The barbarian thundered forward, drawing his axe back as he charged at the broadly grinning, burly man standing over slumped form of an unconscious bear. A booming laugh erupted from him and he left his easy posture as the barbarian drew close. Powerful hands wrapped around the belts and pelts of the barbarian, redirecting his momentum into a nearby tree. The mighty warrior stumbled, his face turning red from rage and embarrassment as the grappler unleashed another guffaw.
“Ha-hah! You fight more like bull than man!”
His mockery was cut short as an arrow punched through his armor and bit into his flesh, causing him to grunt and stumble back. He lifted his gaze to meet the fury in the eyes of the ranger, her anger easily equal to the barbarian’s as she took in the bear that he had soundly thrashed. With a sigh, he rolled out his shoulder, cracked his neck, and settled into a grappler’s stance with a wild grin.
“Fine. Come. I show you how to really fight like animal.”
This is a new one, folks. In a first for Monster Monday and in a practice that might become known as Menace Monday, I have built an NPC rather than a more typical monster for this week. This is done in effort to increase the number of NPCs in the game, fill in niches that I feel like are lacking, and simply to give me the chance to explore some different design spaces. This particular example, the beast brawler, is a grappler and maneuver specialist with a wild side – inspired by the idea of fighting bears bare-handed, circus performers who would wrestle animals as part of their act, and similar concepts. This feels like a fantastic trope to bring into a fantasy setting but as far as I’m aware, there isn’t one in PF2e.
The beast brawler is built in the direction of a brute with only a moderate Armor Class and high Hit Points whereas it has a high attack bonus. Its sole Strike deals moderate damage because it has both the agile trait and the Grab ability to go along with its focus on using maneuvers. Its damage becomes high through the use of its Mauler ability, which comes from bears though it does have the added effect of dealing more damage to prone targets. While it may not have a lot of benefit against a party, the beast brawler is about battling giant animals and beasts, lending to the use of Titan Wrestler. One of the main focuses I wanted to use for this character was maneuvers and the like, tactics that can exceed the scope of what most animals can accomplish. This led to use of other abilities such as Felling Rush, based on the Running Tackle of the wrestler archetype though this ends in a Trip instead of a Shove. It can also use its Wrangle to make use of the remaster's Reposition, envisioned as the beast brawler redirecting a charging beast into an obstacle.
Obviously, the brawler has a few abilities to use while it has a creature grappled. With the idea that the beast brawler is sometimes a performer and needs to finish out a performance or that it is sometimes hired to capture animals for zoos or shows, it has Hogtie. This is its only ability that has a DC, using a moderate DC since restrained is a pretty severe condition. This is also why it uses up the beast brawler's rope, so that it can't get lucky and manage to restrain the whole party. Alternatively, when grappling, the beast brawler can Wrench Limb to disable an animal - which is actually the primary design behind this ability. The Disarm portion of it was included to make it useful against players while also giving a good framework to make the rest of the ability to work off of. It may still find a chance to use this in a combat if a player turns into a creature through a polymorph effect or somebody has an animal companion.
Pathfinder 2e:
There's no Pathfinder 1e version of the beast brawler because NPCs in PF1e are built the same way as player characters. It would be less a creature being built, and more just a character build. Even many NPCs included in books such as the Villain Codex and NPC Codex don't have any unique abilities or features to make use of, which limits the scope of what I can design.
Blue's D&D 5e:
ENCOUNTER HOOKS
Animals AWOL: A recent incident at a circus or zoo caused an animal to escape. With rumors of mistreatment circling around the place, a circle of druids approach the heroes about finding the animal in the nearby wilds and helping to relocate it somewhere safe. However, the previous owners of the animal want it back as well and have hired their own professionals - a beast brawler and maybe others to assist in the operation. This group clashes with the heroes, likely unwilling to release their prize.
On the Hunt: If the heroes have an animal companion or other creature, a beast brawler may come across them or be hired to acquire the animal by a collector. The brawler employs his ability as a hunter and tactics to battle the heroes, letting them exhaust themselves before springing an ambush and possibly siccing animals that he's already trained on them to soften them up or distract them.
If you're interested in joining the discussion on what creatures/builds I'm working on or just discussing your own homebrew works, check out our Discord! If you want to get some teasers or help us get to our yet unlisted milestones for extra content, check out the Twitter.
You can also check out the video on the YouTube channel!
Have a monstrous Monday!
Comments