So you wanna be a boxer? Fixing unarmed combat in D&D
Give your pugilist a power up
Unarmed combat in D&D is pretty disappointing.
I’m not talking about the Monk class here, their glow up in the 2024 rules has made them a very powerful option. But if you want to play a brawler build with another martial class, your options are limited and unappealing.
The Tavern Brawler origin feat offers some fun perks, but limits your damage to a D4. The Unarmed fighting style gets you to a D6, but you are still behind the humble longsword or battle axe. Even if you choose to fight with both fists, you get to a D8 - but a two handed great axe or sword offers a D12 or 2D6.
So choosing to fight with your fists puts you behind on damage and you can’t even carry a shield for an AC boost. You also miss out on weapon masteries, a huge draw for martial characters in the 2024 rules.
This problem occurred to me as I was considering a build guide for my new Mushroom Knight (thankyou for the kind reactions to this new Fighter subclass by the way, it’s been very humbling). The Unarmed fighting style is the obvious thematic choice, playing Super Mario means punching, kicking and booty bashing your way through combat, but mechanically it means accepting all of the negative points above.
So what’s the answer?
I propose a fairly simple homebrew addition to the Unarmed fighting style - allowing those who select it to prepare masteries for their unarmed strikes.
This gives these characters a real edge in combat, using their strikes to deliver a variety of mastery properties. It might seem a little overpowered to be able to access multiple masteries on one turn, but I suspect this will be a fair counterbalance to the reduced damage and AC unarmed martials have to accept.
You could even re-flavour the names of the various masteries to evoke different punches and kicks. Delivering haymakers (Push), jabs (Nick) and gut punches (Sap), sounds far more exciting than “I hit them again.”
What do you think? This is more of a hot take than a tested idea so I’d love to hear your reaction. Is it overpowered, or does it give pugilists a level playing field?
Let me know in the comments.
Next time: Are you making this common mistake with locked doors?
Thanks! I think you're right about reskinning too. Handing out a vicious shortsword etc and telling the player it's knuckledusters saves a lot of time, effort and is equally effective.
Remember: "If he dies, he dies."
This is a fun idea! As someone who loves to play monks, this is helpful for those times when I wished I could be a reckless boxer. This is smart and clever!