Barebones Fighter (3.5e Class)

By [Wang Wei]

The Barebones Fighter

The Barebones Fighter is a rare class made of extremely stubborn individuals that are well built and enjoy accomplishing things through sheer brute strength. They usually tend to stay away from using conventional weapons and armor as much as possible, feeling a sense of pride using only their body and whatever they find laying around in the heat of battle. They are usually on the front lines in a fight and are eager to take on stronger enemies to prove themselves.

Making a Barebones Fighter

Abilities: Strength is very important to a Barebones Fighter as they mainly use brute force to take down opponents. Constitution is also very important as it provides them with a higher Armor Class, and will give them lots of hit points to keep on doing what they do best.

Races: Any race can be a Barebones Fighter if they are someone who is stubborn enough, however races that would tend to lean more towards this class are ones such as Dwarves, Half Orcs and Goliaths who tend to be stronger, stubborn and more competitive.

Alignment: Any.

Starting Gold: 6d4 (15GP)

Starting Age: Simple.

Table: The Barebones Fighter

Hit Die: d10

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Saving Throws			Special	Improvised Weapon Damage	Unarmed Damage	AC Bonus
		Fort	Ref	Will
1st	+1	+2	+2	+2	Bonus Feat, Powerful Build	1d8	1d8	+1
2nd	+2	+3	+3	+3	Bonus Feat	1d8	1d8	+1
3rd	+3	+3	+3	+3	Uncanny Dodge	1d8	1d8	+1
4th	+4	+4	+4	+4	Bonus Feat	2d6	2d6	+2
5th	+5	+4	+4	+4		2d6	2d6	+2
6th	+6/+1	+5	+5	+5	Bonus Feat, Improved Uncanny Dodge	2d6	2d6	+2
7th	+7/+2	+5	+5	+5		2d6	2d6	+2
8th	+8/+3	+6	+6	+6	Bonus Feat	2d8	2d8	+3
9th	+9/+4	+6	+6	+6		2d8	2d8	+3
10th	+10/+5	+7	+7	+7	Bonus Feat	2d8	2d8	+3
11th	+11/+6/+1	+7	+7	+7		2d8	2d8	+3
12th	+12/+7/+2	+8	+8	+8	Bonus Feat	3d6	3d6	+4
13th	+13/+8/+3	+8	+8	+8		3d6	3d6	+4
14th	+14/+9/+4	+9	+9	+9	Bonus Feat	3d6	3d6	+4
15th	+15/+10/+5	+9	+9	+9		3d6	3d6	+4
16th	+16/+11/+6/+1	+10	+10	+10	Bonus Feat	3d8	3d8	+5
17th	+17/+12/+7/+2	+10	+10	+10		3d8	3d8	+5
18th	+18/+13/+8/+3	+11	+11	+11	Bonus Feat	3d8	3d8	+5
19th	+19/+4/+9/+4	+11	+11	+11		3d8	3d8	+5
20th	+20/+15/+10/+5	+12	+12	+12	Bonus Feat	4d8	4d8	+6
The values shown are for improvised one-handed melee weapons in the hands of Medium characters and unarmed damage done by Medium characters taking into account powerful build. See Table: Improvised Weapon Damage, or Unarmed Damage by Size for small or medium characters.
Skill Points: (4 + Int modifier per level, ×4 at 1st level) Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Escape Artist (Dex), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Listen (Wis), Ride (Dex), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex).

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the Barebones Fighter.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Daggers, Unarmed Combat, Improvised Weapons, and one weapon of your choice.

AC Bonus: When unarmored and unencumbered add your Constitution modifier +1 to AC, at level four and every four levels after that add an additional +1. These bonuses to AC apply even against touch attacks or when flat-footed.These bonuses are lost if you become immobilized or helpless, when you wear any armor, carry a sheild, or carry a medium or heavy load.

Powerful Build: The physical stature of a barebones fighter lets them function in many ways as if they were one size category larger. Whenever they are subject to a size modifier or special size modifier for an opposed check (such as during grapple checks, bull rush attempts, and trip attempts), they are treated as one size larger if doing so is advantageous to them. A barebones fighter is also considered to be one size larger when determining whether a creature’s special attacks based on size (such as improved grab or swallow whole) can affect them. A barebones fighter can use weapons designed for a creature one size larger without penalty. However, their space and reach remain those of a creature of their actual size. The benefits of this trait stack with the effects of powers, abilities, and spells that change the subject’s size category.
Note: This trait can only be obtained if the class barebones fighter was selected from level one as it would make no sense for a character to gain this much muscle mass over the span of 1 level up

Improvised Weapon Proficiency: The barebones fighter is proficient in any kind of improvised weapon, i.e. anything that can be used to hit people even though this is not the original purpose of the item. Examples are empty or broken bottles, chairs, tables, pool cues, plates... The DM should use common sense to attribute size (light, one-handed or two-handed) and damage type (piercing, slashing or bludgeoning) to an improvised weapon. As for damage, refer to the table below. For example, a broken bottle would be a light piercing weapon, a chair would be a two-handed bludgeoning weapon.

As the barebones fighter gains levels, they can use improvised weapons more effectively and deal more damage with them. The following table lists damage ratings for improvised weapons by the size of the character, the size of the weapon, and the character level.

Table: Improvised Weapon Damage

Small Character	Light Weapon	One-Handed Weapon	Two-Handed Weapon	-	-
Medium Character	-	Light Weapon	One-Handed Weapon	Two-Handed Weapon	-
Large Character	-	-	Light Weapon	One-Handed Weapon	Two-Handed Weapon
Level 1st–3rd	1d3	1d4	1d6	1d8	2d6
Level 4th–7th	1d4	1d6	1d8	2d6	3d6
Level 8th–11th	1d6	1d8	1d10	2d8	3d8
Level 12th–15th	1d8	1d10	2d6	3d6	4d6
Level 16th–19th	1d10	2d6	2d8	3d8	4d8
Level 20th	2d6	2d8	2d10	4d8	6d8

Improvised thrown weapons: The barebones fighter can use any light or one handed improvised weapon as a thrown weapon with a range increment of 10 ft.

Unarmed Strike: At 1st level, a barebones fighter gains Improved Unarmed Strike as a bonus feat. Their attacks may be with either fist interchangeably or even from elbows, knees, and feet. This means that a barebones fighter may even make unarmed strikes with their hands full. There is no such thing as an off-hand attack for a barebones fighter striking unarmed. A barebones fighter may thus apply their full Strength bonus on damage rolls for all their unarmed strikes.

Usually a barebones fighter's unarmed strikes deal lethal damage, but they can choose to deal nonlethal damage instead with no penalty on their attack roll. They have the same choice to deal lethal or nonlethal damage while grappling.

A barebones fighter’s unarmed strike is treated both as a manufactured weapon and a natural weapon for the purpose of spells and effects that enhance or improve either manufactured weapons or natural weapons.

A barebones fighter also deals more damage with their unarmed strikes than a normal person would, as shown on Table: Unarmed Damage by Size.

Table: Unarmed Damage by Size

Level	Fine	Diminutive	Tiny	Small	Medium	Large	Huge	Gargantuan	Colossal
1st–3rd	1	1d2	1d3	1d4	1d6	1d8	2d6	3d6	4d6
4th–7th	1d2	1d3	1d4	1d6	1d8	2d6	3d6	4d6	6d6
8th–11th	1d3	1d4	1d6	1d8	1d10	2d8	3d8	4d8	6d8
12th–15th	1d4	1d6	1d8	1d10	2d6	3d6	4d6	6d6	8d6
16th–19th	1d6	1d8	1d10	2d6	2d8	3d8	4d8	6d8	8d8
20th	1d8	1d10	2d6	2d8	2d10	4d8	6d8	8d8	12d8

Bonus Feats: At 1st, 2nd, and every second level after that you may choose a feat including Fighter feats.

Uncanny Dodge: At 3rd level, you retain your Dexterity bonus to AC (if any) even if he is caught flat-footed or struck by an invisible attacker. However, you still lose the Dexterity bonus to AC if immobilized. If you already have uncanny dodge from another class you automatically gain improved uncanny dodge instead.

Improved Uncanny Dodge: At 6th level and higher, a barebones fighter can no longer be flanked. This defense denies a rogue the ability to sneak attack them by flanking, unless the attacker has at least four more rogue levels than the target has barebones fighter levels. If a character already has uncanny dodge from a second class, the character automatically gains improved uncanny dodge instead, and the levels from the classes that grant uncanny dodge stack to determine the minimum level a rogue must be to flank the character.

Ex-Barebones Fighters

A barebones fighter is a very stubborn individual, therefore it would take a major revelation to make them change their ways. Anyone who starts out as a barebones fighter and chooses to take a level in another class can no longer progress any further with the barebones fighter class.

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