Thanks to some discussion sparked by
Oslecamo's Ogre and its Smash and Grab ability, I have a question for the boards.
Improved Grab has the line "If a creature with this special attack hits with a melee weapon (usually a claw or bite attack), it deals normal damage and attempts to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. No initial touch attack is required."
It's quite clear that if the creature hits, it immediately gets to make grapple attempts and doesn't have to bother with the touch attack.
Now, let's look at
Knock-down.
"Whenever you deal 10 or more points of damage to your opponent in melee, you make a trip attack as a free action against the same target."
It's less clear whether it means the character can ignore the touch attack to begin a trip. My first thought looking at that was that it should bypass the touch attack. The feat allows it to make a trip after an attack of 10 or more damage, right? It's an "I hit you so hard I can knock you down" type of move, not an "I hit you so hard you recoil and I get a free shot at tripping you" in my eyes.
So, here I ask the boards, how do you think it gets resolved? Is the wording on Knock-down good enough to say that it's the trip check and not the touch attack? If not, do you think the designers intended the touch attack to be there, or did they try and convey that it should ignore the touch attack? What should one expect when they see the line "If the creature hits with this attack, it can make a grapple/trip/disarm/awesome combat maneuver as a free action"? How have you ruled it in your games?
