I was curious where you were going to end up with this build. "It ain't about how hard you hit, it's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward", I think this is about as good as you can get. Adding some extra dice and some base attack damage. Thanks for the plug by the way!
@@DnDDeepDive I thought I read somewhere that you only get the feature of your unarmored defense from the "first" time you gain the feature. It has been a while since I looked into it but I am fairly certain that is how the rules read.
One thing I meant to discuss and forgot so will put it here: what about Expertise!? It's true: finding a way to get Expertise in Athletics would increase your grappling prowess significantly. I was trying to stretch our DPR with this character but you should definitely consider trying to work Expertise into the build somehow. For me it would either be via the Skill Expert feat (and if I went that route, I'd *probably* start Custom Lineage so I could get that feat and start with an 18 Strength) *or* take one level of Ranger along the way for Canny, which is basically Expertise. ALSO! Errata: You cannot get Unarmed Defense from Barb if you already got it from Monk as per RAW (I sometimes forget that you don't get to choose one or the other). Thus, with this version of the build you'd be best off starting Barb.
For expertise I think I would get one level of rogue. Then try to talk my DM into allow my Fists to light finesse weapons to add sneak attack. It is só stupid that they are not.
I ended up taking a dip in Rogue for the Extra Skill Proficiencies and Expertise in Athletics + Intimidation/Persuasion (mainly cause of the way I wanted to play this character). But yeah, having that Expertise in Athletics is pretty fun, I've done some very bonkers things! Also, having advantage on Grappling is... just icing on the cake; couple that with a few random Homebrewed Feats that a DM had on hand (they uhhh.... kinda make this Grappler extremely unfair).... I think just having an Eldritch Claw Tattoo is currently sufficient for my Magical Bonus lol. Overall though, nice Unarmed Fighter build! Mine is moreso with Plate Armor cause why not have a Soldier who's there to kick some ass with their bare hands, feet, etc! Also a female character, she's 'built different' as my friends say lol xD P.S: I may not be subscribed, BUT... if I can recommend an idea, try looking at Rin Tohsaka from Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works! Look at how she can fight CQC (Unarmed Fighting) and use Magic to buff herself/deal insane fun damage xD I'll leave it up to you in terms of how you'd build this character, or if you want an idea on how to do so and maybe do a Viewer D&D Optimized Build, I'll offer myself as tribute for the first one to do it as a Guinea Pig xD
@@dienezdarcprowlyr9406 I'd try and convince the DM into doing that IF I mutliclassed Rogue and Monk. They might try to turn it into a Feat instead, but could turn it into a Half-Feat with the +1 ASI to Dex.
One more little issue with the tactical options around 27:50 (levels 2-6 so pre-Extra Attack). If you use your Action to Grapple, the monk with Martial Arts unfortunately cannot do a BA unarmed strike. The BA attack is enabled by using the Attack action with an unarmed strike or monk weapon. Not a huge deal. Does help the case for Tavern Brawler and/or cutting the monk entirely for anyone interested/disinterested in those...inhumane routes. Monks are people too.
My friend was playing in a ToA game and they were playing a Rune Knight with the unarmed fighting style, and they were highly consistent. I also got them an Eldritch Claw tattoo so they would have a 'magic weapon'. They had that tattoo all the way to the end (the end being a sidequest into the Nine Hells to get a wish from a Dao) They punched a Demon Lord in the face, it was epic.
@@jacopoolivari5484 god that sounds fun, but on the other hand, my brain is imagining if you played just some pissed off halfling lol, hope it continues to be absolutely rad as hell
When I played Rise of Tiamat, I thought "well... one big problem when fighting dragons is that they can flyby over our heads breathing tons of damage on us. What if they coudn't fly away anymore?" So I did a Goliath Rune Knight/ Divine Soul who could increase to Huge size (giant might + enlarge), teleport to the sky (thunderstep) and action surge to grapple
Can we just take a moment to appreciate the commitment with the make up on the thumbnail!? Also I’ve been working on a similar concept to this but a duo with a Bard being like a wrestler and their entourage. This will for sure help me work it!
@@guitarplayerJeiky I would love to see that, it sounds like a lot of fun. I wonder of your dm would let the bard use a bullhorn as their musical instrument and spellcasting focus? Lol
One cool alternative for the race would be the Bugbear if you can manage to get high enough stats. The extra reach and once per combat damage could give this character a role similar to a polearm master build if you take sentinel
When I dmed for a monk i gave him basically martial arts wrappings that increased his martial arts die by 1 since it maxes at d10. we made it a d12 and his damage felt really good imo
Since we want to start as a barbarian anyway for the unarmored defense, I wonder how this build would perform if you went berserker barbarian for the extra attack as a bonus action and omit monk entirely. I know that this would delay our fighter levels, but that might be the way to easily squeeze in another class for expertise.
Something that would help your survivability is the fact that a prone enemy has disadvantage on attacks. So that grappled&prone enemy would have a harder time hitting you
One thing I really like about your channel is that you make personal requests for support, rather than using pre-recorded ads that you insert into every video. 👍🏻
The "redundancy" between the rune and rage (advantage on strength stuff, resist some damage) isn't a bad thing. There are plenty of games where you might run out of rages. Perfect time to invoke those runes!
Personally, when I made a pugilist I went for a more nonmagical route. Intsead of a level dip in monk, I took the tavern brawler feat. While the Rune Knight ia definitely better at grappling, I chose to go with the Battle Master subclass to make them seem like more of a trained fighter in hand to hand combat. As for the race, the campaign I was in gave everyone a free feat and didn't allow for V. Human, so I was stuck between going plasmoid or dhampir. Both were cool flavorwise and mechanically, but I ended up going with dhampir since a friend gave me a cool bacsktory idea. I eventually took the skill expert feat for expertise in athletics. The end result was ridiculous athletics checks (+13 athletics check +1d8 from grapple strike +1d4+4 from dhampir bite), the highest one being 42.
I played a strength based pugilist/grappler and I was actually surprised at how effective (and incredibly fun) it was. I didn't take a monk level - instead I took tavern brawler to gain a bonus action grapple. Once I had my extra attack my first round was typically to shove prone the enemy with my first attack, do an unarmed strike with my second, and then grapple with the bonus action. That worked really well and I would typically lock down the toughest looking opponent in most fights. After having that set-up and working I took skill expert with my next ASI to get expertise in athletics.
One idea I had for this build. If you roll for stats and you get a bit lucky, it would be really cool to go loxodon for the race, because you don't need to invest as heavily into dexterity, and you can grapple 3 people at once.
First! Really excited for this build btw. Also, before I forget: I was playing an artillarist artificer yesterday, and I found out the protector turret, when combined with a raging barbarian, is incredibly effective and makes your frontline even more tanky then before. This gave me an idea: how would you go about creating a two-person build (like the wolf & coyote, battery & blender, etc) but instead of building for damage, you build to make these two characters, when paired together, basically unkillable. Just a thought.
I know you usually build characters for a whole campaign, and I really enjoy that! A one-shot character I'd made definitely didn't have that in mind, but with a rune knight and a sorcerer dip to get enlarge/reduce I made a grappler bugbear who got large enough to grapple an gargantuan dragon (homebrew young tiamat)! We had to check the rules because it surprised all of us, but legendary resistance won't help on the check to contest a grapple. Very fun to pin a dragon for multiple rounds.
@@davidsweet5094 it is probably my fault trying to do multiple things at once. I will check the video & apply the correction. Noting if it is a mistake in the video.
Funny, I was thinking of this as a top laner in League the entire time I was listening to the video! I also haven't played much in a long time, but the memories are always there. Great content, thanks for your work :)
I think a really strong base for an "anti-monk" build would be 1 Monk/2 Rogue/x Fighter (and some Barbarian if you are going Strength like you did). Monk for Unarmored Defense and Martials Arts. Rogue for Cunning Action (and Expertise in Athletics if grappling). Fighter for Unarmed Fighting Style. I think right at level 4 you will feel similar-ish to a Monk, but your numbers across the board should be better.
I think I would rather take the last level on monk to unlock ki features. It would be cool thematically, something like "after all your travels, adventures and fights you came back from were you began and understood the way of your first master to unlock the power within". And mechanically that would give you 2 uses of flurry of blows per short rest that you could use in the same turn as action surge, make 8 attacks and feel like a Street Fighter character using a Special Move. As always, amazing show. Thank you so much for all your work.
At lvl 3, I swapped the 2nd level of barbarian for rogue before going fighter. I think a 1-level dip into rogue is worth the expertise in athletics (grappling). Not to mention getting proficiency and expertise in perception or whatever you want, plus thieves tools. If the DM allows sneak attack with unarmed, that would be a nice bonus.
I did something similar with a homebrew race that's descended from wolverines. Because of that critter's thick skin, I gave the race a Constitution-based AC similar to loxodons'. That way I could stick with monk and fighter without worrying about unarmored defense. Still, taking fewer levels in monk (I was going for flurry of blows) and adding a few in barbarian is worth a look. Also, I went with Battle Master, particularly for Grappling Strike and Trip Attack, but considered Rune Knight, as much for the cool factor as anything else.
A couple spell tattoos can really help out a build like this. Barrier tattoo and Eldritch claw tattoo in particular. As a DM I would probably be inclined to let somebody have them if was was to bring a cool character concept more in-line with optimized characters.
Older editions had the cestus that you could use as a weapon, I feel like it should exist in 5e. You're still using your fists, but it's also a weapon which can be magical. I mean, it's not like a pair of magical brass knucles would break the game.
For the zealot barbarian gain, I would slot it into a story beat where you realize the monastery you started in wasn't worthless. You still aren't suited to the way of the floating leaf, but your rage has a tranquility of it's own.
Very nice as always! The best one I came up with (only gone to level 4 for the concept) was Fighter 1 & Tiger totem barb 3 - The entire idea was based around hitting them, and using bonus action to get them into a grapple. the next turn you would leap into the air (and hopefully have boots of leaping and striding) and go 15' into the air piledriving both you and them into the ground. Didn't think it would scale much, but I loved the concept!
You did an amazing job with the limited options for this concept you have in by the book gameplay. Thankfully I have a DM that allows homebrew and have a pugilist barbarian subclass that actually scales better than a monk with unarmed fighting. But genuinely your by the book build could be used in by the book games and outshine a number of solo class builds that people play in those games with ease. Well done.
I think the ‘not a monk’ preference was to avoid the no armour restriction which you can’t avoid if you want the extra bonus attack. 6 lvls in beast barbarian might work and be on point for that inner rage you talked about when explaining why they were with the monks in the first place?
Right - I seriously considered Beat Barb for a long time but ultimately decided against just because I was really wanting like, an MMA puncher and not so much a Werewolf/Slasher, ya know? Obviously it'd be a strong option, but especially as the claws are technically considered weapons, it just didn't feel quite right, thematically.
I ran this exact build up to level 10 in a one shot! I also on a prior incarnation of this build from before Rune Knight I asked Crawford about using a grappler creature as an improvised weapon which he then used in a session of Acquisitions Incorporated he DMed for.
Damn colby you always seem to reach into my mind and pull out builds Ive had on paper forever but now get to see them be optimized!! Ill just give you my next idea so you dont need to use your alter memories on me. The MC/the mentor/undying type character basically the general idea is a barbarian/shadow monk atm that always gets up to fight back, lemme know what you think :) Its my own way of dealing with some bbegs and plans DMs set up, usually the plan to kill you once so this character has had some use running at the BBEG burning their strongest spells and then getting right back up
This one would be a really interesting one to revisit via 2024 rules. With improvements to Monk and Barbarian, and fighter. I think the fighter dip becomes much less important and so we could probably go pure Monk-barian
When you spoke of wanting to grapple and fight unarmed, I figured you'd do a duergar rune knight. That way you can use the rune knight ability to become large then enlarge/reduce on yourself to become huge and grapple pretty much anything Edit: Well, I kept watching and I see you went Rune Knight after all lol
I played a character like this. He was a russian pit fighter, specialized in grapples and battlefield control as fighter. Yep, I'm kinda insane, but it was really fun
Don't comment often in videos since YT comment section is a bit intimidating for me haha,; however, I have really wanted to express that I have been watching your channel since I first came across your Beast Master 2.0 video, and each video is still a blast to watch. Thanks for all the thought and work you put into every video! :)
Man I really gotta start actually doing my ideas. I was JUST thinking about how to optimize the unarmed strikes fighting style, and here you are doing it before I get the chance. Not gonna lie, it feels like I'm spoiling it for myself so I don't get the chance to figure it out, but your builds always end up better than mine anyways.
I say go for it still Caleb! If you want to you can customize Colbys' build, or just go ahead with your own ideas. You could try doing variants as well, like purposely taking no monk levels while still trying to maximize unarmed fighting, or focusing your build around a different race. In any case you should definitely give it a shot :)
Not the best option right now due to how it meaning another round of bonus action set up but the new shifter longtooth subrace is rumoured to have a bonus action bit attack that doesn't require a round of setup like the old one. That would be a good alternative to a monk level. I'd maybe go Longtooth fighter X/barbarian 4. Maybe picking battlemaster for the manoeuvres. You can grapple/shove prone two enemies and spend your time biting them. Huge and larger enemies will be a problem though unless you have a kind wizard friend willing to cast enlarge.
If you wanna be more of a striker type but don't wanna leave out the grappling, it's worth keeping in mind that conceptually, grappling doesn't have to mean suplexes, ground positions or joint locks - it could just be something as simple as an ear grab while you throw elbows, or a single collar tie for your knee strikes to connect to. Any kind of entanglement at all can be what grappling is. You don't have to be greek or roman! :)
@@shinystars2475 yep, exactly! Clinches just like I said with the ear grab or single collar tie. All sorts of options. You probably mean the thai plumb? You could also do a half nelson or grovit, or the old pit hook if you're a bit to the side of them. Even a leg vine can still be a standing option. Hair grab, pie face or goozle for the rougher sorts maybe. Or hell just a shirt bunch why not. Plenty of options for a controlled target to be striking at, even if you're not intending to go to the ground. I mean if you really wanna go conceptual, you could reasonably have just a stream of accurate jabs behave as a grapple, so long as you're using them to control rather than do damage (as is, after all, the typical use). Even just that functionally behaves as a kind of tie-up.
@d4: D&D Deep Dive I know you've been talking about a spirit guardian build and I think I got one for ya 3 lvls Rune Knight Fighter for Giants Might 6 lvls of Lore Bard for expertise in Athletics and Magical Secrets grabbing Spirit Guardians and Spiritual Weapon. Pick up the feats Warcaster (keeps Spirit Guardians up) and Telekinesis (keeps ppl in your Spirit Guardians range) Extra 2 lvls of fighter get you a second grappled target. Bugbear for the extra reach? Also love the mental image of a Giant's Mighted Bugbear casting Spirit Guardians and running (in full plate armour) into the middle of the battlefield action surging to grapple someone and lifting them off the ground. And maybe your little goblin rogue friend has spider climb and is on your back that whole time taking snap shots when the opportunity arises.
One thing to point out; per the PHB, once you have Unarmored Defense from one source you can't gain the feature again from another (just like extra attack). As such you probably want to start with your 1 level in Barbarian, otherwise you'll be stuck with monk unarmored defense forever.
Honestly? This is a brawler build I can get behind. Let's you really embrace that "MMA" feel of a Brawler, while bringing a load of utility aside from "grab and hit stuff". Me personally, I'd likely go bear totem with this particular build because, moar tanky, and more effective hit points vs more elements. Also Acton Surge gives you a Lot more options with this build than you would think. And all those reactions? Muah. Chef's kiss. We're just doing stuff all the time. Great work as always.
I was just messing around with a similar build the other day. I chose Leonin and went more into Mercy Monk. I ended up with slightly less dpr, but I was able to Stun, Grapple, cause fear, and poison.
I was looking for something EXACTLY like this for a character concept I wanted to play named Brekker, Thank you! Imagine an obsidian black dragonborn. Now imagine he's 9 feet tall, built like a castle, has a strong Glaswegian accent and an Attila The Hun 'conquer the world' outlook. He doesn't use weapons, because he's never needed them. He just wraps his giant clawed hand around someone's entire face, picks them up, and uses them to beat their friends. My issue was trying to fit Conquest Paladin in there. I really want the whole monolith of Fear aura thing going on. If my DM lets me use knuckle dusters etc like you said I still get to smite :P The idea is you saw this guy walking up to you 5 mins ago, but you've been rooted to the spot in terror because everything you threw at him didn't even phase him and you knew, you just KNEW, you were gonna die. He caught your arrows (monk), he tanked your ballista (barbarian), he killed the 3 trained guys you sent to stop him without breaking a sweat (fighter) with his bare hands, and he's still trudging towards you. Inexorable. Indestructible. Utterly terrifying. His confidence is not arrogance, it is just raw self-assurance, as nothing has ever been a match for him. He fears NOTHING. And even if you disregard everything else, for that sheer confidence alone, you SHOULD fear him. He is the Awesome Presence of an ancient dragon, distilled into pure, towering flesh. I'll give ya a few sample lines: "Noth'n will forestall m'judgment lad, not yer arrows, not yer steel, least of all yer mewlin' feeble 'God'." "You were wise not to come alone. Honourless, but wise." "I was wrong about yer wisdom. Ye shoulda' brought more. I'll give ye a moment to finish yer prayers to the god of hindsight, 'fer i strangle ye with yer own spine."
I personally love grapplers. I made one for a TOA game and i was a goliath scout/bear totem. (advantage and expertise on grapples) The DM gave me slippers of spider climb (his mistake) and i spent many sessions throwing enemies off cliffs, moving allies to safe locations, knocking enemies prone and dragging them to the foot of the paladin in the group (they seldom ever had to move, i just ferried enemies to them) There was also a three hour combat we had with a few gargoyles in a large room where i jumped from gargoyle to gargoyle knocking them prone and catching myself on the wall while our group made walls of fire they fell through and an enemy wizard was on the field trying to shoot us with spells
In Pathfinder 1E there's a class called a rager, which is a Barbarian/Monk hybrid. I have one who fits the bruising, angry, brawler, who runs on coffee, cigarettes, Jet-fuel strength liquor, and RAGE.
For a while I've been sorta back and forth on offing myself. DND was really one of the only things I enjoyed. I tried making a homebrew subclass to try and do exactly this. I posted it on Reddit and was told it was so bad that i shouldn't even try and fix it. Im really glad even if my awful subclass doesn't work im glad i can still do this.
Build Suggestion: "The Spellblade," featuring Charisma x 3 to every attack Race: technically anything with martial weapon proficiencies as of Tasha's, swap something out for a rapier Stats: prioritize Dex, then Cha, then Con Draconic Sorcerer 6. Pick up Green-Flame Blade, a fire-type dragon ancestor, and Quickened Spell. Celestial Warlock 12. Pick up Pact of the Blade and Lifedrinker. Fill out the last two levels with either Sorcerer or i guess Paladin? Result: You can Green-Flame Blade + Quickened Green-Flame Blade every turn for 2d8 + 10 + 6d8 + 30 damage, you have AC equal to plate armor due to Draconic, and you're still a fullcaster. ... You run out of gas after 3-4 turns though.
You could always ask your dm to allow them to count as unarmed. If they're hesitant a good compromise could be using one of your item infusions to make them count as unarmed attacks, as if you had an infusion with that effect.
This is exactly what I was thinking while watching the video. 3 levels armor, 13 levels rune knight, 1 level rogue for expertise in athletics. Custom lineage to take tavern brawler, unarmed fighting style, tough feat, mobile feat, plate armor, heavy armor master feat as well. This was on the basis of rolling some decent stats too.
Thinking of building a grappler that goes full rune knight fighter. Tavern brawler at level 1, skill expert at 4 and crusher at 6. I'm thinking it is a bit feat heavy, but at least it doesn't need to multiclass. It would probably deal less damage than this build, but would be able to grapple even more often, plus the extra forced movement of crusher
I’d love to see you make a video of what you think the perfect dnd adventuring group would look like out of your builds, always love your content, keep up the good work
Thanks! Full party builds are hard but I *do* enjoy "team up" two character builds once in awhile. I might just combine a couple of those... say the "Brainy and the Beast" with maybe the "Wolf and Coyote"?
I did this a while back, with no monk: V. Human -> Taver Brawler feat (+1CON and bonus action grapple). Try asking the DM for a pair of brass knuckles. Lvl 1: Barb for the Rage and the 12+CON HP. The AC helps as well Lvl 2: Fighter -> Unarmed Fighting for the damage dice increase Lvl 3: Fighter for the combo (Rage - punch - punch - grapple) Lvl 4: Fighter -> BM with Parry, Bait and Switch and Evasive Footwork if you don't have the knuckles. If you do, pick whatever you like (I'd go Riposte, Trip Attack and Pushing Attack/Parry for the MMA feel). Lvl 5: Barb if going for Bear Totem. Fighter all the way if not. Reckless should work only if you have the knuckles, I guess. Lvl 6: Barb -> Bear Totem for resistances. Lvl 7+: Fighter As Todd Howard said: "It just works"
My Gloomstalker Ranger died at level 9 in our ongoing Out of the Abyss campaign. For my new character, I made a mountain dwarf Battlerager Barbarian/Battlemaster Fighter that has the Tavern Brawler feat and took the Unarmed Fighting fighting style. He also has the Piercer feat and uses a pike, war pick, heavy crossbow, and of course his spiked armor. He has alchemist's supplies proficiency so his battle plan is to throw alchemist's fire or a molotov cocktail and charge in with his pike...then drop it and punch, grapple, and basically be a madman. I did 6 lvls of fighter and took Quick Toss as one of my Battlemaster maneuvers so I can throw the alchemist's fire as a bonus action. Then 3 lvls barbarian. Im considering going up to 6 lvls of the Battlerager Barbarian to get the cool temp hp every round with reckless attack. Would love to see how you would build this out. We dont use the custom race or the rule that lets you put the ability score increases for your race wherever you want, but the +2 str +2 con for mtn dwarf works for this build.
I'm a big fan of the character, The Goon, who punches the undead and other eldritch horrors out for a living. Wanted to build a 5e inspired character for a long time. This is dope
I'd been theory crafting a boxer build for a while, more like a little mac than anything. a boxer so no focus on grapples and i thought I'd share what i personally came up with (i want to point out i am not optimizing for damage fully there are most certainly better options damage wise) Level 1: Monk, its already explained here why. start out variant human, taking the crusher feat (its just really cool too punch someone so hard they move 5 feet back also plus one to str/con is nice) assuming point buy the stats i started with are (after racials) 16 str: 14 dex: 14 con: 9 int: 14 wis: 8 cha: as a side note you could start 15 con and 13 wis. but the 14 wis will give slightly better survivability at level 1, take your pick 2nd level: 1 fighter: unarmed fighting style making 2 attacks per turn doing 2d8+6 3rd level: 1 barbarian: similarly you want barbarians unarmored defense more and rage is great 5th level: 3 fighter: i went with battle master as i think it fits better thematically, taking maneuvers like evasive foot work and feinting attack work really give the image of a boxer. evasive foot work is especially good here because with crusher your pushing most enemies out of melee range anyway leaving you free to move around 6th level: 4 fighter: I'd honestly just use this to pump strength, taking mobile is also i pick i like though for thematic and mechanical reasons 7th level: 5 fighter: you get your extra attack here 8th level: 2 barbarian: danger sense and reckless are great 9th level: 3 barbarian: i choose totem for even more tankieness i also think it works well thematically with a boxer being able to take damage well and stay standing from here I put the rest into fighter making sure to grab mobile and pumping but strength and con, theres quite a bit of room for feats in this build since a lot of it is fighter a few of my favorite for thematic reasons would be athlete,charger,tough,mobile,martial innitiate,martial adept. the biggest down sides to this build are obviously no magical damage to cover resistances, not amazing damage, not great AC and really not much out of combat utility. however it is still a pretty tanky build thanks in most to rage with bear totem and it is flavorful as hell thanks to battle master. this was my personal take on a similar build if you have any suggestions I'd love to hear em
So I stopped your video after your level 6 damage report because I wanted to compare it to a level 6 "Pugilist" build I'm making for an upcoming campaign. Where you are Monk 1/ Barb 2/ Fighter 3, I'm straight up Bear Totem Barbarian 6, though I may take 1 level of Barb away for a late Monk addition, but back to why I'm posting this. My build is pretty simple. V.Human Barb 6(Bear Totem) with Fighting Initiate (Unarmed) and Charger feats and who's taken the variant class feature "Instinctive Pounce" instead of the Fast Movement. Round 1 (Rage, Grapple enemy, use Charger/Instinctive Pounce to drag the enemy with me as I slam my face into one of their friends for 1d8+6 (Or +4 without Magic Items as this character has the Gauntlets of Ogre Power as approved by the DM, I'll be assuming I use the character as I have it) damage. The next turn it's 2 attacks and a reaction, so that's 3d8+16+1d4 damage a turn, and if I moved more than 10 feet before making any of the attacks, it increases the damage by 5, so best case scenario is 3d8+16+1d4+10 damage per turn (Moving 10 or more feet first by dragging, then using Instinctive Pounce in the mid rounds). Honestly I wanted to find out how you felt this build held up to yours.
Nice, getting martial arts solves the problem of being funneled into using a shield, and is in line with the theme. I was assuming tavern brawler, but this works.
so, if your GM allows, there is a 3rd party subclass for monk that is STR based brawler/grappler in the "Journey to Ragnarok" (viking themed 5e kickstarter campaign book) 3rd lvl gives 2 things: 1st is gaining proficiency in athletics and the ability to use STR in place of DEX for your unarmored defense AC, the 2nd gives bonus stuff for grapples namely targets you grapple had disadvantage on all attack rolls and an ability to auto-damage a grappled target either when you start the grapple or the target escapes the grapple (costs 1 ki point, and deals martial arts dice + STR or DEX mod in damage; no save) 6th lvl lets you yeet a grappled target 10/30 ft, it costs 1 ki point and damage is the same as the previous 3rd lvl ability but it's dealt to both the target of the throw and the target thrown (the latter takes the damage regardless if the throw is a hit or miss) 11th lvl is a bit more lackluster, as it's only an ability that costs 2 ki points + some HP to auto pass a grapple check (either to start a grapple or prevent the target from escaping) 17th lvl is better than 11th, but also expensive as it's 4 ki points to make a grapple check (at advantage) at the start of the round, and it's basically like a legendary action to grapple at the top of the initiative order tbh, the subclass isn't worth it past lvl 6 (though 8 lvls of monk could be worth it for evasion & ASI), but i felt it fit the concept of a buff af brawler/street fighter quite well, so i thought i'd post it since it is a bit more of a "official" than any other HB that immediately comes to mind (though it is still 3rd party kickstarter and not WotC official material) feel free to look up the actual subclass material online, and ask your GM(s) what they think and if they'd allow it
*looks at the thumbnail* Well hello Prince Zuko You can have 1 attack be force damage with Horizon Walker Ranger's Planar Warrior feature gained at level 3, but that also costs your bonus action. Any feature that lets us make "a weapon attack" as a bonus action will let us make an unarmed strike. Off the top of my head we have: War Cleric's War Priest Wis mod times per long rest Berserker Barbarian's Frenzy (not even dependent on taking the attack action)
I have a character who is Dex focused, because of outside things, but fights more with other creatures than any normal weapons. She has weapons, but doesn't use them, instead using what she's fighting to deal damage to itself and others. It is fantastic!
12:03 "...There's no way [snip] to get an attack with your fists as a bonus action outside of being a monk..." I, too, might be wrong, but I think that's true. However! If you want an *unarmed strike* as a bonus action, there are a few ways to go about it. 1) It's possible with the Longtooth Shifter race from the 'Eberron - Rising from the Last War' sourcebook. It's only available while you're "shifting" - a kind of like a "Rage lite" feature available to use once between rests, short or long, lasting up to a minute. 2) The centaur can do it with their hooves after a charging attack, which in turn requires the character to move 30 ft in a straight line before it. 3) The minotaur (Theros, Ravnica, Amonkhet) can use their horns to make a bonus attack unarmed strike as a Goring Rush, but that requires taking a dash action and moving 20 ft - although, that movement doesn't need to be in a line. So, even in melee already, you could walk to the other side of your target never leaving the threatened squares, and still have 40 ft movement left for the round. It's not great, but it's possible. Note that you should ask if your DM considers centaur hooves and minotaur horns "weapons" that still make unarmed attacks or not. "Weapons" can be blessed, normal unarmed attacks can't, unless specifically mentioned by the type of blessing feature. In addition, some features require an attack made "with a weapon" - regardless of whether those weapons make unarmed strikes or normal weapon attacks. (Unarmed strikes are a special type of weapon attack, as "weapon attack" just means "not a spell attack") Regardless, each of the above are considered "unarmed strikes". A special note, the Viashino Race from UA53 - Races of Ravnica has access to an unarmed strike as a reaction to an enemy dealing damage to you. If your build wants plenty of unarmed attacks, that's a pretty unique option.
I know you don't account for magic items, but if your dm allows (or just wants to give you one) take the eldritch claw tattoo. Your unarmed strikes count as magical (for overcoming resistance), +1 to hit and dmg, increases the range to 15ft, and gives an extra d6 force dmg!
Very cool build. Trying to work on something with the Path of the Beast/fighter. That additional attack from path of the beast counts as simple weapons. Need to hash it out with dual wielder feat, grappler, possible two weapon fighting, and maybe skill expert. Eldritch claw tattoo would handle magical attacks if we keep the barbarian at 3, or we can forgo it if we go to 6+ on barb but I feel the fighter levels do more long term.
I love this idea! If it were me, I'd probably skip the first level in Monk (unless you gotta have that story element) because if we consider a fighter with unarmed fighting style being able to utilize all their appendages as weapons (which I do as a DM, your mileage may vary) then we should be able to consider their bonus action as a viable "light weapon attack" since their appendages are unweighted. Plus you can wear chainmail, so your AC ends up being higher anyway (all the street fighters who like living wear armor). So you start out as an angry dwarf with no axe at hand, but with two doughty fists at level 1. I love the monk but I can't take that first monk level.
Colby: Have you ever thought about building optimized characters with a low (or lower) score in an important ability? I think it would be challenging, yet fun. There are lots of features that make this possible: • Dwarf Speed not reduced by wearing heavy armor • Hexblade using Charisma for attacks and damage. • Druid Wild Shape using beast stats to replace physical ability scores. Some of the best fantasy fiction characters have defects or weaknesses that they have to work around. I’m thinking of examples like Elric of Melnibone’. 🗡
I probably would have just gone Battle Master Fighter with a Barbarian dip, unarmed fighting Style, Tavern Brawler Feat for a bonus action grapple, Crusher for extra bludgeoning stuff
My table plays with the rule of getting an extra feat at lvl 1. So I took the one that lets you choose a fighting style. Then just built a Barbarian with the unarmed fighting style. Worked decently
Ive been working through an idea of essentially making a borderlands psycho style character. Obsessed with cleansing everything with fire, keeps a bucket of oil that he dips his hands in, and then sets on fire. I was thinking path of the zealot barbarian, into some fighter levels(the rune knight you brough up is interesting) and finishing with some paladin levels to help scale maybe. Also heavily dependent on having "magical" brass knuckles
one of my favorite feats from 3.5e, was the monk vow of ascetism. to me, that really fit the flavor of one kind of monk, i would love to see a monk subclass REALLY go into that. maybe a homebrew subclass. eventually not needing to eat, drink, or breath, crazy natural stat growth, attacks becoming magical basically, so long as you didn't own anything. i have no clue if that translated to 5e would be good though, especially considering it wasn't considered all that strong in 3.5e even. maybe if the stat boost wasn't limited by the 20 cap? like your class normal attribute increase would still be limited to 20, but iirc, you end up with a +8 from on one stat, +6 on a second, +4 on a third, and +2 on a fourth stat from that feat. so you could end up with a 28 dex at level 20.
Oh man I was excited for this build but it ended up even better than I was expecting. DPR isn't amazing but I love the build. It is almost more of a controller build anyway that still does decent damage.
Looks like my barbarian is going to be training with the holy monk at the top of the mountain in waterdeep while everyone is dealing with some mad mage. Just in case :)
I actually was looking for a Zangief (Street fighter) build a couple years back. 😳 This isn't quite that, but close enough. Loved your bloopers at the end 🤣🎤
STANDARD HUMAN! Love dwarfs but with such a MAD pc, not feat dependant you lost probably the only occasion to have standard human be the optimized choice. You get the same modifiers via buy point and have1 extra square of movment that for a melee is always nice. That said loved the video and the build. At level 10 would lane the same but personally of like at your table usually 2 rages are enough would go fighter after barb1 monk1 and take barb 2 and 3 after level 5 or 6 of fighter. If I go barb 2 from the beginning might as well take 3 and then go fighter.
I'm playing an unarmed fighter rune knight and I have a set of Ornate family gauntlets that allow my Runic type to alter my punch damage to elemental damage to some degree. Still super early in the campaign so it isn't suuuuper influential right now, but god damn he's so much fun!
I always wondered, similar how using magical staffs as a quarterstaff deals magical blugeoning, I wonder if any magical gauntlets would also give magical unarmed damage as long as you used them (or boots for kicks)
I just took a look at this and wanted to try making a brawler. I decided to use 3 levels of monk (4 if you want ASI) strictly for Way of Astral Self, for the arms. Since they are force damage, this solves the overcoming physical resistances issue. The rest I took in fighter, since it has more than enough ASI's to quickly fill out the MADness of the monk and went Battlemaster. With the extended reach of the arms and the lunging attack maneuver, I get to punch something 15 feet away 2d8+3 as early as level 6 (1d8 Unarmed Fighting style + 3 DEX/WIS + 1d8 superiority dice)! The other maneuvers I get to flavor as different martial arts techniques.
The new Longtooth Shifter gets their Unarmed Strike as a bonus action prof. bonus times per long rest! Meaning you will likely be good with that for most battles
I thought it was unlimited but only when shifted which is once per short rest. Centaur gets bonus action d4 hoof attack when charging, so a bit conditional but with mobile it's not bad.
My low equipment brawler ended up being a "Perfect specimen" type Tiefling based Dhampir. Mostly path of the beast barb, but 3 levels to rune knight as well. There is ZERO barbarian theme, he is a gentleman brawler. Rage is more of a . . . Razor instinct deal. Only piece of equipment is a full arm shield (bulky gauntlet style), with the shield master feat. The empty hand can punch in non threatening or role-playing situations, or can grapple when "raging", allowing you to attack with bite and tail. AMA
Sounds really cool! I especially like hitting people with your tail. I'm curious, is it flavor for your unarmed strikes or is it treated as something else? Like how a creatures tail attack might differ from their claws or bite.
@@hayleykaye1751 It's actually hitting with the tail, an option granted by path of the beast barbarian. Having Tiefling as a base flavour gives a tail from the start, for a flavour win.
I played something very similar! Interesting that you used bite and tail. I'd think that claws would be generally better (note you don't have to have both hands free to make two attacks with the claws, only one). Rune Knight Fire rune actually works with the Barb claws, bite or tail, since they are treated as 'simple weapons' by the game (this causes some other issues, such as not working with the unarmed fighting style, but meh)
@@insertphrasehere15 Claws certainly may be better for sustained dps, that's true! However, I opted for a bit more resilience with the shield, and so have no free hands when grappling. Also, I just love the defensive reaction the tail gives! The bite is. . . Lesser utilized.
Nice!!! Mine is a level 5 Hunter (colosssus slayer) Ranger STR20 with unarmed fighting style feat, so he give some heavy punches with Hunter's Mark and the other features. (one punch can make 27 damage)
I'm taking Fighter & Tavern Brawler at lvl 1 as a GM bonus feat so that I can attack then bonus action grapple to ensure I get the 1d4 extra damage. I'm going to skip the monk, dip just 1 level in Barbarian at lvl 2 and focus on Fighter Battle Master.
I was curious where you were going to end up with this build. "It ain't about how hard you hit, it's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward", I think this is about as good as you can get. Adding some extra dice and some base attack damage. Thanks for the plug by the way!
Legends supporting legends here, love to see it
You love to see it!
Thanks and of course! I’d like to play one of my monks with your house rules ;)
@@DnDDeepDive I thought I read somewhere that you only get the feature of your unarmored defense from the "first" time you gain the feature. It has been a while since I looked into it but I am fairly certain that is how the rules read.
@@BLynn IIRC it more of a 'if get unarmored defense from more than one source, you have to choose which one you want to use'.
One thing I meant to discuss and forgot so will put it here: what about Expertise!? It's true: finding a way to get Expertise in Athletics would increase your grappling prowess significantly. I was trying to stretch our DPR with this character but you should definitely consider trying to work Expertise into the build somehow. For me it would either be via the Skill Expert feat (and if I went that route, I'd *probably* start Custom Lineage so I could get that feat and start with an 18 Strength) *or* take one level of Ranger along the way for Canny, which is basically Expertise.
ALSO! Errata: You cannot get Unarmed Defense from Barb if you already got it from Monk as per RAW (I sometimes forget that you don't get to choose one or the other). Thus, with this version of the build you'd be best off starting Barb.
Skill Expert feat would be a great choice here and with only a +1 to stat, maybe grab Crusher feat for another +1 stat to round up.
For expertise I think I would get one level of rogue.
Then try to talk my DM into allow my Fists to light finesse weapons to add sneak attack. It is só stupid that they are not.
I ended up taking a dip in Rogue for the Extra Skill Proficiencies and Expertise in Athletics + Intimidation/Persuasion (mainly cause of the way I wanted to play this character). But yeah, having that Expertise in Athletics is pretty fun, I've done some very bonkers things! Also, having advantage on Grappling is... just icing on the cake; couple that with a few random Homebrewed Feats that a DM had on hand (they uhhh.... kinda make this Grappler extremely unfair).... I think just having an Eldritch Claw Tattoo is currently sufficient for my Magical Bonus lol.
Overall though, nice Unarmed Fighter build! Mine is moreso with Plate Armor cause why not have a Soldier who's there to kick some ass with their bare hands, feet, etc! Also a female character, she's 'built different' as my friends say lol xD
P.S: I may not be subscribed, BUT... if I can recommend an idea, try looking at Rin Tohsaka from Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works! Look at how she can fight CQC (Unarmed Fighting) and use Magic to buff herself/deal insane fun damage xD I'll leave it up to you in terms of how you'd build this character, or if you want an idea on how to do so and maybe do a Viewer D&D Optimized Build, I'll offer myself as tribute for the first one to do it as a Guinea Pig xD
@@dienezdarcprowlyr9406 I'd try and convince the DM into doing that IF I mutliclassed Rogue and Monk. They might try to turn it into a Feat instead, but could turn it into a Half-Feat with the +1 ASI to Dex.
One more little issue with the tactical options around 27:50 (levels 2-6 so pre-Extra Attack). If you use your Action to Grapple, the monk with Martial Arts unfortunately cannot do a BA unarmed strike. The BA attack is enabled by using the Attack action with an unarmed strike or monk weapon. Not a huge deal. Does help the case for Tavern Brawler and/or cutting the monk entirely for anyone interested/disinterested in those...inhumane routes. Monks are people too.
My friend was playing in a ToA game and they were playing a Rune Knight with the unarmed fighting style, and they were highly consistent. I also got them an Eldritch Claw tattoo so they would have a 'magic weapon'. They had that tattoo all the way to the end (the end being a sidequest into the Nine Hells to get a wish from a Dao)
They punched a Demon Lord in the face, it was epic.
I did about the same with one of my characters. It was one of my favorites yet in 5e.
was your friend's build a straight fighter?
Currently playing a Goliath unarmed rune knight, missed a feat, but boi it's good to punch giants in the face.
@@jacopoolivari5484 god that sounds fun, but on the other hand, my brain is imagining if you played just some pissed off halfling lol, hope it continues to be absolutely rad as hell
@@GoblinLord Duregar.
You get big
Then BIGGER.
When I played Rise of Tiamat, I thought "well... one big problem when fighting dragons is that they can flyby over our heads breathing tons of damage on us. What if they coudn't fly away anymore?" So I did a Goliath Rune Knight/ Divine Soul who could increase to Huge size (giant might + enlarge), teleport to the sky (thunderstep) and action surge to grapple
Can we just take a moment to appreciate the commitment with the make up on the thumbnail!?
Also I’ve been working on a similar concept to this but a duo with a Bard being like a wrestler and their entourage. This will for sure help me work it!
Props to my friend Preston for the Thumb! (No, not for punching me, for the photoshop work 😛)
Oh that sounds like it'd be super fun Phillips! The first thing I thought of is an over the top wrestling manager like Jimmy Hart, that would be funny
@@hayleykaye1751 Exactly the concept! Me and a friend are planning on playing them in a future campaign since we are both fans of wrestling
@@guitarplayerJeiky I would love to see that, it sounds like a lot of fun. I wonder of your dm would let the bard use a bullhorn as their musical instrument and spellcasting focus? Lol
One cool alternative for the race would be the Bugbear if you can manage to get high enough stats. The extra reach and once per combat damage could give this character a role similar to a polearm master build if you take sentinel
When I dmed for a monk i gave him basically martial arts wrappings that increased his martial arts die by 1 since it maxes at d10. we made it a d12 and his damage felt really good imo
The description of the character's origin actually works really well for being Nacho Libre!
Since we want to start as a barbarian anyway for the unarmored defense, I wonder how this build would perform if you went berserker barbarian for the extra attack as a bonus action and omit monk entirely. I know that this would delay our fighter levels, but that might be the way to easily squeeze in another class for expertise.
Yeah, I love the idea if you only tend to have one big combat encounter per day. Otherwise, that exhaustion gets *really* painful.
I just started watching the netflix daredevil show. The ability to take a punch and being a “boxer” has some fun parallels!
All we'd need is a way to get blindfighting (or blindsense i forget the actual name) and we're set!
Something that would help your survivability is the fact that a prone enemy has disadvantage on attacks. So that grappled&prone enemy would have a harder time hitting you
One thing I really like about your channel is that you make personal requests for support, rather than using pre-recorded ads that you insert into every video. 👍🏻
The "redundancy" between the rune and rage (advantage on strength stuff, resist some damage) isn't a bad thing. There are plenty of games where you might run out of rages. Perfect time to invoke those runes!
Personally, when I made a pugilist I went for a more nonmagical route. Intsead of a level dip in monk, I took the tavern brawler feat. While the Rune Knight ia definitely better at grappling, I chose to go with the Battle Master subclass to make them seem like more of a trained fighter in hand to hand combat.
As for the race, the campaign I was in gave everyone a free feat and didn't allow for V. Human, so I was stuck between going plasmoid or dhampir. Both were cool flavorwise and mechanically, but I ended up going with dhampir since a friend gave me a cool bacsktory idea.
I eventually took the skill expert feat for expertise in athletics. The end result was ridiculous athletics checks (+13 athletics check +1d8 from grapple strike +1d4+4 from dhampir bite), the highest one being 42.
I played a strength based pugilist/grappler and I was actually surprised at how effective (and incredibly fun) it was. I didn't take a monk level - instead I took tavern brawler to gain a bonus action grapple. Once I had my extra attack my first round was typically to shove prone the enemy with my first attack, do an unarmed strike with my second, and then grapple with the bonus action. That worked really well and I would typically lock down the toughest looking opponent in most fights. After having that set-up and working I took skill expert with my next ASI to get expertise in athletics.
Your end outtakes make a good point, this character kinda requires a hard companion to announce them and sing their rocky theme.
ITS TIIIIIIMMMMMEEEE
One idea I had for this build. If you roll for stats and you get a bit lucky, it would be really cool to go loxodon for the race, because you don't need to invest as heavily into dexterity, and you can grapple 3 people at once.
So excited for this one I was literally refreshing the page waiting for it 😅
You and me both.
That makes three of us!
First!
Really excited for this build btw.
Also, before I forget: I was playing an artillarist artificer yesterday, and I found out the protector turret, when combined with a raging barbarian, is incredibly effective and makes your frontline even more tanky then before.
This gave me an idea: how would you go about creating a two-person build (like the wolf & coyote, battery & blender, etc) but instead of building for damage, you build to make these two characters, when paired together, basically unkillable.
Just a thought.
Ah but you weren't first...
Will put it on the to do list :)
@@heathbecker420 RIP. I didn't see any other comments when I put that. Darn it.
@@DnDDeepDive Huzzah!
I know you usually build characters for a whole campaign, and I really enjoy that! A one-shot character I'd made definitely didn't have that in mind, but with a rune knight and a sorcerer dip to get enlarge/reduce I made a grappler bugbear who got large enough to grapple an gargantuan dragon (homebrew young tiamat)! We had to check the rules because it surprised all of us, but legendary resistance won't help on the check to contest a grapple. Very fun to pin a dragon for multiple rounds.
Level 1:(see above) [monk 1 & race] {{Comments say to change this to barbarian}}
Level 2:(see above) [barbarian 1] {{changing 1st requires this or 3rd level to be monk 1}}
Level 3:(@15:54) [barbarian 2]
Level 4:(@17:29) [fighter 1 & fighting-style]
Level 5:(@22:15) [fighter 2]
Level 6:(@22:29) [fighter 3 & subclass]
Level 7:(see above) [fighter 4 & ASI]
Level 8:(@32:29) [fighter 5]
Level 9:(@32:54) [fighter 6 & ASI]
Level 10:(see above) [barbarian 3 & subclass]
Level 11:(@36:52) [fighter 7]
Level 12:(@38:36) [fighter 8 & ASI]
Level 13:(@39:00) [fighter 9]
Level 14:(see above) [fighter 10] {{my mistake commenting there was an ASI at this level}}
Level 15:(@42:11) [fighter 11]
Level 16:(@43:07) [fighter 12 & ASI]
Level 17:(@43:24) [barbarian 4 & ASI]
You don't get an ASI at fighter level 10. I think you and Colby goofed. He should only have a Dex of 16.
@@davidsweet5094 it is probably my fault trying to do multiple things at once. I will check the video & apply the correction. Noting if it is a mistake in the video.
Funny, I was thinking of this as a top laner in League the entire time I was listening to the video! I also haven't played much in a long time, but the memories are always there. Great content, thanks for your work :)
I think a really strong base for an "anti-monk" build would be 1 Monk/2 Rogue/x Fighter (and some Barbarian if you are going Strength like you did). Monk for Unarmored Defense and Martials Arts. Rogue for Cunning Action (and Expertise in Athletics if grappling). Fighter for Unarmed Fighting Style. I think right at level 4 you will feel similar-ish to a Monk, but your numbers across the board should be better.
I think I would rather take the last level on monk to unlock ki features. It would be cool thematically, something like "after all your travels, adventures and fights you came back from were you began and understood the way of your first master to unlock the power within". And mechanically that would give you 2 uses of flurry of blows per short rest that you could use in the same turn as action surge, make 8 attacks and feel like a Street Fighter character using a Special Move.
As always, amazing show. Thank you so much for all your work.
At lvl 3, I swapped the 2nd level of barbarian for rogue before going fighter. I think a 1-level dip into rogue is worth the expertise in athletics (grappling). Not to mention getting proficiency and expertise in perception or whatever you want, plus thieves tools. If the DM allows sneak attack with unarmed, that would be a nice bonus.
Perfect timing. I get to watch this during my lunch break!
I did something similar with a homebrew race that's descended from wolverines. Because of that critter's thick skin, I gave the race a Constitution-based AC similar to loxodons'. That way I could stick with monk and fighter without worrying about unarmored defense. Still, taking fewer levels in monk (I was going for flurry of blows) and adding a few in barbarian is worth a look.
Also, I went with Battle Master, particularly for Grappling Strike and Trip Attack, but considered Rune Knight, as much for the cool factor as anything else.
A couple spell tattoos can really help out a build like this. Barrier tattoo and Eldritch claw tattoo in particular. As a DM I would probably be inclined to let somebody have them if was was to bring a cool character concept more in-line with optimized characters.
Older editions had the cestus that you could use as a weapon, I feel like it should exist in 5e. You're still using your fists, but it's also a weapon which can be magical. I mean, it's not like a pair of magical brass knucles would break the game.
Agreed! I had a DM create some magical hand-wraps for me once; very thoughtful
For the zealot barbarian gain, I would slot it into a story beat where you realize the monastery you started in wasn't worthless. You still aren't suited to the way of the floating leaf, but your rage has a tranquility of it's own.
Very nice as always!
The best one I came up with (only gone to level 4 for the concept) was Fighter 1 & Tiger totem barb 3 - The entire idea was based around hitting them, and using bonus action to get them into a grapple. the next turn you would leap into the air (and hopefully have boots of leaping and striding) and go 15' into the air piledriving both you and them into the ground. Didn't think it would scale much, but I loved the concept!
Love the prelude. You really set up what’s needed in the session “0”!
You did an amazing job with the limited options for this concept you have in by the book gameplay. Thankfully I have a DM that allows homebrew and have a pugilist barbarian subclass that actually scales better than a monk with unarmed fighting. But genuinely your by the book build could be used in by the book games and outshine a number of solo class builds that people play in those games with ease. Well done.
I think the ‘not a monk’ preference was to avoid the no armour restriction which you can’t avoid if you want the extra bonus attack. 6 lvls in beast barbarian might work and be on point for that inner rage you talked about when explaining why they were with the monks in the first place?
Right - I seriously considered Beat Barb for a long time but ultimately decided against just because I was really wanting like, an MMA puncher and not so much a Werewolf/Slasher, ya know? Obviously it'd be a strong option, but especially as the claws are technically considered weapons, it just didn't feel quite right, thematically.
I ran this exact build up to level 10 in a one shot! I also on a prior incarnation of this build from before Rune Knight I asked Crawford about using a grappler creature as an improvised weapon which he then used in a session of Acquisitions Incorporated he DMed for.
Damn colby you always seem to reach into my mind and pull out builds Ive had on paper forever but now get to see them be optimized!! Ill just give you my next idea so you dont need to use your alter memories on me.
The MC/the mentor/undying type character basically the general idea is a barbarian/shadow monk atm that always gets up to fight back, lemme know what you think :)
Its my own way of dealing with some bbegs and plans DMs set up, usually the plan to kill you once so this character has had some use running at the BBEG burning their strongest spells and then getting right back up
Low-key bothered by the fact that an Armorer Artificer with the Dual Wielder feat is better as a Street Fighter than Monks.
This one would be a really interesting one to revisit via 2024 rules. With improvements to Monk and Barbarian, and fighter. I think the fighter dip becomes much less important and so we could probably go pure Monk-barian
That moment when you’re rewatching one of Colby’s other videos just waiting for the new one to drop.
When you spoke of wanting to grapple and fight unarmed, I figured you'd do a duergar rune knight. That way you can use the rune knight ability to become large then enlarge/reduce on yourself to become huge and grapple pretty much anything
Edit: Well, I kept watching and I see you went Rune Knight after all lol
I played a character like this. He was a russian pit fighter, specialized in grapples and battlefield control as fighter. Yep, I'm kinda insane, but it was really fun
Russian fighter... specializes in grapples... now I'm imagining Zangief from street fighter, which sounds just Perfect! 😜
Don't comment often in videos since YT comment section is a bit intimidating for me haha,; however, I have really wanted to express that I have been watching your channel since I first came across your Beast Master 2.0 video, and each video is still a blast to watch. Thanks for all the thought and work you put into every video! :)
Man I really gotta start actually doing my ideas. I was JUST thinking about how to optimize the unarmed strikes fighting style, and here you are doing it before I get the chance.
Not gonna lie, it feels like I'm spoiling it for myself so I don't get the chance to figure it out, but your builds always end up better than mine anyways.
I say go for it still Caleb! If you want to you can customize Colbys' build, or just go ahead with your own ideas. You could try doing variants as well, like purposely taking no monk levels while still trying to maximize unarmed fighting, or focusing your build around a different race. In any case you should definitely give it a shot :)
@@hayleykaye1751 yeah I think I'd make it a little more spell friendly potentially. I've got some ideas 🤔
Love this build!
Not the best option right now due to how it meaning another round of bonus action set up but the new shifter longtooth subrace is rumoured to have a bonus action bit attack that doesn't require a round of setup like the old one. That would be a good alternative to a monk level. I'd maybe go Longtooth fighter X/barbarian 4. Maybe picking battlemaster for the manoeuvres. You can grapple/shove prone two enemies and spend your time biting them. Huge and larger enemies will be a problem though unless you have a kind wizard friend willing to cast enlarge.
Battle Master is definitely a great option mechanically and flavor wise!
If you wanna be more of a striker type but don't wanna leave out the grappling, it's worth keeping in mind that conceptually, grappling doesn't have to mean suplexes, ground positions or joint locks - it could just be something as simple as an ear grab while you throw elbows, or a single collar tie for your knee strikes to connect to. Any kind of entanglement at all can be what grappling is. You don't have to be greek or roman! :)
Clinching would make since if you’re going for a boxer type character
@@shinystars2475 yep, exactly! Clinches just like I said with the ear grab or single collar tie. All sorts of options. You probably mean the thai plumb? You could also do a half nelson or grovit, or the old pit hook if you're a bit to the side of them. Even a leg vine can still be a standing option. Hair grab, pie face or goozle for the rougher sorts maybe. Or hell just a shirt bunch why not. Plenty of options for a controlled target to be striking at, even if you're not intending to go to the ground.
I mean if you really wanna go conceptual, you could reasonably have just a stream of accurate jabs behave as a grapple, so long as you're using them to control rather than do damage (as is, after all, the typical use). Even just that functionally behaves as a kind of tie-up.
Honestly, i would have no issue with monk. It just has to hit with strength.
@d4: D&D Deep Dive
I know you've been talking about a spirit guardian build and I think I got one for ya
3 lvls Rune Knight Fighter for Giants Might
6 lvls of Lore Bard for expertise in Athletics and Magical Secrets grabbing Spirit Guardians and Spiritual Weapon.
Pick up the feats Warcaster (keeps Spirit Guardians up) and Telekinesis (keeps ppl in your Spirit Guardians range)
Extra 2 lvls of fighter get you a second grappled target.
Bugbear for the extra reach?
Also love the mental image of a Giant's Mighted Bugbear casting Spirit Guardians and running (in full plate armour) into the middle of the battlefield action surging to grapple someone and lifting them off the ground.
And maybe your little goblin rogue friend has spider climb and is on your back that whole time taking snap shots when the opportunity arises.
Feels like you might have to revisit this build with the new Brawler subclass.
One thing to point out; per the PHB, once you have Unarmored Defense from one source you can't gain the feature again from another (just like extra attack). As such you probably want to start with your 1 level in Barbarian, otherwise you'll be stuck with monk unarmored defense forever.
Honestly? This is a brawler build I can get behind. Let's you really embrace that "MMA" feel of a Brawler, while bringing a load of utility aside from "grab and hit stuff".
Me personally, I'd likely go bear totem with this particular build because, moar tanky, and more effective hit points vs more elements.
Also Acton Surge gives you a Lot more options with this build than you would think.
And all those reactions? Muah. Chef's kiss. We're just doing stuff all the time. Great work as always.
I was just messing around with a similar build the other day. I chose Leonin and went more into Mercy Monk. I ended up with slightly less dpr, but I was able to Stun, Grapple, cause fear, and poison.
So now I can be a Kick Boxer and Boxer! THANK YOU!
I was looking for something EXACTLY like this for a character concept I wanted to play named Brekker, Thank you!
Imagine an obsidian black dragonborn. Now imagine he's 9 feet tall, built like a castle, has a strong Glaswegian accent and an Attila The Hun 'conquer the world' outlook.
He doesn't use weapons, because he's never needed them. He just wraps his giant clawed hand around someone's entire face, picks them up, and uses them to beat their friends.
My issue was trying to fit Conquest Paladin in there. I really want the whole monolith of Fear aura thing going on. If my DM lets me use knuckle dusters etc like you said I still get to smite :P
The idea is you saw this guy walking up to you 5 mins ago, but you've been rooted to the spot in terror because everything you threw at him didn't even phase him and you knew, you just KNEW, you were gonna die. He caught your arrows (monk), he tanked your ballista (barbarian), he killed the 3 trained guys you sent to stop him without breaking a sweat (fighter) with his bare hands, and he's still trudging towards you. Inexorable. Indestructible. Utterly terrifying. His confidence is not arrogance, it is just raw self-assurance, as nothing has ever been a match for him. He fears NOTHING. And even if you disregard everything else, for that sheer confidence alone, you SHOULD fear him. He is the Awesome Presence of an ancient dragon, distilled into pure, towering flesh.
I'll give ya a few sample lines:
"Noth'n will forestall m'judgment lad, not yer arrows, not yer steel, least of all yer mewlin' feeble 'God'."
"You were wise not to come alone. Honourless, but wise." "I was wrong about yer wisdom. Ye shoulda' brought more. I'll give ye a moment to finish yer prayers to the god of hindsight, 'fer i strangle ye with yer own spine."
I personally love grapplers. I made one for a TOA game and i was a goliath scout/bear totem. (advantage and expertise on grapples)
The DM gave me slippers of spider climb (his mistake) and i spent many sessions throwing enemies off cliffs, moving allies to safe locations, knocking enemies prone and dragging them to the foot of the paladin in the group (they seldom ever had to move, i just ferried enemies to them) There was also a three hour combat we had with a few gargoyles in a large room where i jumped from gargoyle to gargoyle knocking them prone and catching myself on the wall while our group made walls of fire they fell through and an enemy wizard was on the field trying to shoot us with spells
In Pathfinder 1E there's a class called a rager, which is a Barbarian/Monk hybrid. I have one who fits the bruising, angry, brawler, who runs on coffee, cigarettes, Jet-fuel strength liquor, and RAGE.
For a while I've been sorta back and forth on offing myself. DND was really one of the only things I enjoyed. I tried making a homebrew subclass to try and do exactly this. I posted it on Reddit and was told it was so bad that i shouldn't even try and fix it. Im really glad even if my awful subclass doesn't work im glad i can still do this.
Hang in there friend! ❤️
I cannot stress enough how much I love the bluppers
Build Suggestion: "The Spellblade," featuring Charisma x 3 to every attack
Race: technically anything with martial weapon proficiencies as of Tasha's, swap something out for a rapier
Stats: prioritize Dex, then Cha, then Con
Draconic Sorcerer 6. Pick up Green-Flame Blade, a fire-type dragon ancestor, and Quickened Spell.
Celestial Warlock 12. Pick up Pact of the Blade and Lifedrinker. Fill out the last two levels with either Sorcerer or i guess Paladin?
Result: You can Green-Flame Blade + Quickened Green-Flame Blade every turn for 2d8 + 10 + 6d8 + 30 damage, you have AC equal to plate armor due to Draconic, and you're still a fullcaster.
... You run out of gas after 3-4 turns though.
You can also take 3 levels of Artificer and punch with Thunder damage!
Didn’t think about Armorer - good point, though of course, technically your gauntlet counts as a simple weapon… 🤔
@@DnDDeepDive yes, they do, so not technically unarmed, though you would only have to use them when punching through resistances.
You could always ask your dm to allow them to count as unarmed. If they're hesitant a good compromise could be using one of your item infusions to make them count as unarmed attacks, as if you had an infusion with that effect.
This is exactly what I was thinking while watching the video. 3 levels armor, 13 levels rune knight, 1 level rogue for expertise in athletics. Custom lineage to take tavern brawler, unarmed fighting style, tough feat, mobile feat, plate armor, heavy armor master feat as well. This was on the basis of rolling some decent stats too.
Thinking of building a grappler that goes full rune knight fighter. Tavern brawler at level 1, skill expert at 4 and crusher at 6. I'm thinking it is a bit feat heavy, but at least it doesn't need to multiclass.
It would probably deal less damage than this build, but would be able to grapple even more often, plus the extra forced movement of crusher
I’d love to see you make a video of what you think the perfect dnd adventuring group would look like out of your builds, always love your content, keep up the good work
Thanks! Full party builds are hard but I *do* enjoy "team up" two character builds once in awhile. I might just combine a couple of those... say the "Brainy and the Beast" with maybe the "Wolf and Coyote"?
outro song was worth it
I did this a while back, with no monk:
V. Human -> Taver Brawler feat (+1CON and bonus action grapple). Try asking the DM for a pair of brass knuckles.
Lvl 1: Barb for the Rage and the 12+CON HP. The AC helps as well
Lvl 2: Fighter -> Unarmed Fighting for the damage dice increase
Lvl 3: Fighter for the combo (Rage - punch - punch - grapple)
Lvl 4: Fighter -> BM with Parry, Bait and Switch and Evasive Footwork if you don't have the knuckles. If you do, pick whatever you like (I'd go Riposte, Trip Attack and Pushing Attack/Parry for the MMA feel).
Lvl 5: Barb if going for Bear Totem. Fighter all the way if not. Reckless should work only if you have the knuckles, I guess.
Lvl 6: Barb -> Bear Totem for resistances.
Lvl 7+: Fighter
As Todd Howard said: "It just works"
My Gloomstalker Ranger died at level 9 in our ongoing Out of the Abyss campaign. For my new character, I made a mountain dwarf Battlerager Barbarian/Battlemaster Fighter that has the Tavern Brawler feat and took the Unarmed Fighting fighting style. He also has the Piercer feat and uses a pike, war pick, heavy crossbow, and of course his spiked armor. He has alchemist's supplies proficiency so his battle plan is to throw alchemist's fire or a molotov cocktail and charge in with his pike...then drop it and punch, grapple, and basically be a madman. I did 6 lvls of fighter and took Quick Toss as one of my Battlemaster maneuvers so I can throw the alchemist's fire as a bonus action. Then 3 lvls barbarian. Im considering going up to 6 lvls of the Battlerager Barbarian to get the cool temp hp every round with reckless attack. Would love to see how you would build this out. We dont use the custom race or the rule that lets you put the ability score increases for your race wherever you want, but the +2 str +2 con for mtn dwarf works for this build.
I'm a big fan of the character, The Goon, who punches the undead and other eldritch horrors out for a living. Wanted to build a 5e inspired character for a long time. This is dope
I'd been theory crafting a boxer build for a while, more like a little mac than anything. a boxer so no focus on grapples and i thought I'd share what i personally came up with (i want to point out i am not optimizing for damage fully there are most certainly better options damage wise)
Level 1: Monk, its already explained here why.
start out variant human, taking the crusher feat (its just really cool too punch someone so hard they move 5 feet back also plus one to str/con is nice)
assuming point buy the stats i started with are (after racials)
16 str: 14 dex: 14 con: 9 int: 14 wis: 8 cha:
as a side note you could start 15 con and 13 wis. but the 14 wis will give slightly better survivability at level 1, take your pick
2nd level: 1 fighter:
unarmed fighting style making 2 attacks per turn doing 2d8+6
3rd level: 1 barbarian:
similarly you want barbarians unarmored defense more and rage is great
5th level: 3 fighter:
i went with battle master as i think it fits better thematically, taking maneuvers like evasive foot work and feinting attack work really give the image of a boxer. evasive foot work is especially good here because with crusher your pushing most enemies out of melee range anyway leaving you free to move around
6th level: 4 fighter: I'd honestly just use this to pump strength, taking mobile is also i pick i like though for thematic and mechanical reasons
7th level: 5 fighter: you get your extra attack here
8th level: 2 barbarian: danger sense and reckless are great
9th level: 3 barbarian: i choose totem for even more tankieness i also think it works well thematically with a boxer being able to take damage well and stay standing
from here I put the rest into fighter making sure to grab mobile and pumping but strength and con, theres quite a bit of room for feats in this build since a lot of it is fighter a few of my favorite for thematic reasons would be athlete,charger,tough,mobile,martial innitiate,martial adept.
the biggest down sides to this build are obviously no magical damage to cover resistances, not amazing damage, not great AC and really not much out of combat utility.
however it is still a pretty tanky build thanks in most to rage with bear totem and it is flavorful as hell thanks to battle master.
this was my personal take on a similar build if you have any suggestions I'd love to hear em
So I stopped your video after your level 6 damage report because I wanted to compare it to a level 6 "Pugilist" build I'm making for an upcoming campaign. Where you are Monk 1/ Barb 2/ Fighter 3, I'm straight up Bear Totem Barbarian 6, though I may take 1 level of Barb away for a late Monk addition, but back to why I'm posting this. My build is pretty simple. V.Human Barb 6(Bear Totem) with Fighting Initiate (Unarmed) and Charger feats and who's taken the variant class feature "Instinctive Pounce" instead of the Fast Movement.
Round 1 (Rage, Grapple enemy, use Charger/Instinctive Pounce to drag the enemy with me as I slam my face into one of their friends for 1d8+6 (Or +4 without Magic Items as this character has the Gauntlets of Ogre Power as approved by the DM, I'll be assuming I use the character as I have it) damage.
The next turn it's 2 attacks and a reaction, so that's 3d8+16+1d4 damage a turn, and if I moved more than 10 feet before making any of the attacks, it increases the damage by 5, so best case scenario is 3d8+16+1d4+10 damage per turn (Moving 10 or more feet first by dragging, then using Instinctive Pounce in the mid rounds). Honestly I wanted to find out how you felt this build held up to yours.
Nice, getting martial arts solves the problem of being funneled into using a shield, and is in line with the theme. I was assuming tavern brawler, but this works.
so, if your GM allows, there is a 3rd party subclass for monk that is STR based brawler/grappler in the "Journey to Ragnarok" (viking themed 5e kickstarter campaign book)
3rd lvl gives 2 things: 1st is gaining proficiency in athletics and the ability to use STR in place of DEX for your unarmored defense AC, the 2nd gives bonus stuff for grapples namely targets you grapple had disadvantage on all attack rolls and an ability to auto-damage a grappled target either when you start the grapple or the target escapes the grapple (costs 1 ki point, and deals martial arts dice + STR or DEX mod in damage; no save)
6th lvl lets you yeet a grappled target 10/30 ft, it costs 1 ki point and damage is the same as the previous 3rd lvl ability but it's dealt to both the target of the throw and the target thrown (the latter takes the damage regardless if the throw is a hit or miss)
11th lvl is a bit more lackluster, as it's only an ability that costs 2 ki points + some HP to auto pass a grapple check (either to start a grapple or prevent the target from escaping)
17th lvl is better than 11th, but also expensive as it's 4 ki points to make a grapple check (at advantage) at the start of the round, and it's basically like a legendary action to grapple at the top of the initiative order
tbh, the subclass isn't worth it past lvl 6 (though 8 lvls of monk could be worth it for evasion & ASI), but i felt it fit the concept of a buff af brawler/street fighter quite well, so i thought i'd post it since it is a bit more of a "official" than any other HB that immediately comes to mind (though it is still 3rd party kickstarter and not WotC official material)
feel free to look up the actual subclass material online, and ask your GM(s) what they think and if they'd allow it
*looks at the thumbnail*
Well hello Prince Zuko
You can have 1 attack be force damage with Horizon Walker Ranger's Planar Warrior feature gained at level 3, but that also costs your bonus action.
Any feature that lets us make "a weapon attack" as a bonus action will let us make an unarmed strike. Off the top of my head we have:
War Cleric's War Priest Wis mod times per long rest
Berserker Barbarian's Frenzy (not even dependent on taking the attack action)
I have a character who is Dex focused, because of outside things, but fights more with other creatures than any normal weapons. She has weapons, but doesn't use them, instead using what she's fighting to deal damage to itself and others. It is fantastic!
You can easily flavor use a shield! This character turns heel and grabs a steel chair bah gawd!
I called it in the short!
Monk-Barbarian-Fighter, hell yeah
12:03 "...There's no way [snip] to get an attack with your fists as a bonus action outside of being a monk..."
I, too, might be wrong, but I think that's true.
However! If you want an *unarmed strike* as a bonus action, there are a few ways to go about it.
1) It's possible with the Longtooth Shifter race from the 'Eberron - Rising from the Last War' sourcebook. It's only available while you're "shifting" - a kind of like a "Rage lite" feature available to use once between rests, short or long, lasting up to a minute.
2) The centaur can do it with their hooves after a charging attack, which in turn requires the character to move 30 ft in a straight line before it.
3) The minotaur (Theros, Ravnica, Amonkhet) can use their horns to make a bonus attack unarmed strike as a Goring Rush, but that requires taking a dash action and moving 20 ft - although, that movement doesn't need to be in a line. So, even in melee already, you could walk to the other side of your target never leaving the threatened squares, and still have 40 ft movement left for the round. It's not great, but it's possible.
Note that you should ask if your DM considers centaur hooves and minotaur horns "weapons" that still make unarmed attacks or not. "Weapons" can be blessed, normal unarmed attacks can't, unless specifically mentioned by the type of blessing feature. In addition, some features require an attack made "with a weapon" - regardless of whether those weapons make unarmed strikes or normal weapon attacks. (Unarmed strikes are a special type of weapon attack, as "weapon attack" just means "not a spell attack")
Regardless, each of the above are considered "unarmed strikes".
A special note, the Viashino Race from UA53 - Races of Ravnica has access to an unarmed strike as a reaction to an enemy dealing damage to you. If your build wants plenty of unarmed attacks, that's a pretty unique option.
I know you don't account for magic items, but if your dm allows (or just wants to give you one) take the eldritch claw tattoo. Your unarmed strikes count as magical (for overcoming resistance), +1 to hit and dmg, increases the range to 15ft, and gives an extra d6 force dmg!
Very cool build. Trying to work on something with the Path of the Beast/fighter. That additional attack from path of the beast counts as simple weapons. Need to hash it out with dual wielder feat, grappler, possible two weapon fighting, and maybe skill expert. Eldritch claw tattoo would handle magical attacks if we keep the barbarian at 3, or we can forgo it if we go to 6+ on barb but I feel the fighter levels do more long term.
I love this idea! If it were me, I'd probably skip the first level in Monk (unless you gotta have that story element) because if we consider a fighter with unarmed fighting style being able to utilize all their appendages as weapons (which I do as a DM, your mileage may vary) then we should be able to consider their bonus action as a viable "light weapon attack" since their appendages are unweighted. Plus you can wear chainmail, so your AC ends up being higher anyway (all the street fighters who like living wear armor). So you start out as an angry dwarf with no axe at hand, but with two doughty fists at level 1. I love the monk but I can't take that first monk level.
Everytime you start out in Spanish I keep expecting a Luchador build.
Would love to see a luchador build tho
Yessss!
Unarmed fighting style is so blatantly showing how hard it is to use monk as a no weapon class 💀
Colby: Have you ever thought about building optimized characters with a low (or lower) score in an important ability?
I think it would be challenging, yet fun.
There are lots of features that make this possible:
• Dwarf Speed not reduced by wearing heavy armor
• Hexblade using Charisma for attacks and damage.
• Druid Wild Shape using beast stats to replace physical ability scores.
Some of the best fantasy fiction characters have defects or weaknesses that they have to work around. I’m thinking of examples like Elric of Melnibone’. 🗡
I was thinking bearbarian for the resistance and rage!
definitely worth considering!
love the thumbnail art
I have a player who wants to make a build just like this. Ill be sure to send it to them :D
I probably would have just gone Battle Master Fighter with a Barbarian dip, unarmed fighting Style, Tavern Brawler Feat for a bonus action grapple, Crusher for extra bludgeoning stuff
My table plays with the rule of getting an extra feat at lvl 1. So I took the one that lets you choose a fighting style. Then just built a Barbarian with the unarmed fighting style. Worked decently
Ive been working through an idea of essentially making a borderlands psycho style character. Obsessed with cleansing everything with fire, keeps a bucket of oil that he dips his hands in, and then sets on fire. I was thinking path of the zealot barbarian, into some fighter levels(the rune knight you brough up is interesting) and finishing with some paladin levels to help scale maybe. Also heavily dependent on having "magical" brass knuckles
one of my favorite feats from 3.5e, was the monk vow of ascetism. to me, that really fit the flavor of one kind of monk, i would love to see a monk subclass REALLY go into that. maybe a homebrew subclass.
eventually not needing to eat, drink, or breath, crazy natural stat growth, attacks becoming magical basically, so long as you didn't own anything.
i have no clue if that translated to 5e would be good though, especially considering it wasn't considered all that strong in 3.5e even.
maybe if the stat boost wasn't limited by the 20 cap? like your class normal attribute increase would still be limited to 20, but iirc, you end up with a +8 from on one stat, +6 on a second, +4 on a third, and +2 on a fourth stat from that feat. so you could end up with a 28 dex at level 20.
War domain clerics can attack as a bonus action if you feel like your fists count as lethal weapons
Oh man I was excited for this build but it ended up even better than I was expecting. DPR isn't amazing but I love the build. It is almost more of a controller build anyway that still does decent damage.
Looks like my barbarian is going to be training with the holy monk at the top of the mountain in waterdeep while everyone is dealing with some mad mage. Just in case :)
I actually was looking for a Zangief (Street fighter) build a couple years back. 😳 This isn't quite that, but close enough. Loved your bloopers at the end 🤣🎤
STANDARD HUMAN! Love dwarfs but with such a MAD pc, not feat dependant you lost probably the only occasion to have standard human be the optimized choice. You get the same modifiers via buy point and have1 extra square of movment that for a melee is always nice. That said loved the video and the build. At level 10 would lane the same but personally of like at your table usually 2 rages are enough would go fighter after barb1 monk1 and take barb 2 and 3 after level 5 or 6 of fighter. If I go barb 2 from the beginning might as well take 3 and then go fighter.
I'm playing an unarmed fighter rune knight and I have a set of Ornate family gauntlets that allow my Runic type to alter my punch damage to elemental damage to some degree. Still super early in the campaign so it isn't suuuuper influential right now, but god damn he's so much fun!
I always wondered, similar how using magical staffs as a quarterstaff deals magical blugeoning, I wonder if any magical gauntlets would also give magical unarmed damage as long as you used them (or boots for kicks)
I just took a look at this and wanted to try making a brawler. I decided to use 3 levels of monk (4 if you want ASI) strictly for Way of Astral Self, for the arms. Since they are force damage, this solves the overcoming physical resistances issue. The rest I took in fighter, since it has more than enough ASI's to quickly fill out the MADness of the monk and went Battlemaster. With the extended reach of the arms and the lunging attack maneuver, I get to punch something 15 feet away 2d8+3 as early as level 6 (1d8 Unarmed Fighting style + 3 DEX/WIS + 1d8 superiority dice)! The other maneuvers I get to flavor as different martial arts techniques.
The new Longtooth Shifter gets their Unarmed Strike as a bonus action prof. bonus times per long rest! Meaning you will likely be good with that for most battles
I thought it was unlimited but only when shifted which is once per short rest. Centaur gets bonus action d4 hoof attack when charging, so a bit conditional but with mobile it's not bad.
My low equipment brawler ended up being a "Perfect specimen" type Tiefling based Dhampir. Mostly path of the beast barb, but 3 levels to rune knight as well. There is ZERO barbarian theme, he is a gentleman brawler. Rage is more of a . . . Razor instinct deal. Only piece of equipment is a full arm shield (bulky gauntlet style), with the shield master feat. The empty hand can punch in non threatening or role-playing situations, or can grapple when "raging", allowing you to attack with bite and tail.
AMA
Sounds really cool! I especially like hitting people with your tail. I'm curious, is it flavor for your unarmed strikes or is it treated as something else? Like how a creatures tail attack might differ from their claws or bite.
@@hayleykaye1751 It's actually hitting with the tail, an option granted by path of the beast barbarian. Having Tiefling as a base flavour gives a tail from the start, for a flavour win.
I played something very similar!
Interesting that you used bite and tail. I'd think that claws would be generally better (note you don't have to have both hands free to make two attacks with the claws, only one).
Rune Knight Fire rune actually works with the Barb claws, bite or tail, since they are treated as 'simple weapons' by the game (this causes some other issues, such as not working with the unarmed fighting style, but meh)
@@insertphrasehere15 Claws certainly may be better for sustained dps, that's true! However, I opted for a bit more resilience with the shield, and so have no free hands when grappling. Also, I just love the defensive reaction the tail gives! The bite is. . . Lesser utilized.
@@ARatherDapperTapir can you bite while grappling an enemy? That would be cool
Love your videos sorry I haven't been commenting as much hopefully next you do oath of Conquest build
Nice!!! Mine is a level 5 Hunter (colosssus slayer) Ranger STR20 with unarmed fighting style feat, so he give some heavy punches with Hunter's Mark and the other features. (one punch can make 27 damage)
I'm taking Fighter & Tavern Brawler at lvl 1 as a GM bonus feat so that I can attack then bonus action grapple to ensure I get the 1d4 extra damage. I'm going to skip the monk, dip just 1 level in Barbarian at lvl 2 and focus on Fighter Battle Master.