To many, a knight is the epitome of chivalry and honor. Towers of metal, bastions on the battlefield. In this manner, the shield brute is not that different. But make no mistake, there is neither honor nor chivalry in their methods. They are vicious street fighters first, pillars of unmovable steel second.
Iron Brute is an archetype of Knight
Knightly Tactics (Ex)
The iron brute gains a new Knightly Tactic that they must take at 1st level:
Shield Striker (Ex): The iron brute gains Improved Shield Bash as a bonus feat. In addition, an iron brute deals more damage with a shield bash, increasing the damage dealt by one step. At 7th, 13th, and 19th level, this damage increases by an additional step to a maximum of 2d10 (If medium, 2d8 if small, 4d8 if large. This is an exception to the standard rule that 2d8 upgrades to 3d6).
Shield striker does not stack with the damage boost provided by shield spikes (or similar), but an iron brute can use a spiked shield to do piercing damage, rather than bludgeoning.
This ability modifies knightly tactics.
Defensive Stance (Ex)
At 1st level, the steel hulk gains the following benefit in defensive stance that befits his knightly tactic:
Offensive Defense: The iron brute gains a +2 bonus on melee attack rolls and melee damage rolls made with shield bash attacks, as well as on combat maneuver checks. In addition, he also gains 2 temporary hit points per Hit Die. These temporary hit points are lost first when a character takes damage, disappear when the defensive stance ends, and are not replenished if the iron brute enters a defensive stance again within 1 minute of his previous defensive stance. Offensive defense does not stack with advance or rage.
The benefits of this ability do not increase by level like a normal defensive stance.
This ability modifies defensive stance.
Iron Mountain (Ex)
At 1st level, an iron brute gains Powerful Maneuvers as a bonus feat and is treated as if he had the Deft Maneuvers feat but only in regards to (and against) the trip maneuver. He may use his strength modifier, in place of dexterity, to qualify for any trip-related feat, such as Greater Trip. In addition, the iron brute gains a bonus to all combat maneuvers checks made to, and to his combat maneuver defence against, bull rush, overrun and trip equal to his total armor bonus, to a maximum of his knight level.
This ability replaces defend ally.
Tactical Focus (Ex)
At 3rd level, the iron brute gains access to a tactical focus befitting his knightly tactic:
Focused Ferocity (Ex): The iron brute gains a +1 bonus on attack rolls made to shield bash and on combat maneuver checks made to bull rush, overrun or trip his designated target.
These benefits increase to +2 at 9th level and to +3 at 15th.
Tower Bash (Ex)
At 4th level, the iron brute learns to make shield bash attacks with tower shields by using it as a two-handed weapon. The iron brute does not take the normal penalty on attack rolls while using a tower shield. If he has an ability that would require a heavy shield (Tower Shields are part of the same weapon groups as heavy shields), he may use a tower shield with that ability instead, with the exception of the Oversized Shield Wielder talent, which (As a special effect unique to iron brutes) allows him to treat Tower Shields as one-handed weapons.
When using a tower shield to shield bash, he increases the damage he deals by an additional step and is treated as one size category larger for the purposes of determining the size of creatures against which the iron brute can attempt to use the bull rush, overrun and trip combat maneuvers. (Which stacks with the Poised and Imposing Bearing armor mastery feats.)
(Note: Tower shields cannot, normally, be used to shield bash. As such, if you have a player who is playing an iron brute, you should allow them to enchant or modify tower shields as weapons. For example, using a spiked tower shield to do piercing damage.)
This ability replaces a knight talent gained at 4th level.
Knighthood (Ex)
The iron brute gains a new knighthood they must take at 5th level:
Knighthood of the Brute: Iron brutes have dedicated themselves to using their armour and shields as powerful weapons. An iron brute gains Shield Slam as a bonus feat. When using shield slam, he may choose in which order the shield bash and the bull rush occur (Even if he does not move with the target, the shield bash attack stil occurs). If the bull rush forces the opponent to crash into a wall or other solid object, the shield bash deals double damage.
This ability modifies Knighthood.
Fling (Ex)
At 8th level, the iron brute gains Greater Bull Rush as a bonus feat (If he already had this feat, he instead gains any other combat feat he would have qualified for at the level he gained greater bull rush). If the iron brute chooses not to move with an enemy he has bull rushed, the iron brute's CMB check is treated as 1.5x what it really is for the purposes of determining how far the enemy can be moved.
This ability replaces Rescue.
Developed Knightly Tactics (Ex)
At 9th level, the iron brute's tactics become further refined:
Bowling Bash: Whenever the iron brute bull rushes an enemy into one or more other enemies, all enemies bull rushed in this way are also subject to a trip attempt, using the same result as the bull rush.
This ability modifies developed knightly tactics.
Improved Defensive Stance (Ex)
At 11th level, the iron brute's defensive tactics gains further benefits:
Improved Offensive Stance: The iron brute's bonus on attack and damage rolls with shield bash attacks as well as CMB checks increases to +4. In addition, the amount of temporary hit points gained when entering a defensive stance increases to 4 per Hit Die.
This ability modifies improved defensive stance.
Steel Skin (Ex)
Iron Brutes gain the Protected condition when charging or when fighting defensively, but not when using total defense.
This ability modifies steel skin.
