cost), brawling (+1 cost)
*This excludes the 10,500 gp of a +3 full plate included in the market price listed for the Celestial Plate Armor.
The three combos of course demand tons of feats and quite a few specific magic items and other stuff to really get going. But once they do, oh boy... In my limited playtest Newton utterly dominated the battlefield, shutting down enemies hard and otherwise doing a great job of defending his party. Though he does of course have a few glaring weaknesses, the most annoying one being that so many enemies are immune to trip. But those that aren't don't stand much of a chance. And that includes high level opponents such as the CR 25 tarrasque, even should Newton somehow be facing say a whole family of them at the same time (Mommatasque and Poppatasque? :smalleek:).
Another thing of note is that the Winds of Vengeance Stance (from Tempest Gale) is of course hilariously effective when used by Newton, making him a highly mobile 75 x 75 feet "zone of nope", without having to enter his defensive focus.
Again, comments/suggestions/praise/critique/whatever much appreciated!
This tank-/defender-centric combo demands a lot of resources, is highly dependent on access to specific items, and is also useless against the many enemies immune to trip. But at least as far as I can tell from my play testing, once it starts to get going I think it's just hilariously effective in many combat scenarios, beyond comparison to that of any other martial control combo limited to Paizo sources I've ever seen in play.
It's key component is Wolf Trip (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/combat-feats/wolf-trip-wolf-style). Or more specifically, the following line in the feat's benefit description:
While using Wolf Style, whenever you successfully trip a creature, as a free action you may choose an available square adjacent to you for the tripped creature to land prone in.By itself and at first glance, this isn't anything spectacular. When added to a rather classic melee trip combo with Combat Reflexes, Greater Trip, Vicious Stomp and a boosted melee reach, it allows for the Vicious Stomp AoO to be triggered if the target was tripped in a non-adjacent space using a reach weapon, and it can also make it harder for a tripped monster to get away and chew on squishy allies. Useful if the goal is to ramp up damage through AoOs, and it can be very good for locking down a target when combined with other melee control and debuff abilities. But it's not exactly enabling anything revolutionary, and it's typically not as vital as many other feats are for dedicated trip or control builds.
However, as Wolf Trip has no range limit whatsoever, imagine if we could trip an enemy from, say, up to more than 300 feet away? And imagine if we could do that with every attack in a full attack, on top of dealing normal damage?
Well I say: Yes we can!
And here are the best options I've found to make it happen:
A. The 7th level benefit of the Throw Shield feature of the Shield Champion brawler archetype:
At 7th level, a shield champion can use a thrown shield to perform a bull rush, dirty trick, disarm, reposition, or trip combat maneuver as if she were making a melee shield bash attack.
B. The Maelstrom Shield specific magic shield (14,170 gp) benefit:
When used to make a shield bash attack, the shield's wielder can make a trip attack as a free action against the same target without provoking an attack of opportunity from the creature being tripped.
C. The distance magic weapon ability, and preferably some basic ranged feats and the Shield Master feat.
D. A blinkback belt and Quick Draw feat. Though neither are strictly needed for dealing with a single target, being able to cover enormous areas means having several ranged attacks per round allows for impressive mass-control capacity, one of the unique major potential strengths of the combo.
When combined with the previously mentioned standard trip combo, the end result is a highly versatile shield bash attack packed with control mechanics that can be repeated several times per round, requiring no or very few additional actions. The following details the events triggered by a single such "Black Hole" shield bash, though whether all or just a few are included and the exact order in which they're triggered may depend on other related components and, as far as I can tell, can be modified for each attack:
1. Shield bash attack, melee or thrown with a 60 ft range, made as a part of any action including one or more attacks, rolled as normal and dealing damage as normal.
2. Free trip attempt regardless of whether the initial attack hits or misses. A few important details:
RAW, nothing specifies whether the trip attempt must be resolved before or after any bull rush attempt, or even before or after determining whether the initial attack hits. I assume this means the first roll made in the entire attack can actually be the trip check.
As far as I can tell, a free action attack (such as this trip attempt) that is not replacing a normal attack is rolled at full BAB unless otherwise noted, even if the event the free attack accompanies happens to be an iterative attack using a lower BAB.
In accordance with the FAQ regarding free action combat maneuver checks triggered by attacks, the trip attempt granted by the Maelstrom Shield can be made even if the triggering shield bash is made outside the attacker's turn, such as when making an AoO.
3. Free bull rush attempt if the initial attack hits, using the die roll of the initial shield bash attack for the bull rush check.
4. Target moved as free action and falls prone in a free adjacent space of the attacker's choice if the trip attempt succeeds.
5. The shield returns to the blinkback belt and can be immediately drawn again as a free action. This may happen more than once, for example after making a free action ranged combat maneuver check such as the trip attempt described above. (Though it probably has no impact on the mechanics in this case, the belt's description can be interpreted to say an associated weapon always returns after each separate attack has been resolved, which in this case could result in the shield being thrown and teleporting back more than 15 times during the course of an entire full attack.)
5. The first combat maneuver triggers AoOs as appropriate on success - from allies only on a bull rush maneuver with Greater Bull Rush, or from the attacker as well as allies on a trip maneuver with Greater Trip.
6. The second combat maneuver triggers AoOs as described above.
8. Vicious Stomp AoO triggered.
Note that no AoOs has to be made for the basic control mechanic to work since both the trip attempt and the moving of a tripped target to adjacent are free actions. And as mentioned, it seems the attacker can change the order of the above significantly, for example by throwing the shield and:
make the free trip attempt granted by the maelstrom shield
resolve the ranged shield bash attack
move the target to adjacent using Wolf Trip
resolve any AoOs granted by Greater Trip
make the Vicious Stomp AoO triggered by the target falling prone
make the free bull rush attempt granted by Shield Slam
resolve any AoOs triggered by Greater Bull Rush
During a single full attack, a build affected by haste or similar with two maelstrom shields along with the full Two-Weapon Fighting feat chain, Combat Reflexes and a Dex of 40 could make all of the above combo up to eight times against as many enemies, each target risking being hit by a total of three damage-dealing attacks on top of being bull rushed, tripped, moved into a poor position and hit by several additional AoOs from the attacker's allies. But even without a high Dex score or using a single AoO, the combo still allows a defender to attack several distant enemies and gathering them up flat on their bellies well within melee threat range.
I guess it's obvious why I call it the "Black Hole Control Combo". :smalltongue:
This debuff combo relies on content from DSP's "Path of War: Expanded", as the only Paizo option I know of which grants something even remotely similar is a feature of the Antipaladin, which is, out of all PF classes ever published, probably the one most rarely allowed and least often viable for a PC. (Besides, DSP is famous for making mechanically well-balanced and high quality PC options, and I think the freely available Path of War series is a great addition to any PF game.)
As you might have guessed, this is all about frightening enemies as far into uselessness as possible, radically improving the effectiveness and applicability of using Intimidation to demoralize enemies in combat. While the usefulness of combat demoralization is typically severely limited by frequently immune enemies and the limited effect, it does have the distinct advantage of having a check that can be made as a free action (with the right options) and which is based on an easily boosted skill. This means it can easily be combined with other effects and actions and also be effective even against a BBEG of a CR way above level, whereas most martial debuffs are stuck with a largely unimprovable DC far too low (10 + ½ level + not main stat) to be of much use, often in addition to being limited by poor action economy, lucky rolls and/or usages per day. This combo aims to capitalize on those strengths by removing the limitations of demoralization, turning it into a very reliable and powerful debuff/control ability. It includes:
1. The rather common combo of the Cornugon Smash and Intimidating Prowess feats plus the cruel magic weapon ability (and "enough" ranks in Intimidate). This grants a free demoralize attempt when dealing damage with Power Attack, adding Str to the Intimidate check on top of Cha, and a target already shaken (or worse) is also sickened (no save). The downside is that Cornugon Smash requires Power Attack, which is not only completely at odds with the goal of focusing on something other than damage, but also imparts penalties to attack and bonuses to damage when the opposite would've been ideal. But as far as I know, there are no better options available, as the reduced hit chance is typically still a small price to pay in comparison to the lost actions and/or additional feat slots required by the alternatives.
2. Soulless Gaze plus one other Damnation feat (Fiendskin is usually the best option) gives: "When you demoralize a creature more than once using Intimidate, you can create stronger fear conditions rather than increasing the duration of the shaken condition." And suddenly Cornugon Smash-ing a target more than once goes from "meh" to "awesome". But great power usually only comes at great cost: a character with Damnation Feats has been exposed to the corrupting influences of an evil outsider patron or ally, causing an alignment shift one step closer to that of the fiend and making it difficult to bring back the character from death.
3. The Black Seraph Style, Black Seraph’s Malevolence and Black Seraph Annihilation style feats, the mentioned options from Path of War: Expanded. Although the first two aren't useless, the most crucial and, as far as I know, highly unique benefit is provided by Black Seraph Annihilation:
Creatures within 30 feet of you lose immunity to fear. Creatures that are immune to mind-affecting effects can still be affected by fear, but gain a +5 resistance bonus to any saving throw granted.Hey all you undead, constructs and high CR monsters, you hear that? LOSE IMMUNITY TO FEAR! So who's laughin' now? *laughs maniacally* ...
Sorry, got a bit carried away there... Anyhow, the prerequisites worth noting is 11 ranks in Intimidate and knowing a stance in the Black Seraph martial discipline, which is usually only accessible via the Unorthodox Method trait or, for LN, LE or NE characters, the Black Thorn Knights martial tradition. But I still think this is a low price to pay for removing demoralization's greatest limitation, especially since the Black Seraph discipline is great for most Intimidate-focused characters anyways, and the potential alignment requirements might fit perfectly with the alignment shift caused by the Damnation Feats...
Once all components are in place, any enemy within 30 feet that is damaged by Power Attacks three times or more in a round can be demoralized into becoming panicked, regardless of whether it's a mindless skeleton or a legendary evil such as the great Cthulu. And an enemy without total immunity is also sickened. In conclusion, the enemy:
A. takes a –4 penalty on all saving throws, skill checks and ability checks (and a –2 penalty on all weapon damage rolls)
B. drops anything it holds
C. must only take actions to flee at top speed from the source of its fear and any other dangers along a random path, using any special abilities needed
This is often more than enough to permanently remove the enemy from combat, even if it manages to flee. But in some more cases this combo can cause problems, allowing an enemy that must be caught or killed, and that otherwise would've been so, to successfully flee instead. So it's of course preferable to also restrict a panicked target's movement and shut down any of its other abilities allowing it to escape, especially if it's immune to fear/mind-affecting once outside Black Seraph Annihilation's 30 feet range. And that is the goal the "Instant Imprisonment Combo" described below.
This combo is mostly complementing the above two combos by restricting movement of hit enemies, stopping them from getting away from the "black hole" and ensuring the "soulless seraph smash" intimidation makes a target cowering and unable to act:
1. Wolf Style: "While using this style, whenever you deal at least 10 points of damage to a foe with an attack of opportunity, that foe's base speed decreases by 5 feet for 1 round. The foe's base speed decreases by an additional 5 feet for every 5 points of damage your attack deals beyond 10." As the Black Hole control combo can trigger plenty of AoOs (and requires Wolf Style anyways), this is a decent ability with which to stop enemies that use movement speed (rather than magic) to escape the black hole. The only part I find a little annoying is that it rewards a focus on damage, exactly the thing I'd like to be able to ignore. A soulless seraph smasher can also use it with for example the standard melee reach trip combo, the Come and Get Me rage power and/or anything else able to trigger plenty of AoOs.
2. The phase locking magic weapon ability applies an dimensional anchor effect, stopping the target from using any teleportation shenanigans to escape.
While dependent on dealing damage with AoOs, I believe this combo is the most effective available to martials, being relatively cheap and having rider effects (rather than requiring additional actions) that covers a large majority of the many ways in which a creature can change its physical position.
Of course I've put these three combos together in a test build. I call him "Newton" because, yeah...
Archon-Blooded Aasimar Shield Champion Brawler 8, Warder 6, Lore Warden Fighter 4, Master of Many Styles Monk of the Iron Mountain 2
LN Huge outsider (native)
Initiative +9; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +33
Aegis 20 ft., allies gain +2 morale to AC and Will
Black Seraph Annihilation 30 ft., enemies lose immunity to fear (enemies immune to mind-affecting gain +5 to saves vs. fear)
DEFENSE
AC 46, touch 17, flat-footed 42 +14 armor, +7 natural, +7 shield, +2 dex, +2 dodge, +5 deflection, +1 luck, -2 size
HP 247 10+11d10 brawler and fighter, +6d12 warden, +2d8 monk, +100 con, +20 toughness, +8 favored class
Fort 30 +5 con, +6 brawler, +4 fighter, +4 monk, +5 warder, +5 resistance, +1 competence
Ref 26 +6 int, +6 brawler, +1 fighter, +4 monk, +2 warder, +5 resistance, +1 competence, +1 haste dodge
Will 23 +5 wis, +2 brawler, +1 fighter, +4 monk, +5 warder, +5 resistance, +1 competence
Resist acid 5, cold 5, electricity 5, fire 10
Defensive Abilities Black Seraph Style (+5 profane to AC and saves vs. shaken, frightened, panicked or cowering creatures), Black Thorn Knight (+2 profane to saves vs. chaotic creatures and vs. mind-affecting), constant freedom of movement, Harlequin of the Cirque de la Fumée (ranged attacks with thrown weapons do not provoke)
OFFENSE
Speed 60 ft.
Melee Power Attack Black Hole +34/+34/+29/+24/+19 (6d8+30/x2 plus bull rush, demoralize, phase locking, trip) and Cruel Crush +34/+29 (6d8+30/x2 plus bull rush, cruel, demoralize, trip); or Unarmed Strike +33/+33/+33/+28/+28/+23/+18 (3d8+29/x2 plus cruel, demoralize)
Ranged Black Hole 60 ft. range +39/+39/+34/+29/+24 (6d8+20/x2 plus bull rush, phase locking, trip) and Cruel Crush 30 ft. range +39/+34 (6d8+20/x2 plus bull rush, cruel, trip)
Space 15 ft., Reach 15 ft.
Special Attacks Armiger's Mark (-4 atk, 6 rounds, 9/day), Combat Reflexes (7 AoOs/round), Cornugon Smash (Intimidate +51), Greater Bull Rush, Greater Trip, Knockout (DC 27, 1/day), Stunning Fist (DC 25, 11/day), Vicious Stomp, Wolf Style, Wolf Trip
Maneuvers Readied IL 6
Boosts Finishing Kick (6th)
Counters Burnished Shell (3rd), Devastating Riposte (7th), False wind (5th), Snapping Riposte (4th)
Stances
Broken Blade Stance (3rd), Walk in the Dark (4th), Winds of Vengeance Stance (6th)
STATISTICS
Str 36, Dex 14, Con 20, Int 22, Wis 20, Cha 7
Base Atk +19; CMB* +45 (bull rush +59**, trip +64); CMD* +63 (+66 vs. bull rush, trip)
*Treated as gargantuan size. **Newton rolls bull rush combat maneuver checks twice and uses the highest result.
Feats Black Seraph Annihilation, Black Seraph Style, Black Seraph’s Malevolence, Combat Expertise, Combat Reflexes, Cornugon Smash, Far Shot, Fiendskin, Greater Bull Rush, Greater Trip, Improved Bull Rush, Improved Precise Shot, Improved Shield Bash, Improved Trip, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Improved Unarmed Strike, Intimidating Prowess, Point-Blank Shot, Power Attack, Precise Shot, Quick Draw, Shield Master, Shield Slam, Soulless Gaze, Stunning Fist, Two-Weapon Fighting, Vicious Stomp, Wolf Style, Wolf Trip
Skills Acrobatics +4, Bluff +21, Fly +23, Intimidate +50, Linguistics +10, Perception +33, Sense Motive +32, Stealth +19, Use Magic Device +19, and any Knowledge skills and whatever else preferred...
Languages Abyssal, Common, Celestial, Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, Halfling, Infernal
Traits Bruising Intellect, Reactionary
Alternate Racial Traits +2 Str (no spell-like ability)
Martial Traditions Black Thorn Knights (Golden Lion exchanged for Black Seraph), Cirque de la Fumée (Primal Fury exchanged for Tempest Gale, Sleight of Hand as class skill)
GEAR
Black Hole (+5 distance dueling phase locking maelstrom spiked heavy throwing shield), Cruel Crush (+5 cruel impact maelstrom spiked heavy throwing shield), +5 Titanic brawling celestial mithral full plate, Headband of mental prowess +6 (Int, Wis), Belt of physical hurling blinkback perfection +6, Eyes of the Eagle, Jingasa of the fortunate soldier, Amulet of natural armor +5, Pauldrons of the resisting bull +5, War-Kilt of the Dervish, +2 Cruel body wrap of mighty strikes, Ring of protection +5, Ring of freedom of movement, Boots of speed, Cracked dusty rose prism in Wayfinder, Cracked opalescent white pyramid (throwing shield), Cracked pale green prism (x2), Thorny brown ioun, Thorny crimson ioun, Skin of Proteus (huge size, Improved Trip), Manual of gainful exercise +4, Various wands
Class and Feat Progression Note: retraining required!
1 shieldchamp 1 Power Attack, Bonus Feats Far Shot, Improved Unarmed Strike, Martial Flex Feat Improved Bull Rush
2 shieldchamp 2 Bonus Feat Two-Weapon Fighting, Bonus Combat Feat Improved Shield Bash
3 shieldchamp 3 Point-Blank Shot
4 shieldchamp 4 -
5 lorewarden 1 Precise Shot, Bonus Combat Feat Quick Draw
6 lorewarden 2 Bonus Feat Combat Expertise, Bonus Combat Feat Shield Slam
7 shieldchamp 5 Greater Trip, Bonus Combat Feat Intimidating Prowess
8 shieldchamp 6 Martial Flex Feat Greater Bull Rush
9 shieldchamp 7 Cornugon Smash
10 shieldchamp 8 Bonus Feat Improved Two-Weapon Fighting, Bonus Combat Feat Black Seraph Style
11 momsmotim 1 Shield Master, Bonus Feat Stunning Fist, Bonus Style Feat Wolf Style
12 momsmotim 2 Bonus Feat Toughness, Bonus Style Feat Wolf Trip
13 warder 1 Vicious Stomp, Bonus Feat Combat Reflexes
14 warder 2 -
15 warder 3 Black Seraph’s Malevolence, Bonus Combat Feat Black Seraph Annihilation
16 warder 4 -
17 warder 5 Soulless Gaze
18 lorewarden 3 -
19 lorewarden 4 Fiendskin, Bonus Combat Feat Improved Precise Shot
20 warder 6 -
Items Skin of Proteus Improved Trip, Cracked Opalescent White Pyramid Weapon Familiarity (throwing shield)
Ability Scores 20-point buy
Str 36 - 16 base, +2 racial, +4 level, +6 belt, +4 manual, +4 size
Dex 14 - 12 base, +6 belt, -4 size
Con 20 - 12 base, +2 racial, +6 belt
Int 22 - 15 base, +1 level, +6 headband
Wis 20 - 12 base, +2 racial, +6 headband
Cha 7 - 7 base
Melee Shield Bash Attack: +34 19 bab, +13 str, +5 enhancement, +2 master of many styles, +1 competence, -2 size, -5 power attack, +1 haste
Unarmed Strike Attack: +33 19 bab, +13 str, +2 enhancement, +2 brawling, +2 master of many styles, +1 competence, -2 size, -5 power attack, +1 haste
Ranged Shield Bash Attack: +39 +34 as above, +5 no power attack
Melee Shield Bash Damage Bonus: +30 +13 str, +5 enhancement, +2 master of many styles, +10 power attack
Unarmed Strike Damage Bonus: +29 +13 str, +2 enhancement, +2 brawling, +2 master of many styles, +10 power attack
Ranged Shield Bash Damage Bonus: +20 +30 as above, -10 no power attack
Unarmed Strike Damage Die: 3d8 2d8 large size 8th level brawler -> 3d8 huge size
Shield Bash Damage Die: 6d8 3d8 huge size 8th level brawler -> 6d8 bashing
Shield Bash Bull Rush: best of two rolls +59 +19 bab, +13 str, +2 maneuver mastery, +2 master of many styles, +4 feats, +5 enhancement, +5 impact, +2 insight ioun, +2 competence ioun, +4 size, +1 haste, pauldrons of the bull
Shield Bash Trip Black Hole +64 +19 bab, +13 str, +2 maneuver mastery, +2 master of many styles, +4 feats, +5 enhancement, +10 dueling, +2 insight ioun, +2 competence ioun, +4 size, +1 haste
Shield Bash Trip Cruel Crush +54 +64 as above, -10 no dueling magic weapon ability
Intimidate +51 +20 ranks, +3 class skill, +13 str, +6 int, +5 competence, +2 racial, +2 feat
Black Hole (96,230 gp)
Base Shield Properties (230 gp): heavy steel shield (20 gp), spiked (10 gp), throwing (50 gp), masterwork (150 gp)
Magic Shield Properties (46,000 gp): maelstrom (10,000 gp*), +5 enhancement (25,000 gp), bashing (+1 cost)
Magic Weapon Properties (50,000 gp): +1 enhancement (1,000 gp), dueling (+1 cost), distance (+1 cost), phase locking (+2 cost)
Cruel Crush (78,230 gp)
Base Shield Properties (230 gp): heavy steel shield (20 gp), spiked (10 gp), throwing (50 gp), masterwork (150 gp)
Magic Shield Properties (46,000 gp): maelstrom (10,000 gp*), +5 enhancement (25,000 gp), bashing (+1 cost)
Magic Weapon Properties (32,000 gp): +1 enhancement (1,000 gp), cruel (+1 cost), impact (+2 cost)
*This excludes the 4,170 gp of a +1 bashing masterwork heavy steel shield included in the market price listed for the Maelstrom Shield.
Armor (106,000 gp)
Base Armor Properties (10,500 gp): full plate (1500 gp), mithral 9000 gp
Magic Armor Properties (95,500 gp): celestial plate (14,500 gp*), +5 enhancement (25,000 gp), titanic (+3 cost), brawling (+1 cost)
*This excludes the 10,500 gp of a +3 full plate included in the market price listed for the Celestial Plate Armor.
The three combos of course demand tons of feats and quite a few specific magic items and other stuff to really get going. But once they do, oh boy... In my limited playtest Newton utterly dominated the battlefield, shutting down enemies hard and otherwise doing a great job of defending his party. Though he does of course have a few glaring weaknesses, the most annoying one being that so many enemies are immune to trip. But those that aren't don't stand much of a chance. And that includes high level opponents such as the CR 25 tarrasque, even should Newton somehow be facing say a whole family of them at the same time (Mommatasque and Poppatasque? :smalleek:).
Another thing of note is that the Winds of Vengeance Stance (from Tempest Gale) is of course hilariously effective when used by Newton, making him a highly mobile 75 x 75 feet "zone of nope", without having to enter his defensive focus.
Again, comments/suggestions/praise/critique/whatever much appreciated!