Setting aside the "casters vs martials" topic, I noticed that the Brawler doesn't look to follow the PF tacit "Give the player a choice every level" rule, especially for full bab classes.
Call them rage powers, bonus feats, slayer talents, spells, ki powers: every even level classe like barbarian, fighter, slayer, etc., let the player make a choice, while every odd level he/she can choose a feat.
Enters the Brawler, supposedly the best in the "let the player make a choice" camp.
However, at levels 4, 12, 16 and 18, there is no choice for the player, but only new class features, the same for every Brawler.
Not to mention that at levels 6 and 10 the class doesn't really offer new choices, because the improvement in Martial Flexibility enhances one of its class features, but it doesn't let the player choose anything in terms of class features.
I know that there are worst offenders, like the Gunslinger and its hybrid class, the Swashbuckler, but I feel this "inflexibility" is more astonishing on the Brawler.
Do you agree?
If so, what would you recommend to fix it?
Brawler isn't flexible because of "choice every level" mechanics. It's flexible because of "choice several times a day" mechanics. Having every close combat feat you can qualify for seems pretty flexible to me.
Having every close combat feat you can qualify for seems pretty flexible to me.
I agree. But that's a different kind of flexibility.
In fact, it derives from a class feature that doesn't effectively improve after level 10, until the 20th level capstone, while being the class main shtick.Don't get me wrong: I'm not questioning the Martial Flexibility feature per se; it's the lack of player choice, especially in the levels I have highlighted, that leaves me puzzled.
I think it's one of the most powerful and flexible abilities in the game.
BUT
It doesn't necessarily encourage you to take more levels in the class.
In this respect it's similar to the Swashbuckler and Gunslinger (which are usually considered good for ~5 levels).
Is that what you're getting at?
I think so, and I feel those classes are generally poorly designed. Deeds cry out to be a list of level based choices, while Brawler suffers from pre-advanced training Fighter syndrome where it only gets "better" and doesn't unlock new options for centuries after hitting level 5.
Not saying that the classes are bad, just that I tend to avoid them because of the lack of options when compared to a Vigilante, Barbarian, Slayer, Ranger, Paladin, or Monk. Even then Paladins and Rangers are only really saved by their spells and heaps upon heaps of abilities (even if they are all static without choices).
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I noticed that the Brawler doesn't look to follow the PF tacit "Give the player a choice every level" rule, especially for full bab classes.
Call them rage powers, bonus feats, slayer talents, spells, ki powers: every even level classe like barbarian, fighter, slayer, etc., let the player make a choice, while every odd level he/she can choose a feat.
What you're talking about is a concept that I call "Character Shaping Choices". I originally developed the concept two and a half years ago on the topic of creating good and balanced new (hybrid) classes, when I notices how much worse deeds are than selectable class features, and refined it since.
Such character shaping choices come in three forms:
1) Daily: Mostly spell preparation and the Medium's spirit.
2) On levelup: Spells known, rage powers, etc., doesn't have to be every level up
3) One time: Domains, bloodline etc., mostly done at first level
I don't count feats, skills, and equipment because it should be obvious that options that literally every class can take have to be relatively weak (otherwise almost every character would take them, cf. Leadership for what happens when this rule is broken). I also don't count choices that don't affect playstyle and only grant minor numeric bonuses, such as a Fighter's weapon training.
Archetypes are technically one time choices as well, if these are included depends on what we want to compare.
Naturally, the more choices you can make, the more you can (in general) shape your character. Also, the more often you can make choices, the more flexibility the character can have. Daily choices don't add power over on levelup choices, but they add a lot of flexibility.
The following classes are generally accepted to be the weakest ones in Pathfinder: Fighter, Brawler, Rogue, Cavalier, Samurai, Gunslinger, Swashbuckler, Monk.
Apart from the Rogue *, you'll notice that none of these classes have a daily or on levelup choice **. Cavalier and Samurai have a one time choice at first level, while the others don't get to make any character shaping choices at all. It's also noteworthy that there are no classes lacking daily or on-levelup choices that are generally considered good.
Now, choices don't automatically contain strong options (few rogue talents are better than feats), some fixed class features are fairly powerful as well (like rage), and there are options that offer choices to make on the fly, like Wild Shape or a Summoner's SLA (not character shaping by definition, but can be very powerful). But if you look at both power level and flexibility, there's almost no getting around having class features that allow character shaping choices fairly often.
*) Whoever thought that a pure martial with medium BAB, no accuracy increasing abilities, d8 HD, and the worst possible saves a PC class can have was a good idea?
**) Fighter got on levelup choices with AAT and AWT, while Monk got on levelup choices with UnMonk's Ki Powers and Style Strikes.
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One basic design principle in Pathfinder (and most games, actually) is that limitations allow for greater power. Class features are stronger than feats because not everyone gets them. Selectable class features are stronger than static ones because not every one of that class will have them. Class features with limited daily uses (which includes spells) are stronger than ones with unlimited uses or permanent effect because you won't have them all the time. Conditional class features, spells, or feats are stronger than universally useful ones because you won't get to use them all the time.
This is why Brawler is feairly weak - both its non-fixed class features are based on feats, one of the least restricted resource. There are some class specific feats (think Split Hex), or semi-class-specific feats (like Pummeling Charge being aviable to Brawlers at 8th level), that break the mold a bit, exactly because they're allowed to be more powerful (Pummeling Charge is also allowed to be more powerful due to being limited to the worst weapon in the game), but for the most part, feats don't actually change your character that much.
Martial Flexibility does allow selecting conditional feats when they're actually useful, which does make the ability strogner than mere bonus feats, but this ability is heavily hampered by the overabundance of prereqs those feats tend to have (to prevent characters with selecting multiple of them to compensate for the conditional nature). Want some cool maneuver stuff? That's 12th level to get those three feats (Combat Expertise, Improved X, and your actual target feat) and not having to waste a move action.
If so, what would you recommend to fix it?
Brawler needs a selectable class feature, there's not much going around that. Many Brawler class features could easily be selectable options, just like how many Monk class features were made Ki Powers in Unchained. Right now, the class is a little bit of everything: A bit of unarmed, a bit of weapons, a bit of combat maneuvers, a bit of short-time-adaptability. Allowing specialization would certainly help. Counting as having Combat Expertise, Dodge, and Mobility would help, maybe even a selectablke class feature that contains all improved maneuver feats.
Of course, once you allow players to customize their character with something other than class selection, there isn't really much reason for Gunslinger, Cavalier, Samurai, Swashbuckler, and Brawler to exist. Most if not all of those could as well be Fighter archetypes (of a Fighter with selectable class features instead of the bonus feats).
A way to do that would be to take the existing Archetypes and converting them all down into their individual talents, allowing the classes to select from them at the requisite levels. It would require some finagling but is easily doable given enough work on a GMs part.
For instance, a Gunslinger selects 3 level one deeds from among those available to all gunslinger archetypes instead of the 3 default ones.