Just for fun I tried to build characters to represent the Avengers and when I got to the Hulk what started off as a fun theory craft exercise got me really enamoured with the concept and I wanted to know how legitimate such as build was. The idea was a brawler who flew into a rage and pummeled people with their fist.
The build centers around a Monk/Barbarian which takes advantage of rage and the number of attacks monks get as a result of flurry of blows. Martial Arts says you can use DEX instead of STR, but you don't have to. So the idea is to start barbarian and level up monk primarily to get to higher damage dice for my fists, while taking enough levels into barbarian to get some nice rages going.
Below is my current thinking
Starting with human. My initial stat array (using the point buy system). The stats in the brackets are a potential alternate version for starting as monk.
STR 16 [16]
DEX 14 [12]
CON 14 [14]
INT 9 [9]
WIS 14 [16]
CHA 12 [10]
Now the things I'm unsure about is the exact divide of levels.
I know it will likely be primarily monk, but having not played either a monk or barbarian, I'm not sure which are the must have features.
My ideas are
Monk 17/ Barbarian 3 - Using Way of the Open Hand, lets me get Quivering Palm, one of the best features as well as d10 fists, but only when I am level 20.My HP is lower, and my AC isn't as high. Also I would have use WIS as my secondary stat if I want a decent save DC, meaning I have to start monk and lose even more HP. Somewhat offset by the resistance offered by Bear totem. Also only 3 rages a day 
Monk 14/ Barbarian 6 - A middle ground, 4 rages, d8 fists and Diamond Soul. Also I can run like the wind with both Unarmoured Movement and Fast Movement. Second bear totem letting me lift, push and (most importantly) SMASH better has a nice flavour and some mechanical uses.
Monk 11/ Barbarian 9 - Still have d8 fists, got +3 rage damage. Brutal Critial with all those attacks also helps build up the damage, but loses Diamond Soul and needs that last level before you get the extra damage potential of both d8s and +3 rage. Probably the best damage and HP in the end but most likely going to have a CON secondary and thus saves will be easy to pass.
Any thoughts, suggestions, or glaring weaknesses? Anyone tried anything similar?
Ah, yes, I have given a lot of thought to this build, as goofy as it is. I play a lot of grapplers in fighting games and also have been hanging around the Grappler's Manual thread, and this particular combo has always interested me. The reason is that you can get absurdly grapple-y with it, on top of just punching the crap out of things (which is also a perfectly fine idea). Just get your hands on some Boots of Striding and Springing and you can do some silly crap if you grapple somebody. You can use your rage str check advantage, high strength, and your obvious choice of the Athletics skill to make your grapples almost unavoidable. From there you can again put your rage str check to use, and combine it with spending ki points to increase your jump distance, as well as the bonuses from the boots. You can go flying up into the air with your opponent and fall back down with them, and they'll take a bunch of falling damage, while any damage you take will be reduced not only by your monks falling damage resistance at level 4, but also your rage damage resistance. And then on top of that you can still punch them. With grappling, the trick is to always try and figure out how you can both grapple and prone your opponent, and piledriving them into the ground from 40 feet in the air is a hell of a way to accomplish the latter part.
Is this build OP minmax efficiency? Probably not. But its flavorful as hell. Go for it. I kinda like the Monk 14/Barb 6 approach. That sounds absurdly hard to kill, even with less HP than a level 20 Barbarian. Though with stuff like this I always worry more about getting to that point. You don't start at level 20. How do you think you might progress through the levels? Which one you start with is really an issue of what save proficiencies and what version of Unarmored Defense you want. The fact that Barb gets Danger Sense, which basically makes up for a lack of dex saves, kinda swings my opinion towards starting as Barb, as you suggested. At 2nd level you probably want Monk 1/Barb 1 so you get your combo going as soon as possible. From there I'd consider just rushing Barb 3 so you can get HP aplenty and the godliness that is bear totem. If you feel underpowered on the Monk front you can just pack a Quarterstaff until later. Imagine you're Little John from Robin Hood. If it really bothers you though you can get Monk 2 before Barb 3 I guess, so you can get ki points and start flurrying those blows. I could almost see the argument that you start with Barb, then go Monk > Barb > Monk > Barb. Barb 2 is nothing to sneeze at because you get both Danger Sense, and also Reckless Attack. Reckless Attack, much like the rage damage bonus, would be AMAZING with flurry of blows. So I guess you could also do Barb > Monk > Monk > Barb > Barb, so you get flurry first.
Once you hit Barb 3 / Monk 2, I guess you could just focus on Monk for a while, to get more Ki points and unarmed damage. You'd probably rush Monk 5 for the extra attack. And then from there you'd just kinda feel it out because at that point you'd know more about the class combination than any of us do right now, heh.
You said you'd start as human. What feat would you take? I'd suggest something like Athlete (helps with grapple-jumping and gives you a stat boost), Mobility, or Defensive Duelist. Also might you consider some other races? Either type of Dwarf could go a long way with this build. Hill dwarves help with Wis and give you a HP boost. Mountain Dwarves give +2 to both Str and Con, helping a bit more with MAD problems than most other races. Half-Orc could be good if you want to be both a bit harder to kill and want some more threatening criticals. You'll definitely be rolling enough dice to warrant it. If the DM will allow it, A Goliath could be really good, giving you both a way to avoid some extra damage, and also just allowing you to LIFT ALL THE THINGS. Seriously, their Powerful Build combined with the Barb 6 bear totem ability will allow you to casually lift thousands of pounds over your head.
At any rate, this sounds fun. I've been wanting to try it out but don't know when I'll get to. So punch a few for me, eh?
He's starting basic human to get +1 everywhere. I think only mountain dwarf can come close, but orc/goliath could work too.
Goliath can get 16 14 14 9 13 10 while dwarf goes 16 14 16 9 13 8 for +1 AC. Since you can use flurry of blow with armor and shield, you could start with barbarian (maybe with 2h weapon?) until you pump your unarmored defense high enough. And that's a problem since Dex is AC and damage, while Str is separate. It is excessively MAD but looks really cool.
EDIT: Ok, flurry of blow would be silly since it would do 1 damage per hit because of the armor. Dodge/dash would be a better use of ki.
You might think about throwing a level or two of knowledge cleric in there. Bruce Banner is a scientist most of the time remember. Maybe just Cleric/Barbarian with the Brawler feat and Sage background? See if your DM will let you take the "Enlarge/Reduce" spell as one of your domain spells.
I am now also considering Monk 16/Barbarian 4 for the stat boost and the lack of extra attack redundancy. You lose the Quivering Palm, which sucks but you don't get a redundant level in Barb
Currently I have 2 thoughts on progression
Barbarian start, which is arguably more Hulk like, using CON as secondary goes
B1>M1>M2>M3>M4>M5>B2>B3>B4
Monk start, with WIS secondary
M1>B1>M2>M3>M4>M5>B2>B3>B4
These progressions allows me to get rage, which gives survivability and damage, while also getting the level 5 monk's extra attack and d6 damage relatively quickly. The build then gets bear totem for extra resistance, then 1 more barb level for ability score so I have 20 strength at level 9 or bump CON or WIS for AC and HP or DC. The rest of the progression depends on the split you want to end with. By my calculations this build actually outdamages dual wielding barbarians and great weapon barbarians without frenzy at level 9 (not considering brutal crit or feats). The extra attacks from flurry of blows also makes advantage from reckless attack that little bit better.
My main concern is survivability and utility
The CON build doesn't end up with much WIS so features like Stunning Strike and the Open Hand Techniques aren't too good, but is otherwise fairly hard to kill with the high CON and a whole ton of save improvements.
The WIS build allows for higher DCs so its easy to knock people prone or stun them, but has less HP. It also allows for lower DEX to start, while giving the same AC with the increased WIS. The difference in con will end up being a loss of 40-60 HP at level 20.
It's strange for a monk but of the 4 relevant ability scores DEX gives the least utility. STR gives damage and works well with the rage bonuses, CON gives potential AC and HP, WIS gives potential AC and save DC and DEX only gives AC.
Any thoughts on whether WIS or CON for the build?
A while ago, I made a Monster Stat Block for the Hulk. I think having him be a monster is the best you're going to get, considering he shoulder-checks skyscrapers and hammer-throws Abram's Tanks. If you'd like to see what I've come up with as his monster stats, I can send it your way sometime.
ddong wrote:
Guest303462004 wrote:
I'd just go Goliath Barbarian and call it a day. Pick up Tavern Brawler, then shoot for 24 Str and 24 Con at 20. Bear totem for the first 2, the Wolf (or possibly Eagle) at 14. At level 6 you would be able to pick up 1,920 lbs with your 16 Str! If it's heavier, you'll have advantage on the rolls. At level 20, it'll be 2,880. Now that sounds like the Hulk to me.
Hope that your DM likes to adjudicate awesome, though, because there's so much more you can do than just make unarmed strikes.
Even the Hulk picks up weapons and bashes people with them. In all the comic books for some reason the weapon of choice always seems to be the parking meter.
Danny_Montanny wrote: