Min/Max Boards

I need one more base class to have the Racial Subs work out evenly, and this is just begging to be paired with Half-Orc.  So, yeah.

   
"Hnrf..."

A Grunt hits things until they fall down.

MAKING A GRUNT
A grunt is good at bashing things until they don't care to be bashed anymore (because they are dead).
Abilities: Str >> else.
Races: Any, but usually races with a Strength bonus and an Int penalty.
Alignment: Any.  Grunts do what they're told, usually.
Starting Gold: As fighter.
Starting Age: As fighter.

Class Skills
 The Grunt's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Acrobatics (Dex), Athletics (Str), Concentration (Wis), Martial Lore (Int), Perception (Wis), and Persuasion (Cha).
Skill Points at 1st Level: (2 + Int) x4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int

The Grunt				HD: d12
Level 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20	Base Attack Bonus +1 +2 +3 +4 +5 +6 /+1 +7 /+2 +8 /+3 +9 /+4 +10 /+5 +11 /+6 /+1 +12 /+7 /+2 +13 /+8 /+3 +14 /+9 /+4 +15 /+10 /+5 +16 /+11 /+6 /+1 +17 /+12 /+7 /+2 +18 /+13 /+8 /+3 +19 /+14 /+9 /+4 +20 /+15 /+10 /+5	Fort Save +2 +3 +3 +4 +4 +5 +5 +6 +6 +7 +7 +8 +8 +9 +9 +10 +10 +11 +11 +12	Ref Save +0 +0 +1 +1 +1 +2 +2 +2 +3 +3 +3 +4 +4 +4 +5 +5 +5 +6 +6 +6	Will Save +0 +0 +1 +1 +1 +2 +2 +2 +3 +3 +3 +4 +4 +4 +5 +5 +5 +6 +6 +6	Special Iron recovery 1d4, musclebound Clobber, hearty whack Follow-through Crunch Swat Improved clobber Iron recovery 1d3 Skilled whack 1 Improved swat, thick skull Improved follow-through Improved crunch Punish Iron recovery 1d2 Skilled whack 2 Pound Improved punish Greater follow-through Greater crunch, thicker skull Iron recovery 1 Greater punish, skilled whack 3	Maneuvers Known 3 4 5 5 6 6 7 7 8 8 9 9 10 10 11 11 12 12 13 13	Maneuvers Readied 2 2 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 6	Stances Known 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: A grunt is proficient with simple weapons and martial weapons, all non-exotic armor, and with shields (including tower shields).

Maneuvers: A grunt begins his career with knowledge of three martial maneuvers. The disciplines available to him are Iron Heart, Iron Tortoise, and Stone Dragon. Once he knows a maneuver, a grunt must ready it before he can use it (see Maneuvers Readied, below). A maneuver usable by grunts is considered an extraordinary ability unless otherwise noted in its description. A grunt's maneuvers are not affected by spell resistance, and he does not provoke attacks of opportunity when he initiates one.

A grunt learns additional maneuvers at higher levels, as shown on the above table. He must meet a maneuver’s prerequisite to learn it. The highest-level maneuvers he can learn are based on his initiator level, as normal. Upon reaching 4th level, and at every even-numbered grunt level after that (6th, 8th, 10th, and so on), a grunt can choose to learn a new maneuver in place of one he already knows. In effect, he loses the old maneuver in exchange for the new one. He can choose a new maneuver of any level he likes, as long as he observes his restriction on the highest-level maneuvers he can learn; he need not replace the old maneuver with a maneuver of the same level.

Maneuvers readied: A grunt can ready two of his three maneuvers per encounter at level 1, and as he advances in level and learns more maneuvers, he is able to ready more, but still must choose which maneuvers to ready.  A grunt readies maneuvers by meditating and exercising for 5 minutes; once readied, the maneuvers remain so until he spends 5 minutes to ready new ones.  A grunt begins an encounter with all his maneuvers unexpended, regardless of how many times he might have already used them since he readied them. When he initiates a maneuver, he expends it for the current encounter, so each of his maneuvers can be used once per encounter unless he recovers them (see Iron Recovery, below).

Stances Known: A grunt begins play with knowledge of one 1st-level stance from any discipline available to him. At 4th, 10th, and 16th level, he can choose additional stances. Unlike maneuvers, stances are not expended, and he does not have to ready them. All the stances he knows are available to him at all times, and he can change the stance he currently uses as a swift action. A stance is an extraordinary ability unless otherwise stated in the stance description. Unlike with maneuvers, a grunt cannot learn a new stance at higher levels in place of one he already knows.

Iron Recovery (Ex): Whenever a grunt initiates a Grunt maneuver, he automatically recovers it 1d4 rounds later if he hasn't already recovered it. Starting at 7th level, he instead recovers it 1d3 rounds later. At 13th level, he recovers it 1d2 rounds later. At 19th level, he recovers it only 1 round later (i.e., the next round after he expends it).  For example, a 5th-level grunt initiates Iron Heart Surge to throw off the effects of a hold person spell.  He rolls 1d4 and gets a 3; this means he automatically recovers IHS 3 rounds later at the beginning of his turn.

Musclebound (Ex): At his option, a grunt may use his Strength modifier instead of his Constitution modifier for determining his bonus hit points at each level of Grunt.  He may make the choice again for each level of Grunt.

Clobber (Ex): A grunt is well-versed in using a shield for leverage in combat.  While wielding a one-handed or light weapon in one hand and a shield in the other, a grunt of 2nd level or higher adds his shield bonus to the main hand's weapon damage rolls when initiating a strike maneuver.

Hearty whack (Ex): Beginning at 2nd level, a grunt's combat training allows him to consistently perform at a higher level in battle than others.  When making an attack roll, a grunt may choose to roll 4d6 instead of 1d20.  Rolls of 4 and 5 are considered critical failures, while a roll of 20 or above is still an automatic hit (and a critical threat for all weapons).  A roll of 24 automatically confirms the critical threat.
 
Follow-through (Ex): At 3rd level, a grunt learns to follow a strike by his weapon with a strike by his shield.  Whenever the grunt successfully attacks an opponent with a one-handed or light weapon in his main hand, if he is wielding a shield in the other hand, he gains an additional shield bash attack against the same opponent at the same attack bonus.  A grunt may use this ability a maximum of once per round.

Crunch (Ex): A grunt of 4th level or higher gains a special benefit when making a bull rush. If he forces an opponent to move into a wall or other solid object, the opponent stops as normal; however, the grunt's momentum crushes it against the wall, dealing an amount of bludgeoning damage equal to 4d6 points + twice the grunt's Strength bonus (if any).

Swat (Ex): Upon reaching 5th level, a grunt learns to knock enemies away from him with a little effort.  By making a single attack as a full-round action, the grunt deals double damage and immediately initiates a bull rush as per the Knockback feat (gaining the normal benefit from using Power Attack, if applicable).  This ability may only be used against creatures who are no more than one size category larger than the grunt; for example, a Large grunt could use this ability against creatures of size Huge or smaller.

Improved clobber (Ex): Beginning at 6th level, a grunt who gains the benefit of his Clobber ability also adds half his shield bonus to the main hand's attack rolls.

Skilled whack (Ex): Whenever a grunt of 8th level or higher uses his Hearty Whack ability, he may expend a grunt maneuver he has readied to force one of the dice to be an automatic 6 (essentially rolling 3d6+6 instead of 4d6).  A maneuver expended this way takes twice the normal time to recover via Iron Recovery.  He may use this ability a number of times per day equal to his initiator level, but only once per attack roll.  At 14th level, when using this ability, the grunt may instead expend two readied maneuvers to forced two dice to be 6 (rolling 2d6+12); at 20th level, he may instead expend three readied maneuvers to force three dice to be 6 (rolling 1d6+18).

Improved swat (Ex): Starting at 9th level, a grunt can use his Swat ability against creatures of any size.  In addition, the attack deals triple damage instead of double damage.

Thick skull (Ex): At 9th level, a grunt learns to let his muscles think for him.  He may use his Strength modifier in place of his Wisdom modifier on Will saves.

Improved follow-through (Ex): Upon reaching 10th level, a grunt may use his Follow-through ability when making attacks of opportunity without counting against the once-per-round limit.

Improved crunch (Ex): Beginning at 11th level, whenever a grunt uses his Crunch ability, he instead deals 8d6 + three times his Strength bonus, and the opponent must make a Fortitude save (DC of damage dealt by this ability) or be dazed for 1 round.

Punish (Ex): A grunt of 12th level or higher teaches his enemies to regret messing with him.  Whenever the grunt targets the same opponent with more than one strike maneuver in the same encounter, he doubles his Strength bonus to damage on the attack.

Pound (Ex): At 15th level, whenever a grunt damages an opponent with a shield bash attack, the opponent must make a Fortitude save (DC equal to the damage dealt) or be stunned for 1 round.

Improved punish (Ex): Beginning at 16th level, whenever a grunt gains the benefit of his Punish ability, he instead triples his Strength bonus to damage on the attack.

Greater follow-through (Ex): At 17th level, a grunt may use his Follow-through ability any number of times per round up to the maximum number of attacks he gains with his main-hand weapon; however, all attacks and Follow-through attacks must be made against the same opponent.

Greater crunch (Ex): Whenever an 18th-level grunt uses his Crunch ability, he instead deals 12d6 + four times his Strength bonus, and the opponent must make a Fortitude save (DC of damage dealt by this ability) or become paralyzed for 1 round as his body goes into shock.

Thicker skull (Ex): A grunt of 18th level or higher learns to shrug off punishment that would cripple a lesser man.  He may substitute a Fortitude save for a Reflex save once per round.

Greater punish (Ex): Upon reaching 20th level, whenever a grunt gains the benefit of his Punish ability, he instead quintuples his Strength bonus to damage on the attack
 

Done!  Is this boring/sucky?  Is bounce-back granted at too low of a level?  Does the recovery mechanism work??

I feel that it needs a third discipline but I have no suggestions.

...okay, maybe I've been 'brewing too much lately.  I've been trying to think of unique and interesting abilities for this, and I've got next to nothing.

All I've thought of is inspired by Nord's Blade: allowing adjustment of die types, like you could roll 4d6 or 3d6 instead of 1d20 for attack rolls and skill checks, etc.  I have no idea how such a thing would be implemented robustly.  And that's all I've got.

...help?

OK, I added some new class features.  Thoughts?

Dungeoncrasher on steroids.  I like it.  Going into Repo Dog will be rather fun with this.   

Edit:  Might want to specify Follow Through's extra shield attacks as being at the same attack bonus as the 1h hit, if that's the intention.

Clarified.

Any other comments?

For Iron recovery you should specify if the number of rounds rolled is when you get the maneuver or how long you wait BEFORE you get it. What I mean is, at 17th level, does he recover the maneuver the next round, oe does he recover it the round after next?

I'll clarify.

I like this class' flavor like crazy.

Woot!  In that case, may I direct you to Repo Dog?

Does Follow-Through activate on martial strikes as well as normal attacks?

For example, a 5th-level grunt initiates Iron Heart Surge to throw off the effects of a hold person spell.  He rolls 1d4 and gets a 3; this means he automatically recovers IHS 3 rounds later at the beginning of his turn.

Just pointing out hold person is one of those things IHS cannot get you rid off, because you need to be able to perform actions to initiate it, and hold person blocks your actions.