I want to play a brawler in dnd 3.5, without resorting to monk

>>50529698
Your best bet is to not let the monk pigeonhole your character theme.

Use the class, rename things to suit you.
Also, reaping mauler.

>>50529745
I second this statement.
Reaping Mauler.

>>50529698
Two words: Unarmed swordsage

Reaping Mauler is terrible because Clever Wrestling only works for Medium creatures, meaning you can't use size-increasing magic to boost your grapple check. And size modifiers on grapple checks are huge, meaning that your main combat strategy won't work on anything bigger than you.

>>50529698
What >>50529818 said, except I'll also note that you can hack the Barbarian into a pretty good Monk replacement. It's a somewhat involved build, so here's a forum post on it I googled up:
>http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=17516367&postcount=9

I think the original idea was from the minmax forums, though.

Also, the actual 3.5 Monk kind of sucks at brawling for various semi-complicated reasons and somewhat falls behind the dumb unoptimized build of being a Fighter with Weapon Focus(Gauntlet), Weapon Specialization(Gauntlet), and a bunch of TWF feats. Unless you make a really optimized monk where you mess around with size categories and whatnot, but that's a level of optimization where you're going up against uberchargers and mailman sorcerers.

>>50529818
DM blocked sword of fightan magic.
But yeah, grappling is not a viable option.

>>50529908

I had an Ogre monk who did pretty well due to size bonuses. Was relatively easy to hit, but made up for it with great saves, a high hit point total and some decent self-healing. 4d8+Str damage per punch is pretty decent when you factor in 30 base Strength, Flurry and Improved Grab.

>>50529937
Yeah, I was more talking about the ridiculous stuff you can get with shit like spells, feats and magic items. There's a Warforged graft that gives you +1 size for unarmed strikes, IIRC, Improved Natural Attack(Unarmed Strike) is another +1, and so on and so forth. And then there's that Cleric spell that just straight-up increases the size category of blunt weapons.

Even if you just stop at Colossal rather than increasing into the theoretical Epic Dragon size categories (Colossal++, etc.), you're rolling 12d8+bonuses at that point.

It can get kind of silly. Still nowhere near what the Fighter can pump out when optimized to similar levels, but pretty damn silly.

>>50529698
Unarmed swordsage

>>50529927
>DM blocked sword of fightan magic.
Leave

>>50529927
Is walking around without armor important to you, or just punching people?

There are a number of "punching weapons" like in your OP pic, which are at least easier to get enchanted.

Warforged with a Battlefist?

>>50529927
>DM blocked sword of fightan magic.
fucking dropped, dm is "no fun allowed"

>>50529908
>Be Overwhelming Attack Monk
>Pick that feat that makes you deal 1d12 extra on damage on charges
>Pick that feat that lets you make 2 unarmed attacks on charges
>Deal 2d6+2d12+8 at first level
You have to be human though, but 28 damage on average as a 1st level char isn't that bad

>>50529698
Fist of the Forest.

If you're a dwarf then take 2 levels in Deepwarden as well, so that you add Con to AC twice.

>ToB isn't allowed
Destroying the campaign it's then
Razorclaw Shifter
Pick Extra trait (Longtooth)
Spirit lion Barbarian4/Warshaper4/weretouched master

Pick shifter feats to get more shifter transformations and turns, there're some nice ones like the one that increases your natural strike's damage die and crit range

>>50530015
If you do it right you can have 3 attacks before 3rd level and like 45 Str without counting magic items before you reach 15th level

>>50529698
>without resorting to monk class
May I ask why?

If your complaint is that they can't use armors or gauntlets/cestus/etc, I hear you, that's the dumbest thing ever

>>50529698
None.

>>50530015
>>50530030
Be Whirling Frenzy arb so you get one extra attack during rages, that's 4 attacks before 3rd level, destroy that fuckers game

>>50529927
>DM blocked sword of fightan magic

Abandon all hope, ye who enter here with wishes of seeing competently designed and enjoyable martial classes. Just roll up a Druid or Cleric if he's going to be that way.

>>50530121
No, its just that I don't want a lawful-oriented, heavily trained guy. Just an efficient bar brawler that can punch dragons.

>>50530228
>lawful oriented
There's a monk variant that is chaotic
>heavily trained
You have to be also a heavily trained bar brawler to punch dragons, a random mook can't do that shit

>>50529698
Cleric into sacred fist. Just make sure that your DM knows text>table or you'll lose 5 spellcasting levels from sacred fist

>>50529698
Play a good system, instead

>>50529698
Tao, though every class is able to buy martial arts tables.

>>50529698
>I want to play a brawler in dnd 3.5,

Go with a Cleric, enchant your gauntlets to do magical damage, buff yourself and let the CODzilla flow through you.

>>50529698
Port over the Brawler class from Pathfinder, which is essentially a hybrid Monk/Barbarian who dumps the Must Be Lawful alignment requirement and switches the Eastern Martial Artist fluff for Good Old Fisticuffs fluff.

>>50529698

Dragon Magazine Compendium Battle Dancer.

Time of Battle Book of 9 Swords.

>>50530544
Battle dancer sucks men's ass though

>>50529698
d2 crusader, google it. Must be a small size creature, but you do infinite damage with your unarmed strike.

>>50529698
Knuckle-dusters. You're not wielding a weapon, but you're not Unarmed either. You can enchant them like weapons, and use martial classes that rely on weapons.

>>50529927
>DM blocked sword of fightan magic.
Than you've lost all hope.

I normally just drop the fighter class in favour of that.

Tashalatora monk maybe?

>>50529698

The answer, as with all things connected to D&D Shit.5 Edition, is "play a full caster."

>>50530631
This seems like such an obvious answer, all sorts of weapons could be applied to a hand-to-hand fighter. If they don't like knuckle dusters that still leaves smashy or spiked gauntlets, magical hand wraps etc

And just talk with the DM before to ne on the same page and so he can toss the required weapon upgrades your way the same way he does for everyone else

>>50529745
Why would you suggest one of the most awful classes in 3.5 and then one of the most meaningless prestige classes? If it's a troll you've gone too far. If you're sincere then you're an idiot. Either way, you need to stop.

>>50533366
Because not everyone is a munchkin. The classes mentioned provide options that fit the archetype that the guy is going for.

But everything needs to be a min/max experiment.

>>50533741
It's not even about min-maxing. Monk isn't a good fit because the class is so bad. Yes, it fits the archetype, but it is by no means good at it. It's like suggesting Adept when someone wants to be a spellcaster. Yes, they do cast spells, but there are much better options that you would most certainly enjoy more.

>>50529698
For PHB: Dip into Monk for 1-2 levels for some free unarmed feats and the hit die, then go full-on Cleric/Druid but focus on shapeshifts and buffing oneself.

If Druid, you can keep a beastfighter theme. If Cleric, you can make it highly spiritual/deep, like a shaman of sorts.

File: you lost me.png (3KB, 209x215px) Image search: [Google]

3KB, 209x215px

>>50529927
>DM blocked sword of fightan magic.
If I were you, I would fucking leave. Your GM has shit taste and doesn't know what he's fucking doing.

>>50533741
Dude, those classes and PrC are subpar as fuck, they underperform hard even in their supposedly field of expertise

>>50529698
>I don't want to suck
Play a caster.

>>50530578
True, though in a pinch it can do what OP wants better than Monk.

I got it! If ToB is banned then Psychic Warrior! With one of the alt features from comp psionic to get a mantle or something?

>>50535698
No GM who bans ToB is going to let psionics fly.

>>50534218
I agree. I also refer you to"theme" and "munchkin".

Playing any low or no magic class in 3.5 is basically a decision to be less powerful/versatile/whatever than other PCs. The fighter may as well have been an NPC class if played as written in the PHB. But if the player likes it, then they will use it.