Gladiator

Blood on the sand, white knuckles on sword & shield, the roar of the crowd. Anything less isn’t worth your time. You fight to impress, to shock, & to show just how unstoppable you are. Whether you believe that a decisive win prevents future battles or you’re just the kind of killer who enjoys an audience, no one knows better than you how to make war a bloody spectacle.

Most fighters who become Gladiators do so as a natural extension of their personalities, though some receive training from an experienced master of the arena. As a Gladiator, you specialize in provoking & taunting your foes into fighting like idiots. You’re an expert grappler, & you learn to use the obstacles around you to inflict max damage on any opponent you can get your hands on.

Work the Crowd

When you select this archetype at 3 level, you gain proficiency in the Performance skill & double your proficiency bonus when making Performance ability checks.

Showboat

At 3 level, 1/turn when you hit w/ a weapon attack, grapple a creature, or successfully use the shove action, you can use a bonus action to celebrate your achievement. Make a Performance check against a DC of 10 + half the target’s hit dice. If you succeed, the target can't willingly move farther away from you & you've advantage on Athletics checks against that creature until the end of your next turn. Creatures that can't both see & hear you're immune to the effects of this feature.

Brutal Grappler

Starting at 7 level you use the terrain around you to add injury to insult. When you drag or carry a creature you've grappled & that creature's w/i 5 ft of a wall or other solid terrain surface, it takes 1d4 points of bludgeoning damage/10 ft you move it.

At 11th level the damage increases to 1d6/10 ft, & at 15th level it becomes 1d10/10 ft. moved.

Dirty Tricks

At 10 level, you can perform a variety of debilitating moves on creatures you're grappling, called dirty tricks. When you take the Attack action on your turn you can use a bonus action to use a dirty trick on a creature w/i 5ft of you. You must be able to grapple the target to use a dirty trick against it. Make an Athletics check contested by the target’s Athletics or Acrobatics check (the target chooses the ability to use). If you win, the target suffers 1 of the following effects.

• Bear Hug. You grapple the target w/ a crushing grip, impeding its attacks. Until the start of your next turn or until the grapple ends, the target can’t draw weapons or use items, & the target has disadvantage on its next attack roll before the end of its next turn.
• Face in the Dirt. You grapple the target & knock it prone, shoving its face into the ground. Until the start of your next turn or until the grapple ends (whichever comes 1st), the target can't speak or breathe.
• Living Shield. You grapple the target. Until the start of your next turn or until the grapple ends, when you'd be hit by an attack you can use your reaction to move the grappled creature into the attack’s path, granting you a +4 bonus to AC against that attack. If this causes the attack to miss, it auto hits the grappled creature instead.
• Shoulder Throw. You hurl your target a # of ft = to the result of your Athletics check (rounded up to the nearest interval of 5) & the creature lands prone.

The Bigger They Are

Starting at 15 level, you may grapple creatures up to 2 size categories larger than you.

Lord of the Arena

At 18 level, your masterful showmanship & martial skill combine into 1 terrifying force. 1/turn, when you make a successful Athletics check against a creature, you may use your reaction to make 1 weapon attack against that creature.