Trip DCs on a STR TWF

[TheDr0wRanger]

I've got a 12Ranger 8Fighter Bastard Sword TWF aiming to make a DPS out of himself.
He PDK because I like the human feats and why not start at 15, right?
I'm noticing his DPS is pretty cool but I get shamed by some of my THF Cleaver friends, and Im looking to bring something in to compete with glancing blows and the damage bonus.

I noticed the current bug with Trip and decided to see whether I like it as an addition to my current playstyle. I do, tripping is great for the bonus vs helpless, it helps with the TWF single enemy damage focus as opposed to the "hit ALL the things" method of THF. But I don't know if I can reasonably expect to get a usable trip going forward. So I'm asking, is it possible for an STR-CON TWF to get a Trip DC that will be useful into EH/EE?

If not, what else can conceivably ramp up my single target damage without doing something outlandish like dragging in Monk?

[Thalone]

My fighter, before getting on the TR train, was a bad race (Half Elf) for tactics DCs, but with proper gearing, Improved Trip was successful more often than not even in EE Gianthold (I'd estimate 60-70% success rate). I forget the specific DCs, but I was using the House D armour and the Eveningstar challenge cloak; must've been mid-60s or so.

As far as I know, regular/improved trips don't grant helplessness; that's only a byproduct of Balanced Attacks from Primal Avatar.

Note also that if you're grouping with people who know how to pay attention, Sap is a feat with no save that can put an enemy out of commission so long as it doesn't take damage. When on a full-on tactics character, I'll typically open with (Improved) Trip and leave the group to take care if the fallen enemy, Sap the next thing, then Stun the third and whack on it.

[the_one_dwarfforged]

trip does not cause helplessness. neither does improved trip. balanced attacks does.

right now your character is getting its level added to tactical dcs. makes everything pretty much no fail, so you wont have to worry until they fix it.

trip is pretty reliable at higher levels if youre wearing boots of the innocent, otherwise depends on if you have a str score thats actually good. i wouldnt count on it though really if you arent wearing a +trip item.

trip doesnt increase your damage, but does reduce how much damage you take = less time healing yourself. stunning blow on the other hand does cause helplessness (50% extra damage, sneak attack procs) while reducing incoming damage. thatll boost your dps way more.

i also see no reason to not take cleaves on a build that should have feats covered. aoe dps is aoe dps.