Unarmed, PRC, and Natural weapons question

[Guilty Man]

Just got this in the sale, having always been a fan of the sequel instead of the original (because I prefer story over mechanics). But I've exhausted NWN2, and keep hearing how the first has a better module scene because of it's technical sophistication.

I'd planned on playing a character with the Brawler class from PRC, but it turns out that's been removed since the wiki was written, so landed on trying their Wildren race which has a natural weapon, combined with fighter. Does anyone know how this game interacts with the PC having a natural weapon? Does it benefit from unarmed feats (which it shouldn't by rules, but you never know)? Is it possible to scale them at all during the game, or are they effectively a dead end?

Unless of course someone can recommend a way of doing Brawler without having to go with Monk. I don't fancy having to dance around the restrictions, when all I want is a competent and effective unarmed combatant.

[Gequi]

If you want a pure monk, the only way is to use kama weapon, or just use no weapon and fight with fist and legs like Jacky Chan, then you need good gloves to increase attack and damage.

When creating the character, increase dextery for Class Armor and wisdom for monk feats.

If you want to mix a fighter and a monk... well maybe that is good for "Master of ki"/ "Weapon Master" prestige class.

[Guilty Man]

I literally want anything other built around Unarmed, than pure monk. If I can not touch monk, than that would be perfect.

The Brawler class is a Fighter Monk Hybrid, that has the unarmed and unarmoured progression of a monk, without any kei abilities, but with some of the martial flexibility of fighter, and minus the MAD tax. I was very excited to see it on the PRC wiki, and so crushed to find out it had been removed in later patches.

In short, what I seek is a method of building a unarmed focused fighter, that isn't just gimping myself, and the natural weapons offered by Wildren looked like it might be a way of achieving that. But I can't see how that can scale in the game, outside of just BAB and STR bonuses.

[Gequi]

sorry but I'm spanish speaker and I don't remember/know some your words or acronims like "MAD", "BAB" or "Wildren"

Unarmed fighter = fighter monk hybrid ... yes, it is one option, not the only one, but if you want a Brawler then maybe you are talking about this

https://nwn.fandom.com/wiki/Brawler

[Guilty Man]

No worries. So:

MAD means Multi Ability Dependant, so a class that needs the player to spend points into more than one Ability to shine (think Paladins, who need both Strength, and Charisma, to work).

BAB is Base Attack Bonus, the flat +* bonus you gain every few levels based on class.

Wildren is a new race, added by the Player Resource Consortium mod group, which gives the player two natural weapon claw attacks.

That link you posted to the Brawler class, is exactly the one that made me excited, because i loved that class in Pathfinder, but unfortunately they have since removed it from the mod, and there doesn't seem to be any way to restore it.

While an unarmed fighter is possible, in base 3e it's going to fall behind very quickly. So I was hoping someone could explain how this game handles Natural Weapons, or suggest a work around to make the Brawler class a reality.

I also, really, really, dislike the Monk class. But I love the image of just punching the bad guy in the face.

[cnroddball]

Originally posted by Guilty Man:

No worries. So:

MAD means Multi Ability Dependant, so a class that needs the player to spend points into more than one Ability to shine (think Paladins, who need both Strength, and Charisma, to work).

BAB is Base Attack Bonus, the flat +* bonus you gain every few levels based on class.

Wildren is a new race, added by the Player Resource Consortium mod group, which gives the player two natural weapon claw attacks.

That link you posted to the Brawler class, is exactly the one that made me excited, because i loved that class in Pathfinder, but unfortunately they have since removed it from the mod, and there doesn't seem to be any way to restore it.

While an unarmed fighter is possible, in base 3e it's going to fall behind very quickly. So I was hoping someone could explain how this game handles Natural Weapons, or suggest a work around to make the Brawler class a reality.

I also, really, really, dislike the Monk class. But I love the image of just punching the bad guy in the face.

Maybe go Barbarian/Werewolf/Black Blood Cultist?

[Razgriz / SkyAce]

Assumming vanilla NWN + SoU + HotU

And no monk at all...

I would try something like

Cleric / Fighter / Rogue

or

Fighter / Rogue / Blackguard


Focus on STR & CHA as much as you can, and take Power Attack, Knockdown, Improved Knockdown and Divine Might.

While still deffinitely not on par with someone with weapons or a pure optimized monk, the idea here would be to spam knockdowns while divine might is active and exploit sneak attacks, too.

[Wizard of Woz]

I am curious why you are so interested in playing an unarmed character but don't want to play a monk, or even have monk as a multiclass. Most people take monk 1, then fighter and whatever else you want.

[Guilty Man]

1) Monks are too restrictive.
2) I don't like pseudo-magic characters (as in characters that have a host of special powers and their own unique resources to use them, they're just not my thing)
3) The alignment, though I'll probably be getting the tool from the vault that allows players to switch alignments at will, just to get around it for certain builds.
4) Wisdom
5) I like Brawler, because it scales, which Monk does, but it's not Monk.
6) I have played a lot of NWN2, and Khelgor the monk is awful by the time you get him, and have wasted your efforts making him a Fighter.
7) I have never met a good Monk player in tabletop.

Anyway, thanks for the suggestions. I'm currently trying out the Werewolf idea, which just seems, ridiculously overpowered at low levels when there isn't much magic to pierce the damage resistance. I am getting a little tired of the base campaigns relentless combat slog, so I'm going to pick a recommended story module to try out the Blackgaurd idea. I had a rogue character with the Improved Dirty Trick in Pathfinder, did nothing but gut punch people to sicken them for free sneak attacks.