Wrestler (Pathfinder Second Edition Archetype)
(art by Fpeniche on DeviantArt)
One of my favorite late additions to Pathfinder First Edition was the inclusion of several pro wrestling-inspired feats in… I’m pretty sure it was Martial Arts Handbook?
Either way, they were perfect for any monk, brawler, or unarmed fighter looking to be the cream of the crop and send all the jabronies packing.
And it’s clear that the Paizo staff is more than happy to continue giving pro wrestling fans what they want, because in Second Edition, we have the Wrestler Archetype!
Wrestling and grappling has a lot of applications in a world of fantasy. After all, fights need not be to the death, for starters, but also, the act of subduing a foe with your bare hands is not only very useful in a fight, but also looks really good, especially once a skilled wrestler puts some flash on it.
Anyone who has cultivated their body to use as a weapon can benefit from this skill set, from the monk that would rather subdue the misguided rather than decimate or kill them, to the orcish beast rider that subdues and tames their mount by hand, to the high-flying master of the gladiator ring, and of course the mighty warrior who only needs to weapons: their body and the cold, hard ground that they will introduce their opponent to.
The base dedication of this archetype comes with great athleticism, as well as mastery of unarmed strikes and grappling techniques.
A common technique that many use is to strike a foe with one hand to lower their guard, while grabbing with the other, though such a grab is usually short-lived.
Crushing holds are common with this art, and so these wrestlers know how to constrict and crush their grappled foes like a boa.
Conversely, this skillset also helps them break out of a foe’s grapple with ease, knowing all the weak points in their grasp and how to exploit them to maintain control of a fight.
A painful twist to a grasping limb can force a foe to drop what they are holding as the pain overwhelms their motor neurons, forcing them to fight the wrestler on their terms.
By swatting at a foe’s limbs as they strike, they can break their guard, opening them to further maneuvers.
Lifting their foes up and slamming them down, many wrestlers can unleash a mighty suplex upon their foes.
Even foes that slip away can expect pain, as these warriors follow up with another blow as their foe slips away, or perhaps forces their target to injure themselves to get away.
With a running or leaping charge, many wrestlers demonstrate their ability to tackle or slam into foes with their body, getting them in a body lock or pushing them away.
Whether it’s a headlock or simply crushing a foe’s ribs tight to prevent inhaling, many learn to leave their foe breathless and barely able to speak, perfect for shutting down casters.
Painful submission holds that rob the opponent of their strength are another wrestling staple, which they make full use of.
Whether it’s a simple sling toss or a full spinning circular throw, some wrestlers can send their foes flying once they’ve got them in their grasp, sending them to the ground with a thunderous painful crash.
By dropping with a grappled foe to the ground, some wrestlers capitalize on both their and their foe’s weight in a painful pile driver maneuver.
A crushing bear hug can crack and opponents back, leaving them numb and awkward afterwards.
Some wrestlers get such a strong grip on their opponent that teleportation magic isn’t enough to help them escape, trapping them in place.
They can even force shapeshifting creatures to revert to their natural form with a powerful hold as well.
The most skilled and powerful wrestlers, however, have the chance to learn the legendary Godbreaker maneuver. When done correctly, the wrestler leaps supernaturally high into the air, striking their grappled foe three times on the way up with various blows and bone-cracking holds. If any fail, the attempt fails and both plummet. However, if all three succeed, the wrestler brings their victim crashing back down to earth with the mother of all pile drivers while the wrestler remains unharmed.
I love this archetype. It’s for the most part heavily based on real-world actual wrestling and professional spectacle wrestling (but with no soft mat and pulled punches), with a nice dash of supernatural fun at higher levels. It’s silly, but in the funnest way possible, and the ability to find all manner of debuffs and extra damage to be done on grappled foes is definitely worth it, whether you just dip into it to if you only sometimes grapple, or go whole-hog and make grappling and controlling your foes your entire strategy. Obviously full combat classes that have ways to specialize in unarmed attacks are your bread and butter choices here, with the likes of fighter, monk, barbarian, and so on . The fact that there are options for different styles such as lucha libra, for example, is a nice touch as well.
On a very primal level, wrestling is, simply put, fun. Roughhousing is a nearly universal play activity among many animal species, and humans are not exception, though of course even in the real world where spectacle performance wrestling is not truly full contact, it can also be very dangerous as one grows older, gets bigger and heavier, and so on. Call pro wrestling fake all you like. Those performers are athletes to the core and put themselves at real risk with their fights.
Tangent aside, the fun of grappling and subduing others means that only the most jaded and bitter individuals don’t derive some enjoyment from the act no matter what they use it for, and that reflects in the characters that players will make with this archetype.
While getting in some practice casting evocation spells after hours, a group of novice mages are attacked by a nenchuuj sakhil, the embodiment of the fear of magic gone terribly wrong. They might have been in serious trouble as the foul spirit turned their own spells against them, if not for a war college friend having come to watch them practice, breaking the foul fiend’s back with an impressive array of maneuvers. However, surviving this encounter has revealed a disturbing mystery of where the sakhil came from, and how many more have infiltrated the academy.
Tovallus is unusual for a ghoran due to the way their body has incorporated stone and rock into their flesh like moss or vines growing around a boulder: a sign of his oread heritage. He proves just as immovable as a plant rooted in the rock too, making a name for himself as a nonlethal bounty hunter that can subdue anyone with physical might and inescapable holds.
The name might seem a little silly, but the wrestler known as Ghosthold earned that title legitimately after using ghost-hunting handwraps and a ward against deathly power to wrestle a wraith into the ground and freeing it from it’s earthly torments.
