Combat Brute (3.5, PrC, PEACH)

[Zaydos]

So this is a bit of a mechanical thought experiment (hence no fluff to speak of) but I thought I'd post it and see what people thought about the concept.

Combat Brute

Prerequisites:
BAB: +5.
Feats: Power Attack, Weapon Focus (any).
Skills: Intimidate 8 ranks.
Special: Your BAB obtained from class levels must be no lower than your class levels.
Special: You must be proficient in all martial melee weapons.

Combat Brute Traits and Features
HD: 1d8
Class Skills: Cimb (Str), Craft (Int), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Spot (Wis), and Swim (Str).
Skills per Level: 4 + 2 x Int

{table=head]

Level

|

BAB

|

Fort

|

Ref

|

Will

|Special
1|+2|+3|+0|+0|Brute Force, Brutish Skills, Extreme Toughness
2|+4|+4|+1|+1|Bonus Feat
3|+6|+5|+2|+2|-
4|+8|+6|+2|+2| True Warrior
5|+10|+7|+3|+3|Bonus Feat
6|+12|+8|+4|+4| Brutish Combat
7|+14|+9|+4|+4|-
8|+16|+10|+5|+5|Bonus Feat
9|+18|+11|+6|+6|-
10|+20|+12|+6|+6|Bonus Feat[/table]

Brute Force: You suffer a penalty to your caster level for spells, and manifester level for psionic powers equal to twice your Brute level.

Brutish Skills: At each level of Brute you add twice your Intelligence modifier (positive or negative) to your skill points instead of your Intelligence modifier. This may never reduce your skill points for a level to below 2.

Extreme Toughness: At each level of Brute you gain bonus hp equal to your Constitution modifier + 1d8.

Bonus Feat: At 2nd, 5th, 8th, and 10th level a Brute gains any feat that they meet the prerequisites for as a bonus feat.

True Warrior: You may add your Brute level to your Fighter level (if any) to determine your fighter level for the purposes of qualifying for feats.

Brutish Combat: You may gain additional iterative attacks beyond your fourth, gaining a 5th if your BAB is 21 or higher and a 6th if your BAB is 26 or higher.

[TuggyNE]

The table is messed up. Try this.

{table=head]Level| BAB|Fort| Ref|Will|Special
1|+2|+3|+0|+0|Brute Force, Brutish Skills, Extreme Toughness
2|+4|+4|+1|+1|Bonus Feat
3|+6|+5|+2|+2|-
4|+8|+6|+2|+2| True Warrior
5|+10|+7|+3|+3|Bonus Feat
6|+12|+8|+4|+4| Brutish Combat
7|+14|+9|+4|+4|-
8|+16|+10|+5|+5|Bonus Feat
9|+18|+11|+6|+6|-
10|+20|+12|+6|+6|Bonus Feat[/table]

As far as the basic idea goes, I guess it's not too bad. The way it gets extra skill points is strange, though, and doesn't fit as well with the idea of being a combatant narrowly focused on combat only to the exclusion of almost all else.

[Just to Browse]

While I do respect your disregard for standard numeric conventions, you should really only mess with them when you need to fix a big problem. Fighting-man BAB and Fort saves are not things that need those fixes, because fort is already their best save and they can already be easily optimized to deal useful damage. The skills and saves are good thoughts, but "combat brute" really doesn't invoke the idea of speed, mental strength, or skillfulness to me. Also, people who dump int are extra screwed over in the skill point department, and that feels very unfair.

Brute Force is a very annoying artificial restriction, which only screws over gishes (the archetype that doesn't need any more screwing). I seriously don't see a reason to beat on paladins, duskblades, and psywars any more than normal.

I'm torn about the bonus HP. First, you have a pretty elegant way to bump HP without HD inflation (excellent idea), and this is effectively giving the Combat Brute "Immunity to level-appropriate damage" as a class feature, but in a more subtle way. But it feels clunky, and it's another strength that fighting-men don't need improved (d10 and d12 HD are kind of already there).

True Warrior honestly feels like it belongs at level 1. Brutish combat is wholly unnecessary and feels ridiculous.