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Hi just posting to see what kinds of ideas I can get for making an unarmed fighter/barbarian. The reason behind it is that a friend of mine is thinking about starting up a game with a heavy time traveling theme, so (if it works the way it's looking) we'll have a Dwarf artificer from the distant future, a Spartan-type fighter from the Bronze Age, a Renaissance age Chronomancer (converted from the 2nd edition book) and myself, a prehistoric cave man.
I'm looking forward to playing the game, which was thought up after the brother of the GM-to-be brother started playing Chrono Trigger.
Let me preface this by saying that I know this will be a suboptimal character and that's not a problem. I do, however, intend to make it work as best I can so I'm looking for help.
Using 20 point buy, what I'm considering right now is looking like:
Strength 16+2
Dexterity 14
Constitution 14
Intelligence 8
Wisdom 12
Charisma 10
I'm trying to avoid cheesy dumping, so any suggestions for stats please keep that in mind.
I think I'll start as a first level Human Barbarian, taking Improved Unarmed Strike and Hammer Fist as my feats. Hammer Fist lets me gain 2h weapon bonuses from things like strength and power attack with unarmed strikes.
Any suggestions on where I should go from there?
My only thought is...how the heck are you all going to communicate with each other?
Not that that helps you with your build. Others are way better at building pretty optimal PCs, so I'm sure they can help you out.
For what it's worth, in my campaign that is about to start the barbarian can (on paper) knock the monk out in 1 punch should the two ever get into a fist fight. That's mainly due to rage and power attack (and an 18 STR before raging at level 1). It's kinda sad.
Are you allowed to use 3.5 stuff? Cause there's a LOT of stuff in 3.5 that can make an unarmed non-monk very viable, especially when you combine it with Pathfinder. Reaping Mauler PrC, Superior Unarmed Strike feat, Vow of Poverty (what that shiny rock for?) half-ogre or goliath races (Very caveman-esque)...leads to War Hulk or Hulking Hurler for more bare-handed caveman action
You're basically trying to make Ayla, right? You need to hit hard, hit fast, and have awesome acrobatics...probably max it out. I know you said you don't like dumping, but Ayla wasn't very charismatic, but she was very smart for her time. I would swap your charisma and int scores. You can use the extra skill points, because Ayla was quite a tumbler. In any given combo-move I remember seeing her backflipping or spinning or such across the screen. I would focus on rage powers that enhance mobility, since that's what I clearly remember about her. She also had a sick initiative, way faster than anyone but Chrono (and that's after pumping Chrono full of speed tabs!)
Speaking of which, another 3.5'er, Fling Ally, so you can literally perform Combos! Tossing the Bronze Age Spartan into the middle of a mob of enemies will certainly spice things up.
As for core,
The new improvised weapon chain works quite well, especially if the artificer keeps a wand of greater magic weapon around.
Improved/Greater Sunder could be fun, especially if you are wearing adamantine gauntlets that the artificer crafts up for you. Some DMs argue about whether or not magical gauntlets can add to your damage like a necklace of natural attacks, though, so you might need to check with the DM. Still, what better way to replicate the "gold fist" Ayla has if you get to level 99?
By the way, that game sounds fun as all get out!
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Are you allowed to use 3.5 stuff? Cause there's a LOT of stuff in 3.5 that can make an unarmed non-monk very viable, especially when you combine it with Pathfinder. Reaping Mauler PrC, Superior Unarmed Strike feat, Vow of Poverty (what that shiny rock for?) half-ogre or goliath races (Very caveman-esque)...leads to War Hulk or Hulking Hurler for more bare-handed caveman action
3.5 stuff will be allowed at his approval, he's already letting me having Hammer Fist. I'll look into the Reaping Mauler, and I'll definitely ask him about that Superior Unarmed Strike feat. I'm probably going to stick with Human for this character.
You're basically trying to make Ayla, right? You need to hit hard, hit fast, and have awesome acrobatics...probably max it out. I know you said you don't like dumping, but Ayla wasn't very charismatic, but she was very smart for her time. I would swap your charisma and int scores. You can use the extra skill points, because Ayla was quite a tumbler. In any given combo-move I remember seeing her backflipping or spinning or such across the screen. I would focus on rage powers that enhance mobility, since that's what I clearly remember about her. She also had a sick initiative, way faster than anyone but Chrono (and that's after pumping Chrono full of speed tabs!)
You guessed it, and that's a really good point about acrobatics. I'll reconsider my mental stats, the skill points certainly would come in handy. I was already planning on powers like Raging Leaper and No Escape, but Animal Fury is gonna have to be my first. Still all good advice.
Speaking of which, another 3.5'er, Fling Ally, so you can literally perform Combos! Tossing the Bronze Age Spartan into the middle of a mob of enemies will certainly spice things up.
As for core,
The new improvised weapon chain works quite well, especially if the artificer keeps a wand of greater magic weapon around.
Improved/Greater Sunder could be fun, especially if you are wearing adamantine gauntlets that the artificer crafts up for you. Some DMs argue about whether or not magical gauntlets can add to your damage like a necklace of natural attacks, though, so you might need to check with the DM. Still, what better way to replicate the "gold fist" Ayla has if you get to level 99?
By the way, that game sounds fun as all get out!
A lot of stuff worth considering. I'm REALLY looking forward to the campaign- we've got the possibility to fight dinosaurs, pirates, ninjas, robots, and zombies all in the same campaign.
I was planning on eventually getting gauntlets, even if only for bypassing damage reduction, but I think the DM will let them be enchanted for me. Anybody have direct experience with how viable Improved Grapple is? I think we'll mostly be fighting humanoid enemies of medium size, which helps me out.
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Having just beat Chrono Trigger for the... 13th time? I can't really remember as it spans from the original and the remakes, but anyways-
Animal Fury would be great, because one of Ayla's moves was to bite them (Cat Attack, Thunder Bite). I wouldn't really say that she was all that smart (maybe smart for her time, but that still isn't that smart. "Egg okay eat? Ayla eat egg!" when talking about the you-know-what that looks like an egg), but I would say she was wise, and she was the strongest character in the game (as far as the strength stat goes) and as she said, the strongest leads the village. Superior Unarmed strike would be very nice for her, as her fists did more damage as she leveled.
As for items, Amulet of Mighty Fists is an absolute must. Keep throwing axes around if you want ranged but still want a prehistory theme. Then there was a feat called Brutal Throw that allowed you to use your strength modifier for ranged attack rolls with thrown weapons.
What're you going to do for armor? Stick with Hide? It seems like it would be the best fit...
3.5 stuff will be allowed at his approval, he's already letting me having Hammer Fist. I'll look into the Reaping Mauler, and I'll definitely ask him about that Superior Unarmed Strike feat. I'm probably going to stick with Human for this character.
Reaping Mauler is a specialist in grappling/wrestling. You can do sleeper holds and choke someone out in enough rounds of grapple. If you get Greater Grapple, which makes grapple a move-action, you could, theoretically, choke someone out twice as fast.
Superior Unarmed Strike is from Tome of Battle - it basically lets your unarmed strike get better as you level up, just like a monk, but without having to BE a monk.
And Improved Grapple is great if you're not fighting giants. Greater Grapple is just icing on the cake, since you can move-action grapple and get even more bonuses on top of it.
What're you going to do for armor? Stick with Hide? It seems like it would be the best fit...
Too bad they nerfed the monk's belt. Wisdom to AC would have been the best fit. I'm with him on hide, or if you can get someone to make some Dragonhide...
You're basically trying to make Ayla, right? You need to hit hard, hit fast, and have awesome acrobatics...probably max it out. I know you said you don't like dumping, but Ayla wasn't very charismatic, but she was very smart for her time. I would swap your charisma and int scores.
You sure about this? I remember Ayla being a hot blonde that could get monsters to throw her gifts by fluffing her hair, and heal people by blowing a kiss at them. Seems pretty charismatic to me.
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You sure about this? I remember Ayla being a hot blonde that could get monsters to throw her gifts by fluffing her hair, and heal people by blowing a kiss at them. Seems pretty charismatic to me.
You're basically trying to make Ayla, right? You need to hit hard, hit fast, and have awesome acrobatics...probably max it out. I know you said you don't like dumping, but Ayla wasn't very charismatic, but she was very smart for her time. I would swap your charisma and int scores.
16 (+2 human for 18) str, 9 dex, 14 con, 7 int, 14 wis, 14 cha
(if 25 point buy instead of 20, try pushing dex up to 14. It's kind-of an "unconfirmed" for her IIRC)Yeah, Marle also had that ability and when the worked together... use your imagination.
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You sure about this? I remember Ayla being a hot blonde that could get monsters to throw her gifts by fluffing her hair, and heal people by blowing a kiss at them. Seems pretty charismatic to me.
This is a very valid point and if I were fully recreating Ayla I'd go with it. As it is though, I'm sure how I feel about playing a flirty cave woman, so I'll probably cherry pick what I like from her history and personality and make a male equivalent of her.
Kryt-rider, thank you for the tip about Fist of the Forest. I'll take a look at that when I get home tonight.
On the useful advice side, i recomend checking out the Tome of battle. The setting sun school in particular works well with a unarmed fighter if you can figure out a way to integrate it.
Consider the Frost Rager PrC from Frostburn.
Belial's Bite is a great feat. 1d4 bleed with a successful Unarmed Strike. And you can get it at 1st level.