Non-monk fistfighter

[Rudolph]

Speaking of Unarmed Barbarians (and Bear Warriors): does Thundering Rage apply to fists or does it require the use of a weapon to work?

[aaron22]

In one of my forum built groups, a player had a bear warrior and hated it so much that he ended up quiting the game. I guess it was pretty bad. Complained a lot about it.

[chad878262]

Hey Zanniej, here is one possibility for your gutbuster brigade member. As others have stated the damage is not great, but AC is ok and high HP + DR 14/- really helps with survivability. I also went for Steadfast, but you could theoretically take IPA and/or other feats instead of Toughness/Steadfast. You could also stop Fighter at 4 and take Barbarian to 18, if you further drop BattleRager to 3, you can go to Barbarian 20. The loss of Battlerager AC will then be replaced by +2 Barbarian AC at 20. You really need F4 since that allows for +4 damage from specialization and Weapon Mastery. The downside of the kama is that it's a light weapon (no Power Attack) and you can't get weapon mastery for it unless you take 12 levels of Fighter, further reducing your rage/day. If you chose to go B20/F4/BR3/FotF3 you lose 3 Fighter bonus feats (Greater Weapon Focus, Epic Weapon Focus and probably Armor Skin), but you'll gain a bonus feat back from Barbarian 20 and perhaps could grab Epic Rage, which may very well be better, but I didn't have time to build that and compare.

http://nwn2db.com/build/?258774

[Sun Wukong]

Is it doable? I'm looking for a build for a battlerager as per the lore. However, we don't have grappling nor spikes. So I'm wondering if there's a way to make a viable fist fighter without monk levels.

Yes. It has been done before. (Way before the recent barbarian buffs.)

What you need is some +4 gloves or gauntlets, I forget which came with the enchantment bonus.

As for the build itself, you cannot really go wrong with a Barbarian 21/Battlerager 5/Fighter 4. What you do is go for a strength build, pick the Whirlwind Frenzy variant, and spend a feat on Ice-Troll Berserker to get some natural AC from your rage. Now, the first level you take should be Barbarian, followed by a single level of figther for the free proficiency feats, and then barbarian until you can take your first Battlerager level, and the remaining four right after. The second and third level of fighter should be taken at level 19 and 20, and fourth after your 20th level of barbarian.

You will want to get as many extend rage feats as you can muster, and spending a feat on Extra Rage can be considered to be a mistake. (You can get Extra rAge from an amulet sold by a merchant in Palace district). The large number of extend rage feats allows you to continue your rage long after the duracel bunny has lost its charge.

(Other feats you want are: Power Attack (FBF), Cleave (FBF), Knockdown (FBF), Improved Knockdown (FBF) (Int 13), Improved Power Attack (FBF), Able Learner to get your cross-class Use Magic Skill as high as possible, and perhaps Combat Expertise (FBF) if you got spare feats - altough Toughness and Steadfast Determination are worthy of consideration as well.) (FBF = Could be taken with one of your Fighter Bonus Feats.) You can easily ignore the unarmed specific feats - they are just a waste of feats in this case.

As for starting stats:

Str: 17 + 7 (Ability increases) + 4 (Great Strength Feats) + 2 (Enchantment) + 10 (Epic Rage) = 40
Dex: 10
Con: 16
Int: 14
Wis: 10
Cha: 9

As for your unarmed damage per hit: 1d3 (Fist) + 15 (Strength modifier) + 4 (Enchantment Bonus) + 6 (Improved Power Attack) = 27~ on an average hit.

A wisdom based monk would be looking at: 3d10 (fist) + 2 (Strength modifier) + 4 (Enchantment bonus) + 1d10 (Blazing Aura) + 1d6 (Fiery Fist) = 37~ on an average hit.

That '27~' damage is actually more than enough for most of the server, as you will easily reach AC of 50+ even while holding onto a mere light shield. (Which has some claw like shield appearances, just saying that as a hint.)

Additionally, because you are not tied down by weapon focus feats, you can pretty much even bash enemies with a mundane ale stein, or a spoon if you so want. You are just short of the weapon EB and nothing more. (Then you can also make use most weapons you just happen to find naturally during your adventures. Great Axe, Falchion, Dwarven Waraxe, Dagger, a stool, broken bottle, whatever you get your hands on.)

Then for novelty's sake, you might want to make way for a 'Brutal Throw' feat - so you can just fling darts and throwing axes picked from loot piles and toss them until you automatically charge towards the enemy.

So what can I say, you are most likely going to have way more fun by ignoring the weapon focus line of feats.

[Zanniej]

That's some very nice stuff. Thank you both for your tips.
Great stuff

[Deathgrowl]

To be fair, you could just go for fotf for the +1d6 fist damage. Then you have a 1d3+1d6 damage onehanded weapon. That's comparable to a longsword. So to keep it simple, you can go fighter27/fotf3, full plate, tower shield and strength build and perform essentially as well as any longsword user of fighter30.

What I mean is: Just think of it as another onehanded weapon. Most of the damage comes from strength, power attack, bard inspiration and/or fighter feats, not the actual weapon dice. Build accordingly.