I would like to use these three feats, but I'm not sure how they work together.
You push back as you block the attack, knocking your foe away or off balance. You use your shield to push the triggering creature, either automatically Shoving it 5 feet or causing it to become flat-footed until the start of your next turn. The triggering creature chooses whether to be moved or become flat-footed. If it chooses to be moved, you choose the direction. If the Shove would cause it to hit a solid object, enter a square of difficult terrain, or enter another creature’s space, it must become flat-footed instead of being moved.
Increase the distance you Shove your opponent with Aggressive Block or Brutish Shove to 10 feet on a success or 20 feet on a critical success. When you use Aggressive Block, you can choose whether the target is flat-footed or Shoved. When you make a Brutish Shove, you also Shove the target 5 feet on a failure.
You can push larger foes around with your attack. You can use Aggressive Block or Brutish Shove against a creature up to two sizes larger than you. When a creature you Shove has to stop moving because it would hit an object, it takes damage equal to your Strength modifier (minimum 1). This happens regardless of how you Shoved the creature.
For example: An enemy next to a wall hits me and I use the Shield Block reaction. According to Flinging Shove, I can choose whether the enemy is flat-footed or Shoved. I would like to Shove them into the wall to get the damage from Powerful Shove. But the final sentence of Aggressive Block (italicized above) and the text of Powerful Shove seem to be mutually exclusive. Aggressive Block says the target will become flat-footed rather than being pushed back into the wall, meaning that it never ends up meeting the criteria for Powerful Shove to deal damage!
How do these feats work together?
Thank You ^^
Best Answer
You are giving the aggressive block feats too much importance in relation to the other two feats in this chain.
Keep in mind that both powerful shove and flinging shove are modifying aggressive block.
Let's go step by step: Aggressive block.
This text is here to limit the enemy choice, not yours. You have no choice at all here.
Why there is a limitation like this? Well let's assume you make me (an enemy) hit a wall.
I take no damage (since you have only aggressive block)...
So why would I choose to become flat-footed instead of hitting a wall since the latter does literally nothing to me? (the same is for hitting another creature).
In short? With only aggressive block tossing an enemy against a wall is pointless.
Now going with the second feat 'Powerful Shove' it provides you two well distinct benefit.
This feat do not overrule the fact that when you use aggressive block against an enemy it is the enemy who is chosing what happens..and that enemy is still limited to always choose to become flat-footed (mechanically the worst option for him in the majority of situations) instead of hitting a solid object or entering difficult terrain.
Now the last feat Flinging shove does overrule precisely the last sentences of the aggressive block feat.
Now you are the one who choose what happens and since the limitation of aggressive block are not present here you have no more such limitations at all.
In short? Now you can throw off enemy from cliffs or towers (into water, lava..you name it) without a saving throw and the enemy must deal with it and yes, now finally you can shove him against the wall to deal him your STR modifier as damage.