Digestor at [unixtime wrote:1176064435[/unixtime]]
clikml at [unixtime wrote:1176039971[/unixtime]]
Digestor at [unixtime wrote:1175983219[/unixtime]]^ That's not really the point though, you shouldnt' have to multi-class to a class outside of 'fighter' to learn how to throw your fist at something's face.
Like, most 8 year olds know that.
Ehhh, there is a rather vast difference between knowing how to throw a punch, and knowing how to throw a punch without losing your fingers to some guy waving a sword at you. More than minimal martial training is required for the latter.
Improved Unarmed Strike isn't just knowing how to throw a punch effectively, it's knowing how to avoid having your arm meet a sword in the process. Not being able to parry or block without being hurt makes it much much harder to close in to land that punch.
Never said anything to the contrary - doesnt' change the fact that even themost seasoned of sword-master will know how to punch someone, because in a sword fight (in reality) at one point or another your sword is going to be locked or unavailable or somehow unusable and you're just going to have to cold-clock that drunk bastard/goblin one.
True; but just about any sword master knows that if you try to punch someone who has a sword out and is trying to hit you with it, you'll have to dodge his sword before you can make the punch. Quite practically, it's a similar concept to charging a guy with a pike; his range exceeds yours, therefore he gets the first attack. There are sneaky ways around this, but those are difficult.
Furthermore, I'd imagine most people, especially 8 year old people, don't even know how to throw a punch properly for more speed and damage. They probably just swing wildly if they haven't had any training.
Don't let jokes get in the way of the real point, they're only there for..... fun.
Quite practically, this applies equally to 8-year olds and seasoned warriors; if your foe has range on you, you'll probably get hit first. 'You're unarmed and I'm not' is a severe case of this.
Really, almost nobody tries to get in a fist fight with somebody who has a real weapon. Trading punches for slashes is a pretty bad idea unless you're a friggin kung fu master and they're mooks. You try to either close and grapple so that their weapon is useless or else find something to put in your hands to make it a fair fight.
But when you cant and your' forced to fight with your fists, a person who's slashed apart a demon or two should know how to be able to throw his fist and NOT get an AoO handed to him (several with some enemies).
Well, that's the trick. Compared to two-handed battleaxes, enchanted longswords, huge mouths filled with razor-sharp teeth, three-foot long claws with a coating of poisonous venom... a plain old punch fundamentally ISN'T a good weapon. You need to get right up next to the thing to use it, and then shoot out an appendage that's relatively unprotected, resulting in a relatively minimal impact. You may be able to get away with this against your average wimpy Orc or Goblin, but a 30-foot demon is going to hand you your ass if you try it, and deservedly so.
So handing out improved unarmed strike for free (or almost free) does seem more than a little weird. At the very least it should be on par with martial weapon proficiency, which admittedly many classes do give out for free. So I'd be content with just calling it a martial weapon proficiency and giving it out for free to classes which grant all MWPs.
Yes. Though I think Rogues should get no AoO when fighting as well, I'm sure they've been in a situation of fisticuffs or 8 considering their life style.
I do however understand why a wizard/cleric would have difficult boxing.
Again, it's a fairly tricky and generally suboptimal fighting style... really, unless you put a some decent effort into it, it's not much good. Mechanically, however, I will agree it really isn't all that different from a standard weapon proficiency... and as RoW is generous in granting such things, it's less of a problem here. If you're wanting to integrate it into the standard system, I'd suggest the following would make a bit more sense.
Simple: 1d3 Nonlethal, Provokes AoO
Martial: 1d3 Nonlethal, Does not Provoke AoO
Exotic: 1d3 Nonlethal/Lethal, Threatens Nearby Squares
And if you want anything better, take Monk levels.