If I take combat martial arts and brawl, do the effects combine. I mean would I have a +1 to hit and do 1d4 lethal and 1d6 nonlethal? It reads like it does since both say "when you make an unarmed attack", otherwise unarmed combat seems basically useless.
Thanks!
NO, they dont stack. You pick one or the other.
Yes, unarmed is basically useless since there is no accumulation of NonLethal damage... either you go over his con & force a MAS or you are back to square one next round.
Check this thread
Something VERY important about CMA & Brawl:
CMA lets you be considered Armed when fighting emptyhanded, Brawl doesnt.
This means the CMA guy has a Threat range, and can take Attack Of Opportunity.
This is important because in an emptyhanded fight, Each time the Brawl guy makes an attack, it draws an AoO from the CMA guy. The CMA may do less damage per hit, but it accumulates as Lethal damage, so all those AoO get to add up with your normal CMA attacks
Improved Brawl and the Martial Artist's Living Weapon class features can also be considered specific attack modes, but they are essentially advanced versions of Brawl and Combat Martial Arts respectively.
Notice that Improved Combat Martial Arts and Advanced Combat Martial Arts affect the critical hit range and multiplier of unarmed attacks in general. This means they apply to attacks made with Brawl and Improved Brawl as well.
Advanced Combat Martial Arts could improve the critical multiplier for a Knock-out Punch to x3 and Improved Knock-out Punch to x5: x3 + (x3 -1)! (ref.: The Basics, MSRD)
With the Knock-out Punch and Improved Knock-out Punch feats you should be able to use your preferred unarmed "attack mode" - the Combat Martial Arts/Living Weapon or the Brawl variants.
All in all, taking Combat Martial Arts and staying away from the Brawl feat tree is a pretty safe choice. However, the two trees provide a number of mutual benefits that may be worth the investment.
-DF
and what level will you start playing at?