Trying to kitbash an unarmed fighter...

[Land Outcast]

... Improved Natural attack? what for? It doesn't stack with Monk's Belt.

 

[Greg K]

Ask your DM to be allowed to use the Martial Arts feats from either SWd20 (4 feat chain) or d20 Modern (quite a bit more feats)

SW feats:
Martial Arts: 1d4 dmg
Defensive Martial Arts: +2 Dodge bonus to AC
Improved Martial Arts (BA+4?): 2d4 dmg and 19-20 crit.
Advanced Martial Arts (BA +8?): 3d4 dmg and 18-20 crit.

I'm not all that familiar with the d20 Modern feats.

There are three chains (excluding the dodge chain)in d20Modern: Brawl, Combat Martial Arts, and defensive martial arts

Brawl
-Improved Brawl
-knockout punch
---Improved Knockout Punch
-Streetfighting
---Improved Feint

Combat Martial Arts
-Improved Combat Martial Arts
---Advanced Combat Martial Arts

Defensive Martial Arts
-Combat Throw
---Improved combat Throw
-Elusive Dodge
-Unbalance Opponent


Here are the feats from the d20Modern SRD
-------Brawl Chain-------------
Brawl
Benefit: When making an unarmed attack, the character receives a +1 competence bonus on attack rolls, and the character deals nonlethal damage equal to 1d6 + his or her Strength modifier.
Normal: Unarmed attacks normally deal nonlethal damage equal to 1d3 + Strength modifier.


Improved Brawl
Prerequisites: Brawl, base attack bonus +3.
Benefit: When making an unarmed attack, the character receives a +2 competence bonus on his or her attack roll, and the character deals nonlethal damage equal to 1d8 + the character’s Strength modifier.
Normal: Unarmed attacks normally deal nonlethal damage equal to 1d3 + Strength modifier.


Knockout Punch
Prerequisites: Brawl, base attack bonus +3.
Benefit: When making the character’s first unarmed attack against a flat-footed opponent, treat a successful attack as a critical hit. This damage is nonlethal damage.
Special: Even if the character has the ability to treat unarmed damage as lethal damage, the damage from a knockout punch is always nonlethal.

Improved Knockout Punch
Prerequisites: Brawl, Knockout Punch, base attack bonus +6.
Benefit: When making the character’s first unarmed attack against a flat-footed opponent, treat a successful attack as a critical hit. This critical hit deals triple damage. The damage is nonlethal damage.
Special: Even if the character has the ability to treat unarmed damage as lethal damage, the damage from a knockout punch is always nonlethal.

Streetfighting
Prerequisites: Brawl, base attack bonus +2.
Benefit: Once per round, if the character makes a successful melee attack with an unarmed strike or a light weapon, the character deals an extra 1d4 points of damage.

Improved Feint
Prerequisites: Intelligence 13, Brawl, Streetfighting.
Benefit: The character can make a Bluff check in combat as a move action. The character receives a +2 bonus on Bluff checks made to feint in melee combat.
Normal: Feinting in combat requires an attack action.

--------Combat Martial Arts Chain--------------

Combat Martial Arts
Prerequisite: Base attack bonus +1.
Benefit: With an unarmed strike, the character deals lethal or nonlethal damage (the character’s choice) equal to 1d4 + the character’s Strength modifier. The character’s unarmed attacks count as armed, which means that opponents do not get attacks of opportunity when the character attacks them unarmed. The character may make attacks of opportunity against opponents who provoke such attacks.
Normal: Without this feat, a character deals only 1d3 points of nonlethal damage. Unarmed attacks normally provoke attacks of opportunity, and unarmed combatants cannot normally make attacks of opportunity.

Improved Combat Martial Arts
Prerequisites: Combat Martial Arts, base attack bonus +4.
Benefit: The character’s threat range on an unarmed strike improves to 19–20.
Normal: A character without this feat threatens a critical hit with an unarmed strike only on a 20.

Advanced Combat Martial Arts
Prerequisites: Combat Martial Arts, Improved Combat Martial Arts, base attack bonus +8.
Benefit: When the character scores a critical hit on an opponent with an unarmed strike, the character deals triple damage.
Normal: An unarmed strike critical hit deals double damage.


---------Defensive Martial Arts Chain----------------
Defensive Martial Arts
Benefit: The character gains a +1 dodge bonus to Defense against melee attacks.
Special: A condition that makes the character lose his or her Dexterity bonus to Defense also makes the character lose dodge bonuses. Also, dodge bonuses stack, unlike most other types of bonuses.


Combat Throw
Prerequisite: Defensive Martial Arts.
Benefit: The character gains a +2 bonus on opposed Strength and Dexterity checks any time the character attempts trip or grapple attacks, or when the character trys to avoid a trip or grapple attack made against him or her.

Improved Combat Throw
Prerequisites: Defensive Martial Arts, Combat Throw, base attack bonus +3.
Benefit: In melee combat, if an opponent attacks and misses the character, the character may immediately make a trip attack against the opponent. This counts as an attack of opportunity, which the character can make even if he or she is unarmed. Attacking unarmed in this way does not provoke an attack of opportunity.
Special: This feat doesn’t grant the character more attacks of opportunity than he or she is normally allowed in a round.


Elusive Target
Prerequisites: Dexterity 13, Defensive Martial Arts.
Benefit: When fighting an opponent or multiple opponents in melee, other opponents attempting to target the character with ranged attacks take a –4 penalty. This penalty is in addition to the normal –4 penalty for firing into melee, making the penalty to target to character –8.
Special: An opponent with the Precise Shot feat has the penalty lessened to –4 when targeting the character.

Unbalance Opponent
Prerequisites: Defensive Martial Arts, base attack bonus +6.
Benefit: During the character’s action, the character designates an opponent no more than one size category larger or smaller than the character. That opponent doesn’t get to add his or her Strength modifier to attack rolls when targeting the character. (If the opponent has a Strength penalty, he or hse still takes that penalty.)
The opponent’s Strength modifier applies to damage, as usual.
The character can select a new opponent on any action.

 

[harmyn]

Back in Dragon Issue 295 (pre 3.5 times) there was a an article titled "The Way of the Fist" that featured 3 unarmed prestige classes. Myself and a player managed to cobble somthing out of the various ideas to suit her needs.

Background of the character: I had a player and she had this idea for a dwarf thug inspired by the character Jayne Cobb from Firefly. She was a hardcore thug too when all was said and done. She started off wielding a 2-handed sword we dubbed a "dwarven claymore" but she preferred to go into more personal combat. She ended up with 2 levels in Fighter, 3 in Rogue, 4 in Barbarian (she did pay the xp penalty for this variance), and last off she was at level 2 in the Prestige Class. She chose her feats well and is pretty tough.

"Street Thug"

Requirements
Base Attack Bonus +7
Special: Rage 2/day
Feat: Improved Grapple
Feat: Improved Toughness
Feat: Improved Unarmed Combat
Feat: Weaqpon Focus (unarmed strike)
Skill: Intimidation (6 ranks)


Level....BAB....Fort....Ref....Will.....Special
...1.......+1......+2.....+0.....+0......Berserker's Fury, Power Strike (1d4)
...2.......+2......+3.....+0.....+0......Great Grappler
...3.......+3......+3.....+1.....+0......Deadly Pin, Power Strike (1d6)
...4.......+4......+4.....+1.....+0......Iron Jaw
...5.......+5......+4.....+1.....+0......Rage +1/day, Bashing Fortitude

Berserker's Fury: When a rage begins the character can choose to increase power by sacrificing duration. Each round she gives up from the duration of her rage she gains +1 to her Strength and Constitution (the added Con does NOT increase duration) and all bonuses fade when the rage ends.

Power Strike: At 1st level the Thug's unarmed damage increases to 1d4 (or optionally by 1 die increment). At 3rd level the damage increases to 1d6 (or optionally another 1 die increment).

Great Grappler: At 2nd level the Thug can hold and pin creatures up to 2 size categories larger than she is.

Deadly Pin: On When succeeding on grapple check to pin an opponent she also automatically deals unarmed damage.

Iron Jaw: Thugs gains (additional if already possessed) damage reduction against nonlethal damage equal to her Constitution bonus. She still takes nonlethal damage caused by forced marches, hustling overland, and other non-combat sources normally. She also gains a +1 bonus on all saves to avoid being stunned.

Bashing Fortitude: Half of all bashing/bludgeoning damage is converted to nonlethal damage and is subject to the damage reduction provided by Iron Jaw.

 

[Nyaricus]

Was not able to find the Brawler, but thanks to Nyaricus' Tasy Bits thread.. there is the Street Brawler which might work as well...

You know, even if you spell it wrong, it warms my heart to hear that I have a fanboi

In any case, there is The Bruiser, whihc is the class you were thinking of PS. Excellent class, one which I am incorperating into my homebrew