Brawler

A goliath stares down an owlbear. She steels herself and prepares, the beast is about to charge. And she's ready.

The half elf detective scans the room for anything he can use. Hid in shadow, the mob boss and his goons just around the corner, he eyes the broken window he entered from. Can he make it?

Chairs, mugs, and kobolds flying about, the drunken gnome is banned from yet another bar, but it took three half orcs to kick him out.

Brawlers are adventurous and versatile. Excelling at pugilism, a Brawler's thuggery is only matched by their martial intellect. Masters of combat, they learn many styles and techniques to hold their own in any situation.

Class Features

As a Brawler, you gain the following class features

Brawling

At 1st level, your practice of brawling gives you mastery of combat styles that use unarmed strikes and Brawler weapons, which are simple melee weapons, short swords, scimitars, and improvised weapons.

While you aren’t wearing heavy armor, you gain the following benefits:

• Your unarmed strikes and Brawler Weapons can deal bludgeoning damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier. This die changes as you gain Brawler levels, as shown in the Brawling column of the Brawler table.
• When you use the Attack action with an unarmed strike or brawler weapon, you may make one unarmed strike as a bonus action. The damage die of this attack is a 1d4. At 11th level this die increases to a 1d6.
• Your AC equals 10 + your Constitution Modifier + your Intelligence modifier.

Art Credit: Hero of Iroas MtG Art from Born of the Gods Set by Willian Murai

Improvised Defense

At 1st level, If you make an unarmed strike as part of the Attack action on your turn when wielding a Brawler Weapon and not wielding a shield, you gain a +2 Bonus to your AC until the start of your next turn, instead using the weapon as a shield.

Combat Prowess

At 2nd level, your versatility and mastery of combat allows you to adapt to any situation on the fly. Once per turn, when you hit a creature with an unarmed strike or brawler weapon within 5 feet, you may activate a combat prowess. You have a number of uses for this ability equal to 3 plus your Brawler level. These uses recover after you complete a Short or Long Rest. If the effect lasts longer than immediately on hit, only one effect may be active at a time. Some Prowesses have other prerequisites and triggering conditions to take effect that are specified within the description.

Preparing Prowesses

At the end of each Long Rest, you may prepare a number of prowesses equal to your Proficiency Bonus plus your Intelligence Modifier. At the end of a short rest, you may swap out a number of prepared prowesses equal to half your Intelligence modifier, rounded up.

Prowess Ability

Saving Throws Some of your Prowesses require your target to make a saving throw to resist their effects. The saving throw DC is calculated as follows:

Brawler Save DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus +

your Strength modifier

Brawling Style

When you reach 2nd level, you commit yourself to a Brawling Style. Your style grants you features at 2nd level and again at 6th, 13th, and 17th level.

Additional Prowesses

Each Brawling Style has additional prowesses noted in the description that you gain at the levels noted in the description. These are always prepared for you and do not count against the number of prowesses prepared.

Brawler's Cunning

At 3rd level, You use your cunning to escape traps and obstacles. You may add your Intelligence modifier to Dexterity saving throws and Initiative Checks. You may use this ability a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus. These uses recover once you have completed a Short or Long Rest.

Ability Score Improvement

When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you cannot increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.

Using the optional feats rule, you can forgo taking this feature to take a feat of your choice instead.

Extra Attack

Beginning at 5th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.

Brawler's Strike

Starting at 6th level, your unarmed strikes count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.

Mighty Blow

At 7th level, you may use your action to attempt a Mighty Blow. The target must succeed a Strength saving throw or take 3d10 bludgeoning damage, be knocked 15 ft, and fall prone. On a successful save, the opponent takes half damage and is not moved. If an obstacle prevents the creature from moving the full distance, both take 1d6 damage and the target is knocked prone adjacent to the obstacle. Once you use this feature, you must finish a Short or Long Rest before you can use it again.

At 10th level, this ability improves. Add 1d10 to the damage (4d10) and increase the collision damage to 1d8. At 14th level, the damage increases another 1d10 (5d10) and the collision damage die becomes 1d10. At 18th level, the damage increases another 1d10 (6d10) and the collision damage die becomes 1d12.

Brawler's Flurry

At 9th level, When you miss with an attack on your turn with a brawler weapon or unarmed strike, you may spend a use of your Combat Prowess to make another attack as a part of the same action. You may only benefit from this feature once per turn.

Improved Combat Prowess

At 11th level, The number of prowesses you may activate in a turn increases to two.

Brawler's Sight

At 15th level, your senses in combat allow you to strike hidden foes. Being unable to see a creature doesn’t impose disadvantage on your attack rolls against it, provided the creature isn’t hidden from you. Additionally, you have advantage on checks to locate hidden or Invisible creatures within 30 feet

Martial Mastery

At 20th level, your mastery of combat and adaptability know no bounds. You gain the following benefits:

• The number of prowesses you may activate in a turn increases to three.
• your unarmed strikes and Brawler's weapons gain +2 to attack and damage rolls and count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance.

Brawling Styles

Every Brawler follows their own path, focusing their mastery on various rough pursuits. Each style gives you new abilities at 2nd, 6th, 13th, and 17th level as well as new prowesses.

Martial Flexibility

At 13th level, when you swap out prepared prowesses after a short rest, you may swap a number equal to your full intelligence modifier.

Supreme Might

At 17th level, you can slug it out with the best of them. You gain an additional use of your Mighty Blow per Short or Long Rest.

Sleuth

Sleuths can be found in the darkest corners of society investigating mysteries and seeking the truth.

Arcane Reject

Arcane Wave

At 6th level, as an action, you gain the ability to channel arcane energy into a beam of energy 90 feet long and 5 feet wide. Each creature in the line must make a Dexterity saving throw against your Spell Save DC or take 3d8 force damage on a failed save.

You can increase the damage by expending uses of your Combat Prowess. Each use you spend, to a maximum of half your Proficiency Bonus (rounded up), increases the damage by 1d8.