Tavern Brawler

Tavern Brawler is a passive feature obtainable by the Feat of the same name. Users of this feature excel at improvised and unarmed fighting and deal more damage more often.

Description

Increase your  Strength or  Constitution by 1, to a maximum of 20.

When you make an unarmed attack, use an improvised weapon, or throw something, your Strength Modifier is added twice to the damage and Attack rolls.^{[See: Bugs]}

How to learn

Granted by the feats: Tavern Brawler (Feat)

Notes

• This feat (especially in conjunction with high strength and halfling luck) is a salient example of rule zero of Dungeons & Dragons in that it defies the Bounded Accuracy principle of the fifth edition rule set, the basis for much of the rule mechanics used in Baldur's Gate 3. While it is not the only occurrence of such a deviation, it is arguably one of the strongest examples (if not the strongest example) present in the game.

• This feat works well with Weapon Bond.

• Weapons without the "Thrown" tag are treated as improvised weapons, which only apply damage based on item weight plus the wielder's strength modifier with the feat applied.

• Weapons with the "Thrown" tag are treated as a type of unarmed attack. In addition to damage granted by this feat, normal damage from these weapons is also applied . Unarmed strike attacks can trigger useful effects from other items such as The Sparkle Hands and Flawed Helldusk Gloves. However, some items (the Gloves of Cinder and Sizzle being one of them) may not work with this feat in conjunction certain thrown weapons, such as the Shining Staver-of-Skulls.

• Unarmed attacks that use  Dexterity as a modifier still gain the strength modifier as a bonus with this feat and thus do not get the Dexterity modifier applied twice to the attack. Your base modifier is whichever is higher, the modifier you get from Tavern Brawler is always  Strength.

• When Tavern Brawler is applied to the damage roll from a thrown weapon, the additional damage this feat grants is treated as a "DRS."

• The damage bonus is applied to unarmed attacks that a Druid makes while in Wild Shape. This behavior was added in Patch 5.

• Tavern Brawler usually does not work with the  Duelling fighting style, as detailed below:
  • Duelling’s Requirements - Duelling Fighting Style reads as:
    • "When you are wielding a melee weapon in one hand, and no weapon in the other, you deal an additional 2 damage with that weapon.”
    • Key Point: It specifically says “a melee weapon in one hand.”
  • Tavern Brawler’s Focus - Tavern Brawler revolves around unarmed attacks or improvised weapons (like chairs, mugs, or corpses you can pick up).
    • As alluded to earlier in these notes, unarmed attacks (even with weapons proper which have the "thrown" property, such as the such as the Returning Pike) are generally not considered "weapons" for the purpose of weapon-based Fighting Styles.
    • Improvised Weapons are sometimes treated like melee weapons, but not all improvised items neatly qualify for the conditions that trigger Duelling - especially if they are two-handed.
  • Possible Outliers
    • If one happens to find (or use) an improvised weapon that the game specifically recognizes as a one-handed melee weapon and the player character has no other weapons equipped, some report the Duelling bonus applying. ^{[Needs Verification]} This can be finicky and may depend on how the game tags that particular item.
    • However, this is more the exception than the rule. Most typical Tavern Brawler setups (unarmed or improvised two-handers) will not realize the Duelling bonus.
  • To summarize: Duelling generally does not stack with Tavern Brawler, because unarmed attacks and most improvised weapons are not treated as “one-handed melee weapons.” If the player character is using a strictly one-handed improvised weapon (and the game flags it in a way that matches the “melee weapon” condition), one might see the Duelling bonus - but in practice, this is uncommon. Most builds combining Tavern Brawler are likely better served by other Fighting Styles or feats that do not hinge on wielding a conventional one-handed weapon.

Bugs

• As of Hotfix 6, the bonus Strength modifier damage from throws with Tavern Brawler was directly applied to objects, bypassing any Toughness condition they may have had. Thus, even if a character could not deal enough normal damage in a single attack, they could still slowly but surely chip down the health of any locked door or chest by repeatedly throwing an item. This was fixed in a subsequent patch and its absence noted in hotfix 20.
• As of Hotfix 21, the bonus Strength modifier damage to unarmed strikes does not apply to unarmed strikes while Wild Shaped in Honour Mode or in Slayer Form in any difficulty setting.