Building a Mutagenic Brawler for PFS play tomorrow night and need a bit of advice regarding stat allocation and feat choice.
Half Orc - Mutagenic Brawler
Took the Toothy (Bite Attack) and City Raised (for a whip option) racial abilities.
Suggestions on a solid 20 point buy for him?
Suggestions on initial couple feats?
Also, having never played a Brawler/Monk when he attacks unarmed, is that technically a single punch/knee/elbow/foot etc? Or, is it similar to natural attacks where it would be Punch/Punch/Bite? My instinct tells me it would only be Punch/Bite.
Bonus damage on an unarmed strike will be STR bonus? So 1d6+3 assuming a 16 STR?
Damage on Bite would be 1d4+3 as well?
Thanks for advice!
Just for the record, natural attacks cannot be used as part of a Brawler's Flurry, not even with Feral Combat Training, since Brawler's Flurry has a special restriction. Sad stuff.
Natural Attacks can not be used, but I believe Unarmed Strikes Can. Correct?
Lets focus more on Stat priority, and Feat selection than the Unarmed Strikes vs Natural Attacks please.
Does Brawler have a dump stat? Im guessing INT adn/or CHA...but I to take advantage of Intimidate so CHA dumping is out.
Lets focus more on Stat priority, and Feat selection than the Unarmed Strikes vs Natural Attacks please.
Does Brawler have a dump stat? Im guessing INT adn/or CHA...but I to take advantage of Intimidate so CHA dumping is out.
While I must admit my personal play style causes me to wince a bit at the term "dump stat," from a point of view that's looking strictly at mechanical advantages, Intelligence is probably the least important for Brawlers. The only thing you really need it for is those few Combat feats that require a 13 INT as a prerequisite, and the Brawler's Cunning class feature is intentionally designed to get around that.
As for feats, you might want to pick up a copy of Cheliax, Empire of Devils if you don't have one as there's an excellent feat in there for Brawlers, at least at low levels, called Belier's Bite. It adds an extra 1d4 bleed damage to unarmed strikes.
That said, I wouldn't choose it as my actual feat, but just keep it in mind for Martial Flexibility purposes. For the first level Brawler I just rolled up myself, a tengu as it happens, I went with Improved Grapple since there are so many combat feats that has synergy with.
Oh, one thing I did you might think about. Martial Flexibility is what this class is built around, to my way of thinking, and that requires a deep and broad knowledge of the Combat Feats. I figured out every Combat Feat Mister Rook would be able to adopt at first level (almost eighty!) and made up a cheat sheet listing them and their effects so that if and when situations come up that call for them I can find them at a glance.
Have fun!
He chose a Mutagenic Mauler so he didn't need a gazillion books to make Martial Flexibility good.
1. Your dump stat is CHA unless you want to Intimidate... which you might want to. Dump INT instead, but not too hard.
2. Stat priority is STR > DEX > WIS > CON > INT > CHA. If you wanna go with the Intimidate build, you could take Irrepressible as a trait for CHA to Will saves, and then pick up Steadfast Personality to double dip on that. That would allow you to keep a middling WIS and a good CHA, which helps you intimidate a lot.
3. Anything that gives you + attack is awesome for Brawlers, + damage is okay. Anticipate Dodge is a good feat, demoralizing enemies with Power Attack + Cornugon Smash with Intimidating Prowess can help you survive - as can using combat maneuvers on them.
4. A more WIS heavy build would combine Mutagenic Mauler with Steel-Breaker, that makes you focused on Sunder/Disarm maneuvers and grants you a quick fix to your AC and lots of DR ignore. It's pretty sweet. The Sunder part works perfectly with a Cornugon Smash plan due to Power Attack reliance.
He chose a Mutagenic Mauler so he didn't need a gazillion books to make Martial Flexibility good.
Fair point.
And it's not a gazillion books. I went back and checked Mister Rook's Martial Flexibility cheat sheet and I had the count wrong, it's only 65 feats. From seventeen books. ;) Cheers!
Edit to add: Thirteen of those are Teamwork feats and thus unlikely to ever come up in Society play.
Can a Half Orc take the Trait: Adopted, and then select the Human racial trait "Extra Feat" and gain an extra feat at 1st level? Again, its for PFS play and I dont see anywhere that it is not allowed.
Also, regarding the Enforcer Feat, it states that you must do non-lethal damage with a weapon...as a Brawler do your unarmed strikes qualify as "a weapon"?
Racial trait like "Extra Feat" are not the same as Race Traits. Adopted is a Trait. Things under Racial Traits are not traits.
Just for the record, natural attacks cannot be used as part of a Brawler's Flurry, not even with Feral Combat Training, since Brawler's Flurry has a special restriction. Sad stuff.
It's questionable which ability take precedence. As per the feral combat training FAQ, "Feral Combat Training allows you to use the selected natural attack as if it were a monk weapon, use it to deploy special attacks that require you to use a monk weapon". Brawlers Flurry works with "weapons with the “monk” special feature" :IE monk weapons.
IMO FCT would allow it's natural attacks to work in brawlers flurry.
I have read in a couple other threads where folks have made mention of using "Masterwork Generic Tools" which give a bonus to Intimidate. An Intimidating Mask? Kinda cool idea for my build....slip on a scary mask just prior to battle...
My question is: Where do I find information on these tools in a book? Cost, type, etc.