Making a martial artist

[Thelion]

Yes, I know nobody likes monks and even though I don't mind them, I feel the monk doesn't really cover the type of character I would like to play.

As a martial arts enthusiast (I did Judo, Aikido and am currently practicing Wing Chun), I do feel martial arts fit in the game, but I'd like something different than the whole monastery/LG/Ki/religious/wuxia thing. I'm thinking of something like Jean-Claude Van Damme's character in the movie Cyborg: someone who can punch and kick the **** out of his opponents and wield a blade of necessary. Maybe someone like Steven Seagal in most of his movies: breaking arms, throwing people away, fighting of armed opponents (ie: tripping, bullrushing and disarming) or Jeff Speakman in The Perfect Weapon and Street Knight: able to fight with two weapons and able to hold my own unarmed against a group of armed thugs. I mean, I love kung fu movies, but for a D&D game I prefer raw combat, that's why I would like to ask you guys and galls for help :smallsmile:

No: I don't mean to make an invincible character, so it's not necessary to go into hypothetical situations like 'your character can't do **** when the dragon is flying/the Balor summones another Balor/the Wizard is teleporting' etc. since the groupes I play with have DM's who base encounters on what the group could actually win, without making them feel or be useless. I'm in possession of PHB 1 & 2 and am able to borrow basically any other book from the DM (like Complete Warrior, Complete Adventurer, Tome Of Battle etc.), but I'm not sure what to look for because of the huge amount of available info.

Could you guys help me in creating something I just mentioned? The group is level 6 at the moment and I'm playing a scout, which I really love to play, but should he die, I would like to play something different. The unmodified stats (in no specific order) that would be available to me are 13, 17, 13, 14, 12, 17 (let's say I was lucky! :smallbiggrin:)

Thanks for your help!

[SurlySeraph]

So you're going for a fairly brutal unarmed character? Sure, it's doable. Do you want to grapple, or to just hit people?

Useful classes:
Fist of the Forest, for Con to AC and good unarmed damage.
Black Blood Cultist. Ridiculously good at grappling, especially once you get it's 8th-level ability.
Unarmed Swordsage. It's what the Monk should be. Most builds are high-Dex, but you can certainly make a Strength-based one focused on maneuvers for crippling opponents.

Possible build:
Human Whirling Frenzy Barbarian 4/ Fist of the Forest 2.
Feats: Power Attack, Great Fortitude, Improved Unarmed Strike, Snap Kick (Tome of Battle).
Full attacking, you've got 5 attacks (2 from BAB, 1 from Whirling Frenzy, 1 from Snap Kick, and a bite attack from Fist of the Forest).
Ability scores: Str 17, Dex 14, Con 17, Int 13, Wis 13, Cha 12. Put your level-up point in Strength.

[Feytalist]

Probably the character concept you're looking for is the martial maneuvers in the Tome of Battle. Specifically the Setting Sun maneuvers, with maybe Stone Dragon or Iron heart thrown in for good measure.

Take a look at the swordsage, unarmed variant. And have fun.

[Tvtyrant]

Well I guess it depends on what sounds best to you: do you want a brutal fist fighter or a ki based one?

For brutal I would suggest going: Spirit Lion Totem Whirling Frenzy Barbarian 1/Fighter 2/Barbarian- add whatever prestige classes you want.

Feats:
Level 1: Unarmed Strike, Combat Expertise
Level 2: Improved Trip
Level 3: Superior Unarmed Strike
Level 6: Snap Kick


You get Pounce at level 1, Whirling Frenzy Rage nets you an extra hit. At level 3 your unarmed strikes start improving even in armor from superior unarmed strike, and you get yet another extra attack at level 6. At level 6 you get 4 unarmed attacks as part of a charge and you can start adding charging feats onto it.

13, 17, 13, 14, 12, 17

Strength 17, Dex 12, Con 17, Int 14, Wis 13, Cha 13

[GodGoblin]

The 2 main unarmed builds I know of that are not Asian flavoured (So no monk or Swordsage) are the 'King of Smack' build that uses primarily Psichic Warrior.

There are a few brawling Barbarian builds around too but I dont have the time to look them up for you at the mo. Hope that helps! :smallbiggrin:

[Feytalist]

Swordsage is not necessarily Asian-flavoured. And the inspirations are also not necessarily non-Asian themed, as most if not all of those have some kung fu background.

[GodGoblin]

Its not neccisarily Asian flavoured but it was mentioned that they wanted to stay away from the Ki power side of things and I find many of the manuevers espiecally setting sun to be like that. Some of the more hard hitting schools could fit I suppose like Stone Dragon. But from the description a Barbarian build would fit best.

As a side note about Fist of the Forest if you are a Dwarf try and get into Deepwarden for 2 levels to get Con to AC twice!

[Feytalist]

Yeah, I mentioned Setting Sun specifically for the lots of cool throws, which might work for this character concept. Refluff and... done.

[Thelion]

Thanks for the help guys! In what book can I find the whirling frenzy barbarian? Races Of The Wild?

[Lateral]

Unearthed Arcana, if I remember correctly.

[Kaeso]

Do what these guys suggested: Barbarian with unarmed feats and then Fist of the Forest. Also, add some levels of the Bear Warrior PrC class because sometimes always you want to need to be a #@$%ING BEAR:smallamused:

How is this a martial artist you ask? Ever seen a little film called Kung Fu Panda? :smallbiggrin:

[SurlySeraph]

Thanks for the help guys! In what book can I find the whirling frenzy barbarian? Races Of The Wild?

Right here. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/classFeatureVariants.htm#rageVariantWhirlingFrenzy )

[Epsilon Rose]

I'm not sure how good it is, but Bloodclaw Master from tome of battle might be worth looking at.

[The Cat Goddess]

I'm not sure how good it is, but Bloodclaw Master from tome of battle might be worth looking at.

As I recall, that's (mainly) designed for an Eberron race called "Shifters".

Great concept... (fairly) weak execution.

[SurlySeraph]

Two levels of Bloodclaw Master can be worth it, for more damage with your off-hand weapon and the reduction in TWF penalties that lets you keep up with its non-full BAB. I don't see much reason to use it in a typical unarmed build, though.

[Zonugal]

If I can perhaps offer a more unorthodox approach to building a martial artist have you considered building a reactionary style fighter? This is properly done with levels in the scout, trading out skirmish for reposte alternate class feature (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20070228a), and with both unarmed strike focused feats as well as the attack of opportunity school of combat.

When properly done you'll have an excellent skill monkey (functioning as a trap finder/disabler) and a character who when attacked immediately responds with a punch dealing a very fair amount of damage. This can be used to make someone like Bruce Lee who would destroy his opponents the moment they attempted to strike him.

Of course a build like this is helped considerably with some small dips into swordsage (for setting sun & stone dragon maneuvers).