Paintomancer
2013-03-10, 10:48 PM
Hey,
I had this idea for a gritty, tough as nails melee fighter who is determined to survive and can accomplish amazing feats of strength without having to relay on special feats or maneuvers. He doesn't need many new mechanics and should be relatively easy to play.
I tried to stick to these guidelines while creating the Brawler class:
(0. A Brawler does not need spells or maneuvers to function)
1. A Brawler is sure to come out of melee without any serious injuries and has decent protection against save-or-death or save-or-suck magic effects.
2. A Brawler should be able to at least hurt every opponent he may encounter, should that opponent fly, be incorporeal or have damage-reduction.
The Brawler
Abilities: Strength is the Brawlers most important ability, since he will spend most of his time in the thick of melee combat. A high Constitution score will boost his Feat of Strength class ability and hence his effectiveness. A decent Dexterity score may come in handy for the enhanced AC and attacks of opportunity.
Alignment: Any
Hit Die: d10
Class Skills: The Brawlers class-skills are Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Profession (Wis) and Swim (Str).
Skill Points per Level: 4 + Int Modifier
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special
1st|
+1|
+2|
+2|
+2|Feat of Strength, Powerful Joints
2nd|
+2|
+3|
+3|
+3|Resolve(1)
3rd|
+3|
+3|
+3|
+3|Melee Specialist +1
4th|
+4|
+4|
+4|
+4|Resolve(2)
5th|
+5|
+4|
+4|
+4|If it bleeds...
6th|
+6/+1|
+5|
+5|
+5|Resolve(3)
7th|
+7/+2|
+5|
+5|
+5|Melee Specialist +2
8th|
+8/+3|
+6|
+6|
+6|Resolve(4)
9th|
+9/+4|
+6|
+6|
+6|Whirlwind Attack
10th|
+10/+5|
+7|
+7|
+7|Resolve(5)
11th|
+11/+6/+1|
+7|
+7|
+7|Melee Specialist +3
12th|
+12/+7/+2|
+8|
+8|
+8|Resolve(6)
13th|
+13/+8/+3|
+8|
+8|
+8|...we can kill it.
14th|
+14/+9/+4|
+9|
+9|
+9|Resolve(7)
15th|
+15/+10/+5|
+9|
+9|
+9|Melee Specialist +4
16th|
+16/+11/+6/+1|
+10|
+10|
+10|Resolve(8)
17th|
+17/+12/+7/+2|
+10|
+10|
+10|Size matters
18th|
+18/+13/+8/+3|
+11|
+11|
+11|Resolve(9)
19th|
+19/+14/+9/+4|
+11|
+11|
+11|Melee Specialist +5
20th|
+20/+15/+10/+5|
+12|
+12|
+12|Veteran, Resolve(10)[/table]
Class Features
Weapon and Armor Proficiency:
The Brawler is proficient with all simple and martial weapons and with all armors and shields.
Feat of Strength [Ex]: A Brawler may show impressive physical strength for short periods of time. Each day, a Brawler may add 5 + his Constitution modifier to strength-related skill checks, melee attack and damage rolls for one round per Brawler class level. The rounds he adds this bonus need not be consecutive.
Powerful Joints [Ex]: A Brawler adds his Brawler class level to all Climb and Jump checks.
Resolve [Ex]: A Brawler is determined to leave combat alive and may call upon impressive reserves. Starting at second level, a Brawler gains one temporary hit point per round with a maximum of one. This hit point is used up before any other hit points the Brawler may have at the moment. While the Brawler has a temporary hit point from the Resolve class ability, he also gains a +2 morale bonus on saves versus spells and effects with the death and charm descriptor. Every two class levels after the second, the maximum and generation of temporary hit points increases by one.
Melee Specialist [Ex]: Starting at third level, a Brawler gains a +1 competence bonus on all checks for combat maneuvers like trip, bull rush, sunder, overrun and grapple checks. Add this bonus to the bonus granted by the "aid another" and "total defense" actions as well as to damage rolls made by the Brawler with melee weapons or unarmed strikes. This bonus increases by one every four class levels after the third.
If it bleeds... [Ex]: A Brawler can hurt any opponent he dislikes hard enough. For purposes of melee damage dealts by a brawler of fifth level or higher, count any damage reduction a target may have as if five points lower.
Whirlwind Attack A Brawler of ninth level or higher is not afraid to battle an army by himself. He gets the Whirlwind Attack feat for free, even if he does not have the normal prerequisites for that feat.
...we can kill it [Ex]: Starting at thirteenth level, a Brawler can hurt anything that exists. When a Brawler hits an opponent with a melee attack, but doesn't deal damage due to damage reduction, the target being incorporeal or any other effect that may be negating damage, the Brawler still deals damage up to his Brawler class level, but not more damage than he would have dealt without damage negating effects.
Size matters [Ex]: Hundreds of fights have left the brawler ultra-muscular and with a perfect balance. For purposes of opposing checks (i.e. grapple checks), carrying and lifting weight and weapon use count a Brawler of seventeenth or higher level as one size category larger, if beneficient.
Veteran [Ex]: A Brawler of twentieth level is expert at avoiding damage. While he is taking a Full Defense action, every attack throw against the Brawler misses automatically without a roll and he succeeds on all saving throws.
........................
Well, I don't know how to tackle the problem with flying enemies. I think the brawler should be able to suckerpunch a dragon mid-flight if he pleases, but I fear he could get overpowered if I would give him some sort of jump-flying and also wouldn't know which level to fit it in.
Any ideas?
I had this idea for a gritty, tough as nails melee fighter who is determined to survive and can accomplish amazing feats of strength without having to relay on special feats or maneuvers. He doesn't need many new mechanics and should be relatively easy to play.
I tried to stick to these guidelines while creating the Brawler class:
(0. A Brawler does not need spells or maneuvers to function)
1. A Brawler is sure to come out of melee without any serious injuries and has decent protection against save-or-death or save-or-suck magic effects.
2. A Brawler should be able to at least hurt every opponent he may encounter, should that opponent fly, be incorporeal or have damage-reduction.
The Brawler
Abilities: Strength is the Brawlers most important ability, since he will spend most of his time in the thick of melee combat. A high Constitution score will boost his Feat of Strength class ability and hence his effectiveness. A decent Dexterity score may come in handy for the enhanced AC and attacks of opportunity.
Alignment: Any
Hit Die: d10
Class Skills: The Brawlers class-skills are Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Profession (Wis) and Swim (Str).
Skill Points per Level: 4 + Int Modifier
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special
1st|
+1|
+2|
+2|
+2|Feat of Strength, Powerful Joints
2nd|
+2|
+3|
+3|
+3|Resolve(1)
3rd|
+3|
+3|
+3|
+3|Melee Specialist +1
4th|
+4|
+4|
+4|
+4|Resolve(2)
5th|
+5|
+4|
+4|
+4|If it bleeds...
6th|
+6/+1|
+5|
+5|
+5|Resolve(3)
7th|
+7/+2|
+5|
+5|
+5|Melee Specialist +2
8th|
+8/+3|
+6|
+6|
+6|Resolve(4)
9th|
+9/+4|
+6|
+6|
+6|Whirlwind Attack
10th|
+10/+5|
+7|
+7|
+7|Resolve(5)
11th|
+11/+6/+1|
+7|
+7|
+7|Melee Specialist +3
12th|
+12/+7/+2|
+8|
+8|
+8|Resolve(6)
13th|
+13/+8/+3|
+8|
+8|
+8|...we can kill it.
14th|
+14/+9/+4|
+9|
+9|
+9|Resolve(7)
15th|
+15/+10/+5|
+9|
+9|
+9|Melee Specialist +4
16th|
+16/+11/+6/+1|
+10|
+10|
+10|Resolve(8)
17th|
+17/+12/+7/+2|
+10|
+10|
+10|Size matters
18th|
+18/+13/+8/+3|
+11|
+11|
+11|Resolve(9)
19th|
+19/+14/+9/+4|
+11|
+11|
+11|Melee Specialist +5
20th|
+20/+15/+10/+5|
+12|
+12|
+12|Veteran, Resolve(10)[/table]
Class Features
Weapon and Armor Proficiency:
The Brawler is proficient with all simple and martial weapons and with all armors and shields.
Feat of Strength [Ex]: A Brawler may show impressive physical strength for short periods of time. Each day, a Brawler may add 5 + his Constitution modifier to strength-related skill checks, melee attack and damage rolls for one round per Brawler class level. The rounds he adds this bonus need not be consecutive.
Powerful Joints [Ex]: A Brawler adds his Brawler class level to all Climb and Jump checks.
Resolve [Ex]: A Brawler is determined to leave combat alive and may call upon impressive reserves. Starting at second level, a Brawler gains one temporary hit point per round with a maximum of one. This hit point is used up before any other hit points the Brawler may have at the moment. While the Brawler has a temporary hit point from the Resolve class ability, he also gains a +2 morale bonus on saves versus spells and effects with the death and charm descriptor. Every two class levels after the second, the maximum and generation of temporary hit points increases by one.
Melee Specialist [Ex]: Starting at third level, a Brawler gains a +1 competence bonus on all checks for combat maneuvers like trip, bull rush, sunder, overrun and grapple checks. Add this bonus to the bonus granted by the "aid another" and "total defense" actions as well as to damage rolls made by the Brawler with melee weapons or unarmed strikes. This bonus increases by one every four class levels after the third.
If it bleeds... [Ex]: A Brawler can hurt any opponent he dislikes hard enough. For purposes of melee damage dealts by a brawler of fifth level or higher, count any damage reduction a target may have as if five points lower.
Whirlwind Attack A Brawler of ninth level or higher is not afraid to battle an army by himself. He gets the Whirlwind Attack feat for free, even if he does not have the normal prerequisites for that feat.
...we can kill it [Ex]: Starting at thirteenth level, a Brawler can hurt anything that exists. When a Brawler hits an opponent with a melee attack, but doesn't deal damage due to damage reduction, the target being incorporeal or any other effect that may be negating damage, the Brawler still deals damage up to his Brawler class level, but not more damage than he would have dealt without damage negating effects.
Size matters [Ex]: Hundreds of fights have left the brawler ultra-muscular and with a perfect balance. For purposes of opposing checks (i.e. grapple checks), carrying and lifting weight and weapon use count a Brawler of seventeenth or higher level as one size category larger, if beneficient.
Veteran [Ex]: A Brawler of twentieth level is expert at avoiding damage. While he is taking a Full Defense action, every attack throw against the Brawler misses automatically without a roll and he succeeds on all saving throws.
........................
Well, I don't know how to tackle the problem with flying enemies. I think the brawler should be able to suckerpunch a dragon mid-flight if he pleases, but I fear he could get overpowered if I would give him some sort of jump-flying and also wouldn't know which level to fit it in.
Any ideas?