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This is part of a series relating a playtest session my players and I participated in. 6 Players and myself tested characters at level 5 and 15.
The brawler created for this playtest was a pure combat monster - high strength, straight combat feats, items focused on movement and attack/damage.
The level 5 brawler had a +11 to hit, a total of 8 feats (including the class feats and the martial maneuvers ability) and 52 HP, but only 15 AC.
Interestingly enough, combat damage was not that extreme: 1d8+6. That's generally less than a two-handed fighter or barbarian. What was impressive was the already impressive feat count, including free feats and switchable feats. The utility of martial maneuvers was helpful, but not overwhelming - switching between improved grapple or improved disarm, depending on what maneuver seemed best at the time.
The level 15 brawler, now having the fully completed martial maneuvers ability, was able to quickly react to outside events with just the right feat. Having used his extra feats to take a number of prerequisites for other capstone feats, the brawler is able to dynamically control the events happening around him.
Is he above his opponent? Death from above.
Has he almost hit his opponent? Greater weapon focus.
Does he need to have an AC 1 better? Dodge.
etc, etc. With a move action, he can give himself 3 feats, such as every feat in the grapple line. This is incredibly potent, so long as you have a complete knowledge of useful feats. Damage was good but not great, and the brawler still suffered from low AC, but decent hit points. With decent skill points, I was very impressed with this class at high levels.
Likes
Incredible utility and flexibility in combat, and decent skills that allow for out-of-combat functionality as well. With free feats added on top, the Brawler has the freedom of a fighter, to explore any number of feat combinations on a whim.
The AC bonus is helpful but not strong, I think it's well balanced.
The brawler flurry is a good answer to the flurry of blows feature, and I like that it awards you the feat only when you flurry, so you don't qualify for the feat for the purposes of taking other derived feats.
Dislikes
The class has a high hit die, better than fighter skill points, better skill selection, and more feats than a fighter, while sharing its full BAB. This is a class for someone who cares only for combat, but the skill points and free abilities are icing to an already loaded cake. I would drop the skill points down to 2, or reduce the skills available to them.
I think the martial maneuvers ability is amazingly good, but it would be nice to see it attached to another stat - currently you'd be fine just having a high strength. It'd be good to attach another stat to balance the functionality of the class - perhaps Wisdom?
Overall Rating
I give this class an 8/10. The class gets a ton of gifts and has few flaws: with 2 great saves, d10 hit die, full BAB and good skills, this class covers all the bases. Perhaps too many bases, which hampers my ability to give this class a perfect score. The ability to give yourself flexible feats, on top of already present bonus feats, is extremely strong and rewarding. But should any class receive more feats than a fighter?
etc, etc. With a move action, he can give himself 3 feats, such as every feat in the grapple line. This is incredibly potent,...
Each feat counts to your daily allotment, I think that is the balancing factor.
What other characters did you group with? How was the interaction between the brawler and other classes?
Thanks for your playtest feedback! :)
I could see Int or Dex as good abilities to mix with the Brawler, too- you can get access to some good feat chains that way (admittedly, only a 13 Int would be necessary for one chain).
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Each feat counts to your daily allotment, I think that is the balancing factor.
What other characters did you group with? How was the interaction between the brawler and other classes?
That's an excellent point about the usage. We didn't play it like that and I think it makes a world of difference.
The brawler benefited greatly from buffs like haste, spider climb and fly - combined with his quick runner's shirt, he focused on getting to the target, and then using his flurry or combat patrol to control the battlefield. Other than that, he would often work in tandem with our swashbuckler to deal damage - he'd grapple and expose the enemy to the swashbuckler, who would take him out. Rinse and repeat.