Meme Builds: Brak

"Woah

Hey

Don't touch me."

So Meme Builds isn't for OP munchkin crap. It's for me putting together something that looks fun, cool, and effective enough that you'd want to play it. I don't think this build is overpowered, but it will be irritating in a way the other meme builds haven't been. It'll also require as much explaining as your typical "tricksy bullshit" munchkin build. 

You've been warned. Go grab a drink then dive right in to this. Don't have any coffee, though, because it'll just make you jittery. 

Brak

Class: Fighter

Archetype: Viking

Feats

1 Improved Unarmed Combat

1b Combat Reflexes

2b Dirty Fighting

3 Snake Style

4b Improved Trip

5 Vicious Stomp

6b Snake Sidewind

7 Greater Trip

8b (Rage Power)Unexpected Strike

9 Snake Fang

10b 

11

12b (Rage Power)Taunting Stance

You'll also want an amulet of mighty fists with the Fortuitous ability on it. That lets you take an additional attack when you take an attack of opportunity, at a -5. 

The idea is pretty simple: we're punishing anyone stupid enough to attack you. Here's how it goes. They step up to you, and you pop Unexpected Strike and take an Attack of Opportunity. Then, you take your Fortuitous attack. They swing at you: If they hit, you take your Taunting Stance attack(s). Use one of these to trip them, then if successful take an attack of opportunity via Greater Trip. Then, take another one because of Vicious Stomp. If they miss, you do all of that then take an additional one(or two if it hits) AoO via Snake Fang. You do all this without even spending some sort of resource. To recap:

One from Unexpected Strike

One from Fortuitous
One or more from Taunting Stance
One from Greater Trip
One from Vicious Stomp

Two from Snake Fang

Pros. Well that's a lot of fucking attacks, mate. That's your pro right there. You've also given up very little in terms of regular attacking power, since none of this is on your turn. Greater Trip is also pretty good to have around when you've got friends in melee. You're locked to a one-handed weapon and shield, but I consider it a bonus that you even can use a weapon in the first place with this build considering its ties to unarmed style feats. 


Cons. This section is going to be deceptively large, I just want you to know that. First off, many of those attacks up there(Vicious Stomp and Snake Fang) must be taken with unarmed strikes: meaning without gear or other ways to increase unarmed damage(see Finishing the Character, below) you're stuck at 1d3 plus your mods. You're also going to spend more money on weaponry than other fighters: you're probably buying things like a monk's robe or an amulet of mighty fists in addition to your weapon. You're also giving mostly everyone a +4 to attack and damage against you: You can(and will) use Snake Style to protect yourself vs. their primary attack, but expect to get hit a lot. 

Oh, and your ass is going to run out of AoOs in most rounds. Just accept it. 


Finishing the Character. First off, you have the option of taking the barbarian power Brawler at level 10 to get your unarmed strikes up to 1d6. Otherwise, plan on wearing a Monk's Robe. You'll want a fortuitous weapon as soon as you can as well. Oh, and it goes without saying that you should find any way you can to get more attacks of opportunity.  Your STR probably needs raising as well if you skimped on that to get your DEX up for more AoOs.

Aside from that, Demoralize powers and feats like Terrifying Howl work well with Viking's fast demoralize power. So do shield feats. You're not married to the idea of a shield, but considering what kind of character you are and how badly you want people to miss you, I say you should try to flex that viking shield bonus. 

Later on in your build(level 16+) you have the option of ditching your weapon and shield for Counterpunch for an additional AoO, but I don't think it's worth it. If you adapt this build to Unchained Monk or Brawler, however, don't sleep on this feat. 

I want to mention the feat Antagonize here too, since most people would probably think of that when building this character. Honestly, I don't like it much on the best of days. In addition, the passage that says the effect ends if attacking you would harm it sort of makes me believe the feat just isn't going to work for you. I dunno, if you like arguing with your GM maybe this is a feat for you.

For Full Memery. Oh, lord. I'm sorry but I don't want to be responsible for anyone who chooses to act like Brak in a pen and paper game. 

If You Hate Fun. You're in luck, because the counter-attack master is a staple of action genres. There's a lot of fun to be had in goading people into attacking you or getting into a one-on-one duel. This is a prime character for getting boastful. I don't recommend anyone play a standoffish loner, but this build is also a great way to play someone who doesn't like getting close to people: A germophobe or someone who's sickly and doesn't want anyone else to catch it.