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Drunedale
2008-04-14, 10:04 PM
Ok, so I made this up just as a fun class, not necessarily as a usefull/balanced class. He's really better off as an NPC but I wanted to make something like this. Well, let me know what you think. I tried to flesh it out.

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Brawler


There’s one in every crowd. One spilled drink, one insult too many, and the bar breaks into chaos. At the center of these fights are the village Brawlers, improvisational fighters who use whatever they can get their hands on to beat their opponent senseless.

Adventures:

Brawlers tend to get involved in adventures one of two ways. Either the party hires them for their knowledge of the area or they both end p on the same side of a fight against a common enemy or organization. Either way, adventures tend to happen to Brawlers, even though they don’t always look for them.

Characteristics:

Brawlers are a very versatile character to play. He feels at home in close quarters, but it in a fight or just walking through a city street. He knows how to garner information from sources and is always ready to jump into a fight swinging whatever he just grabbed on his way over. Swinging his beer mug or chair leg he is a force to be reckoned with.
As he grows stronger his strength grows and begins to use his fists more, gaining a monks prowess with his fists. He plows into battles, kicking and punching until he finds something that he can make a weapon out of.

Alignment:

Brawlers come from all different walks of life. Although none can be considered lawful and often spend much time in jail for their frequent fights, there are just as many moral brawlers as there are evil ones.

Religion:

Brawlers can follow any Deity that doesn’t look down on their fighting lifestyle. However, most good aligned follow Kord, who delights in these kinds of contests and fights. Evil aligned characters seem to flock to Erythnul, attracted by his constant chaos and fighting.

Background:

Brawlers just seem to happen among groups of people. Very few ever receive training in how to be a brawler, it just comes upon them through trial and error. These people are among the lower-classes more often than not and have grown up with fighting their whole lives.
Brawlers never seem to settle down, often their constant fighting gets them either banished or ostracized from the community. However, if brawlers spend most of their lives in one city or town it is very likely that two will spring up together, fighting against each other most likely. They may eventually break off from each other or they may stay as rivals fueling a brawlers desire to grow stronger. No matter what the end result, if the two were to ever meet again it is very likely that the two would start fighting wherever they happen to be.
Brawlers have a close kinship, in an entirely destructive fashion. While Brawlers often come to respect each other, it is customary for two accomplished brawlers to fight, just for the joy of seeing who is better. Some taverns hire bouncers to make sure that none of the people who enter are brawlers; lest a fight starts inside just because they wanted to fight.

Races:

Brawlers tend to be very emotional characters, having a short fuse just waiting to be set off. For that reason some of the more “battle-ready” or “chaotic” races tend to choose this class. Dwarves enter this class because who doesn’t enjoy a good fight after a feast, just so long as the beer isn’t spilled. Humans, Half-Orcs, and Half-Elves also seem to flock to this class. Elves consider themselves far to dignified to stoop to this level of fighting, preferring to work on technique as opposed to the maddening brawl. Hobbits and Gnomes also tend to shy away from this class, although a few of the more “Self-confident” have been known to take down much larger opponents with a well placed stone strike to the knee or back of head.

Other Classes:

The brawler has a respect for the monk class, respecting their unarmed fighting ability. However he feels more at home with fighters and barbarians, the fighters combat prowess and the barbarian’s chaotic tendencies and physical strength make these classes very compatible. Some wizards may find the brawlers lifestyle far to disruptive and dangerous for their taste. Having your guard start fights right outside your lab while you are performing a detailed experiment could have disastrous results. Also, due to the fact that they find and start random fights frequently Paladins often find their utter disrespect for the law repulsive. Bards may stay close the brawler, but at the first sign of a fight they will often make their distance, ready to cheer their companion on, but unwilling to damage their instruments or clothing in his rough and tumble style of combat.

Role:

Brawlers start out as little more than the common street fighter, using whatever he can get his hands on. At this point he is a decent fighter, but he is often used to gather information about the parties objective. As the brawler begins to level up he gains more combat abilities, granting him skills to stand against any foe. He can use scrolls to aid his companions and then hurl himself into a fight, using whatever he can get his hands on, or his hands alone, to deal damage to his opponents.




Game Rule Information:

Abilities:

Brawlers require high Strength to dish out damage and Constitution to absorb their damage. Due to their habit of wearing light armor a high dexterity will keep them from being hit as often. Intelligence helps them gain more skills, while Charisma is just as useful to augment their information gathering abilities. Brawlers often just leap ahead without thinking about the result, so their Wisdom scores are often quite low.

Alignment:

Any non-lawful.

Hit Die:

d8

Class Skills:

Balance (Dex), Escape Artist (Dex), Gather Information (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (Local) (Int), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), Use Magical Device (Cha).
Skill points per level:

4 + Intelligence modifier.


Primary Saves: Reflex and Fort
Low Save: Will


Weapon and Armor proficiencies:

Brawlers are the most limited class in regards to their choice of weaponry. Brawlers do not begin the game proficient in any weapon, capable of only using whatever they find lying around wherever they are. Brawlers are nimble fighters who rely on speed and strength to fight, so you will never see one wearing medium or heavy armor. Brawlers are proficient in light armor though.




Improved Improvised Weapons:

Whenever a Brawler uses an improvised weapon he doesn’t take the –4 penalty to hit. Additionally, his improvised weapons grow in strength as he grows in strength, +1 at level 4, +2 at level 8, +3 at level 12, +4 at level 16, +5 at level 20.
Note: When a “natural 1” is rolled the improvised weapon is instantly destroyed.


Restless Hands:

Brawlers never carry weapons with them for extended periods of time, preferring to make use of whatever he finds and changing his tactics accordingly. Therefore a Brawler can never carry the same weapon for more than 6 hours. After 6 hours he takes a -1 penalty on his attacks and damage. After 12 hours the penalty increases to –3.
Note: This feat affects weapons used by ANY party member. Although they do not have to discard their weapons, any weapon that they have used or held in their inventory will incur the appropriate penalty should the brawler try to use them.


Safe Fight:

Brawlers very rarely engage in combat with the intent to actually kill someone. More often than not they are inflicting non-lethal damage and are merely attempting to render their opponent unconscious, considering that just as much of a victory. Therefore, Brawlers take no attack penalties when switching from lethal combat to non-lethal combat and vice-versa.

Improved Break:

Brawlers often have to break objects into smaller pieces to use them to fight with. For instance, a halfling Brawler can’t very well swing a whole tree, but he can break off a branch from that tree to use as a great club. To reflect this, all Brawlers may add their character level to their strength check for a break check.
Note: This does not help their sunder checks. This is only used against inanimate objects. While this skill can be used on a weapon after a successful Disarm, it cannot be used on the opponent’s equipment as long as the opponent still has it within his inventory.

Combined Attack:

At the Brawlers own volition he can either use his improvised weapon’s damage or he can calculate damage by adding his unarmed attack damage in addition to 1d6 damage for his improvised weapon.



Uncanny Dodge:

At 4th level, a Brawler retains his Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) even if he is caught flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker. However, he still loses his Dexterity bonus to AC if immobilized. If a Brawler already has uncanny dodge from a different class, he automatically gains improved uncanny dodge (see below) instead.


Bonus Feat:

At Level 5, 10, 15 and 20 Brawlers may choose a bonus feat from this list of feats even if they do not meet the pre-requisites. Improved Grapple, Combat Reflexes, Improved Disarm, Improved Trip, Improved Initiative, Blind Fight, Dirty Fighting

AC Bonus:

Since brawlers spend most of their time in fights, they develop a sixth sense for when an attack will come against him. He keeps this bonus even when found flat-footed, but he loses this bonus should he be immobilized. This bonus starts at Level 5 with a +1 modifier, and goes up by one for every 5 levels thereafter.

Improved Simple Improvisation:

Granted at level 6. Due to their practice at making due with any weapon that they can get their hands on, Brawlers can now use simple weapons at a penalty of –1. Restless hands still affects these weapons. This penalty stacks with the size penalty. Improved Simple Improvisation does not cancel the size penalty.
Note: When a “natural 1” is rolled the fighter is considered to have been disarmed and drops his weapon.

Improved Uncanny Dodge:

At 5th level and higher, a brawler can no longer be flanked. This defense denies a rogue the ability to sneak attack the brawler by flanking him, unless the attacker has at least four more rogue levels than the target has brawler levels. If a character already has uncanny dodge (see above) from a second class, the character automatically gains improved uncanny dodge instead, and the levels from the classes that grant uncanny dodge stack to determine the minimum level a rogue must be to flank the character.



Improved Marital Improvisation:

Granted at level 12. Due to their practice at making due with any weapon that they can get their hands on, Brawlers can now use martial weapons at a penalty of –1. Restless hands still affects these weapons. This penalty stacks with the size penalty. Improved Martial Improvisation does not cancel the size penalty.
Note: When a “natural 1” is rolled the fighter is considered to have been disarmed and drops his weapon.


Improved Exotic Improvisation:

Granted at level 16. Due to their practice at making due with any weapon that they can get their hands on, Brawlers can now use exotic weapons at a penalty of –1. Restless hands still affects these weapons. This penalty stacks with the size penalty. Improved Exotic Improvisation does not cancel the size penalty.
Note: When a “natural 1” is rolled the fighter is considered to have been disarmed and drops his weapon.

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So, what do you think?

Raroy
2008-04-14, 10:10 PM
Attrubitues are all over the place. A Brawler wouldn't really need charisma and intelligence. Seems pretty gimped, dead levels are everywhere...... I guess it would be fine for an npc.

Bhu
2008-04-15, 03:37 AM
Im assuming the one ability is Improved martial Improvisation, but the marital typo had me giggling for a while. That almost makes him a spookier fighter...