Things to do with an attack other than attacking

[heavyfuel]

There are regular attacks, where you make an attack roll versus the opponent's AC and, if you beat it, you deal damage.

However, there are other things you can do with an attack, combat maneuvers being the obvious ones.

What else can be done with an attack?

List:

Disarm
Sunder
Trip
Use alchemicals weapons (Alchemist's Fire, Tanglefoot bag, etc)


List of things that require investment:

Bull Rush Siegebreaker fighter 2, Minotaur's Charge, Demonic Slaughter, Spinning Throw, Merciless Rush, Tempest Gale Style, Seize the Opportunity, Raging Throw, Tempest Shield, Giant Fist Gauntlets
Dirty Trick Quick Dirty Trick, savage dirty trick, Kitsune Vengeance, Cloak and Dagger Subterfuge, Fox Trickery, Tempest Gale Style, Dirty Trick Master, Divine Fighting Technique (Rovagug's Thunder), Seize the Opportunity
Grapple Tetori Monk 4/8, Fiendbound Marauder warder 1, raging grappler, Hold Prey, Binding Throw, Seize the Opportunity, various polymorph shenanigans
Overrun Siegebreaker fighter 2, Charge Through, Bulette Leap, Spiked Destroyer, overbearing onslaught
Reposition Quick Reposition, Crashing Wave Fist, Greater Serpent Lash, Seize the Opportunity, Hooked Massacre
Sunder spell sunder, 'nuff said...
Trip Improved Ki Throw, Vicious Stomp, Tempest Gale Style, Squash Flat, Maelstrom Shield
Demoralize Cornugon Smash, Enforcer, Shattered Dream Strike, Black Seraph Annihilation, Soulless Gaze, Hero's Display, Intimidating Prowess
Vital Strike (doesn't really belong on this list, but worth mentioning) Cerberus Crush, Divine Fighting Technique (Gorum's Swordmanship), Seize the Opportunity

[Khedrac]

Pathfinder has the "aid another" action like 3.5 I believe?

This gives you Aid someone else's attack and Aid someone else's AC. Yes they don't strictly replace an attack as they are standard actions, but they require an attack roll to use.

[heavyfuel]

I thought of Aid Another, but I'm strictly looking for things that replace a regular damage dealing attack.

Searching for stuff I was reminded of alchemical weapons, which is nice.

[upho]

With the right feat/feature/item support you may create some really juicy combos of attack and/or AoO "replacements" and/or free action riders. A few noteworthy options the really cool martial kids use with their bullets, shields and pointy sticks nowadays to end combat in the first round:

Bull Rush Siegebreaker fighter 2, Minotaur's Charge, Demonic Slaughter, Spinning Throw, Merciless Rush, Tempest Gale Style, Seize the Opportunity, Raging Throw, Tempest Shield, Giant Fist Gauntlets
Dirty Trick Quick Dirty Trick, savage dirty trick, Kitsune Vengeance, Cloak and Dagger Subterfuge, Fox Trickery, Tempest Gale Style, Dirty Trick Master, Divine Fighting Technique (Rovagug's Thunder), Seize the Opportunity
Grapple Tetori Monk 4/8, Fiendbound Marauder warder 1, raging grappler, Hold Prey, Binding Throw, Seize the Opportunity, various polymorph shenanigans
Overrun Siegebreaker fighter 2, Charge Through, Bulette Leap, Spiked Destroyer, overbearing onslaught
Reposition Quick Reposition, Crashing Wave Fist, Greater Serpent Lash, Seize the Opportunity, Hooked Massacre
Sunder spell sunder, 'nuff said...
Trip Improved Ki Throw, Vicious Stomp, Tempest Gale Style, Squash Flat, Maelstrom Shield
Demoralize Cornugon Smash, Enforcer, Shattered Dream Strike, Black Seraph Annihilation, Soulless Gaze, Hero's Display, Intimidating Prowess
Vital Strike (doesn't really belong on this list, but worth mentioning) Cerberus Crush, Divine Fighting Technique (Gorum's Swordmanship), Seize the Opportunity

So yeah, with the potential exception of natural attack superchargers, pretty much only losers stuck in the previous decade still full attack for hp damage... :smallbiggrin:

(Caution: especially Dirty Trick Master with for example Kitsune Vengeance or Cloak and Dagger Subterfuge, Tetori monk 4 with Seize the Opportunity, and Soulless Gaze with for example Cornugon Smash or Hero's Display can pretty easily be made far too powerful for most games and should be treated with extra care.)

[heavyfuel]

It seems the list of things you can do that don't involve doing damage is incredibly short unless you're willing to invest some serious resources (mostly feats and class levels) in it. Oh well.

I'll add these things to the list now

[upho]

It seems the list of things you can do that don't involve doing damage is incredibly short unless you're willing to invest some serious resources (mostly feats and class levels) in it. Oh well.That is unfortunately very much the case. And in practice, after the earliest levels that goes for disarm, sunder, trip and alchemical weapons as well. For example, tripping with no specific investment other than a reach weapon can often be very effective during the earliest levels, but by no later than 5th level or so in most games it has become a waste of actions at best.

However, some damage replacements and hit rider effects can become at least useful enough to be worth the action and investment costs for many melee builds even without much specific investments. For example, just by giving your standard BSF Dirty Fighting and adding dueling (PFSG) (https://aonprd.com/MagicWeaponsDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Dueling%20(PSFG) ) and leveraging (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/magic-weapons/magic-weapon-special-abilities/leveraging/) to his weapon (+1 each), he'll typically be able to often make good use of most combat maneuvers during most levels (especially trip and reposition due to the enormous "enhancement x 6" bonuses the weapon abilities grant those CMB checks).

And of course, with additional specific investments, like say some dirty trick and demoralize feats plus some ranks in Intimidate, your BSF can be made capable of reliably taking multiple enemies of appropriate CR out of a fight each round (in this case by his melee hits easily making the enemies dazed and panicked for several rounds).

So yeah, I think a large majority of these things are unusually good examples of how the system demands and rewards specialization, as they're practically useless during most levels without investments and potentially broken powerful with plenty of investments.


I'll add these things to the list nowGlad to be of help! But just in case you didn't notice, far from all of the options I mentioned replace regular attacks or damage. Many of them either add effects to successful attack rolls or add additional benefits to the replacement or added effect. I included such options because they're often key components in many related great combos.