Save-or-Love
2017-09-15, 08:42 AM
I've done some reading on the Pit Fighter PrC to see if anything interesting could be done with it since not a lot of guides even mentions it. However, I'm not much of a PF guru so I'd appreciate if someone who's familiar with the PrC could take a look and see if I've missed anything big. I've tried to do my homework and noted what has already been said on this forum, but please excuse me if I repeat something someone has already come up with without referring to them. (I guess you could call this a handbook, but I can't say I'm confident in giving people authoritative recommendations when it comes to PF.)
(Since this is my first post I can't link anything at the time of writing. Ask me to cite sources/clarify if something seems particularly weird.)
Preface
This guide is aimed at people that are already pretty knowledgeable - preferably more so than myself. The PrC shares a lot of its basics with the Barbarian, so if you need a primer look up a guide for that class, e.g. Novawurmson's "Anger Management".
I'll mention performance combat checks a lot, so to spare the typing they're abbreviated "PCC"/"PCCs".
Due to the feat Awe-Inspiring Smash, I'm assuming you're dumping CHA in favor of STR for the purpose of PCC bonuses.
I've tried to focus things which are beneficial to the Pit Fighter in particular, so you won't find e.g. Improved Initiative in the feat section or Reactionary in trait section since those are useful to most people. That doesn't necessarily mean they're not good for Pit Fighters.
For the sake of not being overwhelmed I've mostly glossed over anything involving mental stats, non-full BAB (due to the scaling bonus to PCCs), lawful requirements and Finesse (STR > DEX will probably be the case due to Awe-Inspiring Smash). Anything interesting involving those subjects that I've missed would be particularly appreciated. (I've also chosen to ignore third-party material since those are far from certain to be allowed by GMs.)
Finally, since this is about a particular class, I've mostly focused on getting all of its 10 levels ASAP, but good alternatives to that are certainly welcome.
PrC Breakdown
Notable requirements: BAB 5, non-lawful, Dazzling Display, rage class feature/orc ferocity racial trait. (By RAW, (full-blooded) orcs and half-orcs with the racial trait orc atavism don't immediately qualify despite having actual ferocity.)
Main class aspects:
Can benefit from performance feats more reliably than Performing Combatant via Showmanship. Showmanship is a swift action, which creates conflict with other abilities that would like to use the swift action/immediate action slot during the first round (including performance feats, although that can be fixed).
Various feats and class features centered around dirty trick. This is tied to the other two aspects by the fact that any successful combat maneuver lets you do a PCC. Somewhat notably, Weapon Trick lets you deal damage with DT once per round but requires one free hand whenever you want to use it. This doesn't necessarily force you to fight one-handed all the time, since you could use two free actions to temporarily free up a hand. There's also Brutal Trick, which makes enemies provoke AoOs from you whenever they try to remove a DT condition.
Can indefinitely (Greater) Rage & rage cycle, on the condition that you raise the crowd attitude sufficiently and then not reducing it. As another poster noted, improving crowd attitudes can be difficult:
I really like some of the mechanics and all of the flavor for the pathfinder prestige class Pit Fighter, but there is a large problem with it. The DC of the combat performance checks goes up at a rate equal to enemy Cr, the bonus you get from both your BAB and perform ranks put together only goes up at a rate equal to 1/2 your level.
Does anyone know of how you're supposed to keep the other half of the level from. So far I have circlet of persuasion, your display feat, a performance weapon, and your base charisma modifier. So 7 + cha modifier. That is respectable but still leaves a fair margin of error on your character's central shtick, and drops by two any time you use a free or mandatory check. Are there any other ways to boost combat performance checks?
This makes extra PCC bonuses worth considering, and it's something that will be addressed in the text. (Although really, like half of the work is just discovering that Awe-Inspiring Smash exists.)
(Also, a couple of class features requires a performance weapon to function.)
Performance Combat with Showmanship
(most people are only familiar with performance feats trough Performing Combatant, so this is a primer for the relevant parts)
PCCs are CHA checks (or STR with Awe-Inspiring Smash). They get bonuses from your BAB & the single highest rank in Perform(act/comedy/dance) (having multiple Perform-skills doesn't help.) These two each give a +1 bonus at 1, which increments in the same pace as extra attacks from BAB do, capping at +4 with BAB/Perform rank 16.
I recommend Perform(Dance) since it is an (optional) requirement for Mocking Dance, and the only thing the alternatives has to exclusively offer is the feat Battle Cry for Perform(oratory), which seems pretty underwhelming to me. (As a bonus, Dance makes the most sense if you got high STR and low CHA due to Awe-Inspiring Smash.) Also, note that while the PrC has all the relevant Perform subtypes as class skills, this won't help you with PCCs since they're ability checks, not Perform skill checks. So unless you're moonlighting as a street dancer, the class skill bonus should be irrelevant. Since Perform is pretty useless outside of Showmanship, you might want to delay adding ranks to Perform for as long as possible so that you instead can get more mileage out of other skills/favored class HP bonuses at earlier levels, while still getting the PCC bonuses ASAP. For example, assuming two skill ranks per level:
Character Level
Perform Ranks
5
4
6 (PF 1)
6
7
6
8
6
9
8
10
10
11
11
12
11
13
11
14
12
15 (PF 10)
14
16+
16
(the benefit of this isn't huge, so just put in a rank at every level up until lvl 16 if you don't feel like bothering with the timing)
Whenever you pass a PCC, the crowd attitude is raised. The crowd attitude will only go lower if you fail the PCC by 5 or more, so with enough bonuses you shouldn't have to worry too much even if you don't always pass. Depending on the crowd attitude, you may get a mind-affecting +1/+2 morale bonus or -1/-2 penalty to attack rolls, combat maneuver checks, ability checks, skill checks, and saving throws. Staying away from a negative crowd attitude is important. It locks you out of Roar of the Crowd and can even impose the normal rage fatigue penalty on you. Furthermore, in a normal performance combat, someone who brings the crowd attitude below Hostile "automatically loses the performance part of the combat". It's ambiguous what this means for a Showmanship fight, but your DM might rule that you're unable to raise the attitude from Hostile for the rest of the fight and may even prohibit you from doing PCCs altogether.
Performance feats can normally only be applied to PCCs done as a swift action, which creates conflict with Showmanship. You'll want to grab Master Combat Performer ASAP which will let you apply performance feats to free action PCCs AND do swift action PCCs as free actions. (You can never apply performance feats to immediate action PCCs, so no using those on other people's turns.) Note that unlike with Performing Combatant, Showmanship lets you always benefit from performance feats applied to a PCC, regardless of whether you pass the check or not.
PCCs are triggered by particular events, as listed below. Note that these triggers are suppressed during invisibility/total cover/improved cover/total concealment (including mandatory ones, which is a bit of a silver lining).
PCC (free/swift/immediate action) triggers:
Confirmed crit. Failure will never lower crowd attitude. Also, crit feats with special effects gives a +2 untyped bonus. I don't think you get more of these bonuses if you apply multiple crits feat trough e.g. Critical Mastery. Also, note that while e.g. traits and class features can also produce special effects on a crit, only feats gives the bonus.
Being "the first person to damage an enemy during a performance combat". This gets a bit ambiguous with Showmanship: Is the start of the performance combat the start of the encounter, or the moment the Pit Fighter uses Showmanship? Anyway, getting high initiative might be extra good for this purpose.
Entering a rage. Since Roar of the Crowd needs a good crowd attitude, you might want to burn a vanilla rage round to trigger this ASAP.
Reducing a creature (including an ally by RAW!) to <= 0 hp.
PCC (swift action only) triggers:
Hitting with a charge attack
Successful feint/combat maneuver (doesn't have to be dirty trick)
Knocking an opponent prone (although tripping is a combat maneuver, you won't get two consecutive PCCs out of it)
Maximum weapon (or spell) damage roll. Light weapons gets a -4 penalty to the PCC, two-handed/exotic weapons gets a +2 circumstance bonus.
Hitting with two or more attacks. Every successful attack beyond the second gives a stacking +2 untyped bonus to the PCC.
"Flashy" fire/cold/electricity/acid/sonic/force effects. Merely hitting with a flaming weapon isn't enough, it needs to be a spell or something like flaming burst (which I don't recommend getting solely for this purpose, since crits already triggers PCCs and the burst won't give you a bonus).
(From the offensive nature of most/all of the above-mentioned triggers, I draw the conclusion that the Pit Fighter is more suited for a more aggressive playstyle.)
PCC (no action, mandatory) triggers: (never improves crowd attitude, failure always reduces crowd attitude)
Using healing spells/magical effects/spell triggers/spell completion/active item (including potions!), whether on yourself or others. Being healed by others is OK.
Natural 1 on attack roll/saving throw.
Withdraw action. Also gives a -5 penalty on the PCC.
Performance weapons gives a +2 untyped bonuses on PCCs, but only on ones that were triggered by an attack/combat maneuver involving such a weapon.
If you would raise the crowd attitude past Helpful, you instead get a victory point to spend until the encounter ends. A victory point has the following uses: (see also the next section's take on the Fighter's Gladiator archetype)
Automatically succeed at a PCC. Since you've already reached Helpful, this is mostly useful as a backup get-out-of-jail-free card in case you manage to lower the attitude again and need guaranteed access to Roar of the Crowd, particularly if some kind of newly imposed penalty like ability score damage has made it harder for you to pass PCCs.
Make an immediate action PCC as no action. Since you can't use performance feats on other people's turns, this is mostly a niche alternative to the previous use, except you can do it on other people's turns without guarantees.
Make a free action PCC as no action. This is even more niche, but I guess you could use it in case your DM is being restrictive when it comes to the number of free actions.
Things to ignore that are relevant to normal performance combat:
Types of Performance Combat (the performance part ends when the encounter ends)
Winner determination
Variable Starting Attitude (always indifferent for you)
PCC DC variables, including bribery & number of combatants (you only need to worry about the CR)
Serialized Performance Combats (you can't carry over the effects of Showmanship to the next encounter)
(levels 1-5) Dipping Pre-Prc
Barbarian
VMC seems preferable, since it lets you get full scaling rage powers to go with indefinite rage while leaving open two character levels for other things. Furious Guardian/Ulfen Guard levels can potentially help with qualifications later on. (See next section.)
In addition to their conventional uses, the following rage powers can all help with PCCs when necessary: Strength Surge (with Awe-Inspiring Smash), Auspicious Mark and Greater Celestial Blood.
By RAW, it doesn't seem like Furious Mount and Furious Beast works with Roar of the Crowd. Even if they do, they still require rage roumds and will cease function as usual once you run out.
The Unchained version seems overall inferior, due to the lack of STR bonus from rage to go with Awe-Inspiring Smash as well as the lack of reason to rage cycle.
Titan Mauler provides the niche option of letting you use a two-handed weapon while still being able to free up a hand at will for Weapon Trick.
Really gimmicky, but Pack Rager 7+ lets your allies benefit from teamwork feats indefinitely. (If this actually turns out to be powerful, I reserve the right to retroactively claim that I knew it was good all along.)
Fighter
You'll want several feats before entering the PrC (especially if you're going for VMC Barbarian), so as usual this class is the go-to option for martial dipping.
Gladiator gives a much larger selection of performance weapons and a free victory point which can be used to reliably and immediately improve crowd attitude. The fact that Gladiators can take performance feats as bonus feats shouldn't actually matter since all performance feats are also combat feats.
Cavalier
Obviously, Order of the Cockatrice gives Dazzling Display without requiring Weapon Focus. While many performance feats requires DD, only Hero's Display among them requires WF, so skipping a feat tax this way doesn't compromise much immediately. (When you do want access to Hero's Display, consider buying a Cracked Opalescent White Pyramid Ioun Stone + a Wayfinder to get Weapon Focus without burning a proper feat slot on it. Do note however that buying non-perfect Ioun Stones might be something your DM dislikes.)
I think the mount should be ignored since it will probably require both non-trivial feat investment and Cavalier 4 to be effective in the long run, and I feel those resources could be better used to improve the Pit Fighter's core features, especially since it's unclear how mount-centered rage powers interact with Roar of the Crowd. Could lead to some flavor problems though, seeing as you're supposed to have a deep connection to your mount. You could ask your GM to let you skip it entirely if it would make things too awkward.
Challenge and tactician can probably be ignored since they cut into your action economy and need non-trivial Cavalier level investment to be effective.
Gendarme can give you Power Attack (or Improved Bull Rush) for Awe-Insping Smash without burning a fighter feat on it. On the downside, since the archetype is supposed to ”[train] to be a mounted terror, almost to the exclusion of all other abilities”, mount-related flavor issues are exasperated.
Brawler: Martial Flexibility is particularly interesting for a Pit Fighter since it lets you pick a performance feat appropriate for the encounter.
Ranger/Slayer: The Menacing combat style can give you Dazzling Display directly alá Cavalier, but I feel that the other levels overall give benefits that are either underwhelming or cut into your action economy too much compared to Gendarme 1+2.
Bloodrager: Bloodrage doesn't count as Brb-rage for the purpose of prestige class qualification. Furthermore, even if you end up taking levels in both this and the Prc, you won't be able to Bloodrage indefinitely.
[Classess without full BAB]: Since BAB both helps qualifying for the PrC ASAP and gives bonuses to PCCs, I recommend ignoring these until character level 16 when the PCC bonus caps.
(If you neither want orc ferocity or a base class which gives the rage class feature, an alternative is Furious Guardian/Ulfen Guard 1 at character level 6, which is compact for what it gives compared to Barbarian 1+2 but delays entry into the main PrC a bit.)
(levels 16-20) Classes Post-Prc
(I'll focus on options where investing a limited amount of levels you have left still can count for something. All of the below options should be at least OK with one or two levels in them, so there's room to mix things up.)
Brawler: More adaptable performance feats and better action economy via improved martial flexibility.
Fighter: More performance (or combat) feats. You could even go the distance with Fighter(Gladiator) 10/Pit Fighter 10 to get two victory points if you really want reliable crowd attitude boosting.
(Non-VMC) Barbarian: More rage powers and better rage power progression.
[Classes without full BAB]: These are OK now since BAB can't help you with PCCs any more. At this point I haven't given these much thought, but the ones that works as a Barbarian dip will probably work here as well.
Furious Guardian/Ulfen Guard
Much like Barbarian, but can be combined with its VMC. By RAW, this means you can effectively count your Furious Guardian levels twice for the purpose rage power qualification, letting you pick up e.g. Come and Get Me at character level 18 with [Dip Classes] 5/Pit Fighter 10/Furious Guardian 3. However, your DM may chose to veto this interpretation, even though it's far from broken.
Alternatives to more rage powers includes a single combat feat, Fast Movement in heavy armor, non-Roar of the Crowd rage as an immediate action and the ability to copy at least one allied teamwork feat during a rage.
Aside from the above you also get a pseudo-slippery mind ability at class level 2.
Darechaser (Painful requirements, but bear with me...)
Dare can be used with PCCs to add one or more d6s/d8s to help you pass. (Although since your character must scream out what they're daring to do during a rage, you might have to get creative with your RP, e.g. "I DARE MYSELF TO POSE IN A REALLY COOL WAY".)
In addition, Adrenaline Rush gives a scaling +1 to +3 bonus to STR checks, which applies to PCCs with Awe-Inspiring Smash and can be effectively doubled with Diehard Performer if necessary.
The class also solves its own potential fatigue issues with Daring Finish, while providing a diverse set of minor bonuses to chose from in the form of Adrenaline Deeds.
Living Monolith(ka stone)
You get an enlarging effect that gives a +2 or +4 STR bonus, which helps with PCCs.
Aside from that and the usual reach increase from being enlarged, the class also gives a lot of defensive goodies.
However, the class has some downsides: First of all, it only gives full BAB when you're enlarged. Second, the enlarging effect can only be used three times a day, as opposed to Showmanship's max of four. Finally, the enlarging effect requires a swift action, which means you will have to go one full round without either a decent chunk of bonuses or performance-related stuff.
Sentinel, Chevalier, Pain Taster and/or Sanguine Angel: These don't directly synergize with Pit Fighter features (aside from some deities' Sentinel boons, see the Feats section) but they all work in line with the class more or less well.
(Other full BAB PrCs I've looked into are too passive/reactive to mesh with Pit Fighter features, have a lawful requirement and/or requires more than 5 class levels to be effective.)
Feats
Master Combat Performer: Mandatory since it significantly improves your action economy by letting you activate showmanship and do a PCC with a performance feat on the same turn. In fact, it lets you use multiple performance feats on your turn, and since their effects stack with both each other and themselves, this can lead to some interesting combos. (This feat also gives proficiency with exotic performance weapons, which provides some options that might be interesting, e.g. hooked axe or scorpion whip.)
Awe-Inspiring Smash: Mandatory due to the aforementioned ability to dump CHA. It also encourages investment in bull rush/sunder as potential alternatives/complements to dirty trick, but you can afford to ignore this aspect if it doesn't interest you.
Hero's Display: On its own, this is little more than a more action economic Dazzling Display, and Master Combat Performer will just let you extend the duration of the shaken condition. However, with Soulless Gaze and another damnation feat, it can let you frighten or even panic multiple fear-susceptible enemies every round on your own. (Your DM might frown upon this, especially if there's an antipaladin in the party.) If you're going for this trick, you might want to delay getting Weapon Focus & HD until you have the two damnation feats. (On the other hand, you could take advantage of just the shaken condition with e.g. Shatter Defenses.)
Intimidating Prowess: Intimidate while still dumping CHA. If you want a primer on intimidation, you might want to check out "the Noble Art of Intimimancy", although it doesn't cover everything (a notable example of what it misses being Soulless Gaze). (Also, while the PrC requires Intimidate 5 and the shaken-inducing Dazzling Display, your not wasting much if you decide not to go for the intimidation route since no class features are directly fear-oriented.)
Murderer's Circle/Spectacular Exit: Not a fan of the Dodge (and DEX 15) requirement since I'd rather focus STR for PCCs and sufficiently raise CON for Raging Vitality, but the benefits are interesting.
Mocking Dance: A more restrictive yet also more accessible alternative to the above-mentioned two feats. I feel it's good to actually pick this feat in order to have a fairly versatile defensive backup option (instead of a withdraw action unless things are hairy), while using martial flexibility to pick appropriate offensive performance feats (e.g. Savage Display).
Performing Combatant: Lets your performance-related features be useful outside of showmanship encounters. PCC bonuses are particularly important here since you'd otherwise waste the action. Could retrain it when/if you feel like you have enough showmanship uses per day, but note that it's also an (optional) requirement for Master Combat Performer.
Masterful Display: Probably not worth it if you only have Mocking Dance + basic martial flexibility. Could be very interesting in higher levels if you have a larger selection of feats to combine repeatedly each turn.
Second Wind: For what it gives, the Endurance requirement is a bit of a bummer. Could be used to enable pseudo cycling of non-Roar of the Crow rage and/or Darechaser Adrenaline Rush I guess.
Leapfrog: Seems underwhelming. I guess you could use it to better avoid AoOs or something.
Black Powder Spectacle/Thrilling Vengeance/Ostentatious Weakness/Masterful Flourish: I feel these are a little too situational and/or class-specific for too little gain to warrant an investment. There are other ways to get (greater) bonuses to PCCs together with other benefits.
Deific Obedience(Gorum): Gives +4 to STR checks, which helps PCCs (with Awe-Inspiring Smash). The tier 1 & 3 Exalted boons are pretty nice (tier 2 seems a bit awkward to use on yourself as a standard action, but it does work with PCCs). Also, getting Sentinel boons via their corresponding prestige class or Diverse Obedience is worth considering.
Celestial Obedience(Arqueros): Same obedience bonus as Gorum, and the boons aren't bad either. (Ignore Mystery Cultist though.)
Deific Obedience(Minderhal): Just +1 to STR checks, and the Exalted boons are overall underwhelming. I guess you could take levels in Sentinel or even an Evangelist dip if you're into their boons, particularly either tier 3 which also gives some minor help to PCCs. (Diverse Obedience is a no-no due to alignment issues.)
Eldritch Heritage/Improved Eldritch Heritage/Greater Eldritch Heritage: This text has repeatedly mentioned dumping CHA. However, applying these feats to the Orc Bloodline gives you the option of starting with more CHA and less STR, with your investment eventually paying off in the form of a constant +6 inherent STR bonus. You also get to increase your size for another +6 STR bonus together with some defensive goodies for several minutes per day. The choice is yours whether the wait and feat tax is worth it. (Obviously, this is a bit less painful for races with a bonus to CHA.) If you want a slightly more short-term alternative, consider the Abyssal Bloodline. It gives the same constant STR bonus but has arguably a better associated skill and lvl 1 power, although in this case Greater Eldritch Heritage should be skipped since its improvement to summon spells isn't useful to you.
Raging Vitality: Even if you go unconscious, the crowd's attitude doesn't automatically drop, so you can still benefit from rage indefinitely and thus avoid SBDS. The only way you can be forced into a failing PCC while unconscious is by natural 1 on a save or managing to activate some kind of healing effect for yourself. (Being healed by others is still OK.)
[Other Critical Feats]: As mentioned, crits triggers PCCs, and critical feats with special effects gives you a bonus on those PCCs.
[Dirty trick feats]: If you're only picking up one of these, I recommend Dirty Trick Master. First of all, the PrC lets you (eventually) bypass the indirect feat tax imposed by Combat Expertise/Dirty Fighting that plagues the earlier members of its feat line. Second, since you're able to perform dirty trick maneuvers multiple times a turn, this feat will allow you to considerably hamper enemies. This can end up having game-breaking consequences similar to the above-mentioned use of Hero's Display (and your DM might not like this one either):
No, it's using Dirty Trick Master and the dazing (or [removed hyperlink] nauseated) condition in a far more devastating manner. The combo's key components and mechanics are:
Dirty Trick Master You can impose the [removed hyperlink] dazing or [removed hyperlink] nauseated condition on a foe you DT while it's still affected by the dazzled or sickened condition imposed by your previous DT. Both the dazing and nauseating condition prevents the affected creature from taking standard actions, which means it cannot remove the condition your DT imposed by taking a standard action. Which in turn means the foe typically cannot remove the condition or (if dazed) do anything at all before the DT duration expires, at least not without outside help which typically also steals enemy actions. (Very surprised the DT guide didn't mention this at all, despite being clearly spelled out in related RAW.)
Kitsune Vengeance Allows you to replace AoO with DT attempt.
AoO trigger combo Any combo which reliably allows you to make one or more AoOs against a target you've just successfully performed a DT against. This can for example be dirty trick with a Maelstrom Shield for a free trip, and Greater Trip and/or Vicious Stomp to immediately grant a second DT as an AoO. Or it could be Shield Slam/Giant Fist Gauntlets + Greater Bull Rush + Paired Opportunists or Unexpected Strike rage power, or Siegebreaker fighter 2 + Shield Slam/Giant Fist Gauntlets + Greater Overrun, or simply Pushing Assault + Unexpected Strike, or any one of several other combos having the same relevant effect.
(Note that Kitstune Vengeance requires you to activate its combat style as a swift action, which creates conflict with Showmanship.) If you need a primer on the maneuver, AncientSpark's "Try Fighting Without Pants! A Guide to Dirty Tricks" specifically deals with the dirty trick aspect of the PrC, although as implied in the quote, it overlooks some things.
Extra Rage Power: Supplements non-barbarian levels, particularly with VMC Barbarian. If it's good on Brb, it's probably good here, and rage powers have a reputation of being overall better than feats. However, keep in mind that you might run into trouble when it comes to progression, level requirements and the limited number of powers you can have compared to if you just went Barbarian 20.
Extra Rage and/or [Various rage-replenishing feats]: I don't think these are really necessary with indefinite rage, even if it's conditional. (If your GM lets you abuse Destroyer's Blessing you can probably ignore Roar of the Crowd altogether...)
Unhindering Shield/Shielded Gauntlet Master: If you really want to benefit from something in your off-hand while still being able to use Weapon Trick.
Iron Will: If you're dipping in a bunch of martial classes with a small rage pool to boot, your class bonuses to Will risks ending up small to non-existent early on. You could retrain this feat when things are a bit steadier.
Sample build (sloppily formatted)
VMC Brb entry with focus on Rage Powers
1. Cavalier(Gendarme, Order of the Cockatrice) 1
Power Attack
Iron Will [if possible, retrain this to Raging Vitality at some point after lvl 3, when you qualify for that feat with VMC Rage]
2. Brawler 1
3. Fighter(Gladiator) 1, VMC Barbarian 1(Rage)
Awe-Inspiring Smash
4. Fighter(Gladiator) 2
Mocking Dance
5. Cavalier(Gendarme, Order of the Cockatrice) 2
Performing Combatant OR Raging Vitality [if you're not allowed to retrain Iron Will, could delay it until lvl 9 though]
6. Pit Fighter 1
7. Pit Fighter 2, VMC Barbarian 2(Uncanny Dodge)
8. Pit Fighter 3
9. Pit Fighter 4
Master Combat Performer OR Performing Combatant OR Raging Vitality [depends on lvl 5]
10. Pit Fighter 5
11. Pit Fighter 6, VMC Barbarian 3(Rage Power[Superstition])
12. Pit Fighter 7
13. Pit Fighter 8
Extra Rage Power(Witch Hunter) OR Master Combat Performer
14. Pit Fighter 9
15. Pit Fighter 10, VMC Barbarian 4(DR 3/-)
16. Furious Guardian 1
Guard Dedication(Rage Power[Spell Sunder])
17. Furious Guardian 2
Extra Rage Power(Strength Surge)
18. Furious Guardian 3
Guard Dedication(Rage Power[Eater of Magic])
19. Furious Guardian 4, VMC Barbarian 5(Greater Rage)
20. Furious Guardian 5
Guard Dedication(Rage Power[Reckless Abandon])
(Could take Furious Guardian 1 at lvl 11 or even earlier for more immediate Rage Power gain, at the expense of e.g. delayed 3/day Showmanship.)
Again, mount/Gendarme flavor issues makes this build less elegant than I'd wish it would be. I guess in the right campaign it could be set up so that you're an Ulfen knight who's forced into gladiatorial slavery, with your horse dying and you not having the heart to ever replace it.
Items: I haven't been able to find much that's beneficial for Pit Fighters in particular. There's Gladiator's Sandals, but they only work during surprise rounds and even then you need to do a combat maneuver. Serpentine Tattoo triggers off performance weapons and adds an extra dirty trick, but requires the contested swift/immediate action slot to do so. Aside from that, the usual crit-fishing weapons are worth considering since they will generate more PCCs.
Spells: There's adoration, but it doesn't give you much. Also, since the flavor suggests that it's supposed to cause the target to be viewed more favorably by the crowd via a mind-affecting effect, your GM might rule that the virtual crowd from showmanship doesn't count. (I guess Pit Fighters can adore themselves though.)
Races
(Pretty much any race that works with Barbarian works with the PrC.)
Half-orcs: While not bad, I feel orc ferocity is a bit off a trap, since properly having rage as a class feature gives you access to things like Extra Rage Power and Raging Vitality. Unless you for whatever reason don't feel like taking a level or more in Barbarian/Furious Guardian/Viking, you can just trade orc ferocity for e.g. sacred tatoo and then qualify the same way everyone else does.
Humans: Good as usual, since you're quite dependent on skills (both for qualification purposes and to maintain a high PCC bonus from Perform) and feats.
Aasimar: Also good as usual, with the niche option of being able to take Enlightened Warrior. Special mention goes to the Angel-Blooded variant with its +2 to STR & CHA for the purpose of Eldritch Heritage. (Although an Aasimar with the Abyssal Bloodline will probably end up a cliché.)
Traits
Valknar Alumnus: Picking dirty trick as the chosen maneuver pretty much tailors this to the Pit Fighter, both mechanically and flavor-wise.
[various crit traits]: Crits triggers PCCs, so these are worth considering.
Bruising Intellect: See Intimidating Prowess.
Enlightened Warrior: (Non-lawful monk levels.)
[Various Will/mental effect save traits]: See Iron Will.
Hope I'm not being too much of a Captain Obvious here, would appreciate input.
(Since this is my first post I can't link anything at the time of writing. Ask me to cite sources/clarify if something seems particularly weird.)
Preface
This guide is aimed at people that are already pretty knowledgeable - preferably more so than myself. The PrC shares a lot of its basics with the Barbarian, so if you need a primer look up a guide for that class, e.g. Novawurmson's "Anger Management".
I'll mention performance combat checks a lot, so to spare the typing they're abbreviated "PCC"/"PCCs".
Due to the feat Awe-Inspiring Smash, I'm assuming you're dumping CHA in favor of STR for the purpose of PCC bonuses.
I've tried to focus things which are beneficial to the Pit Fighter in particular, so you won't find e.g. Improved Initiative in the feat section or Reactionary in trait section since those are useful to most people. That doesn't necessarily mean they're not good for Pit Fighters.
For the sake of not being overwhelmed I've mostly glossed over anything involving mental stats, non-full BAB (due to the scaling bonus to PCCs), lawful requirements and Finesse (STR > DEX will probably be the case due to Awe-Inspiring Smash). Anything interesting involving those subjects that I've missed would be particularly appreciated. (I've also chosen to ignore third-party material since those are far from certain to be allowed by GMs.)
Finally, since this is about a particular class, I've mostly focused on getting all of its 10 levels ASAP, but good alternatives to that are certainly welcome.
PrC Breakdown
Notable requirements: BAB 5, non-lawful, Dazzling Display, rage class feature/orc ferocity racial trait. (By RAW, (full-blooded) orcs and half-orcs with the racial trait orc atavism don't immediately qualify despite having actual ferocity.)
Main class aspects:
Can benefit from performance feats more reliably than Performing Combatant via Showmanship. Showmanship is a swift action, which creates conflict with other abilities that would like to use the swift action/immediate action slot during the first round (including performance feats, although that can be fixed).
Various feats and class features centered around dirty trick. This is tied to the other two aspects by the fact that any successful combat maneuver lets you do a PCC. Somewhat notably, Weapon Trick lets you deal damage with DT once per round but requires one free hand whenever you want to use it. This doesn't necessarily force you to fight one-handed all the time, since you could use two free actions to temporarily free up a hand. There's also Brutal Trick, which makes enemies provoke AoOs from you whenever they try to remove a DT condition.
Can indefinitely (Greater) Rage & rage cycle, on the condition that you raise the crowd attitude sufficiently and then not reducing it. As another poster noted, improving crowd attitudes can be difficult:
I really like some of the mechanics and all of the flavor for the pathfinder prestige class Pit Fighter, but there is a large problem with it. The DC of the combat performance checks goes up at a rate equal to enemy Cr, the bonus you get from both your BAB and perform ranks put together only goes up at a rate equal to 1/2 your level.
Does anyone know of how you're supposed to keep the other half of the level from. So far I have circlet of persuasion, your display feat, a performance weapon, and your base charisma modifier. So 7 + cha modifier. That is respectable but still leaves a fair margin of error on your character's central shtick, and drops by two any time you use a free or mandatory check. Are there any other ways to boost combat performance checks?
This makes extra PCC bonuses worth considering, and it's something that will be addressed in the text. (Although really, like half of the work is just discovering that Awe-Inspiring Smash exists.)
(Also, a couple of class features requires a performance weapon to function.)
Performance Combat with Showmanship
(most people are only familiar with performance feats trough Performing Combatant, so this is a primer for the relevant parts)
PCCs are CHA checks (or STR with Awe-Inspiring Smash). They get bonuses from your BAB & the single highest rank in Perform(act/comedy/dance) (having multiple Perform-skills doesn't help.) These two each give a +1 bonus at 1, which increments in the same pace as extra attacks from BAB do, capping at +4 with BAB/Perform rank 16.
I recommend Perform(Dance) since it is an (optional) requirement for Mocking Dance, and the only thing the alternatives has to exclusively offer is the feat Battle Cry for Perform(oratory), which seems pretty underwhelming to me. (As a bonus, Dance makes the most sense if you got high STR and low CHA due to Awe-Inspiring Smash.) Also, note that while the PrC has all the relevant Perform subtypes as class skills, this won't help you with PCCs since they're ability checks, not Perform skill checks. So unless you're moonlighting as a street dancer, the class skill bonus should be irrelevant. Since Perform is pretty useless outside of Showmanship, you might want to delay adding ranks to Perform for as long as possible so that you instead can get more mileage out of other skills/favored class HP bonuses at earlier levels, while still getting the PCC bonuses ASAP. For example, assuming two skill ranks per level:
Character Level
Perform Ranks
5
4
6 (PF 1)
6
7
6
8
6
9
8
10
10
11
11
12
11
13
11
14
12
15 (PF 10)
14
16+
16
(the benefit of this isn't huge, so just put in a rank at every level up until lvl 16 if you don't feel like bothering with the timing)
Whenever you pass a PCC, the crowd attitude is raised. The crowd attitude will only go lower if you fail the PCC by 5 or more, so with enough bonuses you shouldn't have to worry too much even if you don't always pass. Depending on the crowd attitude, you may get a mind-affecting +1/+2 morale bonus or -1/-2 penalty to attack rolls, combat maneuver checks, ability checks, skill checks, and saving throws. Staying away from a negative crowd attitude is important. It locks you out of Roar of the Crowd and can even impose the normal rage fatigue penalty on you. Furthermore, in a normal performance combat, someone who brings the crowd attitude below Hostile "automatically loses the performance part of the combat". It's ambiguous what this means for a Showmanship fight, but your DM might rule that you're unable to raise the attitude from Hostile for the rest of the fight and may even prohibit you from doing PCCs altogether.
Performance feats can normally only be applied to PCCs done as a swift action, which creates conflict with Showmanship. You'll want to grab Master Combat Performer ASAP which will let you apply performance feats to free action PCCs AND do swift action PCCs as free actions. (You can never apply performance feats to immediate action PCCs, so no using those on other people's turns.) Note that unlike with Performing Combatant, Showmanship lets you always benefit from performance feats applied to a PCC, regardless of whether you pass the check or not.
PCCs are triggered by particular events, as listed below. Note that these triggers are suppressed during invisibility/total cover/improved cover/total concealment (including mandatory ones, which is a bit of a silver lining).
PCC (free/swift/immediate action) triggers:
Confirmed crit. Failure will never lower crowd attitude. Also, crit feats with special effects gives a +2 untyped bonus. I don't think you get more of these bonuses if you apply multiple crits feat trough e.g. Critical Mastery. Also, note that while e.g. traits and class features can also produce special effects on a crit, only feats gives the bonus.
Being "the first person to damage an enemy during a performance combat". This gets a bit ambiguous with Showmanship: Is the start of the performance combat the start of the encounter, or the moment the Pit Fighter uses Showmanship? Anyway, getting high initiative might be extra good for this purpose.
Entering a rage. Since Roar of the Crowd needs a good crowd attitude, you might want to burn a vanilla rage round to trigger this ASAP.
Reducing a creature (including an ally by RAW!) to <= 0 hp.
PCC (swift action only) triggers:
Hitting with a charge attack
Successful feint/combat maneuver (doesn't have to be dirty trick)
Knocking an opponent prone (although tripping is a combat maneuver, you won't get two consecutive PCCs out of it)
Maximum weapon (or spell) damage roll. Light weapons gets a -4 penalty to the PCC, two-handed/exotic weapons gets a +2 circumstance bonus.
Hitting with two or more attacks. Every successful attack beyond the second gives a stacking +2 untyped bonus to the PCC.
"Flashy" fire/cold/electricity/acid/sonic/force effects. Merely hitting with a flaming weapon isn't enough, it needs to be a spell or something like flaming burst (which I don't recommend getting solely for this purpose, since crits already triggers PCCs and the burst won't give you a bonus).
(From the offensive nature of most/all of the above-mentioned triggers, I draw the conclusion that the Pit Fighter is more suited for a more aggressive playstyle.)
PCC (no action, mandatory) triggers: (never improves crowd attitude, failure always reduces crowd attitude)
Using healing spells/magical effects/spell triggers/spell completion/active item (including potions!), whether on yourself or others. Being healed by others is OK.
Natural 1 on attack roll/saving throw.
Withdraw action. Also gives a -5 penalty on the PCC.
Performance weapons gives a +2 untyped bonuses on PCCs, but only on ones that were triggered by an attack/combat maneuver involving such a weapon.
If you would raise the crowd attitude past Helpful, you instead get a victory point to spend until the encounter ends. A victory point has the following uses: (see also the next section's take on the Fighter's Gladiator archetype)
Automatically succeed at a PCC. Since you've already reached Helpful, this is mostly useful as a backup get-out-of-jail-free card in case you manage to lower the attitude again and need guaranteed access to Roar of the Crowd, particularly if some kind of newly imposed penalty like ability score damage has made it harder for you to pass PCCs.
Make an immediate action PCC as no action. Since you can't use performance feats on other people's turns, this is mostly a niche alternative to the previous use, except you can do it on other people's turns without guarantees.
Make a free action PCC as no action. This is even more niche, but I guess you could use it in case your DM is being restrictive when it comes to the number of free actions.
Things to ignore that are relevant to normal performance combat:
Types of Performance Combat (the performance part ends when the encounter ends)
Winner determination
Variable Starting Attitude (always indifferent for you)
PCC DC variables, including bribery & number of combatants (you only need to worry about the CR)
Serialized Performance Combats (you can't carry over the effects of Showmanship to the next encounter)
(levels 1-5) Dipping Pre-Prc
Barbarian
VMC seems preferable, since it lets you get full scaling rage powers to go with indefinite rage while leaving open two character levels for other things. Furious Guardian/Ulfen Guard levels can potentially help with qualifications later on. (See next section.)
In addition to their conventional uses, the following rage powers can all help with PCCs when necessary: Strength Surge (with Awe-Inspiring Smash), Auspicious Mark and Greater Celestial Blood.
By RAW, it doesn't seem like Furious Mount and Furious Beast works with Roar of the Crowd. Even if they do, they still require rage roumds and will cease function as usual once you run out.
The Unchained version seems overall inferior, due to the lack of STR bonus from rage to go with Awe-Inspiring Smash as well as the lack of reason to rage cycle.
Titan Mauler provides the niche option of letting you use a two-handed weapon while still being able to free up a hand at will for Weapon Trick.
Really gimmicky, but Pack Rager 7+ lets your allies benefit from teamwork feats indefinitely. (If this actually turns out to be powerful, I reserve the right to retroactively claim that I knew it was good all along.)
Fighter
You'll want several feats before entering the PrC (especially if you're going for VMC Barbarian), so as usual this class is the go-to option for martial dipping.
Gladiator gives a much larger selection of performance weapons and a free victory point which can be used to reliably and immediately improve crowd attitude. The fact that Gladiators can take performance feats as bonus feats shouldn't actually matter since all performance feats are also combat feats.
Cavalier
Obviously, Order of the Cockatrice gives Dazzling Display without requiring Weapon Focus. While many performance feats requires DD, only Hero's Display among them requires WF, so skipping a feat tax this way doesn't compromise much immediately. (When you do want access to Hero's Display, consider buying a Cracked Opalescent White Pyramid Ioun Stone + a Wayfinder to get Weapon Focus without burning a proper feat slot on it. Do note however that buying non-perfect Ioun Stones might be something your DM dislikes.)
I think the mount should be ignored since it will probably require both non-trivial feat investment and Cavalier 4 to be effective in the long run, and I feel those resources could be better used to improve the Pit Fighter's core features, especially since it's unclear how mount-centered rage powers interact with Roar of the Crowd. Could lead to some flavor problems though, seeing as you're supposed to have a deep connection to your mount. You could ask your GM to let you skip it entirely if it would make things too awkward.
Challenge and tactician can probably be ignored since they cut into your action economy and need non-trivial Cavalier level investment to be effective.
Gendarme can give you Power Attack (or Improved Bull Rush) for Awe-Insping Smash without burning a fighter feat on it. On the downside, since the archetype is supposed to ”[train] to be a mounted terror, almost to the exclusion of all other abilities”, mount-related flavor issues are exasperated.
Brawler: Martial Flexibility is particularly interesting for a Pit Fighter since it lets you pick a performance feat appropriate for the encounter.
Ranger/Slayer: The Menacing combat style can give you Dazzling Display directly alá Cavalier, but I feel that the other levels overall give benefits that are either underwhelming or cut into your action economy too much compared to Gendarme 1+2.
Bloodrager: Bloodrage doesn't count as Brb-rage for the purpose of prestige class qualification. Furthermore, even if you end up taking levels in both this and the Prc, you won't be able to Bloodrage indefinitely.
[Classess without full BAB]: Since BAB both helps qualifying for the PrC ASAP and gives bonuses to PCCs, I recommend ignoring these until character level 16 when the PCC bonus caps.
(If you neither want orc ferocity or a base class which gives the rage class feature, an alternative is Furious Guardian/Ulfen Guard 1 at character level 6, which is compact for what it gives compared to Barbarian 1+2 but delays entry into the main PrC a bit.)
(levels 16-20) Classes Post-Prc
(I'll focus on options where investing a limited amount of levels you have left still can count for something. All of the below options should be at least OK with one or two levels in them, so there's room to mix things up.)
Brawler: More adaptable performance feats and better action economy via improved martial flexibility.
Fighter: More performance (or combat) feats. You could even go the distance with Fighter(Gladiator) 10/Pit Fighter 10 to get two victory points if you really want reliable crowd attitude boosting.
(Non-VMC) Barbarian: More rage powers and better rage power progression.
[Classes without full BAB]: These are OK now since BAB can't help you with PCCs any more. At this point I haven't given these much thought, but the ones that works as a Barbarian dip will probably work here as well.
Furious Guardian/Ulfen Guard
Much like Barbarian, but can be combined with its VMC. By RAW, this means you can effectively count your Furious Guardian levels twice for the purpose rage power qualification, letting you pick up e.g. Come and Get Me at character level 18 with [Dip Classes] 5/Pit Fighter 10/Furious Guardian 3. However, your DM may chose to veto this interpretation, even though it's far from broken.
Alternatives to more rage powers includes a single combat feat, Fast Movement in heavy armor, non-Roar of the Crowd rage as an immediate action and the ability to copy at least one allied teamwork feat during a rage.
Aside from the above you also get a pseudo-slippery mind ability at class level 2.
Darechaser (Painful requirements, but bear with me...)
Dare can be used with PCCs to add one or more d6s/d8s to help you pass. (Although since your character must scream out what they're daring to do during a rage, you might have to get creative with your RP, e.g. "I DARE MYSELF TO POSE IN A REALLY COOL WAY".)
In addition, Adrenaline Rush gives a scaling +1 to +3 bonus to STR checks, which applies to PCCs with Awe-Inspiring Smash and can be effectively doubled with Diehard Performer if necessary.
The class also solves its own potential fatigue issues with Daring Finish, while providing a diverse set of minor bonuses to chose from in the form of Adrenaline Deeds.
Living Monolith(ka stone)
You get an enlarging effect that gives a +2 or +4 STR bonus, which helps with PCCs.
Aside from that and the usual reach increase from being enlarged, the class also gives a lot of defensive goodies.
However, the class has some downsides: First of all, it only gives full BAB when you're enlarged. Second, the enlarging effect can only be used three times a day, as opposed to Showmanship's max of four. Finally, the enlarging effect requires a swift action, which means you will have to go one full round without either a decent chunk of bonuses or performance-related stuff.
Sentinel, Chevalier, Pain Taster and/or Sanguine Angel: These don't directly synergize with Pit Fighter features (aside from some deities' Sentinel boons, see the Feats section) but they all work in line with the class more or less well.
(Other full BAB PrCs I've looked into are too passive/reactive to mesh with Pit Fighter features, have a lawful requirement and/or requires more than 5 class levels to be effective.)
Feats
Master Combat Performer: Mandatory since it significantly improves your action economy by letting you activate showmanship and do a PCC with a performance feat on the same turn. In fact, it lets you use multiple performance feats on your turn, and since their effects stack with both each other and themselves, this can lead to some interesting combos. (This feat also gives proficiency with exotic performance weapons, which provides some options that might be interesting, e.g. hooked axe or scorpion whip.)
Awe-Inspiring Smash: Mandatory due to the aforementioned ability to dump CHA. It also encourages investment in bull rush/sunder as potential alternatives/complements to dirty trick, but you can afford to ignore this aspect if it doesn't interest you.
Hero's Display: On its own, this is little more than a more action economic Dazzling Display, and Master Combat Performer will just let you extend the duration of the shaken condition. However, with Soulless Gaze and another damnation feat, it can let you frighten or even panic multiple fear-susceptible enemies every round on your own. (Your DM might frown upon this, especially if there's an antipaladin in the party.) If you're going for this trick, you might want to delay getting Weapon Focus & HD until you have the two damnation feats. (On the other hand, you could take advantage of just the shaken condition with e.g. Shatter Defenses.)
Intimidating Prowess: Intimidate while still dumping CHA. If you want a primer on intimidation, you might want to check out "the Noble Art of Intimimancy", although it doesn't cover everything (a notable example of what it misses being Soulless Gaze). (Also, while the PrC requires Intimidate 5 and the shaken-inducing Dazzling Display, your not wasting much if you decide not to go for the intimidation route since no class features are directly fear-oriented.)
Murderer's Circle/Spectacular Exit: Not a fan of the Dodge (and DEX 15) requirement since I'd rather focus STR for PCCs and sufficiently raise CON for Raging Vitality, but the benefits are interesting.
Mocking Dance: A more restrictive yet also more accessible alternative to the above-mentioned two feats. I feel it's good to actually pick this feat in order to have a fairly versatile defensive backup option (instead of a withdraw action unless things are hairy), while using martial flexibility to pick appropriate offensive performance feats (e.g. Savage Display).
Performing Combatant: Lets your performance-related features be useful outside of showmanship encounters. PCC bonuses are particularly important here since you'd otherwise waste the action. Could retrain it when/if you feel like you have enough showmanship uses per day, but note that it's also an (optional) requirement for Master Combat Performer.
Masterful Display: Probably not worth it if you only have Mocking Dance + basic martial flexibility. Could be very interesting in higher levels if you have a larger selection of feats to combine repeatedly each turn.
Second Wind: For what it gives, the Endurance requirement is a bit of a bummer. Could be used to enable pseudo cycling of non-Roar of the Crow rage and/or Darechaser Adrenaline Rush I guess.
Leapfrog: Seems underwhelming. I guess you could use it to better avoid AoOs or something.
Black Powder Spectacle/Thrilling Vengeance/Ostentatious Weakness/Masterful Flourish: I feel these are a little too situational and/or class-specific for too little gain to warrant an investment. There are other ways to get (greater) bonuses to PCCs together with other benefits.
Deific Obedience(Gorum): Gives +4 to STR checks, which helps PCCs (with Awe-Inspiring Smash). The tier 1 & 3 Exalted boons are pretty nice (tier 2 seems a bit awkward to use on yourself as a standard action, but it does work with PCCs). Also, getting Sentinel boons via their corresponding prestige class or Diverse Obedience is worth considering.
Celestial Obedience(Arqueros): Same obedience bonus as Gorum, and the boons aren't bad either. (Ignore Mystery Cultist though.)
Deific Obedience(Minderhal): Just +1 to STR checks, and the Exalted boons are overall underwhelming. I guess you could take levels in Sentinel or even an Evangelist dip if you're into their boons, particularly either tier 3 which also gives some minor help to PCCs. (Diverse Obedience is a no-no due to alignment issues.)
Eldritch Heritage/Improved Eldritch Heritage/Greater Eldritch Heritage: This text has repeatedly mentioned dumping CHA. However, applying these feats to the Orc Bloodline gives you the option of starting with more CHA and less STR, with your investment eventually paying off in the form of a constant +6 inherent STR bonus. You also get to increase your size for another +6 STR bonus together with some defensive goodies for several minutes per day. The choice is yours whether the wait and feat tax is worth it. (Obviously, this is a bit less painful for races with a bonus to CHA.) If you want a slightly more short-term alternative, consider the Abyssal Bloodline. It gives the same constant STR bonus but has arguably a better associated skill and lvl 1 power, although in this case Greater Eldritch Heritage should be skipped since its improvement to summon spells isn't useful to you.
Raging Vitality: Even if you go unconscious, the crowd's attitude doesn't automatically drop, so you can still benefit from rage indefinitely and thus avoid SBDS. The only way you can be forced into a failing PCC while unconscious is by natural 1 on a save or managing to activate some kind of healing effect for yourself. (Being healed by others is still OK.)
[Other Critical Feats]: As mentioned, crits triggers PCCs, and critical feats with special effects gives you a bonus on those PCCs.
[Dirty trick feats]: If you're only picking up one of these, I recommend Dirty Trick Master. First of all, the PrC lets you (eventually) bypass the indirect feat tax imposed by Combat Expertise/Dirty Fighting that plagues the earlier members of its feat line. Second, since you're able to perform dirty trick maneuvers multiple times a turn, this feat will allow you to considerably hamper enemies. This can end up having game-breaking consequences similar to the above-mentioned use of Hero's Display (and your DM might not like this one either):
No, it's using Dirty Trick Master and the dazing (or [removed hyperlink] nauseated) condition in a far more devastating manner. The combo's key components and mechanics are:
Dirty Trick Master You can impose the [removed hyperlink] dazing or [removed hyperlink] nauseated condition on a foe you DT while it's still affected by the dazzled or sickened condition imposed by your previous DT. Both the dazing and nauseating condition prevents the affected creature from taking standard actions, which means it cannot remove the condition your DT imposed by taking a standard action. Which in turn means the foe typically cannot remove the condition or (if dazed) do anything at all before the DT duration expires, at least not without outside help which typically also steals enemy actions. (Very surprised the DT guide didn't mention this at all, despite being clearly spelled out in related RAW.)
Kitsune Vengeance Allows you to replace AoO with DT attempt.
AoO trigger combo Any combo which reliably allows you to make one or more AoOs against a target you've just successfully performed a DT against. This can for example be dirty trick with a Maelstrom Shield for a free trip, and Greater Trip and/or Vicious Stomp to immediately grant a second DT as an AoO. Or it could be Shield Slam/Giant Fist Gauntlets + Greater Bull Rush + Paired Opportunists or Unexpected Strike rage power, or Siegebreaker fighter 2 + Shield Slam/Giant Fist Gauntlets + Greater Overrun, or simply Pushing Assault + Unexpected Strike, or any one of several other combos having the same relevant effect.
(Note that Kitstune Vengeance requires you to activate its combat style as a swift action, which creates conflict with Showmanship.) If you need a primer on the maneuver, AncientSpark's "Try Fighting Without Pants! A Guide to Dirty Tricks" specifically deals with the dirty trick aspect of the PrC, although as implied in the quote, it overlooks some things.
Extra Rage Power: Supplements non-barbarian levels, particularly with VMC Barbarian. If it's good on Brb, it's probably good here, and rage powers have a reputation of being overall better than feats. However, keep in mind that you might run into trouble when it comes to progression, level requirements and the limited number of powers you can have compared to if you just went Barbarian 20.
Extra Rage and/or [Various rage-replenishing feats]: I don't think these are really necessary with indefinite rage, even if it's conditional. (If your GM lets you abuse Destroyer's Blessing you can probably ignore Roar of the Crowd altogether...)
Unhindering Shield/Shielded Gauntlet Master: If you really want to benefit from something in your off-hand while still being able to use Weapon Trick.
Iron Will: If you're dipping in a bunch of martial classes with a small rage pool to boot, your class bonuses to Will risks ending up small to non-existent early on. You could retrain this feat when things are a bit steadier.
Sample build (sloppily formatted)
VMC Brb entry with focus on Rage Powers
1. Cavalier(Gendarme, Order of the Cockatrice) 1
Power Attack
Iron Will [if possible, retrain this to Raging Vitality at some point after lvl 3, when you qualify for that feat with VMC Rage]
2. Brawler 1
3. Fighter(Gladiator) 1, VMC Barbarian 1(Rage)
Awe-Inspiring Smash
4. Fighter(Gladiator) 2
Mocking Dance
5. Cavalier(Gendarme, Order of the Cockatrice) 2
Performing Combatant OR Raging Vitality [if you're not allowed to retrain Iron Will, could delay it until lvl 9 though]
6. Pit Fighter 1
7. Pit Fighter 2, VMC Barbarian 2(Uncanny Dodge)
8. Pit Fighter 3
9. Pit Fighter 4
Master Combat Performer OR Performing Combatant OR Raging Vitality [depends on lvl 5]
10. Pit Fighter 5
11. Pit Fighter 6, VMC Barbarian 3(Rage Power[Superstition])
12. Pit Fighter 7
13. Pit Fighter 8
Extra Rage Power(Witch Hunter) OR Master Combat Performer
14. Pit Fighter 9
15. Pit Fighter 10, VMC Barbarian 4(DR 3/-)
16. Furious Guardian 1
Guard Dedication(Rage Power[Spell Sunder])
17. Furious Guardian 2
Extra Rage Power(Strength Surge)
18. Furious Guardian 3
Guard Dedication(Rage Power[Eater of Magic])
19. Furious Guardian 4, VMC Barbarian 5(Greater Rage)
20. Furious Guardian 5
Guard Dedication(Rage Power[Reckless Abandon])
(Could take Furious Guardian 1 at lvl 11 or even earlier for more immediate Rage Power gain, at the expense of e.g. delayed 3/day Showmanship.)
Again, mount/Gendarme flavor issues makes this build less elegant than I'd wish it would be. I guess in the right campaign it could be set up so that you're an Ulfen knight who's forced into gladiatorial slavery, with your horse dying and you not having the heart to ever replace it.
Items: I haven't been able to find much that's beneficial for Pit Fighters in particular. There's Gladiator's Sandals, but they only work during surprise rounds and even then you need to do a combat maneuver. Serpentine Tattoo triggers off performance weapons and adds an extra dirty trick, but requires the contested swift/immediate action slot to do so. Aside from that, the usual crit-fishing weapons are worth considering since they will generate more PCCs.
Spells: There's adoration, but it doesn't give you much. Also, since the flavor suggests that it's supposed to cause the target to be viewed more favorably by the crowd via a mind-affecting effect, your GM might rule that the virtual crowd from showmanship doesn't count. (I guess Pit Fighters can adore themselves though.)
Races
(Pretty much any race that works with Barbarian works with the PrC.)
Half-orcs: While not bad, I feel orc ferocity is a bit off a trap, since properly having rage as a class feature gives you access to things like Extra Rage Power and Raging Vitality. Unless you for whatever reason don't feel like taking a level or more in Barbarian/Furious Guardian/Viking, you can just trade orc ferocity for e.g. sacred tatoo and then qualify the same way everyone else does.
Humans: Good as usual, since you're quite dependent on skills (both for qualification purposes and to maintain a high PCC bonus from Perform) and feats.
Aasimar: Also good as usual, with the niche option of being able to take Enlightened Warrior. Special mention goes to the Angel-Blooded variant with its +2 to STR & CHA for the purpose of Eldritch Heritage. (Although an Aasimar with the Abyssal Bloodline will probably end up a cliché.)
Traits
Valknar Alumnus: Picking dirty trick as the chosen maneuver pretty much tailors this to the Pit Fighter, both mechanically and flavor-wise.
[various crit traits]: Crits triggers PCCs, so these are worth considering.
Bruising Intellect: See Intimidating Prowess.
Enlightened Warrior: (Non-lawful monk levels.)
[Various Will/mental effect save traits]: See Iron Will.
Hope I'm not being too much of a Captain Obvious here, would appreciate input.