I spent some of this evening reading the thread of fixing Monk damage, and someone on there suggested just making an unarmed fighter. Here's my riff on that. Feel free to slash and burn, or take and modify. But any feedback might be helpful to those who are dealing with the monk issue.
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This class combines Fighter, Monk and a couple of touches of Rogue, while placing very strict limitations in the hope of creating a character who specializes in unarmed combat and can hold his on on the front lines of a fight, acting as the primary tank of a party. Giving him a Fighter's number of feats, and adding some of the Rogue talents to that feats list, hopefully allows for a significant breadth of character development and individualization.
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Unarmed Specialist
The fighter takes up arms for battle. The monk uses mysticism for his powers. The rogue uses cunning and guile for his deadly attacks. But the unarmed specialist enters battle with just his fists, and in this, is the master of his craft.
Alignment
Any.
Hit Die
d10.
Starting Wealth
5d6 x 10 gp (average 175g)
Class Skills
The unarmed specialist’s class skills are Acrobatics (Dex), Climb (Str), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (dungeoneering) (Int), Knowledge (local) (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Stealth (Dex), Survival (Wis), and Swim (Str).
Skill Ranks Per Level
4 + Int modifier.
Table: Unarmed Specialist
Level BAB Fort Ref Will Special
1st +1 +2 +2 +0 Unarmed Attack, Unarmed Training I, Bonus feat, Weapon Restriction, Armor Restriction
2nd +2 +3 +3 +0 Bonus feat
3rd +3 +3 +3 +1 Armor training I
4th +4 +4 +4 +1 Bonus feat
5th +5 +4 +4 +1 Unarmed Training II
6th +6/+1 +5 +5 +2 Bonus feat
7th +7/+2 +5 +5 +2 Armor training II, Improved Unarmed Attack
8th +8/+3 +6 +6 +2 Bonus feat
9th +9/+4 +6 +6 +3 Unarmed Training III
10th +10/+5 +7 +7 +3 Bonus feat
11th +11/+6/+1 +7 +7 +3 Armor training III
12th +12/+7/+2 +8 +8 +4 Bonus feat
13th +13/+8/+3 +8 +8 +4 Unarmed Training IV
14th +14/+9/+4 +9 +9 +4 Bonus feat, Greater Unarmed Attack
15th +15/+10/+5 +9 +9 +5 Armor training IV
16th +16/+11/+6/+1 +10 +10 +5 Bonus feat
17th +17/+12/+7/+2 +10 +10 +5 Unarmed Training V
18th +18/+13/+8/+3 +11 +11 +6 Bonus feat
19th +19/+14/+9/+4 +11 +11 +6 Armor mastery
20th +20/+15/+10/+5 +12 +12 +6 Bonus feat, Supreme Unarmed Attack
Class Features
The following are class features of the unarmed specialist.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency
An unarmed specialist is proficient with all simple weapons and gains no armor proficiencies at 1st level.
Unarmed Strike (Ex)
At 1st level, an unarmed specialist gains Unarmed Strike, as per the Monk class feat. His unarmed strikes do 1d6. A character may select the Two-Weapon Fighting feat chain to allow for multiple off-hand attacks, while retaining his full STR bonus on his offhand attacks.
Unarmed Training (Ex)
Starting at 1th level, an unarmed specialist gains a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls when he is using unarmed strike. Every four levels thereafter (5th, 9th, 13th, and 17th), he gains an additional +1 bonus on attack and damage rolls. An unarmed specialist also adds this bonus to any combat maneuver checks made with his unarmed strike.
Bonus Feats
At 1st level, and at every even level thereafter, an unarmed specialist gains a bonus feat in addition to those gained from normal advancement (meaning that the unarmed specialist gains a feat at every level). These feats must be selected from the list of Combat Feats, with additional feats added to this list as the unarmed specialist advances in level. An unarmed specialist may qualify for feats that are restricted by Fighter class levels (i.e., Weapon Specialization, Greater Weapon Focus) at the same level that Fighters would be eligible.
At 2nd level, an unarmed specialist adds Fleet, Evasion (as per the Rogue class feat; only functions if current Armor Check Penalty is 0) and Bravery (as per the Fighter class feat) to his list of selectable feats, both for his bonus feats and his feats gained through normal level advancement.
At 4th level, an unarmed specialist adds Unarmed Strike: Magic to his list of selectable feats.
At 6th level, an unarmed specialist adds Fast Stealth (as per the Rogue Talent), Ledge Walker (as per the Rogue Talent) and Stand Up (as per Rogue Talent) to his list of selectable feats.
At 10th level, an unarmed specialist adds Defensive Roll (as per the Rogue Advanced Talent), Improved Evasion (as per the Rogue Advanced Talent; must have Evasion; only functions if current Armor Check Penalty is 0) and Unarmed Strike: Alignment to his list of selectable feats.
At 14th level, an unarmed specialist adds Unarmed Strike: Metal to his list of selectable feats.
An unarmed specialist may swap out feats after 4th level, as per a fighter.
Weapon Restriction (Ex)
An unarmed specialist who uses any weapon, even those with which he is proficient, takes a -2 penalty on attack and damage on all attacks in any round in which he uses weapons. This penalty resets just before his next turn begins.
Armor Restriction (Ex)
An unarmed specialist loses all class features related to his unarmed strike if he begins a round with an Armor Check Penalty greater than 0. See Armor Training below.
Armor Training (Ex)
Starting at 3rd level, an unarmed specialist gains proficiency with light armor, and learns to be more maneuverable than an average person while wearing armor. Whenever he is wearing armor, he reduces the armor check penalty by 1 (to a minimum of 0) and increases the maximum Dexterity bonus allowed by his armor by 1. Every four levels thereafter (7th, 11th, and 15th), these bonuses increase by +1 each time, to a maximum –4 reduction of the armor check penalty and a +4 increase of the maximum Dexterity bonus allowed. At 7th level, he gains proficiency with medium armor, and may move at his normal speed while wearing medium armor.
Improved Unarmed Strike (Ex)
At 7th level, an unarmed specialist’s unarmed strike does 1d8 damage, plus that granted by Unarmed Training.
Greater Unarmed Strike (Ex)
At 14th level, an unarmed specialist’s unarmed strike does 2d6 damage, plus that granted by Unarmed Training. In addition, the threat range for his unarmed strike increases to 19-20. If he has Improved Critical: Unarmed Strike, the threat range is 18-20.
Armor Mastery (Ex)
At 19th level, an unarmed specialist gains Damage Reduction 5/—.
Supreme Unarmed Strike (Ex)
At 20th level, an unarmed specialist’s unarmed strike does 2d8 damage, plus that granted by Unarmed Training. In addition, he automatically confirm all critical threats and the damage multiplier of his unarmed strike increases from x2 to x3.
Additional Feats
Unarmed Strike: Magic (An unarmed specialist’s unarmed strike acts as a magic weapon, for purposes of bypassing damage reduction.)
Unarmed Strike: Alignment (An unarmed specialist chooses one of his two alignments. His unarmed strike acts as that alignment, for purposes of bypassing damage reduction. Once this choice is made, it is permanent, but this feat may be taken again and used to add the character’s second alignment.)
Unarmed Strike: Metal (An unarmed specialist chooses one type of alchemical metal (silver, cold iron, adamantine, mithril). His unarmed strike acts as that metal, for purposes of bypassing damage reduction.)
PS: If anyone wants to format that levels chart, by all means, be my guest. Some things escape me.
