Fighter path: Martial Artist (Or brawler)

[yusuranis]

Lets start with something simple.

Explanation:

Why do we need some sort of martial artist or brawler path? Because lets face it, if your going fisty cuffs, you better be a monk or else your unarmed damage will suck horribly, you won't get unarmed attack bonus or any of the other nifty monk feats.

But sometimes you wanna emulate that classic fancy man fisticuffs character, or perhaps a martial artist who is more focused on the art of unarmed battle rather then the spiritual side of it.

In either of these scenarios you are going to be horribly outclassed in unarmed combat. Now my goal here is not to make something more powerful then the monk, that would completely defeat the purpose of playing a monk. I mean if you have something better then a monk why play a monk at all?

What i want to do with this suggestion is make a spot for these character types, and have it be effective in combat. Because if your a fisty cuffs character chances are you really don't wanna pick up a blade even when soloing cause it breaks your character. But you almost have to, to be anywhere near effective.

Not only this but you have to deal with a big fat alignment restriction: Lawful. Lets face it, not all martial artists are lawful, and brawlers certainly arn't either, but both of which can be just as mean given the experience.

How would we accomplish this path you ask?

How:

I have two suggestions for this and no doubt you lot will improve upon the idea.

+1 ac every two levels when unarmored (If there is a way to check via script if one is unarmored.) Why not every 5 levels like a monk? Well you see monks get that awesome ac bonus from wisdom, and lets be honest here, if your a monk your gonna have a lot of it. Count in tumble and boy oh boy, your looking at with at least a 20 to 26 wisdom sitting at 30 to 34 ac unbuffed alone.

This would give our little martial artist here a similar range of ac. Not the same, but similar.

+1 bludgeoning damage when unarmed (Or whenever something isn't equipped in your main hand.) every two or three levels. If you do it every two levels, well then you've got +15 damage if you go full fighter, with a base unarmed damage of 1-3 that puts you almost at the monks max damage for 1d20 albeit more consistent. However a +10 to unarmed damage isn't bad either.

Now if people actually like this idea, i am sure they will have much better suggestions. But i feel this would fit a martial artist or brawler well. Why? Because as a fighter you will have access to a ton more feats, allowing you to craft your characters fighting style as you go.

Hell, maybe even add in stances or something, lord knows the idea was tossed around for kensais, but if we made martial artists a thing, they would be perfect for stances. None the less, i hope this gets looked at. Because sometimes you gotta be that guy with the monocle punching peoples lights out all proper like.