Bruiser

Your street knowledge and sharp wit keep you on your toes, ready to throw down whenever necessary. While most people train in specific departments of combat, you're more comfortable in dirty fighting and what's considered tactics that are frowned upon. But who cares what other people think? You're still alive, and nothing they say is gonna change that.

Restriction: Light Armor Only

Being a Bruiser relies on being light enough to be quick on your feet, thus making medium and heavy armor unreliable. The trade off for less protection is the amount of damage a Bruiser can do in a fight.

Your GM can lift this restriction to better suit the campaign, should they feel this restriction does not fit in their campaign. If this restriction is lifted, the listed features can be used while wearing medium or heavy armor.

Dirty Tactics

3rd-level Bruiser Feature

When you pick this archetype at 3rd level, your unarmed strikes deal more damage and you learn several tactics to get the upper hand on your enemies. The first time you hit a creature on your turn, you can perform one of the following tactics:

Dirt in the Eyes. You grab a handful of dirt, sand, or whatever loose material is nearby and throw it into the eyes of a target creature within 5 ft. of you. The creature must succeed a Dexterity saving throw or be blinded until the end of your next turn.

Discombobulate. You slam your hands on both sides of the head of a target creature within 5ft. of you. The creature must succeed a Constitution saving throw or be incapacitated until the end of your next turn.

Spitting Blood. You spit blood into the face of a target creature within 5 ft. of you. The creature must succeed a Constitution saving throw or be poisoned until the end of your next turn.

Psycho Strike. You strike a target creature within 5ft. of you in such a psychotic way, their resolve shakes. The creature must succeed a Wisdom saving throw or be frightened of you until the end of your next turn.

You can perform any of these tactics a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus and you regain all expended uses when you finish a short or long rest. You use your Strength modifier to calculate the save DC, and you cannot perform these tactics if you are wearing medium or heavy armor.

Tough Skin

7th-level Bruiser Feature

At 7th level, your resilience has built a resistance to certain attacks. You gain a +1 bonus to your AC, so long as you are not wearing medium or heavy armor, and choose between bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage. You gain resistance to that damage type as long as the damage comes from nonmagical attacks, and you ignore resistance to that damage type.

At 15th level, your resistance covers magical attacks as well.

Bludgeoning

You gain resistance to bludgeoning damage.

Piercing

You gain resistance to piercing damage.

Slashing

You gain resistance to slashing damage.

Blindside

10th-level Bruiser feature

At 10th level, as long as you are not wearing medium or heavy armor, your speed increases by 10ft. and you learn how to get into an enemy's blind spot and take them by surprise. If a creature is engaged with another creature within 5 ft. of them, you can attempt to blindside them as an action if they are within your movement speed. They take 1d12 bludgeoning damage on a hit and must make a Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.

The damage increases to 2d12 at 18th level.

Unflinching Strength

15th-level Bruiser feature

At 15th level, you refuse to cower and flinch at attacks. Whenever you take damage of any kind, you can use a reaction to roll 1d6. On a 4 or above, the damage is reduced to 1. On a 3 or lower, you take half the damage of the attack. Once you use this feature, you cannot use it again until you finish a short or long rest and you cannot use this feature if you are wearing medium or heavy armor.

Bone Shattering Strike

18th-level Bruiser feature

At 18th level, your attacks can break bones and shatter jaws. Whenever you roll a critical hit with an unarmed strike, you add triple your Strength modifier when calculating damage. You cannot use this feature if you are wearing medium or heavy armor.