Just a dumb idea for a character build that I came up with but really like so figured I'd share it. More or less just as it says a rune knight fist fighter, you take fighter, unarmed fighting as your fighting style giving you 1d10 on unarmed attacks when not using a weapon or shield, plus 1d4 damage on a creature you're grappling at the start of your turn and focus mostly on STR and CON. Background I was thinking either Rune Carver or Giant Foundling for the feats, personally I think rune carver for the free spell, strike of the giants you can pick up later as a non spellcaster rune shaper is unavailable. Race is variant human to pick up tavern brawler, mostly for the bonus action grapple but proficiency with improvised weapons is nice too. For runes I'd say fire if your DM would allow you to use the extra feature with your fists, it specifically asks for an attack with a melee weapon but I'd personally allow it since it's not really all that broken and if I can use the feature with a rock I picked up then my firsts should work just as well. If not then stone and cloud are good options too. For strike of the giants I'd pick up fire for the 1d10 fire damage and the later feat Ember of the fire giant, it gives you resistance to fire damage and let's you do a 15ft AOE that does a bit of damage and can potentially blind every enemy within 15ft of you till the start of your next turn which is pretty nice. Grappler is another good feat to get, advantage on attacks vs grappled targets is always good. I guess crusher is also kind of alright. Personally I feel this build could be a lot of fun though has some weaknesses, range is a bit of an issue but your improvised weapon proficiency should let you chuck rocks well enough, 1d4 damage isn't much but you can add your giants might damage to it and also the damage from the strike of the giants feat so you can still deal alright damage. There's also damage resistance there's not really any magic fist weapons but you could argue having magic gloves could bypass resistance else maybe you could convince your DM to let you buy magic knuckle dusters or something. Anyway thanks for reading my big wall of text!
Personally I’d recommend playing something like a simic hybrid or a stout strig if either are allowed in your campaign, that way you can grapple as a bonus action without needing tavern brawler.
I would highly recommend you don’t take the grappler feat in any case, advantage against creatures you are grappling is fine, but compared to the skill expert feat for getting expertise in athletics it looks less appealing.
Especially considering that you can always knock someone prone with the shove action, and if they’re grappled while prone they can’t stand back up due to having 0 movement. Prone creatures attack with disadvantage, while you will have advantage on attacks against them.
When it comes to magical resistance, wraps of unarmed prowess work for humans using unarmed strikes, and the insignia of claws works for any race that has a natural weapon, like the strig or simic hybrid.
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Just a dumb idea for a character build that I came up with but really like so figured I'd share it. More or less just as it says a rune knight fist fighter, you take fighter, unarmed fighting as your fighting style giving you 1d10 on unarmed attacks when not using a weapon or shield, plus 1d4 damage on a creature you're grappling at the start of your turn and focus mostly on STR and CON. Background I was thinking either Rune Carver or Giant Foundling for the feats, personally I think rune carver for the free spell, strike of the giants you can pick up later as a non spellcaster rune shaper is unavailable. Race is variant human to pick up tavern brawler, mostly for the bonus action grapple but proficiency with improvised weapons is nice too. For runes I'd say fire if your DM would allow you to use the extra feature with your fists, it specifically asks for an attack with a melee weapon but I'd personally allow it since it's not really all that broken and if I can use the feature with a rock I picked up then my firsts should work just as well. If not then stone and cloud are good options too. For strike of the giants I'd pick up fire for the 1d10 fire damage and the later feat Ember of the fire giant, it gives you resistance to fire damage and let's you do a 15ft AOE that does a bit of damage and can potentially blind every enemy within 15ft of you till the start of your next turn which is pretty nice. Grappler is another good feat to get, advantage on attacks vs grappled targets is always good. I guess crusher is also kind of alright. Personally I feel this build could be a lot of fun though has some weaknesses, range is a bit of an issue but your improvised weapon proficiency should let you chuck rocks well enough, 1d4 damage isn't much but you can add your giants might damage to it and also the damage from the strike of the giants feat so you can still deal alright damage. There's also damage resistance there's not really any magic fist weapons but you could argue having magic gloves could bypass resistance else maybe you could convince your DM to let you buy magic knuckle dusters or something. Anyway thanks for reading my big wall of text!
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easy now dont wanna add to much to the conversation :P
That is a massive wall of text I’m still trying to read
Personally I’d recommend playing something like a simic hybrid or a stout strig if either are allowed in your campaign, that way you can grapple as a bonus action without needing tavern brawler.
I would highly recommend you don’t take the grappler feat in any case, advantage against creatures you are grappling is fine, but compared to the skill expert feat for getting expertise in athletics it looks less appealing.
Especially considering that you can always knock someone prone with the shove action, and if they’re grappled while prone they can’t stand back up due to having 0 movement. Prone creatures attack with disadvantage, while you will have advantage on attacks against them.
When it comes to magical resistance, wraps of unarmed prowess work for humans using unarmed strikes, and the insignia of claws works for any race that has a natural weapon, like the strig or simic hybrid.