help me with a fighter

[Angerland]

more specifically , an unarmed fighter. Well mostly anyway, please read on.

After our last weekly game some of us were waxing hypothetical as we often do after playing a character for 10 odd levels. I went home with a thought of a new character in my head. I can do an ok job of min maxing and power gaming but I thought I would post the questiion here to really get thsi idea tweaked. I want to play a human fighter who fights unarmed for the most part. I mean he will wear spiked armor and all and I would like him to use the spiked chain as well. I know this may not be the optimal plan for the character, but I think it might be fun. The reason for not going monk? Merely for not playing a monk is that we curently have two in our game and I want to see if a fighter with all those feats can out barehand brawl a monk. I also would like to possible add the prestige class of Reaping Mauler from the Complete Warrior...the grappler class that allows a sleeper hold and eventually a killing hold. If you could help me feat out this fighter tat would be great. I also ask that the info used be from PHB,PHB II, DMG, Monster Manuals, the Complete Class books and the Races of books...any help would be greatfully appreciated.

 

[Legildur]

Are the new races and base classes from the 'Complete X' and 'Races of Y' series available to you?

I ask, because some DMs allow the feats/PRCs/spells from those books, but not the new races or base classes.

A Goliath would make an obvious starting point for such a build.

 

[Angerland]

good question. All races are from the PHB are open for sure. We have not yet introduced any of the "new" races but post your ideas for them anyway and lets take a look. My first choice for the character is human, mainly for the extra skill points and the bonus feat of course, this however is not set in stone.

 

[Bad Paper]

The frustrating problem with an unarmed fighter build is that he doesn't get the monk's unarmed strike damage progression. Secondarily, he doesn't get flurry of blows, but his higher BAB makes up for that. d4 unarmed damage kinda sucks, eh

 

[Angerland]

The frustrating problem with an unarmed fighter build is that he doesn't get the monk's unarmed strike damage progression. Secondarily, he doesn't get flurry of blows, but his higher BAB makes up for that. d4 unarmed damage kinda sucks, eh

I thought so too, but in reading the rules for Spiked Armor, you can attack with the spikes. They count as a light weapon, and deal 1d6 /x2 damage. i would imagine this would be like elbow and forearm smashes and what not

 

[EyeontheMountain]

If you will go with the armor spikes why not a spiked gauntlet? They can be pretty effective.

 

[Joker]

A little OT, but are there any Spiked Guantlet PRC's besides the Sword and the Fist Weapon Master?

 

[Joker]

Never mind, found the Fist of Hextor.

 

[Shazman]

Superior unarmed strike from the book of nine swords lets you increase your unarmed damage based on character level. I believe it maxes at 2d6. Snap kick from the same book gives you an extra unarmed attack at -2 with half str damage that can be used even when holding a weapon.

 

[atomn]

I was trying to do the same sort of thing because I didn't want the Lawful restriction that monks have. One class to consider is the Battledancer from the Dragon Compendium, Vol. 1. It gives the monk's unarmed attack damage progression and some other bard-like abilities. With just one level of it you get Imp. Unarmed Strike for free and do 1d6 on unarmed attacks. The rest of the way I was thinking 5 levels of Reaping Mauler, 1 level of Barbarian (for the Raging bonus to Str. and Con.) and the rest in Fighter. Feat-wise, I thought Imp. Grapple, Clever Wrestling, Imp. Unarmed Strike were all definites. After those I liked:

Flying Kick (C War): +1d12 dmg with a charge that ends with an unarmed strike (has Power Attack as a prereq.)

Earth's Embrace (C War): Each round you maintain a pin you do an extra +1d12 dmg as long as you and your opponent remain immobile. (No extra damage to creatures immune to crit hits.)

Scorpion's Grasp (Sandstorm): if you hit an opponent with a light weapon, you can start a Grapple as a free action.

Two-Weapon Fighting/Imp. Two-Weapon Fighting/Gr. Two-Weapon Fighting [I think it may be disputed whether these feats are allowed with Unarmed Strikes, but I'm assuming it's possible. If you think it's not possible, please disregard these and don't derail the poster's original question with whether or not it's legal. Thanks!]

Weapon Focus/Specialization

And I can't quite remember the names but something like Pounce Attack (PHB II): you can full attack at the end of a charge and Rending Attack (PHB II): if you make an attack with both hands and both hit, you deal extra damage. There's also another one from PHB II where you lower the target's AC with each successful budgening hit in that round.

I think this type of character is the next one I'll try too. I'm very interested to see how well it stands up to the monk.