Brawler build advice

[Susano-wo]

I'm making a brawler for a PF campaign, and I wanted to ask people if they thought the following is a good idea.

Setup is that I am Brawler 9, ended up going with Dragon style and some other feats that use/rely on stunning fist. The problem is that I can 't get it until lvl 8 (At least I figure that I already have my +1BAB from the 8th lvl of brawler when I take my bonus feat from the same level), meaning I can only take SF requiring feat atm. which made me have to take off two of my feats, since i had derped on the SF requirement

The feats I had to take off were Jawbreaker (if I SF someone who is grappled, helpless, or stunned I can forgo stunning for a broken mouth[1d4 bleed damage, and until the bleed damage ends, the target is unable to use its mouth to attack, speak clearly, and employ verbal spell components] and Ability focus in SF (yeah, I had that one at lvl 7. derp >.<), and the feats I chose to keep was Dragon Ferocity (additional+.5 dam to unarmed attacks, and critting or SF causes shakened for 1d4+STR mod rounds while in Dragon Style).

What I am thinking about is adding a level of monk (at level 2 cause may as well get the 10hp vs 8) so I can get stunning fist then.

PROS:

stunning fist early, thus allowing me to actually take several relevant SF based feats
an extra feat (took improved grapple already, so I'd just shuffle that around)
better Will by 1ish(stacking all classes with the same BAB or saves for calculating total, so the Fort and Reflex would be the same)



CONS:

-1 BAB
Brawler abilities come online 1 level later,
don't get capstone (though I'm not certain we'll get to 20)
oh and my favored class bonus will be lesser[+1/4 brawler level when calculating unarmed and close weapon damage



Now it certainly seems that its well worth the 1 lvl dip. Am I correct here?

[Secret Wizard]

I don't think that the drop in BAB is worth it. Brawlers are a second category of full-BAB classes... the ones that don't get a single boost to attack (then there's the +5 ones, like Fighters, Swashes, Slayers...) So you don't want to give away any BAB you can get ahold of.

Personally, I wouldn't dip off Brawler to get to level 12 and get 3 feats as a swift action with MF.

[Drelua]

I would say that it is worth it, but I wouldn't worry about Stunning Fist. I'd take two levels of Sohei Master of Many Styles and use them to get Pummeling Charge early, along with one of Snake Style, Dragon Style, or Crane Style (original version only). This gets you the ability to always act in the surprise round, a pile of feats, a boost to saves, albeit a houserule-diminished boost, and Wisdom to AC is you're not wearing armour.

I just don't bother with Stunning Fist since the DC's usually too low, especially since Wisdom is a Monk's second stat at best, lower for Brawlers. There's also the number of monsters that either have a high Fort save or are just flat out immune to stunning. It's great when it works, but I find that to be fairly rare.

[Susano-wo]

Thanks for the replies. :smallbiggrin:
I hadn't thought of the lack of the fighter boost to attack on top of the full BAB. But I don't think that can be considered in a vacuum. Giving up 1 BAB is worth it if the capabilities outweigh it(and I can use that extra feat to take Weapon Focus if I really need that BAB back, and still have SF at a level that I can take multiple SF dependent feats

regarding DC's we rolled for stats with a hefty reroll (1s and 2s) so I can get a 16 in Wis for DCs, plus ability focus would pump it up to 19, 20 next level. add that to being able to burn through several attempts to get a stun if needed, and I think its probably reasonable to use on many critters.

And I had forgotten about pummeling charge. Pummeling style was one I had looked at when I took Dragon style instead, but I didn't know about master of many forms. And you give up the bonus feats, not the stunning fist, so I could go with that, doubling up on Dragon style and pummeling style. Hmmm, that is sounding appealing:smallamused:

Thanks again for the advice, and for pointing me to the master of many styles. :smallsmile: