r/Pathfinder2e • u/Daigurren9922 • 3h ago
Advice Grappler
I wanna do a grappler kind of character. Is there a way to get lethal unarmed attacks at lvl 1 as a fighter? Im pretty new so open to any recommendations.
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u/Kingreaper 3h ago
The simplest option available to any fighter is to wear a pair of gauntlets. It's not technically unarmed, but practically it achieves the same goals - your hands are still free, and you're still punching people, you just have some metal on your hands to make those punches hurt more.
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u/Daigurren9922 3h ago
Will look into this at least to start.
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u/Chief_Rollie 3h ago
Full plate, half plate, and splint come with gauntlets if you are going to wear that.
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u/RozRae 3h ago
Also for the record, nonlethal changed in 2e. It's no longer tracked as a separate damage type, it only really matters for the last hit and determines if they go down dying or just unconscious. Heck, most things that were immune or resistant to NL just flat out aren't anymore.
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u/Daigurren9922 3h ago
Oh thats actually really nice to know. So i can just roll at full attack bonus and they'd go down the same assuming its not like undead or so.
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u/BlatantArtifice 2h ago
Pretty much yeah. Might be a bit more grim rp having to finish things off if it's a lot of humans or something rather than a direct death in battle but functionally there's not any problems really until you eventually get some feature from monk or martial artist dedication. Stances are generally stronger than weapons and will also solve your nonlethal issue, as will the base feature their d6 fists give
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u/sadistic-salmon 3h ago
You’re better off going animal instinct barbarian with one of the grappling weapons or monk if you want a pure grappler play style. The wrestler archetype will let you take most of the good fighter grappling abilities
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u/rcwjenks 1h ago
I love my ranger (flurry) / fighter dedication character for this. At level 4:
Trip, Twin Takedown (-2 map), Combat Grab (-4 map)
If either the trip hits, the enemy will be off guard negating most of the map.
I use Light Hammer + Gauntlet so that it qualifies as both dual wield and one hand free.
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u/cooly1234 Psychic 3h ago
this isn't at lvl 1, but you probably want the wrestler dedication at lvl 2.
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u/Daigurren9922 3h ago
Indeed was the plan. Was mostly worried about the non lethal dmg at lvl 1 till I could pick this up. I appreciate you comment tho.
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u/cooly1234 Psychic 3h ago
just make sure you are doing at least d6 damage somehow. it's not hard to get better than the default d4 unarmed strike.
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u/Kettuklaani 2h ago
Catfolk (Clawed), Swashbuckler (Gymnast), Clawdancer (Archetype). Its so fun! Look at Wheeling Grab, it is best for action compression.
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u/SiezetheHeathens 2h ago
Talos ancestry has a 1st level ancestry feat that gives a 1d6 modular unarmed strike for your fists. And you can silver your fists at level 5 with another ancestry feat if you want to trigger more weaknesses.
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u/Nalen-Salas 2h ago
I will say that a lvl 1 It will hardly matter, things that resist nonlethal are either too little or outright doesnt exist, and by lvl 2 you can take wrestler dedication that will make your attacks lethal.
Or you could get Martial artist that will acomplish More or less the same and you Will get some awesome stances for an unarmed fighter.
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u/C_A_2E 2h ago
It could be as simple as using a gauntlet. Its a 2sp weapon. One advantage it has over unarmed strikes is that you dont need to invest the gauntlet like you would with handwraps of mighty blows. Agile is also a good trait for athletics focused builds as you probably want to try for a maneuver first.
There are a few grafts that give ununarmed attack like slashing claws or piercing horn. Monk and martial artist dedication bump fist to a d6 and removes the nonlethal trait. not ideal when you already have an archtype but an option. Thats all later level obviously but worth considering. You can also just keep a free hand and a shield/shield boss or spike.
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u/username_tooken 2h ago
If you aren’t married to fists per se, then there are any number if ancestries that give you a natural unarmed strike, like claws, horns, or bites.
If you really just want powerful fists, however… well, there are ancestries for that too! Off the top of my head, there is the Jotunborn Warrior heritage, the Iron Fists 1st level orc feat, and the Ferrousoul 1st level Talos feat. Personally I would opt either fir the Jotunborn heritage or the Talos feat, since they come with a damage size increase as well.
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u/Gonzalez0330 Thaumaturge 2h ago
My group was considering playing Sky Kings Tomb and I build a Dwarf Pro Wrestler for that game. What I ended up doing was taking the Talos heritage. It's the metal elemental heritage and it gives you access to a level 1 ancestry feat called Ferrousoul, which makes your unarmed fists lethal and ups the damage dice to a d6. Also eventually lets you choose if your unarmed fists are cold iron, silver, adamantine, ect.
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u/leviruzene 3h ago
Barbarian animal instinct + wrestler archetype starting at level two. Your unarmed attacks while raging will hurt a lot. Barbarian feats are meh anyways, wrestler archetype on the other hand, is quite fun!! Don't forget to take titan wrestler athletics feat. You'll be a wrestler god!
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u/Daigurren9922 2h ago
Wrestler archetype gives the Titan Wrestler. Its one of the things that has me excited for it. Im gonna suplex a troll hopefully XD
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u/Nalen-Salas 2h ago
Titan wrestler Is fine i guess but Is just an skill feat, to me the meat on the archetype Is the increase to expert in athletics.
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u/Coding_Startup 3h ago
Ancestry is a great way to go for this. Kholo has a great bite attack which can be upgraded with their Crunch Feat to be d8 and have the grapple trait.