I want to have a brawling character, one that can throw punches effectively and do some damage. But I don't want a monastery background, or the wisdom that comes with the monk. Any advice?
BTW I know about Tavern Brawler, but my character is for level one and I am not a human variant.
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I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone, there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
Depending on your race/class/background combo a "weapon" might be the way to go.
Boxing Glove: weight 1lb, d4 + Str Blugeoning Damage or Cestus/Spiked Guantlet: weight 2lb, d4 Piericng + Str Piercing Damage. Maybe go for the Fallout crafting experience and get bladed gauntlet: upgrades your Cestus/Spiked Guantlet to d6 + Str Slashing damage or Studded Glove increase Boxing Glove damage to d6 + Str Bludgeoning damage, both options increase weight by 50%.
If you can let your DM class it as a weapon then you open up spells, sneak attack, smites etc to the attack.
There was also this fighting style in an unearthed Arcana:
Unarmed Fighting Your unarmed strikes can deal bludgeoning damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier. If you strike with two free hands, the d6 becomes a d8. When you successfully start a grapple, you can deal 1d4 bludgeoning damage to the grappled creature. Until the grapple ends, you can also deal this damage to the creature whenever you hit it with a melee attack
You could also look into the Battlerager armour from, the Sword COast Adventurers Guide and see if your DM will let you have that instead.
Monks don't need to come from monasteries, they're high agility fighters that mix weapon attacks and unarmed strikes while relying on their awareness of their surroundings to avoid attacks.
There are races that give unarmed strikes, but it seems like you've already got your race picked. A barbarian would give you similar damage for unarmed strikes (while raging), though you'd get fewer attacks. I'd suggest either talking your DM into letting you "dual wield" unarmed strikes or carrying a couple sticks to use as clubs.
Monks don't need to come from monasteries, they're high agility fighters that mix weapon attacks and unarmed strikes while relying on their awareness of their surroundings to avoid attacks.
There are races that give unarmed strikes, but it seems like you've already got your race picked. A barbarian would give you similar damage for unarmed strikes (while raging), though you'd get fewer attacks. I'd suggest either talking your DM into letting you "dual wield" unarmed strikes or carrying a couple sticks to use as clubs.
This. There's no reason a brawling type character has to be a "monk" from a monstary. Instead of a karate chop, you just straight punch your foe in the face. Instead of some fancy roundhouse kick, you lift your knee into the target's nuggets, or smash your forehead into his face. it's far too easy to get caught up on the class name for something when building your character. View the class as a chassis that provides the mechanics you need to tell your story. A monk can be an MMA fighter just as easily as it can be some shou-lin dude who's been in a monestary his whole life. The class is the means to an end.
What monestary am I from? The Green Dragon, mate. Home of the only brew for the brave and true.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Matt Colville created a Pugilist class (or cribbed it from someone) in his Chain of Acheron series. I bet you can find a write-up of it if you poke around his website/reddit/discord/YouTube channels.
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WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
Monks don't need to come from monasteries, they're high agility fighters that mix weapon attacks and unarmed strikes while relying on their awareness of their surroundings to avoid attacks.
There are races that give unarmed strikes, but it seems like you've already got your race picked. A barbarian would give you similar damage for unarmed strikes (while raging), though you'd get fewer attacks. I'd suggest either talking your DM into letting you "dual wield" unarmed strikes or carrying a couple sticks to use as clubs.
Could also take 1 level in Monk for Martial Arts in addition to Barbarian levels. They don't get Ki until 2nd level and that's what gives them the wuxia feel. Barbarian already has its own form of Unarmored Defense so there's no need to invest in Wisdom.
It seems like going through extraordinary lengths to get unarmed damage but, here you go. Make a Circle of the Moon Druid and Wildshape into an Ape at 2nd level. Every thing else you will be able to do with this character would be superior to "Brawling" to me but, hey, you will be doing 1d6+3 Unarmed Damage.
None of my monks have been monastic. To me, the class is a game mechanic. What I do with it from there is up to me.
XGtE makes mention that all the backstory stuff in the sources are "ideas, not rules".
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Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
You could also focus on improvised weapons and live with the fact that rules as written you will not add proficiency to hit until you can take tavern brawler. Lots of smashing people with rocks, chairs, pewter mugs ECT.
You could also focus on improvised weapons and live with the fact that rules as written you will not add proficiency to hit until you can take tavern brawler. Lots of smashing people with rocks, chairs, pewter mugs ECT.
Matt Colville created a Pugilist class (or cribbed it from someone) in his Chain of Acheron series. I bet you can find a write-up of it if you poke around his website/reddit/discord/YouTube channels.
The Pugilist class was made by Benjamin Huffman. You can buy it on the DMsguild. It takes a lot of work, but I created a homebrew Warlock subclass with all the pugilist features in it. I can't share it though. Warlock was easy since I can just ignore a lot of Warlock choices so I don't end up with a bunch of class features I have to ignore.
I want to have a brawling character, one that can throw punches effectively and do some damage. But I don't want a monastery background, or the wisdom that comes with the monk. Any advice?
BTW I know about Tavern Brawler, but my character is for level one and I am not a human variant.
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone, there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
- Litany Against Fear, Frank Herbert
If you're level one and already have a race picked, there is no good way to do this to my knowledge.
Depending on your race/class/background combo a "weapon" might be the way to go.
Boxing Glove: weight 1lb, d4 + Str Blugeoning Damage or Cestus/Spiked Guantlet: weight 2lb, d4 Piericng + Str Piercing Damage. Maybe go for the Fallout crafting experience and get bladed gauntlet: upgrades your Cestus/Spiked Guantlet to d6 + Str Slashing damage or Studded Glove increase Boxing Glove damage to d6 + Str Bludgeoning damage, both options increase weight by 50%.
If you can let your DM class it as a weapon then you open up spells, sneak attack, smites etc to the attack.
There was also this fighting style in an unearthed Arcana:
Unarmed Fighting
Your unarmed strikes can deal bludgeoning damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier. If you strike with two free hands, the d6 becomes a d8.
When you successfully start a grapple, you can deal 1d4 bludgeoning damage to the grappled creature. Until the grapple ends, you can also deal this damage to the creature whenever you hit it with a melee attack
You could also look into the Battlerager armour from, the Sword COast Adventurers Guide and see if your DM will let you have that instead.
Monks don't need to come from monasteries, they're high agility fighters that mix weapon attacks and unarmed strikes while relying on their awareness of their surroundings to avoid attacks.
There are races that give unarmed strikes, but it seems like you've already got your race picked. A barbarian would give you similar damage for unarmed strikes (while raging), though you'd get fewer attacks. I'd suggest either talking your DM into letting you "dual wield" unarmed strikes or carrying a couple sticks to use as clubs.
This. There's no reason a brawling type character has to be a "monk" from a monstary. Instead of a karate chop, you just straight punch your foe in the face. Instead of some fancy roundhouse kick, you lift your knee into the target's nuggets, or smash your forehead into his face. it's far too easy to get caught up on the class name for something when building your character. View the class as a chassis that provides the mechanics you need to tell your story. A monk can be an MMA fighter just as easily as it can be some shou-lin dude who's been in a monestary his whole life. The class is the means to an end.
What monestary am I from? The Green Dragon, mate. Home of the only brew for the brave and true.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
Matt Colville created a Pugilist class (or cribbed it from someone) in his Chain of Acheron series. I bet you can find a write-up of it if you poke around his website/reddit/discord/YouTube channels.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
Could also take 1 level in Monk for Martial Arts in addition to Barbarian levels. They don't get Ki until 2nd level and that's what gives them the wuxia feel. Barbarian already has its own form of Unarmored Defense so there's no need to invest in Wisdom.
The Forum Infestation (TM)
It seems like going through extraordinary lengths to get unarmed damage but, here you go. Make a Circle of the Moon Druid and Wildshape into an Ape at 2nd level. Every thing else you will be able to do with this character would be superior to "Brawling" to me but, hey, you will be doing 1d6+3 Unarmed Damage.
None of my monks have been monastic. To me, the class is a game mechanic. What I do with it from there is up to me.
XGtE makes mention that all the backstory stuff in the sources are "ideas, not rules".
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
You could also focus on improvised weapons and live with the fact that rules as written you will not add proficiency to hit until you can take tavern brawler. Lots of smashing people with rocks, chairs, pewter mugs ECT.
Or pick up a table/chair leg and call it a club.
The Pugilist class was made by Benjamin Huffman. You can buy it on the DMsguild. It takes a lot of work, but I created a homebrew Warlock subclass with all the pugilist features in it. I can't share it though. Warlock was easy since I can just ignore a lot of Warlock choices so I don't end up with a bunch of class features I have to ignore.
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/184921/the-Pugilist-Class
If u spend less 5 minutes on the internet u can find a free pdf, but this was posted a year ago so idk
Mystic v3 should be official, nuff said.