Brawler barbarian! One of us is going down!

[SinfulPride]

All right. I have this concept for a brawler barbarian(Fists and close weapons). I do plan on taking 3 fighter levels to optimize for feats and speed. I have a 15 point buy. Core, ADV.PG, and UC to choose from for feats, and I do plan on having him use TWF. I was thinking Half-elf, human, or half-orc. Mostly human for the feat. Also I'm looking for flavor more than stats. Think drunk north barbarian who loves to punch things and the bigger it is the harder he needs to make it fall.

His Stats end up;

Str:17
Dex:15
Con:14
Int:8
Wis:12
Cha:7

Feats: TWF, Improved unarmed(Dm has allowed unarmed to be bumped to d4 with feat)

Skills:Acrobatics, Perception, Climb, Swim(1-2 ranks most)

My plan was to use his fists, 1 kukri and 1 punching dagger. Be able to Bullrush, and overrun opponents and generally be a giant pain in the ass.

I'd like to have some thoughts on how I should progress with him.

[lemeres]

If I might make a suggestion, how about this: Martial Artist Monk 1/ Invulnerable Rager Barbarian x

I suggest this because it allows you to gain TWF without actually spending feats. Obviously there will be issues with AC and armor, but with beast totem's natural armor and the DR from invulnerable rager (which is in some ways better than AC), you would be solid.

Now, flurry of blows does have restrictions as far as weapon choice goes, but it is not all bad. One of my favorite monk weapons is the Cestus. The in game description for it basically makes it out to be something like a more effective spiked gauntlet (although google image mostly brings up oven mits from hell), and it has the same statistics as the dagger. There is also some indications that you can still use other weapons while wearing them, which can be a great advantage. Also remember, your flurry of blows can be done with one weapon, so it is possible to use different special materials at once.

[Margrave]

lemeres wrote:

If I might make a suggestion, how about this: Martial Artist Monk 1/ Invulnerable Rager Barbarian x

You can't do that. Monks are supposed to be Lawful, while Barbarians are anything but Lawful.

[Lemmy]

My is my suggestion for a Brawler/Unarmed Barbarian build.

Modesty aside... It's a really cool build, IMHO.

:D

Only problem is that it needs a little alignment juggling... But it's only for a single level...

;)

[Mikaze]

Margrave wrote:

lemeres wrote:

If I might make a suggestion, how about this: Martial Artist Monk 1/ Invulnerable Rager Barbarian x

You can't do that. Monks are supposed to be Lawful, while Barbarians are anything but Lawful.

The Martial Artist monk archetype can be any alignment.

[Lemmy]

Mikaze wrote:

Margrave wrote:

lemeres wrote:

If I might make a suggestion, how about this: Martial Artist Monk 1/ Invulnerable Rager Barbarian x

You can't do that. Monks are supposed to be Lawful, while Barbarians are anything but Lawful.

The Martial Artist monk archetype can be any alignment.

And you can always change alignment too... >:D

[Margrave]

Lemmy wrote:

Mikaze wrote:

Margrave wrote:

lemeres wrote:

If I might make a suggestion, how about this: Martial Artist Monk 1/ Invulnerable Rager Barbarian x

You can't do that. Monks are supposed to be Lawful, while Barbarians are anything but Lawful.

The Martial Artist monk archetype can be any alignment.

And you can always change alignment too... >:D

I see I spoke too soon here...

Granted, it can be done. I'm just rather opposed to builds that 'break' the theme of the game. You know, half-bugbear paladin draconic sorcerer monks and the like. Don't let that stop anyone here from playing what they like, though! ;-)

[Lemmy]

I don't think any character concept "breaks the theme of the game". It might push its boundaries if the build is closer to a completely different genre, such as sci-fi or spaghetti western...

But the examples you mentioned are examples of fantasy, even if they deviate from the norm.

Creating unorthodox character concepts is fun, and IMO, keeps "fantasy" fantastic. When you limit yourself to a few "main" concepts, fantasy becomes more limited, more restrictive, less extraordinary and thus, less fantastic.

At least, that's how I see it...

[Margrave]

Lemmy wrote:

I don't think any character concept "breaks the theme of the game". It might push its boundaries if the build is closer to a completely different genre, such as sci-fi or spaghetti western...

But the examples you mentioned are examples of fantasy, even if they deviate from the norm.

Creating unorthodox character concepts is fun, and IMO, keeps "fantasy" fantastic. When you limit yourself to a few "main" concepts, fantasy becomes more limited, more restrictive, less extraordinary and thus, less fantastic.

At least, that's how I see it...

Sure, I can't say you're wrong - it's just personal taste, that's all. I just perceive a proliferation of special builds and exotic characters while I would personally prefer these to be rarer. Again, that's just my idea and I admit it sounds more like a whine. ;-)

Back on-topic: some combo of monk and barbarian seems like the way to go to me also (ignoring alignment restrictions) but I'm not very good at optimizing builds... Greater minds will help you out here.

[Lemmy]

Margrave wrote:

Sure, I can't say you're wrong - it's just personal taste, that's all. I just perceive a proliferation of special builds and exotic characters while I would personally prefer these to be rarer. Again, that's just my idea and I admit it sounds more like a whine. ;-)

Back on-topic: some combo of monk and barbarian seems like the way to go to me also (ignoring alignment restrictions) but I'm not very good at optimizing builds... Greater minds will help you out here.

Just to be clear: I have nothing against the way you think. I'm perfectly aware it's simply a difference of taste. I usually see the PCs as "the exceptions". Maybe one of them is that weird Hobgoblin Monk-Barbarian with Elemental Eldritch Heritage... But unless you see a bunch of them everywhere... The PC is still a rare sight.

After all, how often do we see players playing multiple characters (all with bizarre builds) in the same campaign. ^^

---------------

Back on Topic... Whatever unarmed route you choose... Grab TWF and Brawling armor. That's pretty much the only way of making Unarmed Strikes effective.

Well, that and homebrew, of course...

[Chaotic Fighter]

Taking only one level of Martial artist will not get you a scaling Flurry of Blows so you might as well just go straight Brawler/Barbarian. Maybe brutal pugilist so you can add +2 to every combat maneuver you would use. If you do want to take a dip in Monk. I highly suggest justifying 1 level on Master of many styles. It'll replace the thing you're not going to be using, FoB, with fuse styles and jump your unarmed damage to a d6 without burning a feat. That way you can use Dragon Style and another style. Boar style is fun. Dragon style will make unarmed fighting very effective with that 17 STR. You can also take just dragon style if you don't want to dip in monk. Ignore this if you've already taken Dragon Style into consideration.