A classic no-fantasy characther in a fantasy contest. What do you want more? Is very well calibrated, complete and different in the styles. A player may really create different characters with the same class, showing a lot of different combat approaches, a mix of monk and fighter, with a hint of real-life basis. And a lot of interpretation and personalization options. I really like this product.

I have to say that I wasn't that excited about this product (never been a huge fan of monks) but received it for free from the author so decided to give it a read. It turned out to be full of great ideas and I loved it.

Instead of a boring monk clone Mr. Stanford created a class with a bunch of different options. They all fight with their hands but they all do it differently. I would never have thought an unarmed fighter could have that many options but here they are. It really seems like the author took time to think about all the options and come up with the powers each "style" has.

The art is mostly photoshopped pictures with some added effects. Not amazing but not bad either.

It could use (and is getting) a good edit, but overall some great options for PC's or NPC's here.

I admit it. I had to grab a dictionary and do a tad bit research when I found the Pugilist on my review list. Quite simply, it means fighter and was an exotic way for the publisher to emphasize the new class without putting it in the same mill as fighter variant copies.

And a copy this class is certainly not.

Whereas the name is not one that I would have chosen, The Pugilist Class and NPC, by Wordcasting Entertainment, is a nice addition to the Pathfinder Class line up. It is a little rough around the edges, like a fixer up mustang, but well toned, its a creative break from the norm.

The Pugilist is a streetfighting brawler class. The nice sized for a nice price 25 page PDF comes with the Pugilist class and several NPCs that can be used. The inclusion of an NPC is a great idea that I wish more publishers would adopt. DMs would get so much more use out of the product with them included.

The Pugilist class itself is fairly creative. It is a hand-to-hand combat class, similar to the monk, but takes the sorcerer approach. Players choose a fighting style, from streetfighter, to brawler to grappler. Each subset has their own set of bonus feats, maneuvers and a super 20th level Style Mastery.

For the Player This is a great class book for the player wanting to play a melee type of a different kind. The various fighting styles allow for a lot of deviation, and though some of the class abilities mimic that of the monk, the flavor sets it apart. I find the Boxer to be one of the better designed subsets, and an interesting idea to implement into a game.

For the Dungeonmaster This book is very rough around the edges and this class should not be allowed to be combined with the monk. That said the NPCs are the most important part of this book for a DM. Each subset has 3 different statted levels of NPCs. I recommend using bullies as basic guard NPCs. Their abilities to strike true fear into their opponents comes out of left field but works.

The Iron Word Despite its less than polished production, the content drives this product at least to third place. It is a very innovative brawling melee class and better than most streetfighting classes I have come across.

The Pugilist - Class and NPC is a 25-page PDF (21-pages less covers, credits and the OGL page) compatible with the Pathfinder RPG system designed by Ryan Stanford and published by Wordcasting Entertainment. This is Wordcasting’s first product.

The layout is two deep blue covers between which are single column pages of text on various backgrounds. A more efficient design would allow for more information to be packed in, which is primarily important if one is printing out the material. Unfortunately, there is not a printer friendly version without background. There are also a few typos in the text which is distracting. The only art is in photographs used as page backgrounds.

The Pugilist is a full twenty level base class focusing, naturally, on unarmed combat. They combine good HD, a moderate base attack progression, two good saves and reasonable access to skills for a firm foundation. But like all such focused class, they will succeed (or not) by their abilities.

The Pugilist’s fists are treated as weapons, eventually gaining an enhancement bonus but never alignments or other aspects that would allow them to overcome damage reduction. While restricted to light armor, they gain a limited natural armor bonus and, later, the ability to roll with blows acting as damage reduction. A few other abilities round out the core of the class.

The real customization comes in as each Pugilist specializes in one style, of which there are eight presented, which gain bonus feats and other abilities specific to that style. The styles range from Bully (intimidation focused) to Victor (Inspirational leader), to the technique focused such as Boxer and Grappler. The styles provide a wide range of abilities leading to some interesting builds.

However, the bonus feats granted by the various styles ignore usual prerequisites and are not restricted to only being used with the Pugilist’s unarmed attacked. As the class’ abilities are a bit front loaded as it is, the potential for abusive combinations may be there. A game master would have to keep a close eye on such.

Bare bone NPC versions of each style at 5th, 10th and 16th level are provided for use as opponents or general combat NPCs.

Overall, the Pugilist has a lot of potential but it could stand to be cleaned up and some issues clarified. Equally, a few class appropriate feats and magic items would have helped to round out the class as would have an organization or a few fully described NPCs to help established the place Pugilists could occupy in a campaign. Still, even with those flaws it is still an interesting class with potential. If you want to explore some new paths for unarmed fighters, it could be worth a look.

Disclosure: As a featured reviewer for RPGNow/DriveThroughRPG, I received my copy of this product for free from the publisher for the purpose of this review.