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I created a wrestling encounter for the Skull & Shackles campaign I've been running. The enemy was a high-level Brawler with maxed out Dirty Trick plus Mocking Dance which was hilarious.
I modeled him after Beef Supreme, the gladiator from Idiocracy.
We used the Performance Combat rules to determine the winner, and I had the crowd contribute to the mayhem in the ring.
He brutalized the pirate PCs one at a time, until they figured out that the ref was paid to walk away at the beginning of the fight. Then all kinds of hell broke loose.
Lots of broken furniture, cheap shots, rope stunts, blowing dust into their eyes, knockout punches, etc. Probably the most fun encounter I've ever run.
You covered a lot of stuff about flavouful Unarmed Fighting in your article.
What is missing is how there are many different gimmicks and personas, which often mirror similar Archetypes:
-Brawler's like Stone Cold
-Giants, Monsters that tend to no-sell most moves- Maybe get some DR
-pretty, glamorous, peacocky wrestler - mostly roleplay
-ECW hardcore wrestler- sadly improvised weapons don't work in PF
-shoot style, amateur wrestler grappler - Improved grapple, Tetori
and many more
The performance combat rules/feats could might help you, but they are not often used in normal Adventures.
Since Pathfinder is in a fantasy setting, I would just play a Barbarian, Fighter or whatever class I wanted to be and just roleplay him similar(and maybe pick a couple of skills or feats) to whatever wrestler I wanted. "IT DOESN'T MATTER if the Rock has a Greatsword, as long as he is a pie-eating, jabroni-beating, trail-blazing, eyebrow-raising smack it all around people's Champ."
Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Bret "The Hitman" Hart. Even fans outside of wrestling have heard most of these names. As a pro wrestler myself it always tickled me to think of making different wrestler characters using the Pathfinder system. Whether it was creating them as a real combatant, or making the the athletic stage performers they are here, there are many ways to go about creating a pro wrestler in your game.
Have you ever made a character that mimicked a wrestler? Have you ever made a character that used combat as a performance art?
What is your ring name? I'm a long time mark for pro wrestling.
How difficult is it to combine performance combat from Ultimate Combat with unarmed combat and/or grappling? That is probably what you are after for a pro wrestler.
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Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Bret "The Hitman" Hart. Even fans outside of wrestling have heard most of these names. As a pro wrestler myself it always tickled me to think of making different wrestler characters using the Pathfinder system. Whether it was creating them as a real combatant, or making the the athletic stage performers they are here, there are many ways to go about creating a pro wrestler in your game.
Have you ever made a character that mimicked a wrestler? Have you ever made a character that used combat as a performance art?
Amusingly in my upcoming book Legendary Vigilantes there's a vigilante archetype for becoming a pro wrestler called the masked grappler, and of course there's the recently released Luchador, [smark]but that's only for jobbers.[/smark]
The Luchador would work for an American pro wrestler if you did away with the mask. Maybe have it work like that Masked Performer archetype for Bards in Ultimate Intrigue? Or perhaps even use that Bard archetype as is? Despite its name, the archetype works just fine if the Masked Performer does not wear a mask.
I sort of wish there were feats that allowed interesting body slams, submissions and throws when grappling enemies. There are a bunch of characters I'd use this sort of thing with, pro wrestlers included. Sadly the closest thing I can find is ki throw. Which doesn't quite cut it imo.
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<stuff>This sounds like a total blast, I would have loved to have been there for this session.
Thanks!
It was hysterical.You didn't mention fans in your article. I think that's something that could make it more exciting.
The Leadership feat grants you followers, which could be awesome, but you can just hire warm bodies to cheer for you on the cheap.
Genuine fans come with a solid reputation and a winning record. They can even help you out (cheat for you) while you're fighting. Maybe an NPC fan gives you a Cure potion when you need it, or he sticks out a weapon to give you flanking when your enemy's back is turned...
If you're using performance combat and get creative with fans, it can really be a lot of fun.
My wrestler had fans get in a knife fight over his warm-up robe that he threw on the ground at the beginning of the match. Some fought each other for his autograph, and one leaned into the ring to ask the wrestler to punch him in the face as a memento.
Gear selection and styling is important too.
I thought of giving the wrestler a mithral chain shirt, but it was designed to look like a sparkling sequined vest. He went bare-chested underneath.
There are dusters and bracers and all kinds of leather or chain armors that can be styled to be impressive-looking in the ring.
There tons of mask options too.
Muleback Cords would be essential for almost any Pathfinder wrestler.
Firefoot Powder would be outstanding.
There are several varieties of war paint that would be pretty great too.
So much awesome!
The last time I ran a (poorly-designed) monk, I used the Stunner to describe Stunning Fist. I might have to try that again if I do up a brawler or monk sometime.
Nice bit on the tag partner as an animal companion. Although part of me wants to fluff it somehow where the AC is the real brains of the outfit. 'Man take name from Spirit Wolf. Spirit Wolf wise and smart but lame at naming. Man fine with arrangement though. Spirit Wolf pay fair too.'
And I'll admit, when I first saw the Performance Combat rules, I wasn't thinking of the old 'Roman' gladiatorial arenas.
Ideally, the game such a character is in should make good use of the performance combat rules. A pro wrestler is also a showman and it is only fitting that they get a crowd.
By the way, the nee dragons-related book has a monk archetype that works off charisma. It might be worth checking out. I would also consider using the variant multiclassing rules from unchained to get, say, some bardic mojo on a brawler or barbarian.
For those willing to use 3rd party classes and / or archetypes and abities, Radiance House is going to be releasing a book soon based around making pacts with spirits. One of the lv.1 spirits is based around performance combat and can actually go a decent way to making them viable in a lot more situations. One of the abilities of the Spirit makes it so you don't need a crowd to use performance combat, which, even though I've never used performance combat, nor really intend to, seems like a huge help to its viability. Since there are archetypes and MAYBE feats for binding at least one spirit, it might be a good dip for a pro wrestler. A little harder to flavor sure, but possibly good.
Of course that's 3rd party, and most don't play or allow them. Just thought I'd drop the info though.
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There is already a feat that lets you use performance combat feats in any combat.
But it is still messy to have to take an extra feat to use your feats.
Performance Combat is of course one of the top things to go after if you're using your wrestling character a true performer. I think the problem is the feats aren't applicable often unless the GM is really specifically writing the game around your character. So many people won't take them, which saddens me.
I think it depends a lot on where the campaign takes place, too. In a mostly urban one like Curse of the Crimson Throne, Council of Thieves or Hell´s Rebels, you can easily confirm with the DM that there is a crowd for many of the fights, so you could stretch the performance rules to apply as well. In a dungeon crawler or exploration-based one, though... not so much. Unless you can somehow get your combat exploits to count as bardic music - then we are talking! Sadly, I think the exemplar brawler loses a little too much for what it gets. The variant bard multiclassing may be a better idea. Check with your DM if you can get a custom perform skill approved.