Captain America meets Sparta meets Alchohol.

[Garion Valkof]

So, for an online game I will be hopefully playing soon, I am really partial to the Brawler archetype for Fighter. I love the idea of a shield bashing, face pounding, neck snapping drunken hero. So, im asking the forums for advice. Basically I am considering two routes for this build...

Route 1
Brawler, focusing on Heavy Shield bashing and Unarmed Strikes, maybe mixing in MoMS Monk for Dragon Style. I would prefer a STR based build, as I do not want to rely on Agile magic items for this. How would you build this to be viable from lvl 1 up to 15 or so, its for Kingmaker.

Route 2
Brawler, focusing on Heavy Shield bashing and either using a gladius, spear, or another Close weapon to synergize with Brawler better. This guy would preferably be straight Fighter, but again, im coming up short on how to build this and still be a powerful addition to the team.

Either route im looking more for fun and flavor than pure min maxing, though I want to have the idea relatively optimized. I would prefer to be dangerous in combat yet still have some minor out of combat utility, even if its just 1 or 2 skills.

Requirements are as follows...
-15 Point Buy
-Core 7 Races only(I would prefer Human)
-1 Trait(Has to be Campaign Trait from Kingmaker, I went with Bastard.)
-150 Starting Gold
-Any Official Paizo material is allowed.

Again, the primary things im looking for are...
-Shield Bashing
-Grizzled Drunken Hero vibe
-Out of combat utility through 1 or 2 skills.

I had roughly considered stats as...

Str-16
Dex-14
Con-14
Int-10
Wis-8
Char-12

Any thoughts? Help me Paizo boards, you are my only hope.

[TGMaxMaxer]

Dwarven Brawler x/ranger 2

Str 17 Dex 12 Con 14 Int 10 Wis 10 Cha 8, put your first bump into str, or start with str 16 and either bump dex to 14 or con to 16.

Take the dwarven racial that gets you a +2 bullrush.

Power attack, cleave, shield slam (ranger 2 no pre-reqs), imp shield bash, goblin cleaver, orc hewer, extra traits feat for Glory of Old(dwarf racial) and Fortified Drinker(CG alignment). (you'll get all these by level 6)

Cleave on any medium sized attacker in range without losing the shield armor bonus, with a Spiked Heavy Bashing Shield (4k) getting a free bullrush on them and if it puts them into a wall, they fall prone.

+5 total racial/trait bonus on mind affecting will saves, +3 on other spells/SLAs/Poisons.

The two levels of ranger show his well traveled experience, and a completely thematic dwarven grudge against a particular type of problematic local critter/race. (never played kingmaker, don't know what would be appropriate. Also nets him perception and stealth, plus a couple knowledges as class skills, to show a veteran as well. The ability to activate a cure light wounds wand, but nothing too magical/natury other than that.

Always carries a hip flask, a big bag of 2 of every alchemical item, a spiked Cold Iron Gauntlet, a spiked Silver Gauntlet, and if you can afford it, eventually a Adamantine spiked bashing shield. complains that anyone without pretty much one of every alchemical items is unprepared, and carries 5 extra weapons even tho he never uses them "just in case".

Get Stand still for free from brawler eventually, if you already have it get something else. After Ranger 2/Brawler 3, you can go back to ranger up to 6 to get shield master (armor enhancement counts for attack/damage on a shield bash) or just keep the 2 level dip in ranger and stay brawler up to 13. Your call.

I have this character in PFS (where he gets both traits already without the feat needed) built on a 20 point buy, and at level 5 he's doing 2d6+9(you'll be 2 pts lower on damage based on starting stats), with a free bullrush on that, and if they hit a wall they're prone. I don't have the dwarven cleave feats yet (will get both of those at 6 with the retrain and 4th level fighter), but he's still pretty good in a fight, decent for basic adventuring skills, and a blast to roleplay.

[Garion Valkof]

Great advice, thank you! Anyone else?

[Chris P. Bacon]

My favourite brawler build involves using a heavy spiked shield two-handed, and TWFing with armor spikes as your "off-hand" weapon. Yes, this works.

The synergy between Shield Slam and Spiked Destroyer is delicious, and both your shield and your armor spikes are members of the Close weapon group.

The best of both two-handed damage and TWF damage, nice AC, free bull rushes; it's fairly well-rounded. A lack of ranged attacks kinda sucks, but you can take a hand off your shield to throw something if need be.

[Imbicatus]

Chris P. Bacon wrote:

My favourite brawler build involves using a heavy spiked shield two-handed, and TWFing with armor spikes as your "off-hand" weapon. Yes, this works.

The synergy between Shield Slam and Spiked Destroyer is delicious, and both your shield and your armor spikes are members of the Close weapon group.

The best of both two-handed damage and TWF damage, nice AC, free bull rushes; it's fairly well-rounded. A lack of ranged attacks kinda sucks, but you can take a hand off your shield to throw something if need be.

I suggest Wushu Darts. They are the only thrown weapon in the Close Combat group, so you get your close combatant bonus with them.

[Chris P. Bacon]

I think you can throw dan bong, too.

[blackbloodtroll]

Comic book 300 Sparta, or historical Sparta?

[Imbicatus]

Chris P. Bacon wrote:

I think you can throw dan bong, too.

Yeah, but they are an exotic weapon, and brawlers don't get proficiency automatically. Spending a feat on a 1d3 19-20/x2 weapon is a waste, even if you can throw it and use it to grant a +2 to grapple checks.

[blackbloodtroll]

Well, the Dan Bong is a Monk weapon, so there is a trait to gain proficiency.

Here:

PFS Guide to Organized Play pg. 16 wrote:

Weapon Style

Category: Faction
Requirement(s): Lantern Lodge
You gain proficiency with one weapon that has the monk special weapon quality (see page 145 of the Core Rulebook).

[Chris P. Bacon]

Oh, good call on the both of you.

[StrangePackage]

15 point buy and 1 trait? I think your GM hates you.

[StrangePackage]

Chris P. Bacon wrote:

My favourite brawler build involves using a heavy spiked shield two-handed, and TWFing with armor spikes as your "off-hand" weapon. Yes, this works.

The synergy between Shield Slam and Spiked Destroyer is delicious, and both your shield and your armor spikes are members of the Close weapon group.

The best of both two-handed damage and TWF damage, nice AC, free bull rushes; it's fairly well-rounded. A lack of ranged attacks kinda sucks, but you can take a hand off your shield to throw something if need be.

I have a brawler in Pathfinder that follows this exact build. He's very useful for battlefield control as well as a lot of damage up-close and personal. Will saves are shaky, tho.

The MoMS strikes me as an interesting dip for a Brawler- I'd have to tinker with it.

[Imbicatus]

StrangePackage wrote:

The MoMS strikes me as an interesting dip for a Brawler- I'd have to tinker with it.

There is a Dex-based brawler build on these boards called the Battlesnake that uses a MoMS dip and is deadly.

[Garion Valkof]

Thanks for the advice everyone. The shield spikes and armor spike build sounds like a winner, so I can continue in Brawler. Im trying to stay away from dex builds if I can help it.

Blackblood, more 300 Spartan than historical, though if we can come up with a great spear and shield Fighter I would not be adverse to a little more historical Spartan.