val Holryn wrote:
I worked up a character in detail for a Pugilist. Designed for Tier 1.5
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I've worked up a few. By using Ss'ressen, you took the only race that gets Weapon Training (Unarmed) for free (which saves you a talent). If you want a Ss'ressen unarmed fighter, you are probably better off taking Natural Claws rather than Pugilist and then taking Tooth & Claw style (and possibly the Path I always forget the name of that builds on being Ss'ressen and Tooth & Claw).
Ss'ressen make the most versatile unarmed fighters (tail bracer, tail swipe, path to support them, etc). Gnomes get a bump to unarmed damage (Enlarged Hands deformity). val'Dellenovs get a bloodline and a few spells to help unarmed. Others are all about equal.
Also, I disagree that Iron Hands is beneficial "support" for unarmed. It is to (mechanically) make up for not being able to get an Exceptional weapon (but a Talent is far higher cost than some gold as you level through tier 2).
I'm not saying unarmed can't be effective. I'm just saying that it generally has a far higher talent cost than any other weapon (even Double Spear and the like that are supposed to be extremely rare).