The Street Fighter - D&D:Optimized #75

For our D&D 5e character build this week we are building an unarmed, unarmored character who is not a Monk. They are a strength-based brawler, and they don't play nice.
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Character Concept:(0:00)
Level 1:(8:45)
Levels 2-6:(13:21)
Levels 7-9:(32:13)
Levels 10-13:(34:05)
Levels 14-17:(40:51)
Final Thoughts:(45:31)
Outtakes:(49:03)
Math/Graph for this episode: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
Sustained DPR Comparisons (3 Tabs): docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
Thanks to LudicSavant for the amazing DPR calculator! forums.giantitp.com/showthrea...)
Music Credits:
Achaidh Cheide - Celtic by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
Artist: incompetech.com/
Angevin 120 loop by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
Artist: incompetech.com/
Celtic Impulse - Celtic by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
Artist: incompetech.com/
Fiddles McGinty by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
Artist: incompetech.com/
Lord of the Land by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
Artist: incompetech.com/
Master of the Feast by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Source: incompetech.com/music/royalty-...
Artist: incompetech.com/

[@TreantmonksTemple]

I was curious where you were going to end up with this build. "It ain't about how hard you hit, it's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward", I think this is about as good as you can get. Adding some extra dice and some base attack damage. Thanks for the plug by the way!

[@snazzyfeathers]

Legends supporting legends here, love to see it

[@gdoggy121]

You love to see it!

[@DnDDeepDive]

Thanks and of course! I’d like to play one of my monks with your house rules ;)

[@BLynn]

@@DnDDeepDive I thought I read somewhere that you only get the feature of your unarmored defense from the "first" time you gain the feature. It has been a while since I looked into it but I am fairly certain that is how the rules read.

[@tgr225]

@@BLynn IIRC it more of a 'if get unarmored defense from more than one source, you have to choose which one you want to use'.

[@DnDDeepDive]

One thing I meant to discuss and forgot so will put it here: what about Expertise!? It's true: finding a way to get Expertise in Athletics would increase your grappling prowess significantly. I was trying to stretch our DPR with this character but you should definitely consider trying to work Expertise into the build somehow. For me it would either be via the Skill Expert feat (and if I went that route, I'd *probably* start Custom Lineage so I could get that feat and start with an 18 Strength) *or* take one level of Ranger along the way for Canny, which is basically Expertise. ALSO! Errata: You cannot get Unarmed Defense from Barb if you already got it from Monk as per RAW (I sometimes forget that you don't get to choose one or the other). Thus, with this version of the build you'd be best off starting Barb.

[@Eldakar38]

Skill Expert feat would be a great choice here and with only a +1 to stat, maybe grab Crusher feat for another +1 stat to round up.

[@dienezdarcprowlyr9406]

For expertise I think I would get one level of rogue. Then try to talk my DM into allow my Fists to light finesse weapons to add sneak attack. It is só stupid that they are not.

[@halohawkxx]

I ended up taking a dip in Rogue for the Extra Skill Proficiencies and Expertise in Athletics + Intimidation/Persuasion (mainly cause of the way I wanted to play this character). But yeah, having that Expertise in Athletics is pretty fun, I've done some very bonkers things! Also, having advantage on Grappling is... just icing on the cake; couple that with a few random Homebrewed Feats that a DM had on hand (they uhhh.... kinda make this Grappler extremely unfair).... I think just having an Eldritch Claw Tattoo is currently sufficient for my Magical Bonus lol. Overall though, nice Unarmed Fighter build! Mine is moreso with Plate Armor cause why not have a Soldier who's there to kick some ass with their bare hands, feet, etc! Also a female character, she's 'built different' as my friends say lol xD P.S: I may not be subscribed, BUT... if I can recommend an idea, try looking at Rin Tohsaka from Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works! Look at how she can fight CQC (Unarmed Fighting) and use Magic to buff herself/deal insane fun damage xD I'll leave it up to you in terms of how you'd build this character, or if you want an idea on how to do so and maybe do a Viewer D&D Optimized Build, I'll offer myself as tribute for the first one to do it as a Guinea Pig xD

[@halohawkxx]

@@dienezdarcprowlyr9406 I'd try and convince the DM into doing that IF I mutliclassed Rogue and Monk. They might try to turn it into a Feat instead, but could turn it into a Half-Feat with the +1 ASI to Dex.

[@Guyoverthere07]

One more little issue with the tactical options around 27:50 (levels 2-6 so pre-Extra Attack). If you use your Action to Grapple, the monk with Martial Arts unfortunately cannot do a BA unarmed strike. The BA attack is enabled by using the Attack action with an unarmed strike or monk weapon. Not a huge deal. Does help the case for Tavern Brawler and/or cutting the monk entirely for anyone interested/disinterested in those...inhumane routes. Monks are people too.

[@starbomber]

My friend was playing in a ToA game and they were playing a Rune Knight with the unarmed fighting style, and they were highly consistent. I also got them an Eldritch Claw tattoo so they would have a 'magic weapon'. They had that tattoo all the way to the end (the end being a sidequest into the Nine Hells to get a wish from a Dao) They punched a Demon Lord in the face, it was epic.

[@rollingking7976]

I did about the same with one of my characters. It was one of my favorites yet in 5e.

[@GoblinLord]

was your friend's build a straight fighter?

[@jacopoolivari5484]

Currently playing a Goliath unarmed rune knight, missed a feat, but boi it's good to punch giants in the face.

[@GoblinLord]

@@jacopoolivari5484 god that sounds fun, but on the other hand, my brain is imagining if you played just some pissed off halfling lol, hope it continues to be absolutely rad as hell

[@jacopoolivari5484]

@@GoblinLord Duregar. You get big Then BIGGER.

[@henriquetakeda]

When I played Rise of Tiamat, I thought "well... one big problem when fighting dragons is that they can flyby over our heads breathing tons of damage on us. What if they coudn't fly away anymore?" So I did a Goliath Rune Knight/ Divine Soul who could increase to Huge size (giant might + enlarge), teleport to the sky (thunderstep) and action surge to grapple

[@guitarplayerJeiky]

Can we just take a moment to appreciate the commitment with the make up on the thumbnail!? Also I’ve been working on a similar concept to this but a duo with a Bard being like a wrestler and their entourage. This will for sure help me work it!

[@DnDDeepDive]

Props to my friend Preston for the Thumb! (No, not for punching me, for the photoshop work 😛)

[@hayleykaye1751]

Oh that sounds like it'd be super fun Phillips! The first thing I thought of is an over the top wrestling manager like Jimmy Hart, that would be funny

[@guitarplayerJeiky]

@@hayleykaye1751 Exactly the concept! Me and a friend are planning on playing them in a future campaign since we are both fans of wrestling

[@hayleykaye1751]

@@guitarplayerJeiky I would love to see that, it sounds like a lot of fun. I wonder of your dm would let the bard use a bullhorn as their musical instrument and spellcasting focus? Lol

[@ottohenning8084]

One cool alternative for the race would be the Bugbear if you can manage to get high enough stats. The extra reach and once per combat damage could give this character a role similar to a polearm master build if you take sentinel

[@VVhirl]

When I dmed for a monk i gave him basically martial arts wrappings that increased his martial arts die by 1 since it maxes at d10. we made it a d12 and his damage felt really good imo

[@spencerbibby5797]

I played a strength based pugilist/grappler and I was actually surprised at how effective (and incredibly fun) it was. I didn't take a monk level - instead I took tavern brawler to gain a bonus action grapple. Once I had my extra attack my first round was typically to shove prone the enemy with my first attack, do an unarmed strike with my second, and then grapple with the bonus action. That worked really well and I would typically lock down the toughest looking opponent in most fights. After having that set-up and working I took skill expert with my next ASI to get expertise in athletics.

[@vernontwinkie]

So cool to see you're already at 35k subscribers so soon after the 30k videos released. Love that you come up with not just the builds but with realistic backgrounds and reasons to play that character.

[@derekburm]

The "redundancy" between the rune and rage (advantage on strength stuff, resist some damage) isn't a bad thing. There are plenty of games where you might run out of rages. Perfect time to invoke those runes!

[@crownlexicon5225]

Something that would help your survivability is the fact that a prone enemy has disadvantage on attacks. So that grappled&prone enemy would have a harder time hitting you

[@randomdud668]

Since we want to start as a barbarian anyway for the unarmored defense, I wonder how this build would perform if you went berserker barbarian for the extra attack as a bonus action and omit monk entirely. I know that this would delay our fighter levels, but that might be the way to easily squeeze in another class for expertise.

[@DnDDeepDive]

Yeah, I love the idea if you only tend to have one big combat encounter per day. Otherwise, that exhaustion gets *really* painful.

[@Lysving]

I know you usually build characters for a whole campaign, and I really enjoy that! A one-shot character I'd made definitely didn't have that in mind, but with a rune knight and a sorcerer dip to get enlarge/reduce I made a grappler bugbear who got large enough to grapple an gargantuan dragon (homebrew young tiamat)! We had to check the rules because it surprised all of us, but legendary resistance won't help on the check to contest a grapple. Very fun to pin a dragon for multiple rounds.

[@captainkiwi77]

Your end outtakes make a good point, this character kinda requires a hard companion to announce them and sing their rocky theme. ITS TIIIIIIMMMMMEEEE

[@DnDDeepDive]

[@AwkwardPain]

Very nice as always! The best one I came up with (only gone to level 4 for the concept) was Fighter 1 & Tiger totem barb 3 - The entire idea was based around hitting them, and using bonus action to get them into a grapple. the next turn you would leap into the air (and hopefully have boots of leaping and striding) and go 15' into the air piledriving both you and them into the ground. Didn't think it would scale much, but I loved the concept!

[@samasin5565]

The description of the character's origin actually works really well for being Nacho Libre!

[@basementmadetapes]

I'm a big fan of the character, The Goon, who punches the undead and other eldritch horrors out for a living. Wanted to build a 5e inspired character for a long time. This is dope

[@JudeCranberry]

So excited for this one I was literally refreshing the page waiting for it 😅

[@jamiedorsey4167]

You and me both.

[@gdoggy121]

That makes three of us!

[@hericn]

I think I would rather take the last level on monk to unlock ki features. It would be cool thematically, something like "after all your travels, adventures and fights you came back from were you began and understood the way of your first master to unlock the power within". And mechanically that would give you 2 uses of flurry of blows per short rest that you could use in the same turn as action surge, make 8 attacks and feel like a Street Fighter character using a Special Move. As always, amazing show. Thank you so much for all your work.

[@brianranta5408]

Funny, I was thinking of this as a top laner in League the entire time I was listening to the video! I also haven't played much in a long time, but the memories are always there. Great content, thanks for your work :)

[@Whiplash_MUSIC-hj7vp]

One idea I had for this build. If you roll for stats and you get a bit lucky, it would be really cool to go loxodon for the race, because you don't need to invest as heavily into dexterity, and you can grapple 3 people at once.

[@ohichbinyorick5241]

Thanks for the build! Currently trying to envision the same concept and your ideas with the monk dip and number crunching about barb levels helped me make some choices. I'm gonna stick to Battle Master though for those nice special moves.

[@jackofwitz2876]

Geez two new builds that I have been trying to think through back to back?? You’re on a roll, love to see it haha

[@yodaleiaheehoo9960]

Solid build; I was stoked for this video and I was not disappointed.

[@sonicbelt]

I was just messing around with a similar build the other day. I chose Leonin and went more into Mercy Monk. I ended up with slightly less dpr, but I was able to Stun, Grapple, cause fear, and poison.

[@psoren423]

Love the prelude. You really set up what’s needed in the session “0”!

[@kayoh9364]

Build Suggestion: "The Spellblade," featuring Charisma x 3 to every attack Race: technically anything with martial weapon proficiencies as of Tasha's, swap something out for a rapier Stats: prioritize Dex, then Cha, then Con Draconic Sorcerer 6. Pick up Green-Flame Blade, a fire-type dragon ancestor, and Quickened Spell. Celestial Warlock 12. Pick up Pact of the Blade and Lifedrinker. Fill out the last two levels with either Sorcerer or i guess Paladin? Result: You can Green-Flame Blade + Quickened Green-Flame Blade every turn for 2d8 + 10 + 6d8 + 30 damage, you have AC equal to plate armor due to Draconic, and you're still a fullcaster. ... You run out of gas after 3-4 turns though.

[@jacobbrutcher1690]

I just started watching the netflix daredevil show. The ability to take a punch and being a “boxer” has some fun parallels!

[@bigaj6901]

All we'd need is a way to get blindfighting (or blindsense i forget the actual name) and we're set!

[@noahlambson9884]

Hey Colby! Great Video!!! I'm never disappointed by your character builds. I have a request/suggestion for some future builds. It could be really neat to see some sort of mini series or perhaps just a special episode discussing the best options for solo class builds. such as what would be the best solo fighter, or solo druid etc... My D and D group is a bit hesitant on allowing multi-classing but I still love to optimize :D

[@alanschaub147]

One thing I really like about your channel is that you make personal requests for support, rather than using pre-recorded ads that you insert into every video. 👍🏻

[@crownlexicon5225]

When you spoke of wanting to grapple and fight unarmed, I figured you'd do a duergar rune knight. That way you can use the rune knight ability to become large then enlarge/reduce on yourself to become huge and grapple pretty much anything Edit: Well, I kept watching and I see you went Rune Knight after all lol

[@moonsong92]

I was trying to figure out a character like this one for quite a while. Thank you!

[@lordminsc24]

I've been considering an unarmed, unarmored, brawling Aarakocra grappler inspired by Tibarn from the Fire Emblem series, so this is perfect timing and some great food for thought on my own deliberations. Thanks!

[@Trial88]

That moment when you’re rewatching one of Colby’s other videos just waiting for the new one to drop.

[@StalwartResolve]

I actually was looking for a Zangief (Street fighter) build a couple years back. 😳 This isn't quite that, but close enough. Loved your bloopers at the end 🤣🎤

[@jameswebb4545]

I think the ‘not a monk’ preference was to avoid the no armour restriction which you can’t avoid if you want the extra bonus attack. 6 lvls in beast barbarian might work and be on point for that inner rage you talked about when explaining why they were with the monks in the first place?

[@DnDDeepDive]

Right - I seriously considered Beat Barb for a long time but ultimately decided against just because I was really wanting like, an MMA puncher and not so much a Werewolf/Slasher, ya know? Obviously it'd be a strong option, but especially as the claws are technically considered weapons, it just didn't feel quite right, thematically.

[@joshuasnell2596]

I was just building a few brawlers based off of Godzilla the other day! I am stoked to watch this video for ideas! Keep up the awesome work!

[@hayleykaye1751]

Based off of Godzilla? Are you recreating the various monsters as d&d characters?

[@joshuasnell2596]

@@hayleykaye1751 I am doing builds for Godzilla and Anguirus as PC's that are hunting down a golden hydra. I really want them to be brawler types. Not OP, just super fun.

[@hayleykaye1751]

@@joshuasnell2596 Sounds like a lot of fun! How are you planning on doing Godzillas breath attack?

[@joshuasnell2596]

@@hayleykaye1751 I was looking at using the Red Chromatic Dragonborn for the breath attack.

[@inskeeprulerable]

Perfect timing. I get to watch this during my lunch break!

[@TheCWasson12]

Man I really gotta start actually doing my ideas. I was JUST thinking about how to optimize the unarmed strikes fighting style, and here you are doing it before I get the chance. Not gonna lie, it feels like I'm spoiling it for myself so I don't get the chance to figure it out, but your builds always end up better than mine anyways.

[@hayleykaye1751]

I say go for it still Caleb! If you want to you can customize Colbys' build, or just go ahead with your own ideas. You could try doing variants as well, like purposely taking no monk levels while still trying to maximize unarmed fighting, or focusing your build around a different race. In any case you should definitely give it a shot :)

[@TheCWasson12]

@@hayleykaye1751 yeah I think I'd make it a little more spell friendly potentially. I've got some ideas 🤔

[@darrenromanko2414]

A great build as always. I'll be home again about this time next week. Much love.

[@shadowcole6855]

Don't comment often in videos since YT comment section is a bit intimidating for me haha,; however, I have really wanted to express that I have been watching your channel since I first came across your Beast Master 2.0 video, and each video is still a blast to watch. Thanks for all the thought and work you put into every video! :)

[@tylerambeault1641]

@d4: D&D Deep Dive I know you've been talking about a spirit guardian build and I think I got one for ya 3 lvls Rune Knight Fighter for Giants Might 6 lvls of Lore Bard for expertise in Athletics and Magical Secrets grabbing Spirit Guardians and Spiritual Weapon. Pick up the feats Warcaster (keeps Spirit Guardians up) and Telekinesis (keeps ppl in your Spirit Guardians range) Extra 2 lvls of fighter get you a second grappled target. Bugbear for the extra reach? Also love the mental image of a Giant's Mighted Bugbear casting Spirit Guardians and running (in full plate armour) into the middle of the battlefield action surging to grapple someone and lifting them off the ground. And maybe your little goblin rogue friend has spider climb and is on your back that whole time taking snap shots when the opportunity arises.

[@Torthrodhel]

If you wanna be more of a striker type but don't wanna leave out the grappling, it's worth keeping in mind that conceptually, grappling doesn't have to mean suplexes, ground positions or joint locks - it could just be something as simple as an ear grab while you throw elbows, or a single collar tie for your knee strikes to connect to. Any kind of entanglement at all can be what grappling is. You don't have to be greek or roman! :)

[@shinystars2475]

Clinching would make since if you’re going for a boxer type character

[@Torthrodhel]

@@shinystars2475 yep, exactly! Clinches just like I said with the ear grab or single collar tie. All sorts of options. You probably mean the thai plumb? You could also do a half nelson or grovit, or the old pit hook if you're a bit to the side of them. Even a leg vine can still be a standing option. Hair grab, pie face or goozle for the rougher sorts maybe. Or hell just a shirt bunch why not. Plenty of options for a controlled target to be striking at, even if you're not intending to go to the ground. I mean if you really wanna go conceptual, you could reasonably have just a stream of accurate jabs behave as a grapple, so long as you're using them to control rather than do damage (as is, after all, the typical use). Even just that functionally behaves as a kind of tie-up.

[@KrSaPoww]

I played a character like this. He was a russian pit fighter, specialized in grapples and battlefield control as fighter. Yep, I'm kinda insane, but it was really fun

[@hayleykaye1751]

Russian fighter... specializes in grapples... now I'm imagining Zangief from street fighter, which sounds just Perfect! 😜

[@benjaminfrost2780]

You did an amazing job with the limited options for this concept you have in by the book gameplay. Thankfully I have a DM that allows homebrew and have a pugilist barbarian subclass that actually scales better than a monk with unarmed fighting. But genuinely your by the book build could be used in by the book games and outshine a number of solo class builds that people play in those games with ease. Well done.

[@ShadowCutter10]

i love this concept. Ive always wanted to make something like this concept but i always ran into the nonmagical resistances so i made fist wrappings with +1, +2, +3 variants that are supposed to be used with the unarmed fighting style (available on DnD beyond) as a way to let it work but i was unaware of the eldritch claw tattoo and insignia of claws. so im gonna make a cool tatted fighter guy now

[@Onorel]

Older editions had the cestus that you could use as a weapon, I feel like it should exist in 5e. You're still using your fists, but it's also a weapon which can be magical. I mean, it's not like a pair of magical brass knucles would break the game.

[@davidlewis8814]

Agreed! I had a DM create some magical hand-wraps for me once; very thoughtful

[@kinghoenn3478]

Here is my brawler build and he works great. 3. Lvls in Barbarian, Bear Totem. 17 lvls in Fighter Battle master with unarmed combat as your fighting style. You can hit three times a round, access to action surge twice. You can use your maneuvers to do sick combat stuff to control the battlefield using your abilities. While your rage lets you take half damage from almost everything so your in the fight for a while. Take the tough feat for extra HP. Then take the sentinel feat. After that just ASI as needed.

[@groovydude4511]

I think a really strong base for an "anti-monk" build would be 1 Monk/2 Rogue/x Fighter (and some Barbarian if you are going Strength like you did). Monk for Unarmored Defense and Martials Arts. Rogue for Cunning Action (and Expertise in Athletics if grappling). Fighter for Unarmed Fighting Style. I think right at level 4 you will feel similar-ish to a Monk, but your numbers across the board should be better.

[@lloydlineske2642]

I didn't click on the card, but that is really cool to put up a link to another providers channel. That's what's up my guy. I love how you are joining the channels together in a sense. Spreading the wealth.

[@AtelierGod]

12:13 if you stretch some logic. Since beast barbarians claws are treated as simple weapons so that there is no confusion if it works with rage, if you’ve got the dual wielder feat you can two weapon fighting using the claws option which will give you a free attack as part of the attack action and the bonus attack just without the damage modifier but still the rage modifier.

[@wayward_soul9663]

First! Really excited for this build btw. Also, before I forget: I was playing an artillarist artificer yesterday, and I found out the protector turret, when combined with a raging barbarian, is incredibly effective and makes your frontline even more tanky then before. This gave me an idea: how would you go about creating a two-person build (like the wolf & coyote, battery & blender, etc) but instead of building for damage, you build to make these two characters, when paired together, basically unkillable. Just a thought.

[@heathbecker420]

Ah but you weren't first...

[@DnDDeepDive]

Will put it on the to do list :)

[@wayward_soul9663]

@@heathbecker420 RIP. I didn't see any other comments when I put that. Darn it.

[@wayward_soul9663]

@@DnDDeepDive Huzzah!

[@bossdozz]

Damn colby you always seem to reach into my mind and pull out builds Ive had on paper forever but now get to see them be optimized!! Ill just give you my next idea so you dont need to use your alter memories on me. The MC/the mentor/undying type character basically the general idea is a barbarian/shadow monk atm that always gets up to fight back, lemme know what you think :) Its my own way of dealing with some bbegs and plans DMs set up, usually the plan to kill you once so this character has had some use running at the BBEG burning their strongest spells and then getting right back up

[@ChazTheYouthful]

Thank you for honoring Bob Sagat with this build, many people forget he lost the street fighter championship in 1987 to Ryu in a stunning upset.

[@GryphonDes]

I 100% adore these Colby, but man oh man, you would go HAM if you did some Pathfinder 2 character builds :D It is such a detailed and versatile system and it has bloody good bones!

[@jasontodd433]

I really like this idea and as soon as you said you wanted to go for consistent damage, I figured Rune Knight. But I made a few changes that kinda has the same feel but maybe a bit higher damage overall (I haven't run the numbers.😅) instead of mountain Dwarf I went Harengon to make up for my low Dex that a Monk would have both for AC and the reaction saving throw boost. The Jump is good for engaging or disengaging. And instead of Rune Knight I took Battle Master with Trip Attack, Brace, and Grappling Strike everything else is virtually the same. I would recommend starting off with 3 levels in Fighter first and using Chain Mail for your AC at first then dip in to Monk and then Barb for the bonus action attack, rage, and Unarmed Defense. Then you choice is grabbing another level in Barb or push fighter for extra attack

[@nottelling6727]

Love this build!

[@TheRawrnstuff]

12:03 "...There's no way [snip] to get an attack with your fists as a bonus action outside of being a monk..." I, too, might be wrong, but I think that's true. However! If you want an *unarmed strike* as a bonus action, there are a few ways to go about it. 1) It's possible with the Longtooth Shifter race from the 'Eberron - Rising from the Last War' sourcebook. It's only available while you're "shifting" - a kind of like a "Rage lite" feature available to use once between rests, short or long, lasting up to a minute. 2) The centaur can do it with their hooves after a charging attack, which in turn requires the character to move 30 ft in a straight line before it. 3) The minotaur (Theros, Ravnica, Amonkhet) can use their horns to make a bonus attack unarmed strike as a Goring Rush, but that requires taking a dash action and moving 20 ft - although, that movement doesn't need to be in a line. So, even in melee already, you could walk to the other side of your target never leaving the threatened squares, and still have 40 ft movement left for the round. It's not great, but it's possible. Note that you should ask if your DM considers centaur hooves and minotaur horns "weapons" that still make unarmed attacks or not. "Weapons" can be blessed, normal unarmed attacks can't, unless specifically mentioned by the type of blessing feature. In addition, some features require an attack made "with a weapon" - regardless of whether those weapons make unarmed strikes or normal weapon attacks. (Unarmed strikes are a special type of weapon attack, as "weapon attack" just means "not a spell attack") Regardless, each of the above are considered "unarmed strikes". A special note, the Viashino Race from UA53 - Races of Ravnica has access to an unarmed strike as a reaction to an enemy dealing damage to you. If your build wants plenty of unarmed attacks, that's a pretty unique option.

[@tuliossauro]

Nice!!! Mine is a level 5 Hunter (colosssus slayer) Ranger STR20 with unarmed fighting style feat, so he give some heavy punches with Hunter's Mark and the other features. (one punch can make 27 damage)

[@gadgetronking4255]

I think a good alternative for this type of build (though maybe a bit thematically different) would be either going Beasthide Shifter, giving you a +2 to con and a +1 to str, the ability to shift which gives extra temporary hit points and a +1 increase to AC all of which help the build, or Longtooth Shifter removing the level in Monk as it gives you a bonus bite attack and still some extra hit points (so either more survivability or more damage). I would also go for Path of the Beast Barbarian giving still giving rage etc.. but also ways to defend yourself more and make you far tankier with the tail and bite options (the claw option also lets you do more attacks but that is only a d6 unless your DM lets you still use the d8s from your fighting style), it also fixes the resistance to non-magical weapons if you keep going all the way to level 6 (however if again the DM lets use d8s instead of d6s I would go all they way to level 6).

[@andrewf9126]

A couple spell tattoos can really help out a build like this. Barrier tattoo and Eldritch claw tattoo in particular. As a DM I would probably be inclined to let somebody have them if was was to bring a cool character concept more in-line with optimized characters.

[@ryanscanlon2151]

I ran this exact build up to level 10 in a one shot! I also on a prior incarnation of this build from before Rune Knight I asked Crawford about using a grappler creature as an improvised weapon which he then used in a session of Acquisitions Incorporated he DMed for.

[@daithi1966]

I had an accidental pugilist. I went with bladesinger, which has great AC. I took three levels of Fighter for Echo Knight and took the unarmed fighting style. Then I got the Touch of Death -- Dark Gift. and with Booming Blade / Green Flame Blade this made a really good unarmed fighter. I didn't have the Blood Fury Tattoo, but that would have really topped things off.

[@kevinkratovil563]

I love this idea! If it were me, I'd probably skip the first level in Monk (unless you gotta have that story element) because if we consider a fighter with unarmed fighting style being able to utilize all their appendages as weapons (which I do as a DM, your mileage may vary) then we should be able to consider their bonus action as a viable "light weapon attack" since their appendages are unweighted. Plus you can wear chainmail, so your AC ends up being higher anyway (all the street fighters who like living wear armor). So you start out as an angry dwarf with no axe at hand, but with two doughty fists at level 1. I love the monk but I can't take that first monk level.

[@kennethdavis6257]

I am currently playing a Rune Knight/Barbarian/with one level of Druid. I know that doesn't make a lot of sense, but he makes his living as a charter fisherman and does pit fighting in his spare time. The druid is to have Druidcraft to know the weather for the next day's fishing, and Guidance to give his charter customers a little edge on their survival checks. Also, he uses Goodberry and create water to make sure they never starve or die of thirst when at sea, so though it isn't that important... (though having Jump for combat is awesome with this build) having that one level of Druid adds a lot of flavor to the character. I like your point about the level of Monk... but I hate to miss out on that 18th level capstone for Rune knight... being able to become huge is an awesome idea if you want to wrestle giants. Thanks for sharing the build!

[@thetim9480]

Thank you! I've had the character concept of a monk consumed by rage for a long time but couldn't figure out how to satisfyingly execute it mechanically. This is perfect. The only difference being my character will be a fallen aasimar for backstory reasons. He's going to be extra short for an aasimar so I can spin becoming a rune knight as trying to find a way to overcome his inferiority complex.

[@snarkback]

I made some cool items like the lion wrist wraps that are leather fighter wraps that do magical damage and the damage for those made the attack slashing magical and you could burn a charge for an extra d6 of force damage. Also made greaves that did lightning or thunder damage for unarmed strikes and let you teleport once per day as a bonus action after attacking.

[@Cypress77]

At lvl 3, I swapped the 2nd level of barbarian for rogue before going fighter. I think a 1-level dip into rogue is worth the expertise in athletics (grappling). Not to mention getting proficiency and expertise in perception or whatever you want, plus thieves tools. If the DM allows sneak attack with unarmed, that would be a nice bonus.

[@jaforewit]

love the bloopers :) found myself singing along with you lolz

[@DnDDeepDive]

[@SarahOtter]

Benjamin Huffman made a wonderful pugilist class that would fit this very well! Though you have to pay for the PDFs, this is still a fantastic idea for a bruiser sort of build, R.A.W.! And with that, you *can* make either McGreggor or Nacho Libre! Then there's also a couple other 'fighting schools' you can follow, including the 'Perfect Square', all for grappling!

[@overwatchfnatic9094]

I love the idea of a brawler/boxer type character. Made my own with an echo knight fighter. My thinking was a thematic take on shadow boxing, literally having his shadow be able to box and fight enemies. Then flavoring the teleport/switch as some kind of focused speed movement somewhat like what we see in anime. Just blinking because of how fast they move. My DM allowing mundane items like bracers or boxing gloves to count as a weapon for the purposes of mechanics and having the same idea of morphing items to fit their style like making a magical sword instead be magical gloves.

[@rontrobertson]

I did something similar with a homebrew race that's descended from wolverines. Because of that critter's thick skin, I gave the race a Constitution-based AC similar to loxodons'. That way I could stick with monk and fighter without worrying about unarmored defense. Still, taking fewer levels in monk (I was going for flurry of blows) and adding a few in barbarian is worth a look. Also, I went with Battle Master, particularly for Grappling Strike and Trip Attack, but considered Rune Knight, as much for the cool factor as anything else.

[@Jw87563]

I'm expecting unarmed fighter and maybe some barbarian for extra tankiness. I'm glad you're sticking to RAW for this build because that can encourage creativity. Using Benjamin Huffman's Pugilist would be too easy (I recommend you playing this class someday, though).

[@foxy2pointo]

This was not the direction I expected but it turned out great! Feels more like Taguro from yu yu hakasho then like a street bruiser (you might not know about him but everything from the progression to the giants might is perfect for Taguro)

[@ralorieth6858]

I love the vids so much!!! You should totally do a vid on the ghostlance build :)) If you can fit it in the schedule ofc :D

[@danielknight2872]

Loving the videos man. Keep up the great work.

[@sumdood6972]

a really fun grappler build I've done was a goliath. I started barbarian 1 then 5 monk 2 more barb then monk the rest of the way. as a goliath you get athletic build which has an interesting interaction with grappling, because you count as a size category larger for pushing pulling and DRAGing you can actually drag medium size creatures your full speed. its a fringe benefit but if your dm is good with interesting terrain... similar to yours the barbarian rage is amazing for grappling and I love the grapple to flurry of blows combo. open hand lets me knock prone on the the attack for the makeshift stun and bear totem for the survivability. my favorite moment of his career was elbow dropping the back of a tyrannosaurus so hard it collapsed for a round. I understand people wanted a non-monk build they just need to realize that monk as a class doesn't neseccarily mean "lives in a monastery and learns martial arts" it just means "I don't need weapons because I am the weapon"

[@gamergunn7139]

My brawler build was a simple 14/6 Fighter/Barb Rune Knight/Bear Totem Emerald Dragonborn, so while raging I had every single damage resistance. I picked up Skill Expert for the Athletics expertise, and took Arcana as well. I did ultimately take Tavern Brawler, cuz it fit thematically, as did the Arcana prof. I never got to use it, but it was more of a gimmick build anyway. Glad it got made by you

[@lkeasbey1]

For the zealot barbarian gain, I would slot it into a story beat where you realize the monastery you started in wasn't worthless. You still aren't suited to the way of the floating leaf, but your rage has a tranquility of it's own.

[@timscott7151]

Looks like people REALLY wanted this build!! Let's go!!

[@glb190]

Love love love this build. I can see your argument in going 3 in Barb, 1 in monk, since you're not going to be looking past lvl 17, otherwise I was looking into Barb 3 / Fighter X for the 2nd Action Surge. Since my group is starting our chars at level 3, I'm starting in Barb for the Con save, assuming I've got enough WIS for the MC requirements for monk.

[@WolfHreda]

My version of this character, before I've gotten into your build, is a Duergar Fighter/Barbarian multiclass with the Unarmed Fighting style, Bear Totem, you know, the good stuff. I'm pretty sure I went Battle Master for things like Trip Attack and Riposte.

[@cheepa4048]

As a toplaner, I'd say that rage is quite lore accurate for us. Nice video!

[@benry007]

Not the best option right now due to how it meaning another round of bonus action set up but the new shifter longtooth subrace is rumoured to have a bonus action bit attack that doesn't require a round of setup like the old one. That would be a good alternative to a monk level. I'd maybe go Longtooth fighter X/barbarian 4. Maybe picking battlemaster for the manoeuvres. You can grapple/shove prone two enemies and spend your time biting them. Huge and larger enemies will be a problem though unless you have a kind wizard friend willing to cast enlarge.

[@hayleykaye1751]

Battle Master is definitely a great option mechanically and flavor wise!

[@animefan3794]

Watched this earlier today, and when I clicked on it I thought “this is going to be great for the character concept my friend and I discussed the other day.” It’s doubtlessly an effective build, but… there’s a certain part that runs me the wrong way. You set out at the start to make a street brawler that wasn’t a monk and, implied by the nature of brawling pugilism, wasn’t a caster. The one level of monk was honestly fine, whole heartedly agreed that getting the martial arts benefits was a necessity. But then most the abilities you have are legitimately magic in nature. Rune magic, Zealot damage boost, doesn’t matter still magic. Something about that makes it feel like this isn’t a street brawler at all anymore. . . . . . . . . Because I want to share the concept my friend and I talked about: “pretty and refined/classy Noblewoman who is an unarmed terror on the battlefield. She will cave your skull in with your own ripped off arm if you’re not careful when fighting her.”

[@demiurge2763]

Personally, when I made a pugilist I went for a more nonmagical route. Intsead of a level dip in monk, I took the tavern brawler feat. While the Rune Knight ia definitely better at grappling, I chose to go with the Battle Master subclass to make them seem like more of a trained fighter in hand to hand combat. As for the race, the campaign I was in gave everyone a free feat and didn't allow for V. Human, so I was stuck between going plasmoid or dhampir. Both were cool flavorwise and mechanically, but I ended up going with dhampir since a friend gave me a cool bacsktory idea. I eventually took the skill expert feat for expertise in athletics. The end result was ridiculous athletics checks (+13 athletics check +1d8 from grapple strike +1d4+4 from dhampir bite), the highest one being 42.

[@The_MKUltra]

Very cool build. Trying to work on something with the Path of the Beast/fighter. That additional attack from path of the beast counts as simple weapons. Need to hash it out with dual wielder feat, grappler, possible two weapon fighting, and maybe skill expert. Eldritch claw tattoo would handle magical attacks if we keep the barbarian at 3, or we can forgo it if we go to 6+ on barb but I feel the fighter levels do more long term.

[@andrewhalmo656]

A Tabaxi would also be a good race to choose because of there claw attacks😁

[@DesignatedHealer]

I know you don't account for magic items, but if your dm allows (or just wants to give you one) take the eldritch claw tattoo. Your unarmed strikes count as magical (for overcoming resistance), +1 to hit and dmg, increases the range to 15ft, and gives an extra d6 force dmg!

[@SethHolbertWrites]

I’d love to see you make a video of what you think the perfect dnd adventuring group would look like out of your builds, always love your content, keep up the good work

[@DnDDeepDive]

Thanks! Full party builds are hard but I *do* enjoy "team up" two character builds once in awhile. I might just combine a couple of those... say the "Brainy and the Beast" with maybe the "Wolf and Coyote"?

[@arseniykukushkin2428]

Hei! Nice build! I have to started campaign with similar idea. Campaign seems to finish at level 8-9, so i have thought of more economical build different build. Human var(Tavern Brawler, 17STR) Barbarian and Unarmed fighting figher +go to beast barbarian+ atlete +beast jump So at level 8 if i have single grappled enemy the damage with action surge is d4+(2d6claw+ 2d8 unarmed +8+ 16) =38dmg +1-2d6 for jumping (and landing enemy prone)and raising up so total 45 and 4 to yourself. At the same time with two grappled enemies you can deal nearly the same damage spreading between two and having nice AC by tail, or healing a bit from jaws. 9 lvl could be monk if not care about armour, so damage could be raised to 51 in general , and 62 using 1 ki for single target.

[@brynwtsn]

I know this video is a few months old, but I had made an unarmed grappler and striker like this. I just went Rune knight until 5 for extra attack, I'd take skill expert for the Athletics expertise at 4. Then switch to Genie (efreeti) Warlock. This give hex which is helpful for winning grapples, and Armor of Agathys. I would stay with Genie until level 7 at which point I have 4th level spells. I'd pick up Fire Shield and Shadow of Moil. Now I would, either cast AoA and Fire shield before combat and really punish anyone who hits me, or AoA and Shadow of Moil. I'd probably go back to fighter to 8, then finish with Warlock 12. Once you get Warlock 11 you can cast AoA before combat for 25 temp hp. You can also cast Fire shield warm version to give resistance to cold (efreeti warlocks already get fire resistance) and deal damage on a hit. And on the 1st round of combat cast Shadow of Moil giving radiance resistance and dealing damage when you get hit. This way, any time someone hits you they take 2d8 fire damage 2d8 necrotic damage and 25 cold damage (as long as you keep your temp hp). That's a solid defense. Also, I recently realized that Shadow of Moil is a 4th level spell that is like 2 other 4th level spells combined (fire shield, and greater invisibility), yet better than greater invisibility because true sight still can't see through it.

[@michaelpenner6053]

You can also take 3 levels of Artificer and punch with Thunder damage!

[@DnDDeepDive]

Didn’t think about Armorer - good point, though of course, technically your gauntlet counts as a simple weapon… 🤔

[@michaelpenner6053]

@@DnDDeepDive yes, they do, so not technically unarmed, though you would only have to use them when punching through resistances.

[@hayleykaye1751]

You could always ask your dm to allow them to count as unarmed. If they're hesitant a good compromise could be using one of your item infusions to make them count as unarmed attacks, as if you had an infusion with that effect.

[@danielknight2872]

This is exactly what I was thinking while watching the video. 3 levels armor, 13 levels rune knight, 1 level rogue for expertise in athletics. Custom lineage to take tavern brawler, unarmed fighting style, tough feat, mobile feat, plate armor, heavy armor master feat as well. This was on the basis of rolling some decent stats too.

[@daringdarius5686]

I'm a DM, I already encountered this issue years ago, and how I handled it was as such: Metal ring-like braces on your hands meant for fighting: +1 to unarmed strikes (to hit and damage). The definition is broad so the player can work around it. You may enchant said ring-like braces only with a few enhancements that would then make them "magical". The most common one is "of Protection". It works the same way when you get Vambraces of Protection, in which you cannot be wearing armor, it does not stack with shields nor vambraces, but gives you +1 to AC, must be attuned to, but you can now use "magical fist" strikes which get around the whole "immune to non-magical attacks". It costs 2200 gold (for a regular fair market price) to enchant. I did it this way as they can be taken away, donned/doffed and then also used by monks. Because of this I kept it so you don't gain 1d4 damage because you have metal bits on your fists, just +1, and you can *get by*. You can also ask a blacksmith to make your own versions depending on materials (if you used adamantium or dragon teeth, slap a +2 on that bad boy and make them magical, if you used Iceflex slap a +3 and a magical effect or 2, but you still do 1 base damage, hence why nobody has done that). Unlike monks, their magical property can be stolen by them by simply doffing the spiked metal on your fist though, and monks do 1d4 damage. Finally the use of Caestus is what I used to help pugilist fighters. Caestus simply do 1d4 damage, and can resemble virtually anything, even boxing gloves that have a little lead in them. This is usually what the pugilists use, and a good example would be Vander's choice of weapons in Arcane, especially when he uses the improvised weapon when he confronts Mr. Steroids on the bridge (trying not to give any spoilers). My players absolutely love this idea, and one of the players is currently pursuing making a Caestus out of Iceflex but cannot find a blacksmith capable of crafting a weapon out of the material. The same rules apply, except, just to ensure monks don't get shafted, if they in turn use a Cestus they get to do 1d6 damage, rather than 1d4. So far this hasn't been an issue as there are no monks in the party, but the ranger has already stated that if his character is to die, he is going full monke. The importance of the Caestus cannot be understated as I absolutely love expanding and customizing the use cases of weapons in D&D. One I love is the Macuahuitl :) but that's another story. My favorite one is a character I made who is a Dwarf who (inspiration from Eragon) has Ascudgamln (ASK-KULD-GAM-IL-LIN) (fists of steel in Dwarvish) where he essentially had screw holes with a black of iron surgically implanted into each of his knuckles, and is then able to screw in different types of bolts and blocks into his fists for use. Also another one was a man permanently embedded metallic curved blades into his elbows that cannot be retracted. He made them from enchant adamantium ingots such that they were extremely powerful, but the player soon realized how impractical they were ( he was free to use them but he couldn't "put them away" in the presence of the king for example so he had to be accompanied by guards in many scenarios and parties until the trust was earned, not to mention it put people on edge)

[@nicholasarosemena3829]

Depending on how loosely you define unarmed strike, Centaurs and Minotaurs both get a way to use their natural weapons (which count as unarmed strikes) as bonus actions, but they are both conditional

[@davidlewis8814]

You know what I like most about theory-crafting and character building? The schedules of the participants ALWAYS line up. It seems like I can do it at almost any time I’d like!

[@alanschaub147]

Colby: Have you ever thought about building optimized characters with a low (or lower) score in an important ability? I think it would be challenging, yet fun. There are lots of features that make this possible: • Dwarf Speed not reduced by wearing heavy armor • Hexblade using Charisma for attacks and damage. • Druid Wild Shape using beast stats to replace physical ability scores. Some of the best fantasy fiction characters have defects or weaknesses that they have to work around. I’m thinking of examples like Elric of Melnibone’. 🗡

[@LelandCarpenter]

In Tasha’s there is a fighting style that lets you use a d8 for unarmed strikes if you aren’t wielding any weapons or a shield. There is also the new feat from Tasha’s called fighting initiate that let’s you get a fighting style. You could just not go into monk and get that feat from custom lineage and go barbarian-fighter

[@theyoungDeathclaw]

Did u watch the video?

[@pharynx007]

one of my favorite feats from 3.5e, was the monk vow of ascetism. to me, that really fit the flavor of one kind of monk, i would love to see a monk subclass REALLY go into that. maybe a homebrew subclass. eventually not needing to eat, drink, or breath, crazy natural stat growth, attacks becoming magical basically, so long as you didn't own anything. i have no clue if that translated to 5e would be good though, especially considering it wasn't considered all that strong in 3.5e even. maybe if the stat boost wasn't limited by the 20 cap? like your class normal attribute increase would still be limited to 20, but iirc, you end up with a +8 from on one stat, +6 on a second, +4 on a third, and +2 on a fourth stat from that feat. so you could end up with a 28 dex at level 20.

[@madwithjacob]

Ok, commenting twice because the league reference is gold. Sounds exactly like a champ named Sett. Big dude whose ult just smashes you into the ground. Queue up with me Colby? hahahah