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The menacing brute takes advantage of how must humans fear half-orcs, playing on that dread to make his living.

Requirements

Class Features

Demoralizing Stare (Ex): You gain a competence bonus on Intimidate checks equal to your menacing brute level. In addition, when you successfully use the Intimidate skill to demoralize an opponent, the target remains shaken for an additional 1 round per class level.

Resourceful Search (Ex): At 2nd level, you become extremely resourceful at finding "discarded" pieces of equipment. Once per day, you can attempt a Search check in order to find any nonmagical item of your choice, with a maximum market price of 200 gp, without paying for it. The gold piece value of the item determines the time it takes for you to find it, as well as the minimum size of community in which it can be found (see the table below). For example, if you are searching for a wagon (35 gp), you would need to look in a small town or larger community and succeed on a DC 15 Search check after spending 2d4×10 minutes searching. If you sought a breastplate (200 gp), you could find it in a metropolis by making a DC 25 Search check and spending 2d4 hours digging through alleyways, trash bins, and the like. You can never find a masterwork item or magic item of any value while using this ability.

Sneak Attack (Ex): Beginning at 3rd level, you deal extra damage when flanking an opponent or any time the target would be denied its Dexterity bonus (except on ranged attacks, which must be point-blank to deliver the extra damage). See the rogue class feature, page 50 of the Player's Handbook.

Ruthless Cut (Ex): At 4th level and higher, you gain a +4 bonus on a roll to confirm a threat on a critical hit.

Making an Example (Ex): At 5th level, any time you deal enough damage with a melee attack to drop a creature (typically by dropping it to less than 0 hit points or killing it), all foes within 30 feet of the enemy must succeed on a Will save (DC 15 + your Cha modifier) or cower until the start of their next turn. If the blow that dropped the creature was a critical hit, add +4 to the save DC. This is a mind-affecting fear effect.

Adaptation

The menacing brute is a fairly generic class and should require little adaptation to use in any campaign. You could use it without alteration in any evil or criminal organization, such as the Zhentarim in Toril or the Order of the Emerald Claw in Eberron. (Eberron's dragonmarked mercantile houses undoubtedly make use of menacing brutes as well, though they are more likely to disavow all knowledge of their activities.) You might choose to significantly alter the class by opening it to races other than half-orcs. The class is designed to expand a particular aspect of the half-orc mind-set: the realization that humans fear half-orcs, and a savvy half-orc can exploit that fear for personal gain. If you open the class to other races, you might add an additional feat requirement, such as Persuasive, to reflect the idea that the character should have an innately frightening demeanor.

Advancement