General Prestige Class : Brawler
by Brent Phillips-Watts, Dragon #295
Hit him with a fist, and he smiles. Hit him with two fists, and he laughs. Hit him with a chair, and you might just get his attention. -Tobar Axehalf, Barkeep.
In almost every city there is a bar or a tavern where the light of heart fear to tread, where the rooms are kept dim even in the middle of the day, and you are as likely to find a fight as you are food and drink. This is the home of the brawler. Raised in the streets, grown tough out of necessity, the brawler lives a life of street fights and bar brawls. He excels at fighting in a crowd and uses whatever he can to defeat those he faces. Whether it's a chair, a table leg, or a pint of ale, the brawler uses it all with deadly effect. His life has been rough, but he has grown strong from it, having learned to take a punch and keep fighting. Whether it is using his skills as a thug, a bouncer, or simply as a hired fighter, the brawler is sure to be wherever the fight is.
Humans and half-orcs are most likely to be brawlers, though many dwarves also follow this path. Fighters and rogues are often drawn into the chaotic lifestyle of the brawler, although barbarians are as likely to follow this path if they become drawn to the city life. Bards too are known to become brawlers as performing at inns and taverns often puts them in the thick of barroom brawls.
Requirements
To qualify to become a Brawler, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
- Skills: Intimidate 5 ranks
- Feats: Alertness, Combat Reflexes, Improved Unarmed Strike,
- Base Attack Bonus: +7.
Class Skills
The brawler's class skills are Balance, Bluff, Climb, Craft, Intimidate, Jump, Listen, Ride, Spot, Survival, and Swim.
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Class Features
All the following are class features of the brawler prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A fierce grappler gains proficiency with all simple and martial weapons.
Improvise Weapon (Ex): The Brawler must often make use of unconventional weapons to overcome his foes. Because of this, he has become skilled at using whatever is at hand as a weapon. At 1st level, the brawler no longer suffers the standard -4 non-proficiency penalty to hit when using an improvised weapon. Objects that weigh less than 5 pounds inflict 1d4 points of damage, while items weighing more than 5 pounds inflict 1d6 points of damage. All improvised weapons threaten a critical on a roll of 20 and have a multiplier of x2. Especially long items, such as a ladder, allow the brawler to attack with reach. Usually, a brawler's improvised weapon causes bludgeoning damage, but some items, such as a skewer, might cause piercing damage. The brawler can also throw an improvised weapon; all such weapons have a range increment of 10 feet. Note that this ability does not give the Brawler proficiency with any exotic weapons.
Crowd Fighting (Ex): At 1st level, the brawler gains a +1 morale bonus to attacks when threatening three or more opponents at the same time. This bonus increases to +2 at 3rd level and to +3 at 5th level.
Improvised Weapon Feats (Ex): At 2nd level, the brawler gains the ability to choose "improvised weapon" as the selected weapon when taking feats that require a selected weapon. Thus, feats such as Weapon Focus, Weapon Specialization, and Improved Critical can have "improvised weapon" as the selected weapon. Making such a choice allows the brawler to apply that feat to any improvised weapon he uses.
Subdual Damage Reduction (Su): At 4th level, the brawler gains the ability to shrug off some amount of injury due to subdual damage. Subtract the brawler's Constitution bonus from any attack or spell that deals subdual damage. The brawler takes subdual damage from forced marches, hustling overland, and non-combat sources normally.
Bludgeoning Substitution (Su): At 5th level, half of the damage the brawler suffers from a bludgeoning attack is converted to subdual damage and is subject to the brawler's subdual damage reduction ability.
| Brawler | Hit Die: d10 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CL | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special |
| 1st | +1 | +2 | +2 | +0 | Improvise weapon, crowd fighting +2 |
| 2nd | +2 | +3 | +3 | +0 | Improvised weapon feats |
| 3rd | +3 | +3 | +3 | +1 | Crowd fighting +2 |
| 4th | +3 | +3 | +4 | +1 | Subdual damage reduction |
| 5th | +4 | +4 | +4 | +1 | Bludgeoning substitution, crowd fighting +3 |
Source: Dragon #295