Aight, so here's the deal. I want to play a fast moving, heavy armored charger . . . and do it with unarmed strikes.
My DM has set us up at 4th level, 20 point buy and appropriate wealth.
How do I build a character with this play style, and manage to hang with the other melee characters?
Any item suggestions? Right now the biggest problem is my damage output; unarmed strike is important thematically, but weak mechanically.
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I'm doing something similar with an armored hulk/unarmed fighter in PFS.
I wrote up a google doc with the build basics you can view here.
My version doesn't really come into its own until level 5. You're going to be lacking on damage but you make up for it with control and style.
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Any item suggestions? Right now the biggest problem is my damage output; unarmed strike is important thematically, but weak mechanically.
well with improved unarmed you will be hitting for +2 on top of your normal strength, so if you have a 4 strength and TWF you should be hitting for 1d4+6/1d4+3 i dont think youw ill get much better then that unless you go human, or drop improved bull rush. then you could take weapon focus/spec for a +1 to hit and +2 to damage.
you may just decide to play a sohei monk, and i think maneuver master would stack with it for archetypes. but if you chose sohei then you would have flurry of blows (or maneuvers which would be better)+ monk damage and armor. that could be pretty sick.
catch off guard + improved improvised weapon would fit the jugernaut, since he likes to toss large things lying around at people.
oh you know what, i thought of a feat that would help you assuming non-pathfinder feats could be allowed in your game. its called supream unarmed strike from the tomb of battle. it gives you a progressing damage table similar to a monk.
Fiirst off, you folks rock. Just puttin that out there.
Ohako, I gotta ask . . . Hoow did you come up with this? XD.
What does everyone think about me taking Vital Strike? I've never used it before, and I'm uncertain about it's effectiveness.
As far as gear goes, I'd originally been thinkin on the Amulet of Might Fists . . Until I saw it's price tag. This is making me think enchanted gauntlets would be the most cost effective method of boosting my attack/damage ratio, with the added benefit of making me "Armed" thus preventing AoOs on my poor juggernaut. This also saves me a feat slot, now that I don't need Improv Unarmed attack.
I read up on the Sohei, until I realized the unarmed strike maxs at 4th level. The Irmpoved improvised weapon would cause all kinds of hilarity, and fits very well with the playstyle I'm imagining . . . And I can't tell you how sexy Supreme unarmed Strike is.
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20th level human invulnerable rager barbarian with rage powers, brawler, greater brawler, body bludgeon, improved dr x3, come and get me, reckless abandon, renewed vigor, knockdown, knockback, strength surge
feats: power attack, furious focus, imp unarmed strike, weapon focus, extra rage power (x2), combat reflexex, dash (x3) pushing assault
gestalt with fighter as needed
Fiirst off, you folks rock. Just puttin that out there.
Ohako, I gotta ask . . . Hoow did you come up with this? XD.
At least part of the response to this question:
Dwarves move 20 ft, racial ability Slow and Steady says their movement is never modified by armor or encumbrance, Barbarians get +10 movement at level 1, Travel domain grants +10 movement as a domain power. There you have a dwarf with 40 ft move at all times. You could take more Barbarian levels for the attack bonus or more cleric levels for more spells but neither gets you more movement.
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Well I won't be able to give you a full build but I can address a few points for you.
1. Vital Strike, 99% of the time this is a bad choice for PC's. It only increases your base weapon damage. Since Unarmed strike is important to you and that will cap at 1D4 (unless you go monk) VS will net you an additional 2.5 points of damage per round you charge. Really not worth it.
2. Unarmed strike, if you seriously want to do that then you are going to need a dip in Monk. Only monks get full damage on their off hand attacks
This is the only thing that will keep you from being ignored when you full attack.
3. Finally the Amulet of Mighty Fang is a requirement. It's the only RAW method of permanently enchanting an unarmed strike. Without it you'll never get past any targets DR or be able to get your +to hit high enough to regularly connect with the higher CR opponents.
Just grin and bear it and pay for the Amulet and the monk dip.
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Leave monk alone. Leave Vital Strike alone. Here's what you do:
human barbarian (armored hulk) 2/fighter (unarmed fighter) 2
You want at least 18 in Strength and at least a 12 in Dex.
The unarmed fighter loses medium and heavy armor, but the armored hulk barbarian gets them back.
From being a fourth-level human, you get three basic feats. You can take "heart of the fields" in lieu of your bonus skill points so that you can effectively sleep in your armor without waking up fatigued, or to ignore the fatigue caused at the end of a rage.
From unarmed fighter, you get: Improved Unarmed Strike for free, one Style Feat for free, and one bonus combat feat.
From armored hulk barbarian, you get: armored swiftness (moving 25 ft. per round in full plate) and rage.
Because the unarmed fighter's "unarmed style" class feature specifically says that you don't have to qualify for the bonus Style Feat, you can take one of the "second-tier" Style feats, and choose the "first-tier" feat as your bonus first-or-third level feat. Your feat chain might look like this:
1st-level (fighter) - You get Power Attack from your human bonus feat, Weapon Focus (unarmed strike) from your first-level feat, and Improved Unarmed Strike and Tiger Claws from the "unarmed style" fighter class feature. You do not have to qualify for Tiger Claws (although you can't use it without Tiger Style, which you'll pick up soon).
2nd-level (barbarian) - You get the "rage" class feature and heavy armor proficiency. Deck yourself out in some full plate.
3rd-level (fighter) - You get Tiger Style from your third-level feat, and Improved Bull Rush from your bonus fighter feat.
4th-level (barbarian) - You get the "armored swiftness" class feature.
You end up with:
a +12 on attack rolls, minus Power Attack (+4 BAB, +6 Str with rage, +1 Weapon Focus, +1 masterwork or better gauntlets)
1d3+6 bludgeoning or slashing, lethal or nonlethal damage on a single-attack action, plus Power Attack; or
1d3+9/1d3+6 bludgeoning or slashing, lethal or nonlethal damage on a full-attack action, plus Power Attack and Tiger Claws (two attacks with one roll, a free bull rush attempt, and 1d4 bleed damage for two rounds on a critical hit)
AC 18 while raging, without magical armor
a 25-foot land speed in full plate
a +14 CMB when bull rushing (+4 BAB, +6 Str with rage, +2 Improved Bull Rush, +2 Tiger Claws)
Now you run around Power Attacking as a full-round action, dealing an average of more than 20 damage per round and getting a free bull rush attempt with a huge CMB bonus. The numbers suffer a little without rage, but not all that much.
Thanks to the Tiger Claws feat and to various class features like "indomitable stance" and "harsh training," you gain quite a lot of little bonuses against things like ability score penalties, bull rush, charging, exhaustion and fatigue, overrun, staggering, trample, and trip.
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The Fighter (Brawler) archetype gives bigger bonuses to unarmed damage I believe, and earlier than any other archetype as well (3rd level instead of 5th.)
I think going at least two levels (or more) of Barbarian (Armored Hulk) with the Brawler rage power, and the rest Fighter (Brawler) gives a very strong "Juggernaut" feel, in my opinion.
Barbarian 6 (Brutal Pugilist) / Fighter 14
Barbarian 6 gets you access to some cool rage powers including overbearing advance / onslaught. Brutal pugilist gets you some combat maneuver goodies (no loss of dex while grappling, opponents always provoke when grappling you, treated as large for the purpose of swallow whole, +1 CMB/CMD to two combat maneuvers).
Fighter gets you heavy armor proficiency and all the typical fighter goodies. You could go Weapon master which would get you weapon training earlier with your unarmed strikes. Or...if you were not tied to heavy armor (or willing to sink a feat) go Lore Warden for even more combat maneuver awesomeness.
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3 Martial Artist Monk: any alignment, free improved unarmed strike, 1d6 unarmed dmg, evasion, Fast Movement
x Armored Hulk Barbarian: fast movement in heavy armor starting at lvl 2 and at 5 is 10 faster than norm...in armor.. HEAVY armor
Potentially useful:
3 Brawler Fighter: Close Combatant (+1 attack/+3 dmg on close weapons which includes unarmed).
Rage Powers:
Lesser Beast Totem (Claws)
Beast Totam (+1 nat armor)
Greater Beast Totem (POUNCE!!)
Swift Foot (5-foot enhancement bonus to speed)
Feats:
Power Attack
Monastic Legacy (Combat): Add half the levels you have in classes other than monk to your monk level to determine your effective monk level for your base unarmed strike damage.
Dragon Style (Combat): add 1-1/2 times your Strength bonus on the damage roll for your first unarmed strike on a given round and some other awesome
Stunning Fist: was free with Monk, required by Dragon Ferocity
Dragon Ferocity (Combat): While using Dragon Style, you gain a bonus on unarmed strike damage rolls equal to half your Strength bonus
Extra Rage: 6 extra rounds
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Leave monk alone. Leave Vital Strike alone. Here's what you do:
human barbarian (armored hulk) 2/fighter (unarmed fighter) 2
You want at least 18 in Strength and at least a 12 in Dex.
The unarmed fighter loses medium and heavy armor, but the armored hulk barbarian gets them back.
From being a fourth-level human, you get three basic feats. You can take "heart of the fields" in lieu of your bonus skill points so that you can effectively sleep in your armor without waking up fatigued, or to ignore the fatigue caused at the end of a rage.
From unarmed fighter, you get: Improved Unarmed Strike for free, one Style Feat for free, and one bonus combat feat.
From armored hulk barbarian, you get: armored swiftness (moving 25 ft. per round in full plate) and rage.
Because the unarmed fighter's "unarmed style" class feature specifically says that you don't have to qualify for the bonus Style Feat, you can take one of the "second-tier" Style feats, and choose the "first-tier" feat as your bonus first-or-third level feat. Your feat chain might look like this:
1st-level (fighter) - You get Power Attack from your human bonus feat, Weapon Focus (unarmed strike) from your first-level feat, and Improved Unarmed Strike and Tiger Claws from the "unarmed style" fighter class feature. You do not have to qualify for Tiger Claws (although you can't use it without Tiger Style, which you'll pick up soon).
2nd-level (barbarian) - You get the "rage" class feature and heavy armor proficiency. Deck yourself out in some full plate.
3rd-level (fighter) - You get Tiger Style from your third-level feat, and Improved Bull Rush from your bonus fighter feat.
4th-level (barbarian) - You get the "armored swiftness" class feature.You end up with:
a +12 on attack rolls, minus Power Attack (+4 BAB, +6 Str with rage, +1 Weapon Focus, +1 masterwork or better gauntlets)
1d3+6 bludgeoning or slashing, lethal or nonlethal damage on a single-attack action, plus Power Attack; or
1d3+9/1d3+6 bludgeoning or slashing, lethal or...
Yeah.. no. You're wrong on the unarmed style feat.
If you'll read it again it allows you to take any single STYLE feat. When you look at the various styles out there you'll see only the first feat of a style is flagged as a style feat. The rest of them are combat feats.
Next the unarmed fighter archetype is really a grapple build, most of it's class abilities only kick in when grappling which the OP doesn't want to do.
Good try though.
Here is the build I'm working with right now;
Human Monk 1/Fighter 3.
18 Str, 14 Dex.
MONK= 1d6 base unarmed strike, full str to off hand strikes.
Improved Unarmed Strike; No AoOs and Lethal damage.
Bonus Feat; Improved Grapple. Being a Monk lets me deal lethal damage during a grapple.
Stunning Fist.
FIGHTER3= Armor Training, full movement speed in medium armor.
Bonus Feats; Undecided.
AMULET OF MIGHTY FISTS: No attack bonus, but adds the Shock special ability to all unarmed strikes. +1d6 Damage per hit.
If I wanna break the game in half, I take two weapon fighting. Full attack, each attack at +5 to hit, 2d6+4 damage each.
Monastic Legacy (Combat): Add half the levels you have in classes other than monk to your monk level to determine your effective monk level for your base unarmed strike damage.
Dragon Style (Combat): add 1-1/2 times your Strength bonus on the damage roll for your first unarmed strike on a given round and some other awesome
Stunning Fist: was free with Monk, required by Dragon Ferocity
Dragon Ferocity (Combat): While using Dragon Style, you gain a bonus on unarmed strike damage rolls equal to half your Strength bonus
Extra Rage: 6 extra rounds
Do Dragon style and Dragon Ferocity stack? Would my first attack in a round have an effective x2 str mod?