Hey guys,
So I've been told by my GM that I should make a back up character for his homebrew campaign I'm playing in, sheerly as a precaution.
Anyway, I've been playing with the idea of making some kind of fighter/brawler who fights exceedingly well bare handed and can deal lethal damage.
Now I know this means I'd need a lot of strength and it seems like sticking to one class wouldn't allow this type of combatant to exceed in an encounter, so I just wondered where I should go with this idea.
I was thinking about going for the Invulnerable Rager Barbarian as the Damage Reduction is nice for multi-classing, but I'm limited to using only two classes (possibly three if I can make a decent reason why) as it needs to be somewhat realistic.
Monks are supposedly good for bare handed fighting, but I don't like their ideals. Still, I'm allowed to have a monk based on my own ideals (within reason) who doesn't actually need to be your run of the mill worshipper....more just a guy who likes learning fighting techniques and wants to be the best unarmed fighter around.
One thing that crossed my mind was going 10 levels (Invulnerable) Barbarian and 5 levels (Martial Artist) Monk, as it would make me immune to fatigue.....rage is no longer problematic!
The Brawler and Unarmed Fighter Archetypes seem like good choices to mix with the Invulnerable Rager, but I'd love to see some suggestions from you all.
The plan is to have a melee fighter who can deal a great deal of damage with his bare fists, whilst at the same time having the ability to pick up enemies and either throw them or drop them off of very high ledges (if there are any about).
The point buy is 20 and I was thinking to make this work I'd either need to have a great deal of AC or a great deal of HP (depending on where the build goes). The stats I'd probably go with are below:
Race: Human
Str: 18
Dex: 16
Con: 14
Wis: 10
Int: 9
Cha: 7
A low charisma would prevent me from intimidating people, but seeing as I only care about being a brute who wants to be the best fighter, using trip and grapple moves (as well as his fists), I don't see a need for intimidating foe.
I'm not really sure how many levels to take in each class, or which classes I should multi-class with, but I'd just like something......functional.
Thanks for the help! :)
13 levels in synthesist so you can be huge all day and have massive strength. Combine with 6 levels in Tetori so you get imp/grt grapple, better damage for fists and the ability to use wisdom to AC. Free level to do what you want :P
|
If you can do it, Master of Many Styles mix with Brawler is a pretty devastating route. Your build would work with it as well, just build it like you would a 2wpn fighter. I don't have the build handy, but I came up with one that did like 1d6+14 by 5th lvl. As I believe you've got lower strength, it wouldn't work as well, but count on wearing cestuses, as you can do your unarmed strike damage and get your brawler bonuses to hit and damage with them. For the styles, pick up Dragon Style and Dragon Ferocity.
Level
1 - Brawler, H - Two Weapon Fighting, 1 - Double Slice, Pwr Attack
2 - Monk, Style Dragon, Improved Unarmed Strike
3 - Monk, Style Dragon Ferocity
4 - Brawler, Wpn Focus Cestus? or Unarmed Strike?
5 - Brawler wpn training
6 - Brawler, Wpn Specialization
7 - Improve 2wpn fighting
7th level
Base Att 6, Str+4, Wpn focus+1,Wpn Train + 1, +1Cestus= +13(-2 p att, -2 2 wpn fight)(+9/+9/+4/+4)
Damage: 1d6+6 str,+3 wpn train,+2 specialization, +4 pwr attack, +1Cestus = 1d6+16 before any other party buffs or boosting spells.
I have a player in a Carrion Crown game I'm running, who's currently a Brawler 10 (Thats pure Brawler Fighter). He's a grappler/unarmed fighter, and most encounters end when he makes it into melee range and succeeds on a Grapple check (which is laughably easy for the most part). His damage is also pretty obscene with Dragon Ferocity figured in.
If you can do it, Master of Many Styles mix with Brawler is a pretty devastating route. Your build would work with it as well, just build it like you would a 2wpn fighter. I don't have the build handy, but I came up with one that did like 1d6+14 by 5th lvl. As I believe you've got lower strength, it wouldn't work as well, but count on wearing cestuses, as you can do your unarmed strike damage and get your brawler bonuses to hit and damage with them.
Would it not count as being armed whilst wearing a Cestus? The text around it suggests if you wear it, you're considered armed, but the text below suggests otherwise:
"If you are proficient with a Cestus, your unarmed strikes may deal bludgeoning or piercing damage."
Also, it states the Cestus only deals 1d4 damage for a medium creature, so I'm not sure where you get 1d6 from, unless the Monk base damage overwrites normal unarmed damage? :/
Last of all, if I'm going with a Monk, would not being able to wear armour not be a huge problem?
My GM today said you can only trip enemies if you have a weapon that allows you to trip, but I swear you can do any CM, but trip weapons just give you some kind of bonus to the manoeuvre?
@Malfus - As cool as that sounds, I like to stick with fighter types as magic types more often than not, give me a headache. Saying that, my current living character for this campaign is a Magus, but I guess he's still more of a fighter than anything else.
@Krispy - Sounds pretty funny, providing the team mates don't miss and hit the poor grappling Fighter!
Alternative:
Brutal pugilist. Grab strength surge and body bludgeon. Not only will you pick up (pin) your opponents, you could then use them as weapons :P
Define problem please.
Well, I'm just thinking without armour, maybe the character would be too squishy, but at the same time, if you use armour you're unable to use Flurry of Blows etc.
@Malfus - I now have a lot of thinking to do on how to make a Barbaric Monk Fighter.....
I like the idea of the Monk because I think Flurry of Blows should be my primary focus when throwing punches, but then I like the idea of using the Body Bludgeon of the Barb (shame you can't pick up enemies the same size as you), then I like the fact the Fighter gains a feat at every level as this would come in handy.
Maybe it's just easier to go 10 Barb and 10 Monk.
In the end, it's a trade off you either like or don't.
Well, yea. Same as anything else I guess.
A monk fits into his campaign fine as I asked him earlier today, but I think I'm somewhat decided on what I'd like to do now.
I'm thinking generally a Barbarian doesn't like to wear much armour (if at all) and the same goes for the Monk, so no armour isn't a huge problem if I roll reasonably well for HP on the level ups.
However, I won't have access to the Ki Pool as the Archetype I like won't allow it.
I think I'm pretty much decided now that I'd like to mix 10 levels of the Invulnerable Rager Barbarian (for damage reduction), with 10 levels of the Martial Artist Monk for immunity to Fatigue and Exhaustion.
Plus, although this would mean I'd only be able to pull off 4 attacks in a Flurry of Blows, the chances are I could deal (at max, with the workings out of Zephyre's post, above) 98 damage without critical's and if in Rage, this damage would go up further!
I don't know if you can combine Power Attack with Flurry of Blows, but I would assume so.
Not bad for an unarmed fighter and hopefully my CMB and CMD would be pretty good too. Death or Glory is a nice feat I'd like to take for fighting opponents bigger than myself. :D
@Krispy - Sounds pretty funny, providing the team mates don't miss and hit the poor grappling Fighter!
Erm, what? I can't find any reference to missed attacks hitting the other party in a grapple...
On the other hand, the Fighter picked up Body Shield last level, so missing him while he's got a hand on your buddy is a bad proposition...
Erm, what? I can't find any reference to missed attacks hitting the other party in a grapple...
On the other hand, the Fighter picked up Body Shield last level, so missing him while he's got a hand on your buddy is a bad proposition...
Ah, it just reminded me of what happened last session in my current campaign.
The Fighter was grapped, so the Archer tried to shoot the enemy grappling our ally.....and ended up dealing severe damage to our ally instead.
@Feral - The multi-classing is crazy, but it looks fun regardless. I guess I've abused my Wisdom.
Ursus doesn't have much wisdom either. Who needs AC? Ursus goes around bare-chested.
True. I think I just like the idea of having a decent CMD really. Still, I might need at least a little bit of Wisdom.....although Quivering Palm seems like the only reason to have Wisdom and you don't get that until you're level 15.
That and AC, CMD, stunning fist DC, and ki points (if you decide against Martial Artist)
|
|
A turn for Ursus goes like this.
*Move up.
*Grab opponent and toss them to the ground. (Standard - Trip/Ki Throw)
*Followup with Elbow Drop. (Opportunity Attack - Vicious Stomp)
*While they're winded go for the mounted position. (Swift Action - Binding Throw)
So in one turn I can prone/grapple/damage any target within one move action's worth of movement.
Granted a tetori can probably do this all better but that requires all that mystical kungfu master business that I can't stand.
My CMD isn't that great but I've already knocked them to the ground and swung a free attack. If my opponent wants to spend every turn standing up and breaking out of the grapple that's fine by my. I still have a huge action economy advantage.
|
|
Would it not count as being armed whilst wearing a Cestus? The text around it suggests if you wear it, you're considered armed, but the text below suggests otherwise:
"If you are proficient with a Cestus, your unarmed strikes may deal bludgeoning or piercing damage."Also, it states the Cestus only deals 1d4 damage for a medium creature, so I'm not sure where you get 1d6 from, unless the Monk base damage overwrites normal unarmed damage? :/
Yes, that's exactly what it means. But that's not the main reason for the dip. The style bonus feats and evasion are the primary reasons for the dip, plus a +3 bonus to all saves.
Last of all, if I'm going with a Monk, would not being able to wear armour not be a huge problem?
Why wouldn't you wear armor? You don't have the wisdom to try to go with out it. Wear a mithril coat or mithril breastplate. Master of Many Styles already loses the 1 ability that requires you to be unarmored for the 2 levels of monk your taking. As long as you are wearing light armor, evasion functions normally, and I've not seen anything restricting the styles while wearing armor. Heck, I was even going to recommend a darkwood buckler so you could have a shield bonus to boot.
The reason for the 2wpn fighting feat tree is to make up for the loss of flurry from the Master of Many Styles to begin with.
Yes, that's exactly what it means. But that's not the main reason for the dip. The style bonus feats and evasion are the primary reasons for the dip, plus a +3 bonus to all saves.
Why wouldn't you wear armor? You don't have the wisdom to try to go with out it. Wear a mithril coat or mithril breastplate. Master of Many Styles already loses the 1 ability that requires you to be unarmored for the 2 levels of monk your taking. As long as you are wearing light armor, evasion functions normally, and I've not seen anything restricting the styles while wearing armor. Heck, I was even going to recommend a darkwood buckler so you could have a shield bonus to boot.
The reason for the 2wpn fighting feat tree is to make up for the loss of flurry from the Master of Many Styles to begin with.
Ah, I see!
So would you in fact still get 4 attacks? I was just thinking if I didn't use armour, I could have a lot more feats....although I would get hit practically every turn.
Hmm, maybe only 5 levels Monk is worth it then, just for the fatigue immunity, if I'd be going down the off hand weapon tree. Then the rest could be Fighter (5 levels) and Barbarian 10, or 15 levels Barbarian.