Master of weapons! Your weapons, specifically.

Quote Originally Posted by The Wanderer
The Wanderer
Spoiler: Fluff
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Do not fear the one relying on his fists because he has no other choice. Fear the one relying on their fists despite having every other choice in the world.
-someone wise, probably

Isumi hurried to the edge of her village, where a large crowd was already gathering. Word had come that the Wanderer had returned to the village. Her parents had told her stories o f the mysterious traveller's last visit, and how it had humbled their lord. Now the Lord had died, and his son had refused to learn his father's lesson. A she approached the crowd the people parted to let the young lord through, and Isumi made use of the temporary opening to make her way to the front of the crowd.

"You will return what you stole, thief!" The young lord stood in front of the robed and veiled stranger, rage lit up in his eyes.

"I have done no such thing." the Wanderer responded, their androgynous voice providing no more clues to their nature. "But if you desire to win back the blade of your father, I would be happy to face you in a duel."

"A duel it is!" The young lord snarled as his hand settled on his katana. "But make no mistake. I see you for what you are, vagabond, and mercy will not slow me down like it did my father."

The wanderer's head dipped in acknowledgement, and the figure took on a ready stance.

"You're a fool if you think you can beat me bare-handed." The young lord was practically fuming. His opponent gave no further response, however. And so the young man struck.

It was over in the blink of an eye. The young lord staggered backwards, a hand clenched to his cheek as a thin rivulet of blood appeared between his fingers. His katana now rested in the hands of the wanderer.

The wanderer observed the stunned lord for a moment more, then turned around and walked over to a large bundle of weapons deposited at the edge of the circle of gawking villagers. They slid the katana into the bundle with practiced ease, and then slung it onto their shoulders. "I will return in five years. Maybe you'll give me a better fight then." They said without turning back, as they started walking away from the village.




Spoiler: Table
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stub: LN silverbrow human fighter 6
Ability scores
str 16 (includes +1 at level 4)
dex 15
con 14
int 14
wis 10
cha 10

Level Class Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Skills Feats Class Features
1 fighter 1 1 2 0 0 disguise 4, intimidate 4, climb 4, jump 4 improved unarmed strike, improved disarm, combat expertise bonus feat, acf: dragonscale husk
2 fighter 2 2 3 0 0 disguise 5, intimidate 5, climb 5, jump 5 combat reflexes bonus feat
3 fighter 3 3 3 1 1 disguise 6, intimidate 6, climb 6, jump 6 superior unarmed strike
4 fighter 4 4 4 1 1 disguise 7, intimidate 7, climb 7, jump 7 deflect arrows bonus feat
5 fighter 5 5 4 1 1 disguise 8, intimidate 8, climb 8, jump 8
6 fighter 6 6 5 2 2 disguise 9, intimidate 9, climb 9, jump 9 grappling block, two-weapon fighting bonus feat

Spoiler: epic feats
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snatch weapon
snap kick
improved trip
dodge
defensive throw
evasive reflexes
mobility
elusive target
weapon focus(unarmed strike)
weapon specialization(unarmed strike)



Spoiler: Build breakdown
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Level 1-2
At level 1 the wanderer gets a lot of stuff. Improved unarmed strike and improved disarm are cornerstones of the build, while the dragonscale Husk gives the Wanderer a scaling suit of armor which also gives us some energy resistance against common energy types, which is always nice. Level 2 gains us combat reflexes, which will likewise see a lot of use later on in the build.

Despite having improved uanrmed strike, it is wiser to sue an actual weapon in the early levels. There is no good reason to fight completely bare-handed yet, and the unarmed strike damage is pretty low.

level 3-4
At level 3 the wanderer gains superior unarmed strike, which increases the damage from their unarmed strikes to a more reasonable level. Deflect arrows is a situational defensive trick, but it's mostly here as a prerequisite for later feat.

level 5-6
At level 6 we gain one of the build's main party tricks. Grappling block allows the wanderer to instead disarm an opponent when they would have hit them. It can only be doen once per round, and counts against the available AoO, but we've got a couple to spare thanks to combat reflexes.

Two-weapon fighting probably does not work with unarmed strikes (but it's nice if the DM rules that it does). It is mostly included because it makes the first epic feat work.

epic feats
snatch weapon
This allows us to attack an opponent with their own weapon after we disarmed them, though it counts an off-hand attack, which is why we took two-weapon fighting. This synergizes really nice with grappling block as it means we get a riposte out of disarming our opponent.

Snap kick
A more accepted way to get the benefits of two-weapon fighting with unarmed strikes. If the DM rules you can two-weapon-fight with unarmed strikes, you can pick something else in this slot.

improved trip
Bonuses to tripping, and you get a free attack whenever you successfully trip someone. This doesn't do much right now, but will become more useful as it synergizes with several upcoming feats.

Dodge
Not very useful, but it's a prerequisite for nice stuff.

Defensive throw
If the target of our dodge feat attacks us and misses, we can use an AoO to try to trip them. If that succeeds, we can then make a free attack against them thanks to improved trip.

evasive reflexes
If someone tries to disengage from us, we can follow them, or otherwise reposition. As the dragonscale husk does reduce our speed somewhat this is a useful tool for keeping peopelw ithin reach.

mobility
like dodge, this isn't a great feat, but it does allows us to get the next one.

Elusive target
This is a really nice feat. It has three modes. The first mode prevents the target of your dodge feat from power-attacking you, which is situational, but nice.

The second mode allows you to turn being flanked into an advantage by forcing an auto-miss on our dodged enemy that can hit another enemy. The miss should also trigger defensive throw.

The last mode is great with improved trip. If your movement provokes an AoO and your foe misses, you can then trip them, and if that works you get the free attack from improved trip. Between your high AC from dragonscale husk and the extra AC against these AoO's from mobility, this could be a valid tactic for hitting a lot of weaker enemies in the same round, all for the cost of a move action. Even if the enemy wises up to your trick, it just means that you can move around the battlefield with impunity, which is nice too.

Weapon focus and specialization
these are just some extra numbers on the unarmed strike, but we've got the space and the fighter levels to take them, so why not?

On the use of fighter
So, this being an unarmed strike specialist focusing on battlefield control tricks, I'm certain people are wondering why I'm not just playing an unarmed swordsage instead. However, within the contraints of E6, this build needs to be a fighter for two main reasons. First is the speed at which this build's main trick gets online. The build has it's main trick functioning at level 6, and doing well after the first epic feat. In a build without those four bonus feats, it would take significantly longer. Secondly, the build requires a full BaB class to get access to elusive target and make optimal use of disarming.

Spoiler: some numbers
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HP: 22+5d10(49 average)
AC: 20
energy resistance 5 against fire, ice, lightning and acid
attack bonus: +10/+5 (including weapon focus)



Spoiler: sources
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phb fighter, improved unarmed strike, improved disarm, combat expertise, combat reflexes, deflect arrows, improved trip, dodge, mobility, weapon focus, weapon specialization, two-weapon fighting
Oriental adventures grappling block,
Song and silence snatch weapon
Tome of battle superior unarmed strike, snap kick, evasive reflexes
complete warrior defensive throw, elusive target
dragon magic dragonscale husk